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

“Long live Your Majesty,” said the Great Sage. “Now that I'm a devout Buddhist I'd never dare try to bully my betters. It's just that this evil spirit has turned himself into my double.” He then told the whole story, concluding, “and I beg that Your Majesty will unmask the impostor.” Then the other Monkey said the same thing all over again.

The Jade Emperor ordered Heavenly King Li the Pagoda-carrier to look at them both in his demon-revealing mirror, kill the false one and preserve the true one. The Heavenly King caught them both in his mirror and invited the Jade Emperor and the other deities all to look. Both Monkeys could be seen in it, wearing the same golden band and the same clothes. There was not the slightest difference between them. Unable to tell them apart, the Jade Emperor had both of them driven out of the palace.

The Great Sage gave a mocking laugh and so did the other Monkey. Then they grabbed each other by the hair and by the throat, fought their way out of the heavenly gates, and landed on the road to the West. “Let's go and see the master,” said one of them; and the other replied, “Let's go and see the master.”

After Friar Sand had taken his leave of the two Monkeys it took him three days and nights' travelling to return to the farm, where he told the Tang Priest everything that had happened. The Tang Priest was full of regrets: “I said that Sun Wukong had hit me and stolen the bundles, never realizing that an evil spirit had turned itself into an imitation Monkey.”

“The evil spirit made doubles of yourself, the white horse, Pig carrying our luggage, and me,” said Friar Sand. “I was so furious that I killed the fake Friar Sand: he was really a monkey spirit. That made them all run away, then I went to tell the Bodhisattva my troubles. She sent Monkey and me back to identify the demon, but he was so much like the real Monkey that I couldn't help in the fight, which is why I've come back to report to you, Master.”

Sanzang paled with horror at this news, while Pig roared with laughter. “Great, great,” he guffawed. “Just as this kind old lady said, there are several lots of pilgrims going to fetch the scriptures. They're one lot, aren't they?”

Everyone in the house, young and old alike, came to ask Friar Sand, “Where have you been looking for money for your travelling expenses these last few days?”

“I went to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit in the Eastern Continent of Superior Body to look for my eldest brother and fetch the baggage,” Friar Sand replied with a smile. “Then I went to Potaraka Island in the Southern Ocean to see the Bodhisattva Guanyin and to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit again before coming back here.”

“How long was your return journey?” the old man of the family asked.

“About 70,000 miles,” Friar Sand replied.

“That would be a very long way to walk in only a few days,” the old man said, “You must have gone by cloud to get there.”

“How else do you think he got across the sea?” said Pig.

“What you and I do is like walking compared with Monkey: he'd have been there and back in a day or two,” said Friar Sand. When the family heard this they realized that they must all be gods or immortals.

“No, we're not,” said Pig, “We're senior to them.”

As they were talking they were interrupted by a noisy quarrel in mid air, and when they rushed out to look they saw two Monkeys fighting. The sight made Pig's hands itch. “I'm going up to tell them apart,” he said, and with that the splendid idiot leapt up into the air and shouted, “Stop yelling, brother, Pig's here.”

“Hit the evil spirit,” both Monkeys shouted, “hit the evil spirit.”

All this both horrified and delighted the family, who exclaimed, “We've got a whole lot of arhats who can ride on clouds staying with us. Even if we'd made a vow to feed monks we would never have been able to feed such holy men as these.” They were now more generous with their food and tea than ever. Then they began to worry that if the fight between the two Sun the Novices turned nasty, heaven and earth might be turned upside down: it could be disastrous.

Seeing that behind the old man's delight lay these deep misgivings Sanzang said to him, “There's no need to worry or alarm yourself, benefactor. When I made him submit and become my disciple he gave up evil and turned to good. Of course we will show you our gratitude.”

“That would be too great an honour,” the old man replied, “too great an honour.”

“Stop talking now, benefactor,” said Friar Sand, “and you sit here, Master. Pig and I'll each bring one of them back here to stand in front of you. When you say the spell the one who suffers will be the real Monkey and the one who doesn't will be the impostor.”

“What a very good idea,” said Sanzang.

Friar Sand then rose up into mid-air and said, “Stop it, both of you. I'm taking you for the master to choose between you.” The Great Sage then let go of his opponent, and so did the other Monkey. Friar Sand held one and told Pig to hold the other, and they took them both down by their clouds till they stood in front of the thatched cottage.

As soon as he saw them Sanzang began to say the Band-tightening Spell, at which both Monkeys cried out together, “Why do you have to say that spell when we're fighting so hard? Stop! Stop!” Being a kind and merciful man the venerable elder stopped reciting the spell before he had been able to tell them apart. The two Monkeys then broke free from Pig and Friar Sand and started fighting again.

“Brothers,” the Great Sage said, “look after the master while I fight this impostor down to get the Kings of the Underworld to tell which of us is which.” The other Monkey said likewise, and the two of them soon disappeared, grabbing and tugging at each other.

“Friar Sand,” said Pig, “why didn't you grab the luggage off the fake Pig when you saw him carrying it at the Water Curtain Cave?”

“The evil spirits surrounded me when I killed my double with the demon-quelling staff,” Friar Sand replied. “They were going to get me, so I had to flee for my life. After I'd been to see the Bodhisattva and gone back to the cave entrance again with Monkey I overturned all their stone benches and scattered the little demons, but I couldn't see any entrance to the cave, only a waterfall. I came back empty-handed as I couldn't find the luggage.”

“Let me tell you something,” said Pig. “When I went there a few years ago to ask him to come back we met outside the cave. After I'd persuaded him to come he jumped down and went into the cave to change. I saw him go straight through the water: the waterfall is the entrance. I bet that's where that devil has put our luggage.”

“As you know the way into the cave I think you'd better go and fetch our baggage from there while the demon's away,” said Sanzang. “Even if Wukong does come back I still won't have him.”

“I'm off then,” said Pig.

“There are thousands and thousands of little monkeys in front of the cave,” said Friar Sand. “It'd be terrible if they were too much for you by yourself.”

“I'm not worried,” said Pig, who rushed outside and headed off to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit to fetch the luggage.

The two Monkeys fought their way round to the back of the Dark Mountain of the Underworld, where all the demons shivered and shook with terror as they hid themselves. The ones who managed to run away first rushed straight to the Underworld government offices and reported to the Senluo Palace, “Your Majesties, two Great Sages Equaling Heaven have come to the Dark Mountain and are fighting their way here.”

The Ring of Qinguang in the First Palace reported this with alarm to the King of Chujiang in the Second Palace. The news was passed on in turn to King Songdi in the Third Palace, the King of Biancheng in the Fourth Palace, King Yama in the Fifth Palace, King Impartial in the Sixth Palace, the King of Taishan in the Seventh Palace, the Metropolitan King in the Eighth Palace, King Wuguan in the Ninth Palace, and King Everturning Wheel in the Tenth Palace. In an instant the Ten Kings all gathered together and sent an urgent message to King Ksitigarbha. Meanwhile the Underworld forces were mustered in the Senluo Palace ready to capture the true and the false Monkey. Just then there was the roar of a mighty wind as dreary mists filled the air and the two Monkeys came tumbling and rolling to the Senluo Palace.