Wu Cheng-en - Journey to the West (vol. 1)

As the old saying has it, “The court cannot be without a monarch for a single day.” The king refused to sit on the throne, but knelt in the middle of the steps weeping and saying, “Now that you have brought me back to life after I was dead for three years, Master, I can't possibly go on acting as king. Please ask your master to be king. It will be enough for me to take my wives and children to live as a commoner outside the city.” Sanzang absolutely refused to take the throne, his heart being utterly set on worshipping the Buddha and fetching the scriptures.

The king then offered the throne to Monkey, who said with a laugh, “I tell you frankly, gentlemen, if I'd wanted to be a king I could have been the king of every country on earth. But we're all used to being monks now-it's an easy life. If I were a king I'd have to grow my hair and I wouldn't be able to sleep at dusk or when the drum is beaten for the fifth watch. Whenever there was a report from the frontier I'd be worried, and I'd be distressed and helpless at reports of famine and disaster. I'd never get used to it. No, you go back to being a king, and I'll carry on and win merit as a monk.”

No matter how hard the king tried to refuse he finally had to enter the throne-hall, sit facing South on the throne, and call himself king. He issued a general amnesty, sent the monks of the Precious Wood Monastery back with rich presents, and opened up the Eastern hall of the palace to give a banquet for the Tang Priest. He also sent for painters to paint portraits of the Tang patriarch and his three disciples to hang in the throne hall.

Now that they had restored the country to peace the master and his disciples did not want to stay long; they were eager to take their leave of the king and carry on towards the West. The king, his queen and consorts, the crown prince and the ministers presented the country's greatest treasures as well as gold, silver, silk and satin to the patriarch as tokens of their thanks.

Sanzang accepted none of these gifts but only the return of his passport and urged Monkey and the other two to saddle the horse up and be on their way as soon as possible. The king was most upset. He ordered the state carriage brought out and invited the Tang Priest to ride in it. The two groups of civil and military officials led the way, while the king, his queen and consorts, and the crown prince pushed the wheels of the carriage. Only when they had passed through the outer walls of the city did Sanzang get down from the dragon carriage to take his leave of them all.

“Master,” said the king, “please visit our country on your way back after collecting the scriptures in the Western Heaven.”

“I hear and obey,” replied Sanzang. The king then returned with his ministers, weeping. The Tang Priest and his three disciples made their way along a twisting road, single-minded in their determination to worship at the Vulture Peak. By now autumn was just giving way to winter.

Bare stand the woods as frost carves out red leaves;

Ample the yellow millet ripened after rain.

Sun-warmed plum trees blossom in the dawn;

Cold sounds the bamboo shaken by the wind.

Master and disciples had now left the kingdom of Wuji. Resting at night and travelling by day, they had been going for the best part of a month when they saw a mountain in front of them that touched the sky and blotted out the sun. Sanzang was alarmed. Reining in the horse he called urgently for Monkey, who asked, “What are your orders, Master?”

“Do you see that big mountain in front of us?” said Sanzang. “It's so sheer that I'm sure there must be evil creatures lurking on it to catch us, so be on your guard.”

“Just keep going and don't worry,” said Monkey with a laugh. “I'll protect you.” With that the venerable elder relaxed and spurred his horse on. When they reached the craggy mountain they saw that it was indeed precipitous:

Is it high?

It touches the azure firmament.

It is deep?

Its chasms open down to hell.

Before the mountain white clouds always billow.

Swirling black mists,

Red-blossoming plums, emerald bamboo,

Green cypresses and bluish pines.

Behind the mountain is a lofty soul-gripping pillar,

Concealing the fantastic caves of monsters.

Springs flow from the caves with cheerful voice,

And down ravines that twist and wind.

Apes swing from the sky to offer fruit;

Stags carry many-branching antlers,

While river deer shyly watch the strangers.

At duck the tigers climb to seek their dens;

Dragons emerge at dawn from out of the waters.

A sudden mighty roar at a cave's mouth

Sends birds noisily aloft with fright.

See how the woodland beasts skulk off.

At the sight of all these birds and beasts

The human heart beats hard in terror.

Spacious as halls are the caves,

All lined up along the peaks;

The granite rocks are coloured like pieces of jade;

Mist covers all as if with greenish gauze.

Master and disciples were already frightened enough when a red cloud emerged from a fold in the mountain and rose straight up into the sky, where it formed a ball of fire. Monkey was horrified. As he went to take a closer look he pushed the master's leg to get him off the horse and said, “Brothers, stay here. An evil spirit's coming.” In their alarm Pig grabbed his iron rake and Friar Sand his staff as they stood guard on either side of the Tang Priest.

Here the story divides into two. The red light was indeed from an evil spirit who had heard tell some years earlier that a Tang Priest from the East, a reincarnation of the Venerable Golden Cicada and a holy man who had cultivated his conduct through ten successive lives, was going to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures. Anyone who ate a piece of his flesh would live as long as heaven and earth. The evil spirit had been longing day in and day out for him to arrive, and now he was here. As the evil spirit looked at them from mid-air he saw the three disciples ready for action as they guarded the Tang Priest on his horse. The spirit was full of admiration.

“Now there's a monk for you,” he said to himself. “I can just make out a fat, white-faced monk riding a horse. That must be the holy Tang Priest. But why is he surrounded by those three hideous monks? They've all clenched their fists, their sleeves are rolled up, and they're armed. They look as if they're ready for a fight. I wonder if any of them is sharp-eyed enough to see what I am? Looking the way that I do I haven't a hope of eating the Tang Priest's flesh.”

After he had been arguing it over for some time he said to himself, “If I try swooping down to grab him I won't get anywhere near him. I'll only get him if I trick him through cunning. Once I've hoodwinked him I can think of some crafty scheme that's bound to catch him. So I'll go down and try a few games with him.”

The splendid evil monster then dispersed his red light and brought his cloud down to land on the mountainside, where he turned himself with a shake of his body into a naughty boy of six, stark naked, tied hand and foot to the top of a pine tree, and shouting, “Help, help!”

When the Great Sage Monkey looked up again and saw that the red cloud and the fire had completely disappeared he told the master to remount and be on his way again.

“But you said an evil spirit was here; I don't dare move,” replied Sanzang.

“Just now I saw a red cloud rise up from the ground,” said Monkey, “and turn into a ball of fire in mid-air. It was certainly an evil spirit. As the fire and the cloud have now gone I think it must just have been passing by and wasn't going to do us any harm. Let's go.”

“You make it sound all very convincing,” said Pig, “but who ever heard of an evil spirit that just passed by?”