The Journey to the West, Revised Edition, Volume 2 (87 page)

; literally, red lady, it is also the
Huechys
, an insect belonging to the cicada family and used for medicinal purposes. For poems of a similar nature in another monumental work of Chinese fiction of the same period, see
The Plum in the Golden Vase
, chapters 33 and 61. I owe the last two references to my colleague, Professor David T. Roy.

6
. Drill ice for fire: that is, to do the impossible.

7
. The moon had no root: that is, it is only a reflection.

8
. Nonetheless: literally, the words are
fenming
, meaning “quite clearly.” But there is hardly any description in the poem to justify the designation of “an evil place.” Hence the minor emendation in my translation.

9
. The moon his third friend: an allusion to a famous poem by the Tang poet, Li Bo
(701–762). In “Drinking Alone beneath the Moon,” Li wrote:

    
A pot of wine among the flowers;

    
I drink alone, no kith or kin near.

    
I raise my cup to invite the moon to join me;

    
It and my shadow make a party of three.

See
Sunflower Splendor: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Poetry
, coedited by Wu-chi Liu and Irving Lo (Bloomington, IN, 1975), p. 109.

10
. Spirit-Soothing Pillar: a euphemism for the stick used to tie someone facing execution.

CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE

1
. This is a lyric written to the tune of “Moon Over West River.”

2
. The name of the country, Baoxiang
, can mean either precious image or precious elephant. Both readings are strong in their Buddhist association.

3
. No less prosperous: that is, than the Tang nation.

4
. An allusion to the phrase
jincheng tangchi
, metal ramparts and moats of scalding liquid, metaphors for a fortified city.

5
. Great Ultimate Hall, etc.: the names of these halls and palaces are taken from actual buildings constructed in various periods of Chinese history. See G. Combaz, “les temples impériaux de la Chine,”
Annales de la Société Royale d’Archéologie
(Brussels) 21 (1907): 381 ff.; and Oswald Sirén,
the Imperial Palaces of Peking
, 3 vols. (Paris and Brussels, 1927).

6
. The three lines of the poem here allude to the Chinese idiom,
yijian shuangdiao
, meaning, literally, downing two hawks with a single arrow. But like its English counterpart—“hitting two birds with one stone”—the Chinese idiom can also mean any sort of double or twofold achievement. In gendered language, it often refers to a man gaining two mistresses, or a wife and a concubine.

7
. Necessary . . . document: a conventional phrase used frequently at the end of an official communication.

8
. Hanlin Academy: the Hanlinyuan
was the College of Literature in the capital. In the Ming, it was headed by a Chancellor (
xueshi
), a rank considerably lower than the Grand Secretary (
da xueshi
), and the reference here in the narrative might have been either carelessness or ignorance on the part of the XYJ author. According to Charles O. Hucker, “Governmental Organization of the Ming Dynasty,”
HJAS
21 (1958): 37, the Academy “provided literary and scholarly assistance of all kinds to the Emperor and the court. Its personnel drafted and polished proclamations and other state documents, compiled imperially sponsored histories and other works, read and explained the classics and histories to the Emperor, and participated in state ceremonies and to some extent in governmental deliberations.”

9
. Fragrant wind: usually, demon kings or monsters are not accompanied by fragrant wind or auspicious luminosity (
xiangfeng
and
xiangguang
), but this particular one is no ordinary monster. See
chapter 31
for his celestial origin.