Now the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, beaten in the field and empty of hand, came and sat down behind Golden Helm Mountain, where the tears fell pattering from both his eyes, and he cried out: “Master! I had looked to be with you thus—”
The Buddha's grace had virtue in it, had concord and warmth;
Young together, living together, our purpose past all exhausting.
Dwelling together, cultivating together, together set loose from bondage;
Together in mercy, together in mindfulness, showing the spirit's power.
Same conditions, same marks, our hearts truly matched;
Same seeing, same knowing, the Way turning through and through.
Who would have thought that now, the master-staff gone,
With bare fist and naked foot, how shall it prosper!
He grieved a long while, and then thought quietly to himself: “That fiend knows me. I remember how he praised me on the field — ‘truly one of the breed that made havoc in Heaven!’ At that rate he is surely no monster of the mortal world. He must be some baleful star out of Heaven, come down, I suppose, from a hankering after ordinary life. Nor do I know where he came down from. I had best go up to the upper realm and make inquiry — inquiry indeed.”
Here indeed was Pilgrim putting heart to heart's question, his own master and his own warrant. He turned over smartly, sprang up on a lucky cloud, and went straight out to the Southern Gate of Heaven. Raising his head of a sudden he saw the Deva King Virūpākṣa, who came to meet him face to face, made a long bow, and said, “Where is the Great Sage bound?”
“I have business with the Jade Emperor,” said Pilgrim. “What are you doing here?”
“Today the round of patrol at the Southern Gate falls to me.”
Before he had finished speaking there came the four Grand Marshals Ma, Zhao, Wen and Guan, who made their salutes and said, “Great Sage, forgive our poor welcome. Stay and take tea.”
“I am on business,” said Pilgrim.
So he took his leave of Virūpākṣa and the four Marshals, passed straight in at the Southern Gate and on to the outside of the Hall of Divine Mists, where sure enough he found the four Celestial Masters Zhang Daoling, Ge the Immortal Duke, Xu Jingyang and Qiu Hongji, and with them the Six Offices of the Southern Dipper and the Seven Primes of the Northern Dipper, all before the hall to meet him. Together they raised their hands and said, “How does the Great Sage come here?” And they asked further, “Is the merit of guarding the Tang Monk complete?”
“Early days, early days!” said Pilgrim. “The road is long and the fiends are many; the merit stands at half. Just now we are held up at Golden Helm Mountain, at the Golden Helm Cave. There is a rhinoceros fiend there who has carried the Tang master into his cave. Old Monkey sought him out at his door and fought him a round, but the fellow's powers are vast and he made off with old Monkey's gold-banded cudgel. That is why the demon king is hard to bind. I suspect some baleful star of the upper realm has come down out of a hankering after ordinary life; but I do not know where he descended from. So old Monkey has come to seek out the Jade Emperor and charge him with keeping a slack rein.”
Xu Jingyang laughed. “This monkey-head is as sly as ever.”
“It is no slyness,” said Pilgrim. “Old Monkey has kept a tight mouth all his life, and only so does one ever get hold of an end to pull.”
“No need for more talk,” said Zhang Daoling. “We will simply send the report in for him and have done.”
“Many thanks, many thanks,” said Pilgrim.
The four Celestial Masters then carried the memorial up to the Hall of Divine Mists and brought him in before the jade steps. Pilgrim faced upward, sang out a great salute, and said, “Old official! I trouble you, I trouble you. Old Monkey has been guarding the Tang Monk on his road west to fetch the scriptures. All along that road the ill has outweighed the good, which needs no telling. Now we have come to Golden Helm Mountain and the Golden Helm Cave, where a rhinoceros fiend has taken the Tang Monk into his cave — whether to steam him or boil him or dry him in the sun, there is no telling. Old Monkey sought him out at his door and gave him battle; but the fiend seemed to know old Monkey somewhat, and his powers are decidedly vast. He carried off old Monkey's gold-banded cudgel, and so the fiend is hard to bind. I suspect a baleful star of upper Heaven has come down out of a hankering after ordinary life. For this cause old Monkey has come expressly to lay the matter before you. Prostrate, I beg the Heavenly Honoured One to bend down mercy and see clear through the matter, to send down an edict for the inspection of the baleful stars and despatch troops to gather up and destroy the fiend. Old Monkey is overcome with trembling and awe.” Then he made a deep bow and added, “Thus it is reported.”
At his side Ge the Immortal Duke laughed and said, “Why is the monkey arrogant first and respectful after?”
“I dare not, I dare not,” said Pilgrim. “It is no arrogance first and respect after — old Monkey simply has no cudgel to play with now.”
At this the Heavenly Honoured Jade Emperor, hearing the memorial, sent down at once an edict for the Keeper of the Han Office: “As Wukong has laid before us, let inquiry be made of all the stars of Heaven and the divine kings of every mansion, whether any has gone down to the world out of a longing for ordinary life. Report back at once and act upon it. Thus for your hearing.”
The True Lord, the Elder of the Han Office, received the edict and went off that same moment with the Great Sage to make the inquiry. First they checked the divine kings, officers and clerks at the gates of the four heavens. Next, the perfected ones, great and small, within the three enclosures. Next, the officers and generals of thunder — Tao, Zhang, Xin and Deng; Gou, Bi, Pang and Liu. Last of all they checked the thirty-three heavens, and every heaven was at ease. Then they checked the twenty-eight lunar mansions: of the eastern seven, Horn, Neck, Root, Room, Shen, Tail and Winnowing-basket; of the western seven, Dipper, Ox, Maid, Barrens, Rooftop, House and Wall; of the southern seven and the northern seven, mansion by mansion all was quiet. They checked further the sun and the moon and the five planets of water, fire, wood, metal and earth — the seven regulators; and Rāhu, Ketu, the Ether and the Comet — the four remainders. The stars stood full across the sky, and not one had gone down out of longing for ordinary life.
“If that is how it stands,” said Pilgrim, “old Monkey need not go up to the Hall of Divine Mists at all. It would be most inconvenient to trouble the Jade Emperor. Go back and report by yourself. I will simply wait here for word from you and be done.”
The True Lord did as he was bid. Pilgrim waited a good while, and made a poem to set down what stirred in him:
Wind clear, clouds cleared, gladness in the reign of peace;
The spirits still, the stars bright, showing signs of good.
The River of Heaven at rest, sky and earth at peace;
Through the five quarters and eight limits the war-flags are furled.
The True Lord, having made his inquiry point by point, reported back to the Jade Emperor: “The stars and mansions of the whole sky are not one short, the divine generals of every quarter are all present, and none has gone down to the world out of a longing for ordinary life.”
The Jade Emperor heard the report and said, “Let Sun Wukong pick out a few heavenly generals and go down to the world to seize the fiend.”
The four Celestial Masters, having received the command, came straight out of the Hall of Divine Mists and said to Pilgrim, “Great Sage! The Jade Emperor is generous. He says there is no god in the palace of Heaven who has gone down out of longing, and he has you pick out a few heavenly generals and go seize the fiend.”
Pilgrim lowered his head and thought quietly: “Of the generals in Heaven, those who fall short of old Monkey are many, and those who outmatch him are few. I remember when I made havoc in the palace of Heaven: the Jade Emperor sent a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers and spread the nets of sky and earth, and not one general among them dared try hands with me. Later on they brought in the Little Sage Erlang, and he was a match for me. Now this fiend's powers are stronger still than old Monkey's — how then is a victory to be got?”
“That was one time, this is another,” said Xu Jingyang; “they are not the same at all. As the common saying has it, ‘one thing subdues another.’ How can you go against the edict? Use your own judgement, pick the generals you want, and do not lose the matter by hanging back.”
“Since that is how it stands,” said Pilgrim, “I am deeply obliged for the grace above, and it is indeed not well to go against an edict; and besides, old Monkey ought not to have made this trip for nothing. Trouble yourself, Jingyang, to report back to the Jade Emperor: let him just send Pagoda-bearing Heavenly King Li and Prince Nezha, since they still have several weapons for subduing fiends. Let them go down to the world and see one bout with the creature, and we shall see how it goes. If they can take him, it is old Monkey's good fortune; and if they cannot, we shall make other arrangements then.”
The Celestial Master did indeed lay it before the Jade Emperor, and the Jade Emperor at once ordered Heavenly King Li and his son to lead their companies of heavenly soldiers and lend Pilgrim their strength. The Heavenly King took the edict and came to meet him.
Pilgrim spoke to the Celestial Master again: “I am indebted to the Jade Emperor for despatching the Heavenly King, and my thanks are past exhausting. There is one thing more, and I trouble you to pass it on as well: if only I might have the use of two thunder lords, then when the Heavenly King is at grips with him, let the thunder lords send down a thunder-wedge from the edge of the clouds, straight onto the crown of his head, and strike the fiend dead. That would be a fine plan indeed.”
“Good, good, good,” laughed the Celestial Master. He memorialised the Jade Emperor once more, and an edict went out having the Ninefold Heaven Office detail two thunder lords, Deng Hua and Zhang Fan, to join their strength to the Heavenly King's in binding the fiend and delivering from calamity. So with the Heavenly King and the Great Sage Sun he went straight down and out of the Southern Gate of Heaven.
In a moment they were there. “This mountain is Golden Helm Mountain,” said Pilgrim. “Halfway up it is the Golden Helm Cave. Take counsel, gentlemen — which of you shall go and offer battle first?”
The Heavenly King brought his cloud down, halted his soldiers on the southern slope of the mountain, and said, “The Great Sage knows well that my young son Nezha has subdued the fiends of ninety-six caves; he is skilled in transformations and carries fiend-subduing weapons about him. He must go out and take the field first.”
“If that is so,” said Pilgrim, “let old Monkey take the prince along.”
The prince shook out his warlike bearing and leapt with the Great Sage up the high mountain, going straight to the cave mouth; but they found the cave door shut fast and not a goblin below the cliff. Pilgrim went up and shouted aloud, “Foul fiend! Open the door at once and give me back my master!”
The little goblins keeping the door inside the cave saw them and reported in haste: “Your Majesty, Sun the Pilgrim has brought a small boy-child, and they are at the door calling for a fight.”
“This monkey had his iron cudgel taken by me and cannot well contend empty-handed,” said the demon king. “I suppose he has gone and fetched rescuers.” And he called, “Bring my weapon.”
The demon king took his spear in hand and walked out of the door to look. The small boy-child was of a clear and striking cast of feature, and altogether sturdy. Truly he was:
Jade face and tender look, round as the full moon;
Vermilion lips, a squared mouth, showing silver teeth.
Eyes flashing lightning, the pupils standing out;
Broad brow gathering rose-cloud, hair bound in a knot.
Embroidered sashes dancing in the wind, flying coloured flame;
Brocade robe catching the sun, throwing off golden flowers.
The ringed cord bright and burning, clasping the heart-mirror;
Precious mail glittering, setting off the battle boots.
Small of body, loud of voice, and full of splendour:
Guardian of the teaching in the three heavens, the fierce Nezha.
The demon king laughed and said, “You are Heavenly King Li's third child, called Prince Nezha. How is it that you come to my door to shout at me?”
“Because you, foul fiend, have made trouble here and hold the holy monk of the Eastern Land in torment,” said the prince, “I bear the Jade Emperor's golden edict and am come expressly to take you.”
“I suppose Sun Wukong fetched you,” said the demon king in a great rage. “I am that holy monk's fiend, and there's an end of it. I reckon a youngster of your sort has what skill in arms, to speak so boldly? Don't run off — take a spear of mine!”
The prince drew his fiend-cleaving sword and met him hand to hand. The two of them had barely joined hands and begun their contest when the Great Sage darted round the mountain slope and called, “Where are the thunder lords? Go quick and drop a thunder-wedge at the fiend, to help the prince subdue him!”
Deng and Zhang stepped onto their cloud-light and were on the point of striking when they saw the prince put forth his art: he shook his body into a change, became three-headed and six-armed, took six weapons in his hands and hewed at the fiend; and the demon king also became three-headed and six-armed, and held him off with three long spears. Then the prince brought out his fiend-subduing power and flung the six weapons up into the air.
And what were the six weapons? They were the fiend-hewing sword, the fiend-cleaving blade, the fiend-binding rope, the demon-quelling pestle, the embroidered ball and the fire-wheel. He gave a great shout: “Change!” One became ten, ten became a hundred, a hundred a thousand, a thousand ten thousand, all of them weapons of the same kind, and like a driving rain of hail they came thick and close, beating down at the fiend.
The demon king was not in the least afraid. With one hand he took out that white and glistening ring, threw it up into the empty air and cried, “Hit!” With a whoosh it brought the whole six weapons down and gathered them in. Prince Nezha was thrown into confusion and fled bare-handed for his life, and the demon king went back victorious.
Deng and Zhang, the two thunder lords, laughed to themselves up in the air: “It is as well we watched how things were going first and never let our thunder-wedge go. Suppose it had been gathered in by him — how should we have faced the Heavenly Honoured One again?” They brought their clouds down and came with the prince to the southern slope of the mountain, where they said to Heavenly King Li, “The fiend has vast powers indeed.”
Wukong laughed at his side. “The fellow's powers are no more than that; it is the ring that is the trouble. There is no telling what treasure it may be — thrown up, it is good at gathering in anything at all.”
“This Great Sage is no sort of person at all,” said Nezha bitterly. “We have lost troops and lost the field and are thoroughly vexed, and it is every bit your doing — and here you are laughing instead. Why?”
“You say you are vexed,” said Pilgrim. “Do you suppose old Monkey is not vexed? It is that I have no plan and no remedy now, and cannot weep — so there is nothing for it but to laugh.”
“At this rate,” said the Heavenly King, “how is it to be brought to an end?”
“Reckon it however you all please,” said Pilgrim; “it is only what the ring cannot gather in that will serve to take him.”
“As for what it cannot gather in — water and fire are the sharpest. As the common saying has it, ‘water and fire are without feeling.’”
“What you say has reason in it,” said Pilgrim. “Sit here quietly while old Monkey takes another run up to Heaven.”
“And what are you going for this time?” said Deng and Zhang.
“Old Monkey on this trip need not memorialise the Jade Emperor. I shall only go in at the Southern Gate of Heaven and up to the Tong-hua Palace, and ask the Star Lord of Fire Virtue, Yinghuo, to come here and set a fire — to burn that creature a good burning, and perhaps burn the ring itself to ashes along with him, and so take the fiend. That way, first, I get the weapons back to return to you all when you go up to Heaven; and second, it may loose my master from his calamity.”
The prince was greatly pleased to hear it. “No need to hang back. Let the Great Sage go early and come back early. We shall only wait here with our hands folded.”
Pilgrim sprang up on his lucky light and came once more to the outside of the Southern Gate of Heaven. Virūpākṣa and the four Marshals came to meet him: “How does the Great Sage come again?”
“Heavenly King Li had the prince take the field,” said Pilgrim, “and in a single engagement the demon king scooped up his six weapons and carried them off. I want now to go to the Tong-hua Palace and ask the Star Lord of Fire Virtue to lend a hand in the fight.”
The four Marshals did not venture to keep him long, and let him in. He came to the Tong-hua Palace, and the host of fire deities, seeing him, went straight in to report: “Sun Wukong wishes to see his lordship.”
The Star Lord of Fire Virtue, of the Three Ethers of the South, straightened his robe, came out of the door to bring him in, and said, “Yesterday the Keeper of the Han Office checked over this small palace, and there was not one who had longed for the ordinary world.”
“I know it already,” said Pilgrim. “But Heavenly King Li and the prince have lost their engagement and lost their weapons, and I am come expressly to ask you for a rescue — a rescue indeed.”
“That Nezha is the Great Spirit of the Assembly of the Three Altars,” said the Star Lord. “When he came into the world he subdued the fiends of ninety-six caves, and his powers are vast. If he could not do it, how should a small deity like me dare hope to?”
“In talking it over with Heavenly King Li,” said Pilgrim, “we agreed that of all things between sky and earth, the sharpest are water and fire. That creature has a ring which is very good at gathering in people's things, and there is no telling what treasure it may be. So I say that fire can destroy all things, and I ask you expressly, Star Lord, to lead the fire office down to the lower world, set a blaze and burn that fiend, and save my master out of this one calamity.”
The Star Lord of Fire Virtue heard him out, mustered the divine soldiers of his own office at once, went with Pilgrim to the southern slope of Golden Helm Mountain, and there met the Heavenly King, the thunder lords and the rest.
“Great Sage Sun,” said the Heavenly King, “you go and call the fellow out again. I shall fight him, and when he goes to work the ring, I will slip aside and have the Fire Virtue lead his host to burn him.”
“Just so,” laughed Pilgrim. “You and I will go.” And the Fire Virtue, with the prince and the two lords Deng and Zhang, stood on the high peak and watched for the engagement from afar.
The Great Sage came to the mouth of the Golden Helm Cave and shouted, “Open the door! Give me back my master, and quickly.” The little goblins went hurrying in to report again: “Sun Wukong has come back.”
The fiend led his host out of the cave, saw Pilgrim, and said, “You wretched ape — and what troops have you fetched this time?”
From this side the Pagoda-bearing Heavenly King stepped forward and roared, “Foul fiend-head! Do you know me?”
“Heavenly King Li,” laughed the demon king, “I suppose you want to avenge your son and get his weapons back?”
“First, to avenge him and get the weapons; second, to take you and rescue the Tang Monk. Don't run off — take a blade of mine!”
The creature swung his body aside, let it pass, levelled his long spear and met him hand to hand. The two of them fought a fine fight there before the cave. Look you at it:
The Heavenly King's blade hewing, the fiend's spear meeting it.
The blade hewing, frost-light spitting fierce fire;
The spear meeting, keen breath bursting sorrowful cloud.
The one, a foul fiend born and grown of Golden Helm Mountain;
The other, a god of Heaven sent down from the Hall of Divine Mists.
That one, for slighting the nature of Chan, puts forth his might;
This one, to save his master from harm, unfolds the great bond.
The Heavenly King works his art and sends sand and stones flying;
The fiend contends in strength and scatters dust abroad.
The scattered dust can darken sky and earth;
The flying sand is good at muddying the seas and rivers.
Both households strain to win their merit;
Both for the Tang Monk's sake bow to the World-Honoured One.
The Great Sage Sun, seeing the two of them at grips, turned about and sprang to the high peak, where he said to the Star Lord of Fire Virtue, “Three Ethers — mind your part now.” Look at that fiend: just as he came to the best of the fight with the Heavenly King, out he brought the ring again. The Heavenly King saw it, whipped his lucky light about and fled the field.
On the high peak the Star Lord of Fire Virtue hurriedly passed the word, having all the fire gods of his several offices let go their fire at once. This bout was a terror indeed. A fine fire:
The scripture says: “The south is the very essence of fire.”
Though the fire be but a spark, it can burn ten thousand qǐng of field;
Being the might of the Three Ethers, it can turn itself into a hundred kinds of fire.
Now there are fire-spears, fire-blades, fire-bows and fire-arrows, and the gods of each office use them differently.
Then were seen, in the middle air, fire-crows flying and clamouring; over all the hilltops, fire-horses galloping.
Pair on pair of red rats; couple on couple of fire-dragons.
Pair on pair of red rats spitting fierce flame, ten thousand lǐ turned red through;
Couple on couple of fire-dragons breathing thick smoke, a thousand quarters gone black together.
Fire-carts are pushed out; fire-gourds are opened wide.
Fire-banners waving, a whole sky of rose-cloud;
Fire-staves stirring, the ground filled with burning.
Say nothing of Ning Qi whipping his ox — this beats Zhou Yu at the Red Cliff by far.
This is a fire of Heaven, no common thing, and a terror in truth:
A roaring, a blazing, fire and wind gone red.
The fiend, when he saw the fire coming, had no fear in him at all. He threw the ring up into the empty air, and with a whoosh it took the fire-dragons, fire-horses, fire-crows, fire-rats, fire-spears, fire-blades, fire-bows and fire-arrows — the whole of them gathered down in one ring again. Then he turned back to his own cave, victorious, and drew off his troops.
The Star Lord of Fire Virtue, holding an empty standard in his hand, called back his generals, joined company with the Heavenly King and the rest, sat down on the southern slope of the mountain and said to Pilgrim, “Great Sage! This fierce fiend is a rare thing indeed. I have lost my fire-gear now — what is to be done?”
“No need to complain,” laughed Pilgrim. “Sit at your ease a while, gentlemen, and old Monkey will take another trip.”
“And where are you off to this time?” said the Heavenly King.
“Since that creature is not afraid of fire, he is certainly afraid of water. As the common saying has it, ‘water can overcome fire.’ Let old Monkey go in at the Northern Gate of Heaven and ask the Star Lord of Water Virtue to set out a flood of water and pour it once into his cave, so as to drown the demon king and get your things back for you.”
“The plan is a fine one,” said the Heavenly King, “but I am afraid your master would be drowned along with him.”
“It is nothing. If my master is drowned, I have a trick of my own for bringing him back to life. Keeping you gentlemen hanging about here is most improper.”
“If that is how it is,” said the Fire Virtue, “go, then, go.”
The good Great Sage rode his somersault cloud again and went straight to the outside of the Northern Gate of Heaven. Raising his head of a sudden, he saw the Deva King Vaiśravaṇa come forward and salute him: “Where is the Great Sage bound?”
“I have a matter that takes me into the Wuhao Palace to see the Star Lord of Water Virtue. What are you doing here?”
“Today the round of patrol falls to me.”
While they were speaking, the four Grand Heavenly Generals Pang, Liu, Gou and Bi came up with their courtesies and invited him to tea. “No trouble, no trouble — my business is urgent,” said Pilgrim. So he parted from the gate gods and went straight to the Wuhao Palace, having the assembled gods of the water office announce him at once. “The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Sun Wukong, has come,” they reported.
The Star Lord of Water Virtue heard it and at once dismissed the dragon kings of every place, whom he had been checking over — of the four seas, the five lakes, the eight rivers, the four watercourses, the three streams and the nine branches. He straightened his cap and belt, came out of the palace gate to receive him, brought him inside and said, “Yesterday the Keeper of the Han Office made inquiry of this small palace, for fear some god of my own office had gone down out of longing and turned fiend. I am still at the checking of the gods of river and sea and watercourse, and it is not finished yet.”
“That demon king is no god of river or stream,” said Pilgrim. “He is a spirit of some larger kind. First the Jade Emperor despatched Heavenly King Li and his son and two thunder lords to the lower world to seize him; and he played a ring on them and took six divine weapons away in it. Old Monkey had no help for it, so he went up again to the Tong-hua Palace and asked the Star Lord of Fire Virtue to lead the gods of the fire office and set a blaze; and again the fire-dragons and fire-horses and the rest went off in one ring. It came to me that since the thing has no fear of fire it must fear water, and I am come expressly to ask the Star Lord to set out a flood of water and catch the fiend for me, so that the weapons may go back to the heavenly generals and my master be saved from his calamity as well.”
The Water Virtue heard him out and gave the order at once to the Divine King and Water Earl of the Yellow River: “Go with the Great Sage and lend your work.” The Water Earl took a small white jade bowl out of his sleeve and said, “I have this thing to hold water in.”
“Look at this bowl — how much can it hold?” said Pilgrim. “How is a fiend to be drowned with it?”
“I will not deceive you, Great Sage. This bowl of mine is water of the Yellow River. Half a bowl is half the river; a whole bowl is the whole river.”
“Half a bowl will be enough,” said Pilgrim gladly. So he took his leave of the Water Virtue and slipped away from the gates of Heaven with the god of the Yellow River.
The Water Earl dipped his bowl into the Yellow River and took up half a bowl of it, went with the Great Sage to Golden Helm Mountain, and on the southern slope saw the Heavenly King, the prince, the thunder lords and the Fire Virtue, and told them the whole of the business.
“No need to go into it at length,” said Pilgrim. “Just have the Water Earl come with me. Wait till I have called his door open. Don't wait for him to come out — pour the water straight in at the door, and the whole nest of the creature can be drowned together. Then I will go and fish out my master's body, and it will not be too late to bring him back to life.”
The Water Earl did as he was bid, kept close behind Pilgrim, rounded the mountain slope, went straight to the cave mouth and called, “Open the door, fiend!” The little goblins keeping the door heard that it was the Great Sage Sun's voice and went hurrying in to report again: “Sun Wukong has come once more!”
The fiend heard it, took his treasure with him, snatched up his spear and came straight out; with a bang, he opened the stone door. The Water Earl tipped his white jade bowl in at the opening. The fiend saw that it was water coming, dropped his long spear, took out the ring in haste and propped it against the inner door — and the whole body of that water came gurgling and welling straight back out again.
The Great Sage Sun in his alarm sprang a somersault at once and leapt with the Water Earl to the high peak. The Heavenly King and the others all rode their clouds and halted before the high peak, watching that water — the waves swelling and rising, a wild flood in earnest. A fine water! Truly it was:
From so much as a ladleful, an outcome past all reckoning.
For it is by the working of divine power that it benefits all things and swells to flood a hundred rivers.
Only hear that rushing sound shaking the valley;
And see that rolling force covering the sky.
Its high strength sounding like thunder on the run;
Its fierce surge with waves like snow rolled over.
A thousand zhàng of wave rise high and cover the road;
Ten thousand layers of breaker beat and flood the mountain crag.
Cool and cold, like rinsing jade;
Rolling and rolling, like a sounding string.
Striking the rocks with a rush, it spits out broken jade;
Turning in eddies far off, it whirls its hollows round.
Low places and hollows it floods as it runs;
Filling the gullies and levelling the ditches, joined up and down.
Pilgrim saw it and said in alarm, “This is bad! The water is spreading over the four quarters and has drowned the people's fields, and it has never once been poured into his cave. What is to be done about it?” And he called to the Water Earl to gather the water back in haste.
“Your small deity only knows how to let water go, and not how to gather it back,” said the Water Earl. “As the common saying has it, ‘spilt water is hard to gather.’”
Well! That mountain was steep and high, and this flood ran only to the low ground. In a moment it had scattered on all sides and gone back into the gullies.
And now there came leaping out of the cave a few little goblins, hallooing and shouting on the outside, stretching their fists and rolling their sleeves, swinging cudgels and hefting spears, as merry and pleased with themselves as ever. “So the water never got into the cave after all,” said the Heavenly King. “A whole effort spent for nothing.”
Pilgrim could not hold down the anger rising in him. He swung both fists, rushed up to the fiend's doorway and roared, “Where do you think you're off to? Take that!” The few little goblins were so frightened that they dropped their spears and cudgels and ran into the cave, reporting in a tremble: “Your Majesty! It's bad — he's come to fight!”
The demon king levelled his long spear and came out to meet him at the door. “This wretched ape is a great sluggard! You have failed against me several times over, and neither water nor fire could come near me. How is it you come treading up here again to throw your life away?”
“This son of mine has it backwards,” said Pilgrim. “There is no telling whether I am the one throwing his life away, or you. Step over here and take a fist from your old grandfather.”
“This monkey is obstinate and pestering!” laughed the fiend. “I use a spear, and he goes and uses his fists. A knobbly little knuckle of a fist like that, no bigger than a walnut — how is it to be called a hammer at all? Enough, enough, enough! I will set my spear down for now and go a round of boxing with you, and we shall see.”
“Well said,” laughed Pilgrim. “Come up, then.”
The fiend hitched up his gown, stepped forward, threw himself into a stance and raised both fists, for all the world like the iron hammers of an oil-press. The Great Sage stretched his legs, swung his body about, opened out his repertory and traded stances with the demon king before the cave door. This was a fine bout. Well now!
Pulling out the Great Four-Square; kicking up the Double Flying Foot.
Sheathing the flank, splitting the chest with a butt; gouging the heart, plucking the gall, and landing it.
The Immortal Points the Way; Laozi Rides the Crane.
The Hungry Tiger Pouncing on its Prey does a man most harm;
The Flood-Dragon Sporting in the Water can be savage indeed.
The demon king used the Python Turning Over; the Great Sage answered with the Deer Shedding its Antlers.
Heels lifted, the Dragon Quenching in the Earth; wrists twisted, the Grasping of Heaven's Bellows.
The Green Lion Opening its Jaws comes on; the Carp Arching its Spine leaps up.
Scattering Flowers over the Crown; Threading the Rope round the Waist.
Facing the Wind, the Folding Fan; the Sudden Rain that Beats the Blossom Down.
The fiend went straight into the Palm of Guanyin; Pilgrim came back at him with the Foot of the Arhat.
The long palm opens wide and is loose by nature;
How should it match the short fist, so much the tighter and sharper?
The two held to each other some tens of rounds,
One skill against the other, and neither the stronger.
While the two of them were fighting it out before the cave door, up on the high peak Heavenly King Li was so delighted that he called out his applause aloud, and the Star Lord of Fire Virtue clapped his hands and praised him. The two thunder lords and Prince Nezha led the host of gods down to close quarters, all meaning to lend a hand; and on this side the swarm of goblins waved their flags and beat their drums, whirling swords and swinging blades to guard him all together.
The Great Sage Sun saw that things were going badly, pulled down a handful of his hairs, flung them up into the air and cried, “Change!” At once they became thirty or fifty little monkeys, who rushed forward in a body and tangled the fiend up — clutching his legs, hauling at his waist, clawing at his eyes, tearing out his hair.
The creature took fright and hastily brought the ring out. The Great Sage and the Heavenly King and the rest saw him produce the snare, wheeled their clouds about and went up the high peak to get out of the fight. The fiend threw the ring up, and with a whoosh he took the thirty or fifty little monkeys that the hairs had turned into, gathered them back to their own form and drew them into the cave. Having won, he led his troops in, shut the door and went off to be congratulated.
“The Great Sage is a fine fellow after all,” said the prince. “That round of boxing went like brocade with flowers worked on it; and the body-dividing art was true splendour before a crowd.”
“You gentlemen were watching from a distance here,” laughed Pilgrim. “how do the creature's powers compare with old Monkey's?”
“His fists are loose and his feet slow,” said Heavenly King Li, “not the equal of the Great Sage for tightness and speed. When he saw us coming down he got flustered at once; and when he saw you bring out the body-dividing art he grew anxious. That is why he made such play with the snare.”
“The demon king is easy enough to deal with,” said Pilgrim. “It is the snare that is hard to subdue.”
“If you are to win at all,” said the Fire Virtue and the Water Earl, “there is nothing for it but to get that treasure of his — after that he can be taken.”
“How is that treasure of his to be got?” said Pilgrim. “There is nothing for it but to go and steal it.”
Deng and Zhang, the two lords, laughed. “If thieving is to be the order of the day, there is no one able but the Great Sage. Think back to the year he made havoc in the palace of Heaven — he stole the imperial wine, he stole the peaches of immortality, he stole dragon liver and phoenix marrow and the Lord Lao's elixir. What a hand he was! Today is just the day to take it out and use it here.”
“Well said, well said,” said Pilgrim. “In that case, sit here a while, gentlemen, and let old Monkey go and find out how things stand.”
The good Great Sage sprang down from the peak, went secretly to the cave mouth, shook his body into a change and became a hemp-coloured fly, a neat small thing indeed. Look at him:
Wings thin as the film in a bamboo stem;
Body smaller than the heart of a flower.
Hands and feet stouter than a hair;
The tiny eye-sockets bright and clear.
Good of itself at smelling out a scent and following it;
Swift in flight, and riding on the wind.
Weighed, it would just tip the zero-mark;
A lovable little thing, and of some use.
Lightly he flew onto the door, crawled to the edge of the crack and slipped through. He saw the swarm of goblins, great and small, dancing their dances and singing their songs, drawn up in two ranks. The old demon king sat high on the dais, and before him were set out snake flesh, dried venison, bear's paw, camel hump, mountain greens and fruit. There was a green porcelain wine-pot, and sheep's curd and coconut liquor giving off their fragrance, and they were drinking their fill out of great bowls, at their ease.
Pilgrim came down among the crowd of little goblins, changed himself again into a badger-headed spirit, and edged slowly up towards the dais. He looked about him a good while and could not see anywhere at all where the treasure was kept. He drew back quickly and went round behind the dais, where he saw, hung high in the hall at the back, the fire-dragons moaning and the fire-horses neighing.
Raising his head of a sudden, he saw that gold-banded cudgel of his leaning against the east wall, and he was so glad that his heart itched past scratching. He forgot to change his appearance again, walked up and took the iron rod, showed his own form, opened out his repertory and went beating his way out with the cudgel all the road. The swarm of goblins were thrown into a panic, trembling with fright, and the old demon king could not get his hands up in time. Wukong knocked three of them over and laid two of them flat, opened a road of blood and went straight out of the cave door. And this is what it comes to:
The fiend-head, grown proud, kept no guard;
And the master-staff goes back to its own man.
And since there is no knowing yet whether the outcome be fortunate or ill, listen to the next chapter for the telling of it.