CHAPTER 79 

Searching the Cave to Capture the Fiend They Meet Longevity; The Reigning Monarch Saves the Little Boys

The story tells how the royal aide dragged the imitation Tang Priest out of the government hostel and marched him, heavily surrounded by royal guardsmen, straight to the gates of the palace, where he said to the eunuch gate officer, “Please be so good as to report to His Majesty that we have brought the Tang Priest.” The eunuch officer hurried into the palace to pass this on to the deluded king, who ordered that they be brought in.

All the officials knelt at the foot of the steps to the throne hall, leaving the imitation Tang Priest standing alone in the middle of them.

“King of Bhiksuland,” he shouted, “what have you summoned me here to say to me?”

“We are sick with a chronic illness that has dragged on for many a day without any improvement,” the king replied. “Now the Elder of the Nation has to our good fortune presented us with a prescription that has been made up. All that is needed now is an adjuvant. The reason we have sent for you, reverend sir, is to ask you for the adjuvant. If we recover we will build a temple to you in which offerings will be made in all four seasons and incense will be burnt to you in perpetuity by our country.”

“I am a man of religion,” the imitation Tang Priest replied, “and have brought nothing with me. I do not know what adjuvant the Elder of the Nation has told Your Majesty you need.”

“Your heart, reverend sir,” the deluded monarch replied.

“I will be frank with Your Majesty,” the imitation Tang Priest said. “I have a number of hearts. I don’t know which you want.”

“Monk,” pronounced the Elder of the Nation, who was standing beside the king. “I want your black heart.”

“Very well then,” the imitation Tang Priest replied. “Produce your knife at once and open up my chest. If there is a black heart there I shall offer it to you obediently.”

The deluded monarch thanked him delightedly and ordered an official in attendance to bring a small knife with a blade shaped like a cow’s ear that was handed to the imitation Tang Priest. Taking the knife, the imitation Tang Priest undid his clothes, thrust out his chest, pressed his left hand against his abdomen and cut the skin of his stomach open with the knife in his right hand. There was a whoosh, and out rolled a whole pile of hearts. The civilian officials all turned pale with fright; the military officers were numbed.

When the Elder of the Nation saw this from inside the throne hall he said, “This monk is a suspicious-minded character. He has too many hearts.”

The imitation Tang Priest then held up the hearts one by one, each dripping with blood, for all to see. They included a loyal red heart, a pure white heart, a yellow heart, an avaricious heart, a fame-hungry heart, a jealous heart, a calculating heart, an over-competitive heart, an ambitious heart, an overbearing heart, a murderous heart, a vicious heart, a frightened heart, a cautious heart, a heretical heart and a heart full of indefinable gloom. There was every kind of evil heart except a black one. The deluded ruler was horror-struck, unable to speak until he said in trembling tones, “Put them away! Put them away!”

The imitation Tang Priest had taken as much as he could, so he put his magic away and turned back into himself to say to the deluded monarch, “Your Majesty, you’re not at all perceptive. We monks all have good hearts. It’s only this Elder of the Nation of yours who has a black heart. His would make a good adjuvant for the medicine. If you don’t believe me I’ll take his out to show you.”

When the Elder of the Nation heard this he opened his eyes wide to take a careful look. He saw that the monk’s face had changed to something quite different. Heavens! Recognizing him as the Great Sage Equaling Heaven who had been so famous five hundred years ago he made a getaway by cloud. Wukong did a somersault and sprang up into mid-air to shout, “Where do you think you’re going? Take this from me!” The Elder used his stick with a dragon on its head to meet the blow from Wukong’s cudgel. The two of them fought a fine battle up in the sky:

The As-You-Will cudgel

And the dragon stick

Making clouds up in the sky.

The Elder of the Nation was really an evil spirit,

Using his fiendish daughter’s seductive charms.

The king had made himself ill through his lust;

The monster wanted to butcher the boys.

There was no escape from the Great Sage’s divine powers

To catch demons and to rescue their victims.

The cudgel’s blows to the head were really vicious;

Splendid was the way in which the stick met them.

They fought so hard that the sky was full of mist,

Casting city and people into darkness and fear.

The souls of civil and military officials went flying;

The faces of the queens and concubines turned pale.

The deluded king tried desperately to hide,

Trembling and shaking, unable to do anything.

The cudgel was as fierce as a tiger from the mountains;

The staff whirled round like a dragon leaving the sea.

Now they made havoc in Bhiksuland

As good and evil were clearly set apart.

When the evil spirit had fought over twenty hard rounds with Wukong his dragon staff was no longer a match for the gold-banded cudgel. Feinting with his staff, the spirit turned himself into a beam of cold light and dropped into the inner quarters of the palace to take the demon queen he had presented to the king out through the palace gates with him. She too turned into cold light and disappeared.

Bringing his cloud down, the Great Sage landed in the palace and said to the officials, “That’s a fine Elder of the Nation you have!” The officials, all bowed to him, thanking the holy monk.

“No need for that,” said Wukong. “Go and see where your deluded king is.”

“When our monarch saw the fighting he hid in terror,” the officials replied. “We do not know which of the palaces he is in.”

“Find him at once,” Wukong ordered them. “Perhaps Queen Beauty has carried him off.” As soon as the officials heard this they rushed with Wukong straight to the rooms of Queen Beauty, ignoring the fact that these were the inner quarters. They were deserted and there was no sign of the king. Queen Beauty was nowhere to be seen either. The queens of the main, the eastern and the western palaces and the consorts of the six compounds all came to kowtow in thanks to the Great Sage.

“Please get up,” Wukong said. “It’s too early for thanks now. Go and find your sovereign lord.”

A little later four or five eunuchs appeared from behind the Hall of Caution supporting the deluded king. All the ministers prostrated themselves on the ground and called out in union, “Sovereign lord! Sovereign lord! We are grateful that this holy monk came here to uncover the impostor. The Elder of the Nation was an evil spirit and Queen Beauty has vanished too.” When the king heard this he invited Wukong to come from the inner quarters of the palace to the throne hall, where he kowtowed in thanks to Wukong.

“Venerable sir,” he said, “when you came to court this morning you were so handsome. Why have you made yourself look different now?”

“I can tell you for a fact, Your Majesty,” replied Wukong with a grin, “that the one who came this morning was my master Sanzang, the younger brother of the Tang emperor. I’m his disciple Sun Wukong. There are two more of us disciples, Zhu Bajie, or Wuneng, and Sha Wujing, or Friar Sand, who are both now in the government hostel. I turned myself into my master’s double and came here to defeat the monster because I knew that you had been deluded by his evil suggestions and were going to take my master’s heart to use as an adjuvant for your elixir.”

When the king heard this he ordered his ministers in attendance to go straight to the hostel to fetch Wukong’s master and fellow-disciples. The news that Pilgrim Sun had turned back into himself and had fought the evil spirit in mid-air gave Sanzang such a fright that his souls scattered. It was lucky that Bajie and Friar Sand were able to hold him up. His face was still plastered with stinking mud and he was feeling thoroughly depressed and miserable when he heard someone call, “Master of the Law, we are ministers in attendance sent by the king of Bhiksuland to invite you to court to receive His Majesty’s thanks.”

“Don’t be afraid, Master,” said Bajie, “don’t be afraid. This time he’s not sending for you to take your heart out. I’m sure that Elder Brother has succeeded and they’re inviting you there to thank you.”

“Even if they have come to invite me there because he has succeeded I could not face anyone with this stinking mask on,” Sanzang replied.

“We’ve got no option,” said Bajie. “We’ll just have to go to see my elder brother. He’s bound to have a solution.” The venerable elder really did have no choice but to go to the main hall of the hostel with Bajie and Friar Sand carrying the luggage and leading the horse. When the ministers saw him they were all terrified.

“My lord,” they said, “they both have heads like monsters.”

“Please don’t take offence at our ugliness,” Friar Sand replied. “Both of us have the bodies that were left after an earlier life. If my master could see my elder brother he’d become handsome straight away.”

When the three of them reached the palace they went straight to the throne hall without waiting to be summoned. As soon as Wukong saw them he turned round and came down from the hall to meet them. Pulling the mud mask off his master’s face he blew on him with magic breath, called “Change!” and turned the Tang Priest back into himself. Sanzang was now in better spirits. The king came down from the throne hall to greet him as “Master of the Law” and “ancient Buddha.” Master and disciples then tethered the horse and went into the throne hall to be presented.

“Does Your Majesty know where the monsters came from?” Wukong asked. “Let me go and catch them both for you. Then we will have eliminated future catastrophe.”

When all the queens, consorts and concubines of the three palaces and six compounds, who were behind the screen of bright green jade, heard Wukong saying that he was going to eliminate future catastrophe they cast aside all their inhibitions about appearing in front of an outsider, and a male one at that, as they came out to bow to him and say, “We beg you, holy monk and venerable Buddha, to destroy them completely, root and branch, with your dharma powers. That would be an act of the greatest kindness, and we would of course reward you richly.” Quickly responding to their bows Wukong insisted that the king tell him where the monsters lived.

“We asked him when he came here three years ago,” the king replied shamefacedly, “and he told us that it was only some twenty miles to the south of the city, in Pure Splendor Grange on Willow Slope. The Elder of the Nation was old and had no son, only the daughter that his second wife had given him. She was just fifteen and unmarried. He offered to present her to us, and because we fancied the girl we accepted her. She was the favourite among all the palace women. We never expected that we would fall so ill that all the prescriptions of the Royal College of Physicians would be of no avail. Then he told us that he had a formula for an elixir for which a decoction of boiled little boys’ hearts was needed as the adjuvant. In our folly we believed him and chose some boys from among the common people. At noon today we were going to operate and take out their hearts. We never expected that you would come down to us, holy monk, and that at that very moment all the boys would disappear in their coops. Then he said that as you were a holy monk who had cultivated the truth for ten lifetimes and not yet dissipated your primal masculinity your heart would be ten thousand times more effective than the little boys’ ones. In our temporary delusion we did not realize that you would see through the evil monster, holy monk. We hope that you will make full use of your great dharma to eliminate any future catastrophe. All the wealth of the nation will be given to you as your reward.”

“I will tell you the truth,” Wukong replied. “Because my master took pity on the little boys in the coops he told me to hide them. Don’t say anything about giving us wealth. When I capture the evil monsters that will be a good deed to my credit. Come with me, Bajie.”

“Whatever you say, Elder Brother,” Bajie replied. “The only thing is that I’ve got an empty belly: I’ll be rather weak.” The king then ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs to prepare a vegetarian meal at once. Before long the food arrived.

Having eaten his fill, Bajie braced his spirits and rose by cloud with Wukong. The king, queens, consorts and civil and military officials were all so astonished that they all kowtowed to the sky, exclaiming, “They really are immortals and Buddhas come down to earth.” The Great Sage led Bajie twenty miles due south, stopped their wind and cloud and started searching for the demons’ home. All he could see was a clear stream running between banks on which grew thousands of willows: he had no idea where the Pure Splendor Grange might be. Indeed:

Endless expanses stretched out in his gaze;

The embankment had vanished amid willows and haze.

When he could not find the grange the Great Sage Sun made a spell with his hands, said the magic word “Om” and summoned the local deity, who approached shivering and shaking, fell to his knees and called out, “Great Sage, the local god of Willow Bank kowtows to you.”

“Don’t be afraid,” Wukong said, “I’m not going to hit you. Tell me this: is there a Pure Splendor Grange on Willow Hill? And where is it?”

“There is a Pure Splendor Cave,” the local deity replied, “but there has never been a Pure Splendor Grange. I suppose you have come from Bhiksuland, Great Sage.”

“Yes, yes,” Wukong replied. “The king of Bhiksuland was hoodwinked by an evil spirit till I turned up, saw through the monster, defeated him and drove him away. He turned into a beam of cold light and I don’t know where he went. When I asked the king of Bhiksuland about it he told me that when the demon first presented him with the girl three years ago he asked the spirit about his background. The demon said that he lived in Pure Splendor Grange on Willow Hill twenty miles south of the city. I’ve found this place with its wooded hill but can’t see any Pure Splendor Grange. That’s why I asked you about it.”

“I beg your forgiveness, Great Sage,” said the local god, kowtowing. “This is part of the domain of the king of Bhiksuland, and I should have kept a closer watch on things. But the evil spirit had such terrible magical powers. If I had given away what he was doing he would have come and given me a bad time. That is why he has never been caught. Now that you are here, Great Sage, you need only go to the foot of the nine-forked willow on the southern bank, walk round it three times to the left and three times to the right, hit the tree with both hands and shout ‘Open up’ three times. The Pure Splendor Cave Palace will then appear.”

On learning this the Great Sage sent the local god away again, jumped over the stream with Bajie and went to look for that willow tree. There was indeed a tree with nine forks on a single trunk. “Stand well back,” Wukong ordered Bajie, “while I make the gates open. When I’ve found the demon and chased him out you’re to help.”

In response to this order Bajie took up his stand about three hundred yards from the tree while the Great Sage followed the local god’s advice and went round the tree three times to the left and three times to the right then hit it with both hands, shouting, “Open up! Open up!” An instant later a pair of double doors opened with a noisy whoosh and the tree was nowhere to be seen. Inside the doors was bright light of many colours but no sign of human life. Confident in his divine might, Wukong charged in. He could see that it was a fine place:

Shimmering clouds, from which

Sun and moon stole their brightness.

White clouds billowing from the caves,

Bright green lichens running wild in the courtyard.

Along the path rare flowers competed in beauty,

While plants on the steps vied in fragrant blossom.

Warm was the air

Where it was ever spring.

This was just like a fairyland,

Or Penglai, the paradise of immortals.

Creepers grew all over the benches;

Vines ran wild across the bridge.

Bees flew into the cave carrying flowers;

Butterflies flirted with orchids as they passed the screen of stone.

Hurrying forward for a closer look Wukong saw that on the stone screen was carved IMMORTAL PALACE OF PURE SPLENDOR. Unable to restrain himself, he jumped over the stone screen to see the old monster embracing a beautiful woman and telling her breathlessly what had happened in Bhiksuland.

“That was our chance,” they said together. “Three years’ efforts should have paid off today, but that ape’s ruined everything.”

Wukong charged up to them, brandishing his cudgel and shouting, “I’ll get you, you fools. What do you mean, that was your chance? Take that!” Pushing the woman aside, the old monster swung his dragon-headed stick to block the cudgel. It was a fine battle that the two of them fought in front of the cave, and quite unlike the previous one:

The upraised cudgel spat out golden light;

Vicious vapors came from the swinging staff.

The monster said, “How dare you in your ignorance come to my home?”

Wukong replied, “I intend to subdue evil monsters.”

The monster said, “My love for the king was no business of yours, so why did you come to bully and interfere?”

Wukong answered, “A compassionate monk should bring misrule to an end. We could not endure the slaughter of children.”

As they flung words at each other hostility grew:

Staff parried cudgel as blows struck at the heart.

Precious flowers were destroyed as they fought for their lives;

Green moss became slippery when trampled underfoot.

Pale grew the light in the cave as they struggled:

Crushed were the fragrant blooms on the crags.

At the clash of their weapons the birds dared not fly;

Their shouts sent the beauties all running in terror.

Only the monster and Wukong were left

To stir up a hurricane that roared over the earth.

Slowly their battle took them out of the cave

Where Wuneng gave play to his mindless wrath.

The sound of the commotion they were making inside so excited Bajie where he was waiting outside that his heart itched. As he could get no relief from scratching he raised his rake, smashed the nine-forked willow to the ground, then hit it several times so hard that blood gushed straight out with a barely audible sound. “This tree’s become a spirit,” he said, “this tree’s a spirit.” Bajie had just raised his rake for another blow when he saw Wukong drawing the monster after him. Without another word the idiot rushed forward, raised his rake and struck. The old monster was already finding Wukong too much to cope with, so that Bajie’s rake made him more desperate than ever. Abandoning the fight he shook himself, turned back into a beam of cold light, and headed east again. The two of them would not let the demon go but headed eastwards in pursuit.

Above the shouts of battle they heard the calls of the phoenix and the crane and looked up to see that it was the Star of Longevity from the Southern Pole of the Heavens. Placing a cover over the cold light the old man called out, “Don’t be in such a hurry, Great Sage; stop chasing him now, Marshal Tian Peng. This old Taoist offers his greetings.”

Wukong returned his courtesy and asked, “Where have you come from, Longevity my brother?”

“You’ve capped the cold light, so you must have caught the monster, old fat chops,” said Bajie with a grin.

“Here he is, here he is,” said the Star of Longevity, smiling back. “I trust you two gentlemen will spare his life.”

“The old devil’s nothing to do with you, brother,” said Wukong, “so why have you come to plead for him?”

“He’s a messenger of mine,” replied the star with a smile. “I carelessly let him escape to become a monster here.”

“Since he’s yours make him turn back into what he really looks like for us to see,” said Wukong.

The Star of Longevity then let the cold light out and shouted, “Evil beast! Turn back into yourself at once if you want to be spared the death penalty.” The demon turned himself round and revealed that he was really a white deer. Picking the staff up the Star of Longevity said, “You’ve even stolen my staff, evil beast.” The deer lay down in submission, unable to speak, but only kowtowing and weeping. Look at him:

Brindled like a tablet of jade,

And carrying a pair of seven-branched antlers.

When hungry he used to find the herb garden;

On mornings when thirsty he drank from the misty stream.

In his lengthening years he had taught himself to fly

And through many a day had mastered transformation.

Now that he heard the call of his master

He resumed his own form and lay down in the dust.

Thanking Wukong, the Star of Longevity mounted his deer and was just leaving when Wukong grabbed hold of him and said, “Not so fast, brother. There are a couple more jobs still to be done.”

“What jobs?” the star asked.

“The girl hasn’t been caught yet and I don’t know what sort of monster she is,” Wukong replied. “We’ve also got to go back to Bhiksuland together to see the deluded ruler and show him what they really are.”

“In that case I’ll be patient,” the star replied. “You and Marshal Tian Peng can go down into the cave to capture the girl and take her back to show the king what she really is.”

“Just wait a little while,” said Wukong. “We’ll soon be back.”

Bajie then summoned up his spirits and went straight into the Immortal Palace of Pure Splendor with Wukong. “Catch the evil spirit,” he shouted, “catch the evil spirit.” Hearing this great roar the beauty, who was trembling with fear and unable to escape, rushed behind the stone screen, but there was no rear exit.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Bajie shouted. “I’ll get you, you man-trap, you whore spirit. Try my rake!” As the beauty was unarmed she could not fight back, so she dodged the blow and turned herself into a beam of cold light and fled, only to be stopped by the Great Sage, who with two thumping blows of his cudgel knocked her off her feet and laid her low in the dust. She turned back into her real form as a white-faced vixen. Unable to restrain himself, the idiot lifted his rake and struck her a blow on the head. The great beauty of so many smiles was now a hairy fox.

“Don’t smash her to pulp,” Wukong said, “keep her in that shape to show her to the deluded king.” The idiot grabbed her by the tail, not minding the filth, and dragged her out through the cave entrance with Wukong. Here he saw the Star of Longevity stroking the deer’s head and giving him a dressing-down.

“Evil beast,” he was saying, “why did you run away from me and come here to turn yourself into a spirit? If I hadn’t turned up the Great Sage Sun would certainly have killed you.”

“What’s that you’re saying, brother?” asked Wukong, springing out of the cave.

“I was telling the deer off,” the star explained, “telling the deer off.”

Throwing the body of the dead fox in front of the deer, Bajie said, “Your daughter, I suppose.”

The deer nodded then stretched its head out to sniff the body and whimpered as if with grief at its bereavement until the Star of Longevity cuffed its head and said, “Evil beast. You’re lucky to have got away with your life. What are you sniffing her for?” He then took off the belt he wore round his gown, fastened it round the deer’s neck, and led it off with the words, “Great Sage, let’s go to Bhiksuland.”

“Wait a moment,” said Wukong, “I feel like cleaning the whole place up so that no other evil creatures can ever live here again.”

When Bajie heard this he raised his rake and started to smash the willow down wildly. Wukong then said the magic word “ Om ” and summoned the local deity once more. “Gather some dried firewood,” Wukong ordered him, “and start a roaring fire that will rid this place of yours of evil. Then you won’t be bullied any more.”

The local deity then turned around and with a roaring negative wind led his spirit soldiers to gather all sorts of withered vegetation that had dried out since the previous year: frostbitten grass, autumn grass, knotweed grass, mountain grass, dragonbone grass, rushes and reeds. Once set alight they would burn like oil or grease.

“There’s no need to go knocking trees over, Bajie,” said Wukong. “Fill the mouth of the cave with all this and set it alight: that’ll burn the place clean out.” And indeed once they were lit they turned the evil demons’ Pure Splendor home into a fiery furnace. Only then did Wukong dismiss the local god and go with the Star of Longevity as they dragged the fox to the steps of the throne hall where he said to the king, “Here’s your Queen Beauty. Do you want to fool around with her now?”

This caused the king a terrible shock. At the sight of Wukong bringing the Star of Longevity with the white deer before the throne hall, monarch, ministers, consorts and queens all dropped to the ground to kowtow. Wukong went up to the king and held him up. “Don’t kowtow to me,” he said with a smile. “This deer is the Elder of the Nation. It’s him you should be kowtowing to.”

The king was now so overcome with shame that he could only say, “Thank you, holy monk, for saving the boys in my kingdom. It truly was an act of heavenly kindness.” He then ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs to prepare a vegetarian feast, had the eastern hall of the palace opened up and invited the star, the Ancient of the Southern Pole, to take part in a thanksgiving feast with the Tang Priest and his three disciples. Sanzang bowed in greeting to the Star of Longevity, as did Friar Sand.

“If the white deer is one of your creatures, Star of Longevity,” they both asked, “how did he get here to become such a nuisance?”

“Some time ago the Lord of Eastern Splendor came to my mountain,” the Star of Longevity replied with a smile, “and I persuaded him to sit down for some chess. The wicked creature escaped before our first game was over. It was only when I couldn’t find him after my visitor had gone that I worked out by calculating on my fingers that he must have come here. I had just reached here in my search for him when I met the Great Sage Sun using his mighty powers. If I had been any later this beast would be dead.” Before he could finish his remarks it was announced that the banquet was ready. It was a splendid vegetarian feast:

The room was overflowing with color;

Exotic fragrances filled the hall.

Embroidered hangings made the tables magnificent;

Red carpets on the floor shimmered like the glow of dawn.

From duck-shaped censers

Curled the scented smoke of eaglewood;

Before the king’s place

Were fragrant vegetables.

See how high the towers of fruit were piled;

Sugar dragons and prowling animals.

Molded mandarin ducks,

Lion confections,

Looking quite lifelike.

Parrot goblets,

Cormorant ladles,

Shaped like the real thing.

Every kind of fruit in abundance,

Each exquisite dish a delicacy.

Giant longans and tender bamboo-shoots,

Fresh lichees and peaches.

Sweet smelled the jujubes and persimmon cakes;

More fragrant than wine were the pine-nuts and grapes.

Many a sweet dish made with honey,

Steamed pastries of various kinds,

Sugar-drenched doughnuts

Piled up like bouquets of flowers,

Mountains of rolls on golden dishes,

Fragrant rice heaped high in silver bowls,

Long bean noodles in hot chili soup,

Tasty dishes came in succession.

There was no end of button mushrooms,

Tree-ear fungus,

Tender bamboo shoots,

Sealwort,

Vegetables of many flavors,

A hundred kinds of rare delights.

They came and went in endless succession,

All the abundant dishes offered at the feast.

The seating was arranged on the spot, the seat of honour going to the Star of Longevity and the next best place to the Tang Priest. The king sat between them while Pilgrim Sun, Bajie and Friar Sand sat at the side places. There were also three senior ministers present to keep them company, and the musicians and singers of the court theatre were ordered to perform. Holding his purple cloud goblet, the king, toasted them one by one.

The only person who would not drink was the Tang Priest. “Brother,” said Bajie to Wukong, “I’ll leave the fruit for you, but you must let me have a good feed of the soup, bread and rice.” With no further thought the idiot ate everything all at once. He devoured everything that was brought in and left nothing behind.

When the banquet was coming to an end the Star of Longevity took his leave of them. The king went up to him, knelt, kowtowed and begged the star to tell him the secret of eliminating disease and prolonging life. “I didn’t bring any elixir as I was here to search for my deer,” the Star of Longevity replied. “I would like to teach you the techniques of self-cultivation, but you are so weak in body and ruined in spirit that you would not be able to convert the elixir. All I have in my sleeve is these three jujubes that I was intending to offer to the Lord of Eastern Splendor to take with tea. As they haven’t been eaten I can offer them to you now.”

The king swallowed them, and he gradually began to feel lighter in body as the illness was cured. This was the origin of his later success in achieving immortality. As soon as Bajie saw this he called, “Longevity, old pal, if you’ve got any fire jujubes give me some.”

“I didn’t bring any,” the star replied, “but I’ll give you several pounds of them next time.” The Star of Longevity then went out of the eastern pavilion, expressed his thanks, called to the white deer, sprang on his back and departed by cloud. We will not relate how the king, queens and consorts in the palace and the common people in the city all burnt incense and kowtowed.

“Disciples,” said Sanzang, “let us pack up and take our leave of His Majesty.” The king pleaded with them to stay and instruct him. “Your Majesty,” said Wukong, “from now on you should be less greedy for your sexual pleasures and accumulate more hidden merit. In whatever you do you should use your strong points to make up for your weaknesses. This is the way to get rid of your illness and prolong your life. That’s what we’ll tell you.” Two dishes full of small pieces of gold and silver were then offered to the pilgrims to help with the expenses of their journey, but the Tang Priest refused to accept a single penny. The king then had no choice but to order the royal carriage and invite the Tang Priest to sit in the dragon and phoenix coach while he, his queens and his consorts pushed the wheels. Thus they escorted him out of the palace. In the streets and markets the common people also came with bowls of pure water and incense-burners to see them on their way from the city.

Suddenly there was the sound of a wind in the sky and 1,111 goose coops landed on both sides of the road. The little boys in them were crying. Unseen in the sky were the deities who had been looking after them: the city and the local gods, the deities of the altars, the True Officials, the Guardians of Five Quarters, the Four Duty Gods, the Six Dings and Six Jias, the Protectors of the Faith and the rest of them, who all responded with a loud shout of, “Great Sage, on your earlier instructions we carried the boys away in the goose coops. Now that we have learned of your success in your task and your departure we have brought every one of them back again.” The king, his queens and consorts and all his ministers and subjects fell to their knees to kowtow.

“Thank you for your efforts, gentlemen,” Wukong shouted to the sky. “Please all return to your shrines now. I’ll get the people to make thanksgiving offerings to you.” With a soughing noise the magic wind then arose again and departed.

Wukong then told the people of the city to come and collect their children. The news was spread at once, and the people all came to claim the boys in the baskets. They were very happy indeed. Holding the boys in their arms they called them dear ones and darlings. Dancing and laughing they told their children to take hold of the lords from Tang and bring them home so that they could express their thanks for the boys’ rescue. Nobody, young or old, male or female, was frightened by the disciples’ ugly faces as they all carried Bajie, Friar Sand, Wukong and the Tang Priest back to the city in the middle of a crowd that also brought their luggage and led the horse. The king could not stop them. Family after family laid on a banquet or a feast, and those who could not offer hospitality made monkish hats, shoes, tunics, cotton socks, and other inner and outer garments in different sizes that they presented to the pilgrims. Only when they had been entertained in this way for nearly a month were the travelers able to leave the city. Portraits of them were painted and tablets bearing their names set up; to these the people could kowtow, burn incense and make offerings. Indeed:

Great was the gratitude for their enormous kindness,

In saving the lives of infants by the thousand.

If you don’t know what happened later listen to the explanation in the next installment.