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

The delicate begonia collapses in the dust;

The fragrant rose is now sleeping in the wilds.

The spring wind smashes caltrop, lotus and pear;

Winter snows weigh down the plum tree's tender blossoms.

The petals of the pomegranate

Are scattered all around the inner courtyard;

The branches of the willow

Are blown sideways within the royal palace.

Fine blooms, and a night of raging wind and rain:

Countless red petals carpet the ground with brocade.

Sanzang hastily put his trembling arms round the king and said, “Don't be afraid, Your Majesty. It is only my wicked disciple using his magical powers to find out whether she is an impostor or not.”

Seeing that things were going badly for her, the evil spirit broke free, tore off her clothes, flung down her jewelry and hair ornaments and ran to the shrine of the local deity in the palace garden. From here she brought out a short club shaped like the head of a trip-hammer, with which she started hitting wildly at Monkey as she turned quickly towards him. Monkey, who had caught up with her at once, struck back at her face with his iron cudgel, Shouting and roaring at each other, the two of them started fighting in the palace gardens. Then each began a great display of magic powers, riding clouds as they battled in mid air. In this fight

Great was the fame of the gold-banded cudgel;

No one had heard of the hammerhead club.

One of them was there to fetch the true scriptures;

The other was lingering for love of rare flowers.

Long had the demon known of the holy Tang Priest,

And she longed to mate with his primal seed-juices.

In a past year she had carried off the real princess,

And taken the form of the king's true daughter.

When she met the Great Sage, who saw her evil aura,

He could tell true from false as he came to save a life.

The murderous club was flung at the head;

The mighty iron cudgel struck back at the face.

Ranting and roaring, they were locked in struggle,

Filling the skies and blotting out the sun.

As the two of them battled in mid air they terrified the common people of the city, and struck fear into all the officials at court. The venerable elder kept saying as he supported the king, “Don't be alarmed, and please tell Her Majesty and all the others not to be afraid. Your princess is an impostor pretending to be her. When my disciple has captured her you will be able to see whether she is good or evil.” Some of the bolder consorts brought clothes and jewelry to show the queen.

“These are what the princess wore. She tore them off and is fighting that monk up in the sky stark naked. She must be an evil spirit.” Only then did the king, queens and consorts come to their senses and look up into the sky.

When the evil spirit and the Great Sage had been fighting for half a day without either emerging as victor Monkey threw his cudgel up and called “Change!” One turned into ten, ten into a hundred, and a hundred into a thousand. Half the sky was filled with writhing serpents and pythons striking wildly at the evil spirit. With a flurry of her hands and feet she turned into a pure wind and fled into the azure sky. Monkey said a spell, took all the iron cudgels back into a single cudgel, and went straight after her magic light.

As he approached the Western Gate of Heaven and saw the dazzling flags and banners Monkey shouted at the top of his voice, “Heavenly gatekeepers, stop that evil spirit and don't let her get away.” The gate was being held by the Heavenly King Lokapala with the four great marshals Pang, Liu, Gou and Bi, who did indeed use their weapons to block the way. As she could not get further she turned straight back and started fighting Monkey with her short club.

As he wheeled his iron cudgel the Great Sage looked carefully at her and saw that one end of her club was thick and one end thin, just like the lead of a trip-hammer used for hulling with a mortar, so he gave a furious roar and shouted, “Beast! What's that implement you're holding? How dare you fight me with it? Surrender at once or I'll smash your skull with a single blow from my cudgel.”

Grinding her teeth, the evil spirit replied, “You don't know about this weapon of mine, so listen while I tell you:

Its immortal root was a piece of mutton-fat jade,

Which took countless years to be worked into shape.

It was already mine when chaos was separated;

When the primal disorder was sorted out I came first.

Its origins cannot be compared with mere mortal things;

Its nature has always belonged to the highest heaven.

Embodying the golden light and the four images

With the auspicious vapors of the Five Elements and the Three Primaries.

Long did it live with me in the Moon Palace,

Staying beside me in the Cassia Hall.

For love of flowers I descended to the mortal world,

Coming to India as a beautiful impostor.

The only reason why I shared the King's pleasures

Was because I wanted my destined marriage with the Tang Priest.

How could you be so cruel as to ruin this fine mating,

Pursuing me and giving rein to your vicious nature?

Great is the fame of this implement of mine,

Which is older than your cudgel with gold bands.

It was a drug-pounding pestle in the Moon Palace:

One blow from this and a life is ended.”

When Monkey heard this he replied with a mocking laugh, “Evil beast! If you used to live in the Toad Palace you must have heard of my powers. How dare you argue with me! Turn back into your real self and surrender at once if I'm to spare your life.”

“I know you,” the monster replied. “You're the Protector of the Horses who made great havoc in the palaces of Heaven five hundred years ago. By rights I ought to give way to you, but because you've wrecked my marriage I hate you as much as if you'd killed my mother and father. It's more than I can stand for. I'm going to kill you, you Protector of the Horses, for breaking the laws of Heaven.” The words Protector of the Horses always infuriated the Great Sage, so the moment he heard them he flew into a great rage, lifted his iron cudgel and struck at her face. The evil spirit swung her pestle in reply. A ferocious battle then ensued in front of the Western Gate of Heaven. In this combat there were

A gold-banded cudgel,

A drug-pounding pestle,

Two immortals' weapons, a worthy match.

One had come down to earth for the sake of a marriage;

The other was there to protect the Tang Priest.

It was because the king was not a righteous one

And loved flowers that he attracted the evil spirit,

Causing today's bitter strife

As two of them gave Ml play to their stubbornness of heart.

Charging and rushing each other they strove for triumph;

In cutting words they fought on with their tongues.

Rare was the martial prowess of the medicine pestle,

But finer still was the iron cudgel's might.

A powerful golden light flashed at the heavenly gates;

Brilliantly coloured mists went right down to the earth.

After a dozen rounds of fighting to and fro

The evil spirit became too weak to resist.

When the evil spirit had fought another dozen or so rounds with Brother Monkey she could see how thick and fast his blows were coming, and realized that she could not win. Feinting with her pestle, she shook herself and fled due South in ten thousand beams of golden light with the Great Sage in pursuit. Suddenly they reached a great mountain, where the evil spirit landed her golden light and disappeared into a cave. Monkey, who was worried that she might escape, return to India and do some underhand harm to the Tang Priest, made sure he could recognize the mountain then turned his cloud round and went straight back to the capital.