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

Monkey squeezed in, landed on Sanzang's head and called, “Master.” Recognizing the voice, Sanzang sprang to his feet and said with tooth-gnashing fury, “Macaque! Other people get their courage from a big gall, but they have to wrap their bodies around it. Your gall is so big that you wrap it round your body. You used your magical powers of transformation to smash the crockery, but what use is that? By fighting that she-devil you've only made her more sex-crazed than ever. She is arranging a banquet with vegetarian and impure food all mixed up and is determined to mate with me. Where will this all end?”

Smiling to himself again, Monkey replied, “Don't be angry with me, Master. I've got a way to save you.”

“How will you save me?” the Tang Priest asked.

“When I flew up just now,” said Monkey, “I saw that she has a garden behind here. You must lure her into the garden to fool around and I'll rescue you from there.”

“How will you rescue me from the garden?” the Tang Priest asked.

“Go to the peach trees in the garden with her and stay there. Wait till I've flown to a branch of the peach tree and turned into a red peach. When you want to eat a peach pick the red one first-that will be me. She'll be bound to pick one too. You must insist on giving her the red one. Once she's swallowed it I'll be in her stomach. When I tear her stomach to pieces and rip her guts to shreds she'll be dead and you'll be freed.”

“With your powers you ought to fight her,” said Sanzang. “Why do you want to get into her stomach?”

“You don't understand, Master,” Monkey replied. “If it were easy to get in and out of this cave of hers I would be able to fight her. But this place is very hard to get into or out of: the way out is complicated and difficult. If I started a fight with her all the fiends in her den, young and old, would overpower me. Then how would it end? We must act carefully if we're all to make a clean getaway.”

Sanzang nodded, believing all that Monkey said, adding only, “You must stay with me.”

“I know,” said monkey, “I know. I'll be on your head.”

When master and disciple had settled their plan Sanzang leaned forward, took hold of the bars in the corridor's gates and called out, “Lady, lady.”

As soon as she heard this the evil spirit came rushing over, a simpering smile on her face, to ask, “What do you have to say to me, my wonderful darling?”

“Lady,” replied Sanzang, “ever since leaving Chang'an and starting on my journey to the West I have had to cross mountains and rivers every single day. When I was staying in the Zhenhai Monastery last night I caught a bad chill and I have been in a sweat today. I was just beginning to feel a little better today when in your kindness, good lady, you brought me into your immortals' palace. As I have been sitting here all day I am now feeling in rather low spirits again. Could you take me somewhere to cheer myself up and have a little fun?”

The evil spirit was utterly delighted. “So you're feeling a bit interested, are you, my wonderful darling?” she said. “You and I will go into the garden for some fun. Little ones,” she called, “fetch the key, open the garden gates, and sweep the paths in the garden.” The demons all hurried off to open the gates and tidy the place up.

Meanwhile the evil spirit was opening the screen and helping the Tang Priest out. Just watch the many young demons-all willowy beauties with oiled hair and powdered faces-crowding around the Tang Priest as they head for the garden. What a splendid monk he was, walking amid these beauties in their gauze and brocade for no other purpose than to be deaf and dumb. If instead of having an iron heart set on the Buddha he had been any ordinary man susceptible to wine and women he would never have succeeded in fetching the scriptures.

When they reached the entrance to the garden the evil spirit whispered seductively, “My wonderful darling, let's have some fun here-it'll cheer you up.” They went into the garden hand in hand, and when he looked up he saw that it was indeed a splendid place. This is what could be seen:

All over the winding paths

Bluish lichens grow.

Secluded gauze windows

Kept dark by embroidered curtains.

When the breeze arises

Silks and brocades float in the air.

When the gentle rain stops falling

The smooth white skin and jade-like flesh are revealed.

The sun-scorched apricot

Is red as an immortal's rainbow clothes spread out to dry;

The plantain in the moonlight

Is bluer than Lady Taizhen waving her feather fan.

Whitewashed walls enclose

The golden orioles that sing in ten thousand willows.

Within the empty halls

Butterflies flit among begonias in the courtyard.

Look at the Hall of Crystallized Perfumes,

The Green Moth Hall,

The Hall to Recover from Drunkenness,

The Hall of Longing,

Rolling up the brilliance, one behind the other.

On the red curtains

Hooks hold tassels like prawn whiskers.

Now look at the Pavilion to Ease Pain

The Pavilion of Simplicity,

The Pavilion of Thrushes,

The Four Rains Pavilion,

All towering and lofty,

And bearing on decorated tablets

Their names in archaic script.

Look too at the Pool Where Cranes Bathe,

The Goblet-washing Pool,

The Pool of Delight in the Moon,

The Pool for Cleansing Tassels,

Where amid duckweed and algae the gold scales shine.

Then there is the Kiosk of Ink Flowers,

The Kiosk of Strange Boxes,

The Interesting Kiosk,

The Kiosk for Admiring the Clouds

Where bubbles like green ants float on the wine in jade ladles and goblets.

Around the pools and pavilions

Stand rocks from Lake Taihu,

Rocks of purple crystal,

Yingluo rocks,

Jin River rocks,

Greenish and overgrown with tiger-whisker rushes.

East and West of the kiosks and balls are found

A Wooden Mountain,

A Turquoise Screen Mountain,

A Howling Wind Mountain,

A Jade Mushroom Mountain,

All covered in phoenix-tail bamboo.

Trellises of briar roses,

And garden roses,

Growing by a swing,

As a curtain of silk and brocade.

A Pine Pavilion,

A Magnolia Pavilion,

Opposite a Saussurea Pavilion,

Forming a wall of jade with embroidered hangings.

Herbaceous and tree peonies are rivals in luxuriance;

The night-closing magnolias and the jasmine

Are charming every year.

Moist with dewdrops are the purple buds:

They ought to be painted or drawn.

The red hibiscus fills the sky with flaming splendor,

A marvellous subject for poetry.

When it comes to fine scenery

This makes Lang Garden or Penglai not worth a mention;

And as for the flowers,

The finest peonies of Luoyang count for nothing beside them.

In the battle of the blossoms late in the spring

The garden lacks only the flowers of jade.

The venerable elder led the she-devil by the hand as they strolled in the garden, admiring the endless displays of rare and exotic blooms. As they went through many a hall and pavilion he really did seem to be going into an exquisite place. Looking up, he realized that he was by the peach grove. Monkey pinched his master's head to remind him.

Flying to a branch of a peach tree Brother Monkey shook himself and turned into a red peach, and a most fetchingly red one at that. “Lady,” the venerable elder said to the evil spirit, “what beautifully scented flowers and ripe fruit you have in this garden.

The blooms are so fragrant bees vie for their nectar;

The birds all compete for the fruit on the branches.

Why are some of the peaches on the trees red and some green?”