Wu Cheng-en - Journey to the West (vol. 2)

Hairy face like a thunder god,

Cheeks like the planet Saturn;

Pointed ears and a forehead broad,

And long, protruding fangs.

In an explosion of fury the Great Sage left Friar Sand behind as he went up to the other, brandishing his cudgel and shouting abusively, “What sort of demon do you think you are? How dare you! You make yourself look like me, you steal my children and grandchildren, you occupy my immortal's cave, and on top of that you live it up like this.” When the other Monkey heard all this he did not deign to reply but went for him with his own iron cudgel. When the two Monkeys were together there was no way of telling the true from the false. It was a splendid fight:

Two cudgels and a pair of monkey spirits,

A couple of truly formidable foes.

Both want to escort the Tang emperor's brother;

Each longs to achieve what will make him famous.

The true Monkey now accepts Sakyamuni's teachings;

The false demon only pretends to be a Buddhist.

In magic powers and transformations

The false and true are evenly balanced.

One is the Sage Equaling Heaven of primal energy,

The other an earth spirit who has long refined his powers.

One wields an As-You-Will gold-banded cudgel,

The other an iron bar that follows the heart's desire.

As they block and parry neither comes out on top.

First they fight each other outside the cave,

But soon they carry on the struggle in mid air.

Each of them rose on his clouds and light till they were fighting up in the clouds of the ninth heaven. As Friar Sand stood beside them he dared not intervene in their fight as he really could not tell the true Monkey from the false one. He longed to draw his sword and join in, but he was frightened of wounding the real Monkey. When he had endured this dilemma for a long time he shot back down to the mountain scar, where he used his demon-quelling staff to fight his way to the outside of the Water Curtain Cave. Here he sent all the demons fleeing in terror, turned the stone benches over, and smashed the tableware from which they had been eating and drinking to their hearts' content. But although he looked everywhere for the blue felt bundles he failed to find them. Now the Water Curtain Cave was so called because the waterfall screening its entrance looked from a distance like a white cloth curtain and only appeared as the waterfall it was from close to. As Friar Sand did not know that the entrance to the cave was behind it he was unable to find the way in, so he took his cloud back up to the Ninth Heaven and started swinging his staff again, still unable to strike.

“Friar Sand,” said the Great Sage, “you can't help much here. Go back and tell the master what's been happening to us while I drive this demon to Potaraka Island in the Southern Ocean for the Bodhisattva to identify me as the real Monkey.” The other Monkey then repeated what he had said. As they looked and sounded exactly the same Friar Sand really could not tell them apart. He could only do as he was told and ride his cloud back to rejoin the Tang Priest.

The two Monkeys meanwhile fought and shouted their way to the Southern Ocean, where they went straight to Potaraka Island still throwing blows and abuse at each other. Their unending shouts disturbed all the devas who protected the Law, so that they went to the Tide Cave and reported, “Bodhisattva, two Sun Wukongs really have fought their way here.”

The Bodhisattva came down from her lotus throne and went with Moksa, the page Sudhana and the Naga Maiden to the entrance, where she shouted, “Stay where you are, evil beast.”

Each Monkey grabbed hold of the other one while the real one said, “Bodhisattva, this damned fiend really does look just like me. Our fight started at the Water Curtain Cave and has been going on for a very long time without getting anywhere. Friar Sand's mortal eyes are too weak to tell us apart, so he can't help at all. I sent him back West to report to the master while I fought this bloody impostor here for you to distinguish the true from the false. Your eyes are perceptive, Bodhisattva.”

The other Monkey then said exactly the same. Look long and hard though they did, the devas and the Bodhisattva could not tell which was which. “Let go of each other and stand one on each side while I take another look,” the Bodhisattva said.

Doing as she told them, the one on her left said, “I'm the real Monkey,” and the one on her right said, “He's an impostor.”

The Bodhisattva then called Moksa and Sudhana to her and whispered these instructions: “I want one of you to stand very close to each of them while I recite the Band-tightening Spell quietly. The one in agony will be the real one, and the one who isn't will be the impostor.”

One of them went up to each of the Monkeys, but as the Bodhisattva secretly said the words of the spell they both yelled out in pain, clutched their heads, and rolled on the ground shouting, “Stop! Stop!” The moment she did they grabbed each other again and went on fighting and shouting. At her wit's end, the Bodhisattva ordered the devas and Moksa to help, but none of them dared strike a blow for fear of wounding the real Monkey.

“Sun Wukong,” called the Bodhisattva, and both the Monkeys answered her. “As you were once appointed the Protector of the Horses,” said the Bodhisattva, “When you made havoc in the Heavenly Palace, all the heavenly generals recognize you. Go to the upper world: let it distinguish between you two. Come back and tell me the result.” The Great Sage thanked the Bodhisattva for her kindness and the other Monkey also thanked her.

Pulling and tugging at each other and keeping up their ceaseless clamour they went straight to the Southern Gate of Heaven, where the Heavenly King Virupaksa led the four heavenly generals Ma, Zhao, Wen and Guan and all the other gate gods great and small to block the entrance with their weapons.

“Where are you going?” he shouted. “This is no place for a brawl.”

“Sanzang sent me away for killing some bandits while I was escorting him to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures,” the Great Sage replied. “I went to Potaraka to complain. To my horror this evil spirit turned himself into my double, knocked the Tang Priest over and stole the luggage. Friar Sand went to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit looking for me and found that this evil spirit had seized my cave. Then he went to Potaraka to tell the Bodhisattva and ask for her help. When he saw me there he made the outrageous accusation that I'd got there first by somersault cloud and told the Bodhisattva a pack of lies to cover up. Luckily she could vouch for me and didn't believe Friar Sand, so she sent us both back to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit to find out what had happened. As you can see, this evil spirit looks just like me. We fought our way from the Water Curtain Cave to Potaraka Island to see the Bodhisattva, but she couldn't tell us apart, so I've now fought him all the way here in the hope that all the eyes of all the heavens will be able to see that I'm the real Monkey.” Then the other Monkey told the same story. No matter how long they looked all the gods of the heavens could not tell them apart.

“If you can't tell which is which,” the two Monkey shouted, “get out of the way and let us go to see the Jade Emperor.”

As the gods could not stop them they opened the gates wide to let them go straight to the Hall of Miraculous Mist. Marshal Ma and the four Heavenly Teachers Zhang, Ge, Xu and Qiu all reported to the Jade Emperor, “Two identical Sun Wukongs from the mortal world have charged in through the gates of Heaven and say that they want to see Your Majesty.” Before they had finished the two Monkeys came roaring straight in, so alarming the Jade Emperor that he came down from his throne and stood in the palace hall. “Why are you two making such a row in the heavenly palace and shouting in our presence?” the Jade Emperor asked. “Do you want to die?”