The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 2 (52 page)

Without stopping night or day, they came upon a pine forest after having traveled for over a hundred miles. Inside the forest was a winding brook in which clear green water swiftly flowed. At the head of the brook there was a stone-slab bridge, which led directly up to the entrance of a cave dwelling. “Brothers,” said Pilgrim, “look at that craggy cliff over there with all those rocks. It must be the home of the monster-spirit. Let me discuss the matter with you: which of you is going to stand and guard the luggage and the horse, and which of you will follow me to subdue the fiend?” Eight Rules said, “Elder Brother, old Hog can’t sit still for too long. Let me go with you.” “Fine! Fine!” said Pilgrim. “Sha Monk, hide the luggage and the horse deep in the forest, and guard them carefully. The two of us will go up there to search for Master.” Sha Monk agreed; Eight Rules then followed Pilgrim to move forward, each of them holding his weapon. Truly

    
The child’s not smelted and demonic fire triumphs,

    
But Wood Mother and Mind Monkey have mutual support.

We don’t know what will be the outcome when they walk up to the cave; let’s listen to the explanation in the next chapter.

FORTY-
ONE

Mind Monkey is defeated by fire;

Wood Mother is captured by demons.

    
Good and evil—a moment’s false thoughts;

    
Shame and honor, neither concerns you.

    
Failure or success, let it come and go;

    
Live as you need, within your lot.

    
Composed, you’ve peace deep and lasting;

    
Muddled, you’re besieged by demons.

    
Five Phases hobbled wreck the grove of Chan,

    
Certain as rising wind’s frigid.
¹

We were telling you about the Great Sage Sun, who, along with Eight Rules, took leave of Sha Monk. Leaping over the Dried Pine Stream, they went before a cliff full of strange rocks and discovered that there was indeed a cave dwelling. The scenery all around was most unusual. You see

    
A winding old path silent and remote;

    
E’en wind and moon heed the black cranes singing.

    
White clouds part and the river’s full of light;

    
Water flows past a bridge—what a scene divine.

    
Apes and birds call amid rare flowers and plants

    
And rocks entwined by creepers and orchids fair.

    
The cliff’s rustling green scatters mist and smoke;

    
Verdant pines and bamboos the phoenix beckon.

    
Distant summits rise like vertical screens.

    
Fronting stream and mountain’s a true divine cave,

    
Its source coming from the Kunlun ranges,

    
To be enjoyed only by one ordained.

When they went up to the entrance of the cave, they found a slab of stone on which an inscription was written in large letters: “Fiery Cloud Cave, Dried Pine Stream, Roaring Mountain.” Before the entrance was a mob of little imps prancing around with swords and spears. In a loud voice, the Great Sage Sun cried out, “You punks! Go quickly and report this to your cave master. Tell him to send out our Tang Monk at once, so that the lives of all these spirits in your cave may be spared. If you whisper but half a ‘No,’ I’ll overturn your residence and level your cave!” When those little fiends heard
these
words, they turned and dashed inside the cave, slamming shut the two doors of stone. Then they ran to make this report: “Great King, disaster!”

We now tell you about that fiend, who captured Tripitaka and brought him back to the cave. The monk was stripped of his garments, hog-tied with all four limbs behind his back, and left in the rear yard. The little fiends were ordered to scrub him clean with water so that he might be steamed and eaten. When the announcement of disaster was suddenly heard, the demons stopped their activities and went to the front to ask, “What disaster is there?” “A monk with a hairy face and a thunder-god beak,” said one of the little fiends, “leading another monk with large ears and long snout, is demanding the return of their master, someone by the name of the Tang Monk, in front of our cave. If we but whisper half a ‘No,’ they said, they would overturn our residence and level our cave.” Smiling scornfully, the demon king said, “These two happen to be Pilgrim Sun and Zhu Eight Rules. They truly know where to look! From the spot halfway in the mountain where I caught their master to our place is a distance of some one hundred and fifty miles. How did they manage to find our door so quickly?” He then gave this order: “Little ones, those of you who look after the carts, push them out!”

Several of the little fiends opened the door and pushed out five small carts. When he saw them, Eight Rules said, “Elder Brother, these monster-spirits must be afraid of us. They have hauled out their carts to move to another place.”

“No,” said Pilgrim, “look at the way they are placing the carts over there.” The little fiends indeed placed the carts at five locations corresponding to the Five Phases of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth; five of the fiends stood guard beside the carts while five others went inside again to make their report. “Everything set?” asked the demon king. “All set,” they replied. “Bring me my lance,” he ordered. Those fiends who looked after weapons had two of them carry out an eighteen-foot fire-tipped lance to hand over to the monster king. With no other armor except a battle kilt of embroidered silk and with naked feet, the monster king took up the lance and walked outside. When Pilgrim and Eight Rules raised their heads to look, they found a fiendish creature who had

    
A face as if it had been powdered white,

    
And lips so ruddy, they seemed brushed with paint.

    
No dye could create such dark, lovely hair;

    
His eyebrows curved like new moons carved with knives.

    
Phoenix and dragon coiled on his battle kilt;

    
More husky than Nata’s a frame he had.

    
With air imposing he lifted up his lance

    
And
walked out the door, swathed in hallowed light.

    
He roared like thunder in the time of spring;

    
His striking eyes flashed like lightning bright.

    
If one would know his true identity,

    
Remember Red Boy, a name of lasting fame.

After that Red Boy monster had emerged from the door, he shouted, “Who is here making all these noises?” Smiling as he drew near, Pilgrim said, “My worthy nephew! Stop fooling around! This morning when you were hung high on top of a pine tree by the mountain road, you presented yourself as a thin, frightened boy with jaundice and deceived my master. I carried you on my back with all good intention, you know, but you used a little wind to abduct my master here. Even though you appear before me now like this, you think I can’t recognize you? You might as well send my master out quickly. Stop behaving like a callow youth and take care not to upset the feelings of kinship. For I fear that if your father gets wind of this, he might blame old Monkey for oppressing youth with age, and that wouldn’t be quite right.”

Enraged by the words he heard, the fiend shouted back, “You brazen ape! What feelings of kinship do I share with you? What sort of balderdash are you mouthing around here? Who’s your worthy nephew?” “O brother!” said Pilgrim. “You wouldn’t know, would you? At the time when your father and I became bond-brothers, we didn’t even know where you were.” “This ape is babbling more nonsense!” said the fiend. “Where do you come from, and where do I come from? Think about this! How could my father and you become bond-brothers?”

“Of course, you wouldn’t know about this,” said Pilgrim. “I am Sun Wukong, the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven, who greatly disturbed the Heavenly Palace five hundred years ago. But before I caused such disturbance, I made extensive tours of all the Four Great Continents, and there was not a spot on Earth or in Heaven that I did not set foot on, for I was most eager to befriend all the valiant and heroic persons. Your father, the Bull Monster King, called himself the Great Sage, Parallel with Heaven. He and old Monkey formed a fraternal alliance of seven, and we all made him the big brother.
²
There were also a Dragon Monster King, who called himself the Great Sage, Covering the Ocean, and became the second brother; a Garuda Monster King, who called himself Great Sage, United with Heaven, and became the third brother; a Lion Monster King, who called himself the Great Sage, Mover of Mountains, and became the fourth brother; a Female Monkey King, who called herself the Fair Wind Great Sage and became the fifth member; and a Giant Ape Monster King, who called himself the God-Routing Great Sage and became the sixth brother. Old Monkey, the Great
Sage,
Equal to Heaven, was rather small in size, and so he was number seven. At the time when we old brothers were having fun, you weren’t even born!”

Refusing to believe a word he heard, the fiend lifted up his fire-tipped lance to stab at Pilgrim. An expert, as they said, would not be exercised, and Pilgrim at once stepped aside to dodge the blow before striking out with his iron rod, yelling at the same time, “You little beast! You don’t know what’s good for you! Watch my rod!” The monster-spirit also parried the blow, yelling at the same time, “Brazen ape! You are so ignorant of the ways of the world! Watch my lance!” The two of them thus refused to give any consideration for kinship relation; changing colors all at once, they used their magic and leaped to the edge of the clouds. What a fight!

    
Pilgrim enjoyed great fame;

    
The demon king had vast powers.

    
One raised up the golden-hooped rod sideways;

    
One lunged forward with the fire-tipped lance.

    
Mist spread out to shroud the Three Regions;

    
Clouds spewed forth to hide the four quarters.

    
Violent air and savage noise did fill the sky;

    
The sun, the moon, the stars—all lost their light.

    
Not one kind word was spoken,

    
They felt such hatred and scorn.

    
That one’s contempt made him lose all manners;

    
This one’s wrath killed all regard for relations.

    
The rod struck with increasing might;

    
The lance came with growing fury.

    
One was the primordial, true Great Sage;

    
One was Child Sudhana
³
of the right fruit.

    
They drove themselves, each trying hard to win,

    
All for the Tang Monk, who would greet the dharma king.

The demon and the Great Sage Sun fought for more than twenty rounds without reaching a decision. Standing on one side, Zhu Eight Rules saw clearly what was going on: although the monster-spirit was not about to be defeated, he was only parrying the blows left and right, and did not attack his opponent at all; and, although Pilgrim did not seem able to prevail all at once, he was, after all, such an adroit and skillful warrior that the rod back and forth never seemed to leave the vicinity of the monster’s head. Eight Rules thought to himself, “That’s good! Pilgrim is so tricky! He could fake something and deceive the demon into drawing closer. One blow of that iron rod then would wipe out my chance of making any merit!” Look at him! He roused his spirit, lifted up his nine-pronged rake, and brought it
down
hard on the monster-spirit’s head. Terrified by what he saw, the fiend quickly turned around and fled, dragging his lance behind him. “Chase him! Chase him!” shouted Pilgrim to Eight Rules.

The two of them gave chase up to the entrance of the cave, where they saw the monster-spirit standing in one of the five carts, the one set up in the middle. With one hand he held on to his fire-tipped lance; with the other fist, he gave his own nose a couple of punches. Laughing, Eight Rules said, “Shame on him! This fellow’s indulging in roguery! He wants to bust his own nose, make himself bleed a little, and smear his face red so that he may go somewhere to file suit against us.”

After that demon gave himself two punches, he recited a spell and immediately flames shot out from his mouth as thick smoke sprouted from his nose. In an instant, flames darted up from all five carts. The demon opened his mouth a few more times and a huge fire shot up to the sky, burning so fiercely that the entire Fiery Cloud Cave was hidden from sight by the flames and smoke. Horrified, Eight Rules said, “Elder Brother, it’s getting sticky! Once we are caught in that fire, we are finished. Old Hog will be roasted, and after some spices are added, they can just enjoy me! Quickly! Run!” He said he would run, and the next moment he had already crossed the stream without any regard for Pilgrim.