Wu Cheng-en - Journey to the West (vol. 3)

Black mists cast the sky into darkness;

Gloomy clouds cover the earth with murk.

Inky black in every quarter,

All enveloped in indigo.

At first the wind raises dust and dirt;

Then it blows down trees and ravages woods.

Amid the dust and dirt the stars still shine;

When trees go down and woods are ravaged the moonlight is obscured.

It blows so hard the Moon Goddess holds tight to the sala tree

And the Jade Hare hunts all around for the medicine dish.

The Nine Bright Shiner star lords shut their gates;

The dragon kings of the four seas close their doors.

The city god in his temple looks for the little devils;

Immortals in the sky cannot ride their clouds.

The kings of the Underworld search for their horse-faced demons

While the panicking judges get their turbans in a tangle.

The wind blows so hard it moves Mount Kunlun 's rocks,

And churns up the waves on rivers and lakes.

As soon as the wind had passed by there was a fragrance of musk and incense and the tinkling of pendants. When Monkey looked up he saw that a woman of great beauty was going towards the Buddha Hall. Monkey mumbled the words of a sutra for all he was worth. The woman went up to him, put her arms around him and asked, “What's that sutra you're reciting?”

“One I vowed to,” said Monkey.

“But why are you still reciting it when the others are all asleep?” she insisted.

“I vowed to, so why shouldn't I?” Monkey replied.

Keeping a tight hold on him, the woman kissed his lips and said, “Let's go round the back for a bit of fun.” Monkey deliberately turned his head aside as he replied, “Stop being so naughty.”

“Do you know how to tell people's fortunes from their faces?” the woman asked.

“I know a bit about it,” Monkey replied.

“What can you tell about me?” she continued. “You look to me rather like someone who's been driven out by her parents-in-law for carrying on with strangers.”

“You're wrong,” she replied, “you're wrong.

I have not been driven out by my parents-in-law,

Nor have I carried on with strangers.

Because of my ill fate in an earlier life

I was married to a husband who is much too young

And can't do his staff in the candlelit bedroom:

That is the reason why I have left my husband.

As the stars and moon are so bright tonight and we are fated to come hundreds of miles to meet each other, let's go round to the garden at the back to make love.”

When Brother Monkey heard this he nodded to himself and thought, “So those stupid lamas all died because they were led astray by lust. Now she's trying to lure me. Lady,” he said in reply, “I'm a monk and still very young. I don't know anything about love-making.”

“Come with me and I'll teach you,” the woman replied.

“All right then,” Monkey thought with an inward smile, “I'll go with her and see how she fixes things.”

Shoulder nestling against shoulder and hand in hand the two of them left the Buddha Hall and went straight to the garden at the back. Here the monster tripped Monkey over and sent him to the ground. With wild calls of “My darling!” she made a grab for his crotch.

“So you really want to eat me up, my girl,” he said, seizing her hand and throwing her off balance so that she somersaulted to the ground.

“So you can throw your sweetie to the ground, can you, my darling?” she said.

“If I don't take this chance to finish her off what am I waiting for?” he thought. “As they say, hit first and win, strike second and lose.” He leaned forward with his hands on his hips, sprang to his feet and reverted to his own form. With a swing of his gold-banded iron cudgel he struck at the monster's head.

In her astonishment she thought, “What a terror this young monk is.” When she opened her eyes wide for a better look she realized that he was the Tang Priest's disciple Monkey, but she was not afraid of him. What sort of evil spirit was she, you may wonder.

A golden nose,

Snowy white fur.

She makes her home in a tunnel,

Where she is thoroughly safe.

Three hundred years ago, after training her vital forces,

She paid several visits to the Vulture Peak,

Carrying a full load of flowers and wax candles.

Tathagata sent her down from Heaven.

She was a beloved daughter to the Pagoda-carrying Heavenly King;

Prince Nezha treated her as his own sister.

She was no bird that fills up the sea,

Nor was she a tortoise carrying mountains on its back.

She did not fear Lei Huan's swords

Nor was she afraid of Lu Qian's blade.

She came and went

Flowing like the mighty Han and Yangtse;

Moved up and down,

Even up a peak as high as Mounts Taishan and Heng.

Seeing the charming beauty of her face

You would never know she was a mouse-spirit with great powers.

In the pride in her enormous magic powers she held up a pair of swords that rang out as she parried to left and right, moving East and West. Although Monkey was rather stronger he could not overpower her. Then magic winds arose on all sides, dimming the waning moon. It was fine battle they fought in the garden at the back:

Evil winds blew from the ground;

Dim was the light of the waning moon.

Deserted was the hall of the Brahma Kings,

And the devils' cloister could not be clearly seen.

The back garden saw a battle Between the warrior Sun,

A sage in Heaven, And the furry girl,

A queen among women,

Both competing in magical powers and refusing to submit.

One turned her heart in anger from the dark-skinned baldy;

The other glared with his all-seeing eyes at the finely dressed woman.

With swords in her hands,

She is no female Bodhisattva.

The blows of the cudgel

Were as fierce as a living vajrapani's.

The resounding golden band flashed like lightning;

For an instant the iron shone white as a star.

In fine buildings they grabbed at the precious jade;

In golden halls the mandarin duck figurines were smashed.

As the apes howled the moon seemed small;

Vast was the sky as wild geese called.

The eighteen arhats

Applauded in secret;

Each of the thirty-two devas

Was struck with panic.

The Great Sage Monkey was in such high spirits that his cudgel never missed. Realizing that she was no match for him, the evil spirit frowned suddenly and thought of a plan as she extricated herself and made off.

“Where do you think you're going, you baggage?” Monkey shouted. “Surrender at once.”

The evil spirit paid no attention and fled. When she was hard-pressed by Monkey's pursuit she took the embroidered shoe off her left foot, blew on it with a magic breath, said the words of a spell, called out, “Change!” and turned it into a likeness of herself that came back at him waving a pair of swords. Meanwhile she turned her real body with a shake into a pure breeze and went.

This was Sanzang's star of disaster. She headed straight for the abbot's quarters, lifted Sanzang up into a cloud, and, on the instant, before anyone could see anything, she was back at Mount Pitfall and inside the Bottomless Cave, where she told her underlings to prepare a vegetarian marriage feast.

The story switches back to Brother Monkey, who fought with desperate anxiety until he was able to seize an opening and smash the evil spirit to the ground with a single blow, only to find that she was in fact an embroidered shoe. Realizing that he had fallen for a trick he went straight back to see the master. But was the master there? There were only the idiot and Friar Sand muttering together. His chest bursting with fury, Monkey put all thought of what he ought to do out of his head and raised his cudgel to lay about him.