The story relates that the Great Sage Sun went in with the attendant eunuch to the inner court of the palace, and came to a halt directly outside the door of the royal bedchamber. He handed the three golden threads to the eunuch to carry inside, with these instructions: “Have one of the consorts of the inner palace, or an attendant eunuch, tie them first below His Majesty's left wrist, at the three stations of cun, guan and chi, and then pass the ends of the threads out to me through the window lattice.” The eunuch did exactly as he was told. He asked the king to be seated on the dragon couch, and at the three stations he made one end of each golden thread fast, drawing the other end out through the window.
Pilgrim took up the ends of the threads. Bracing his own right thumb beneath his forefinger, he read the cùn pulse; next he pressed his middle finger with his thumb and read the guān pulse; then he braced his thumb against his ring finger and read the chǐ pulse. He brought his own breathing into order, and marked off the four qì, the five stagnations, the seven surface and eight interior categories, the nine indications, the sunken within the floating and the floating within the sunken, until the distinction between depletion and repletion stood clear. Then he had the threads untied from the left hand and made fast, as before, at the stations below the right wrist, and with the fingers of his left hand he went through the whole examination again, one station at a time. Then he gave his body a shake and drew the golden threads back into himself.
He called out in a loud, ringing voice: “Your Majesty, on the left hand the cùn pulse is forceful and taut, the guān pulse rough and slack, the chǐ pulse hollow and sunken; on the right hand the cùn pulse is floating and slippery, the guān pulse slow and knotted, the chǐ pulse rapid and firm. Now, where the left cùn is forceful and taut, the centre is depleted and the heart pains; where the guān is rough and slack, there is sweating and numbness of the flesh; where the chǐ is hollow and sunken, the water passes red and the stool carries blood. Where the right cùn is floating and slippery, there is binding within and the channels are stopped; where the guān is slow and knotted, food lodges undigested and drink stands; where the chǐ is rapid and firm, vexation and fullness contend with depletion and cold. Having taken the pulse of this august affliction, I find it to be fright and anxious brooding — the ailment named A Pair of Birds Parted.”
The king, hearing this from within, was filled with delight. He gathered his spirits and answered in a loud voice: “Clear beneath the fingers! Clear beneath the fingers! It is indeed this sickness. Go out, if you please, and prepare the medicine.” Only then did the Great Sage walk slowly out of the palace. The eunuchs who had been listening at the side had already gone ahead and reported to the assembly, and in a moment Pilgrim came out, and the Tang Monk asked at once how it had gone. “I have taken the pulse,” said Pilgrim. “Now I shall compound the medicine to match the symptoms.”
The officials came forward and said, “Divine monk, elder, what did you mean just now by this ailment, A Pair of Birds Parted?” Pilgrim laughed. “There were two birds, a hen and a cock, that flew together in one place. A sudden gale and a driving rain scattered them in fright, so that the hen could not see the cock, nor the cock the hen. The hen thinks upon the cock, and the cock likewise upon the hen. Is that not A Pair of Birds Parted?” Hearing this, the officials shouted their approval with one voice: “Truly a divine monk! Truly a divine physician!” and their praise did not stop.
Thereupon an officer of the Imperial Medical Court asked, “The course of the illness you have already discerned. But what medicine will you use to treat it?” “There is no need to hold to a prescription,” said Pilgrim. “Whatever drug I see, that I shall take.” “The canon says,” the officer replied, “that there are eight hundred and eight flavours among the drugs, and four hundred and four ailments among men. No one man's body carries all the ailments; what reason could there be for using the whole of the pharmacopoeia? How can you take whatever drug you see?” “The ancients said: medicine holds to no fixed prescription, use what suits the case. That is why I requisition the whole stock of drugs, and add or take away as the occasion requires.”
The medical officer said no more. He went straight out beyond the gate of the court and sent the duty men of his own office to give notice through the whole city, to every shop dealing in drugs raw or prepared, that the stock was to be made ready: three catties of each flavour, to be provided and sent to Pilgrim. “This is no place to compound medicine,” Pilgrim added. “Have the whole tally of drugs, and every vessel needed for compounding them, sent over to the Hostel of Meeting and delivered to my two brothers to take in.” The medical officer obeyed. The eight hundred and eight flavours, three catties of each, together with drug-rollers, drug-mills, drug-sieves and drug-grinders, with mortars and pestles and the rest, were all sent over to the hostel and handed over one item at a time until the receipt was complete.
Pilgrim went up to the hall to ask his master to come with him to the hostel and compound the medicine. The elder was just rising when word came out from the inner palace: the cabinet was to keep the Master of the Law where he was, and lodge him overnight in the Hall of Literary Glory. Once the medicine had been taken the next morning and the sickness cured, there would be thanks and gifts, the travel rescript would be signed over, and they would be seen on their way. Tripitaka was badly startled. “Disciple,” he said, “what this means is that they are keeping me here as a pledge. If the cure succeeds, they will send us off rejoicing; if it fails, my life is finished. You must be careful and give your whole mind to it, and prepare the thing with reverence.” Pilgrim laughed. “Set your mind at rest and enjoy yourself here, Master. Old Sun has the hand that cures a kingdom.”
The excellent Great Sage took leave of Tripitaka, made his farewells to the officials, and went straight to the hostel, where Eight Rules came out to meet him, laughing. “Elder brother, I have found you out.” “Found out what?” “Found out that the scripture business has come to nothing, and you want to set up in trade but have no capital — so, seeing how rich this place is, you have contrived to open a drug shop.” Pilgrim shouted him down. “Talk no nonsense. We cure the king, and at the favourable moment we take our leave of the court and get on the road. What drug shop?” “Surely not. Eight hundred and eight flavours of drug, three catties of each, comes to two thousand four hundred and twenty-four catties in all. To cure one man — how much can he use? There is no telling how many generations it would take him to finish eating it.” “Where would so much be used? Those officers of his Imperial Medical Court are a pack of dullards. That is why I called for such a quantity of drugs — to leave them nothing to take hold of, so that they cannot tell which few flavours I am using, and cannot make out my marvellous prescription.”
Just as they were speaking, two of the hostel stewards knelt down in front of them and said, “Will the reverend sirs be pleased to take the evening meal?” “This morning you treated me in that fashion,” said Pilgrim, “and now you kneel to invite me. How is that?” The steward knocked his head on the ground. “When your worship arrived, this petty officer had eyes without pupils and did not know your honoured face. Now I hear that your worship has displayed in full the arm broken three times, and is treating the lord of our whole kingdom. If His Majesty recovers, your worship will have a share in these rivers and hills, and we are all of us subjects — propriety requires that we kneel to invite you.” Hearing this, Pilgrim was pleased. He went up into the hall and took the seat of honour, and Eight Rules and Sha the monk took their places to left and right of him.
The meal was set out, and Sha the monk asked, “Elder brother, where is the Master?” Pilgrim laughed. “The Master has been kept by the king as a pledge. Only when the sickness is cured will there be thanks and gifts and a send-off.” “Is he getting any comfort out of it?” “How should a king not provide comfort? When I left, three grand secretaries were already in attendance on either side of him, and he was being invited into the Hall of Literary Glory.” “Put like that,” said Eight Rules, “the Master still comes off best: he gets grand secretaries in attendance, and we get no more than a pair of stewards waiting on us. Never mind about him — let old Hog get one good full meal out of it.” So the brothers made themselves comfortable and enjoyed the meal.
The sky had already grown dark. Pilgrim called to the hostel stewards: “Clear away the cooking things and lay in a good quantity of oil and candles. We shall wait until the night is quiet, and then it will be a good time to compound the medicine.” The stewards duly sent in a quantity of oil and candles, and were dismissed to their several duties. By midnight the streets of the capital were empty of people and not one of the ten thousand sounds was stirring. “Elder brother,” said Eight Rules, “what medicine are we making? Get on with it early — I am sleepy.” “Fetch a tael of rhubarb and grind it to a fine powder.”
Sha the monk then said, “Rhubarb is bitter in flavour, cold in nature, and without poison. Its nature sinks and does not float; its action runs and does not stay. It carries off every stagnation and leaves no obstruction; it settles disorder and brings about great peace. It is named The General. But this is a drug that moves things through. I fear that after so long an illness he is depleted and weak, and it should not be used on him.” Pilgrim laughed. “Worthy brother, you do not understand. This drug frees the phlegm and settles the breath, and sweeps out the cold and heat that lie congealed in the belly. Do not concern yourself with me. Go and fetch a tael of croton seed. Take off the husk and the membrane, pound out the oily poison, and grind it to a fine powder.”
“Croton seed is acrid in flavour, hot in nature, and poisonous,” said Eight Rules. “It pares away hardened accumulations and sweeps the deep cold from the lungs and bowels; it opens what is stopped and clears the road for water and grain. It is a general who breaks through barriers and forces gates, and must not be used lightly.” “Worthy brother, you too do not understand. This drug breaks up what is bound and opens the bowel, and can set right a swollen heart and a body distended with water. Prepare it quickly. I have assistant and envoy drugs to support it.” The two of them ground the two drugs fine at once and said, “Elder brother, which of the several dozen flavours are we to use?” “They will not be needed.” “Eight hundred and eight flavours, three catties of each, and only these two taels to be used — this is downright robbery.”
Pilgrim took a flowered porcelain cup and said, “Say no more, worthy brother. Take this cup and scrape half a cupful of soot from the bottom of the pan.” “What for?” “It goes in the medicine.” “I have never seen soot used in a medicine,” said Sha the monk. “Soot is named Frost of a Hundred Grasses, and can regulate a hundred ailments. You do not know about it.” The idiot really did scrape half a cupful, and ground that fine as well.
Pilgrim handed him the cup again and said, “Now go and catch half a cupful of our horse's urine.” “What is that for?” “To make the pills.” Sha the monk laughed too. “Elder brother, this is no joke. Horse urine is rank and stinking. How can it go into a medicine? I have only ever seen pills made with vinegar paste, with old rice paste, with refined honey, or at the plainest with clear water. Whoever saw pills made with horse urine? The stuff reeks and stinks. A man with a weak spleen will vomit at one whiff of it; and then dose him with croton and rhubarb on top of that, so that he is throwing up above and running below — is that a joke?” “You do not know what is behind it. That horse of mine is no ordinary horse. He was originally a dragon of the Western Ocean. If he can be got to void, then whatever your sickness, you are cured the moment you take it. Only it is not to be had in a hurry.”
Hearing this, Eight Rules really did go over to the horse — which was lying slantwise on the ground, asleep. The idiot kicked it awake, shoved the cup underneath its belly, waited a good while, and saw not one drop. He came running back and said to Pilgrim, “Brother! Never mind doctoring the emperor — go and doctor the horse first. The wretched creature is all dried up. There is no hope of getting a single drop out of him.” Pilgrim laughed. “I will go with you.” “I shall come and have a look too,” said Sha the monk.
All three came up to the horse, and the horse sprang to its feet, spoke with a human voice, and cried out sharply: “Elder brother, do you not know? I was a flying dragon of the Western Ocean. Because I broke the ordinances of Heaven, the Bodhisattva Guanyin saved me — sawed off my horns, stripped away my scales, and turned me into a horse to carry the Master west after the scriptures, so that merit might offset my guilt. If I pass water over a river, the fish that swim there will eat it and become dragons; and if I pass water over a mountain, the grasses there will take the savour of it and turn into the numinous fungus, which the immortals' boys gather for long life. How should I be willing to throw it away lightly in a common, dusty place like this?” “Brother, mind your words,” said Pilgrim. “This is the king of a Western country. It is not a common dusty place, and this is not throwing it away lightly. The common saying goes: many hairs gathered make a fur robe. It is to cure the king of this very country. If the cure succeeds, glory for us all; if it does not, I fear none of us will get away from this place in one piece.” Only then did the horse call out, “Wait.”
Watch him: he lunged forward once, squatted back once, ground the whole mouthful of his teeth till they rasped and rang, strained out a bare few drops, and stood up again. “You wretched creature,” said Eight Rules — “even if it were liquid gold, you might let out a little more.” Pilgrim, seeing there was something under half a cupful, said, “Enough, enough. Take it away.” Only then was Sha the monk content. The three of them went back up to the hall, stirred the aforesaid drugs together into one mass, and rolled out three large pills. “Brothers,” said Pilgrim, “those are too big.” “They are only the size of walnuts. Speaking for myself, that would not be a mouthful.” So they put them away in a small box, and the brothers lay down to sleep in their clothes. Nothing more was said that night, and soon it was dawn.
Now the king, sick as he was, held court, received the Tang Monk, and at once ordered his officials to hurry to the Hostel of Meeting, pay their respects to the divine monk Elder Sun, and fetch the medicine. The officials came to the hostel accordingly, prostrated themselves on the ground before Pilgrim, and said, “Our king has expressly commanded us to receive the marvellous remedy.” Pilgrim told Eight Rules to bring the box, lifted the lid, and handed it over. “What is this medicine called? So that we may report properly to the king.” “It is called the Black Gold Elixir.” Eight Rules and the other laughed secretly to each other: “Mixed up out of pot soot — how is that not black gold?” “What vehicle is it taken with?” the officials asked further. “There are two vehicles, and either will serve. One of them is easy to come by: a decoction of six things, to wash it down.” “Which six things?”
“The fart of a crow flying in mid-air; the urine of a carp breasting a swift current; the Queen Mother's face powder; ash from Lord Lao's cinnabar furnace; three pieces of the Jade Emperor's worn-out headcloth; and five whiskers from a fettered dragon. Decoct the six, send this medicine down with it, and your king's anxious sickness will be gone on the instant.”
Hearing this, the officials said, “These things are not to be had in this world. May we ask what the other vehicle is?” “Send it down with rootless water.” The officials laughed. “That one is easy to get.” “How do you make it out to be easy to get?” “By the common lore of the households hereabouts: for rootless water you take a bowl to a well or down to the river, dip up the water, turn on your heel at once, never let it touch the ground, never look back, and give it to the sick man at home with his medicine. That is it.” “Water out of a well or a river all has a root. The rootless water I mean is not that at all. It must fall from the sky, and be drunk before it touches the ground — only that is called rootless water.” “That is easy enough too. Wait until the sky clouds over and it rains, and then let him take the medicine. That will be that.”
So they made their bows of thanks to Pilgrim and carried the medicine back to present it. The king was delighted and at once had his attendants bring it up. He looked at it and said, “What sort of pills are these?” “The divine monk says they are the Black Gold Elixir, to be sent down with rootless water.” The king thereupon told the palace staff to fetch rootless water. “The divine monk says rootless water is not the sort from wells or rivers,” said the officials. “It has to fall from the sky and not touch the ground.” The king at once summoned the officer of the day to issue a decree: the ritual masters were to be sent for, to pray for rain. The officials obeyed and had the proclamation put out; of that no more.
Now Pilgrim, up in the hall of the Hostel of Meeting, called to Pig Eight Rules: “Just now I allowed him water fallen from the sky before the medicine could be taken. But we are in a hurry — where is rainwater to be got? I take this king to be, after all, a lord of great worth and great virtue. Let you and me help him to a little rain to get the medicine down. What do you say?” “Help him how?” “Stand at my left hand and be the Assistant Star.” He called to Sha the monk as well: “Stand at my right hand and be the Supporting Mansion. Let Old Sun help him to a little rootless water.” The excellent Great Sage paced out the Dipper steps and recited a spell, and at once a black cloud appeared in the due east and came gradually up overhead. A voice called, “Great Sage — Ao Guang, Dragon King of the Eastern Ocean, comes to see you.” “I would not presume to trouble you without cause. I have asked you here to help with a little rootless water, to get a medicine down a king.”
“When the Great Sage summoned me, nothing was said about water,” said the Dragon King. “This small dragon came alone and brought no rain gear; there is no wind or cloud, no thunder or lightning. How am I to make rain?” “Wind and cloud and thunder and lightning are not wanted here, and there is no need of much rain. A trifle of water to carry the medicine down, and that is all.” “If that is all, let me sneeze twice and spit out a little saliva, and he can take his medicine with that.” Pilgrim was delighted. “Excellent, excellent. No need to hesitate — get on with it at once.” The old dragon brought his black cloud gradually lower until he was directly above the palace, hid his body and veiled his form, spurted out a mouthful of spittle, and it turned into sweet rain. The whole court cried out their approval with one voice: “Ten thousand congratulations to our lord — the Lord of Heaven has sent down sweet rain!”
The king at once issued a decree: “Fetch vessels and hold them out. Within the palace or without, high officers or low, all are to catch and store this immortal water and save Our person.” Look at them: the officers civil and military, the consorts of the three palaces and six courts, three thousand waiting-women and eight hundred beauties, every one of them holding up a cup or a saucer, raising a bowl or carrying a dish, waiting to catch the sweet rain. The old dragon worked his spittle in mid-air and did not leave the neighbourhood of the palace. After the best part of two hours the Dragon King took his leave of the Great Sage and went back to his ocean. The ministers gathered in the cups and basins and bowls and saucers. Some had caught a drop or two, some three drops or five, and some had not caught a single drop; put all together it came to about three cupfuls, and the whole was presented at the royal desk. Truly, a strange fragrance filled the Golden Chime Hall, and a fine savour drifted through the courtyard of the Son of Heaven.
The king took his leave of the Master of the Law, carried the Black Gold Elixir and the sweet rain into the inner palace, swallowed one pill first and drank one cup of the sweet rain; then swallowed a second pill and drank a second cup; and a third time, until all three pills were swallowed and all three cups of sweet rain sent down after them. Before long there was a noise in his belly, unceasing, like the sound of a well-windlass. He called at once for the close-stool and went three or four times running, then took a little rice gruel and sank down on the dragon couch. Two of the consorts examined the close-stool. Of the filth and phlegm there is no telling; and in among it was a lump of glutinous rice. They came up to the dragon couch and reported: “The root of the sickness has all passed out.” Hearing this, the king was greatly pleased, and took another serving of rice.
In a little while he felt his chest and heart grow easy, his breath and blood come into balance, his spirits rouse themselves, and strength return to his legs. He came down from the dragon couch, put on his court robes, went up into the throne hall, saw the Tang Monk, and at once prostrated himself before him. The elder hurriedly returned the courtesy. The bowing done, the king took the monk's arm in his own royal hand and told the cabinet: “Draw up cards at once. Write on them the words 'Your servant bows twice and touches his head to the ground,' and depute an officer to invite the Master of the Law's three worthy disciples. Meanwhile throw open the Eastern Pavilion, and let the Court of Imperial Entertainments set out a banquet of thanks.” The officials took the order, and those who were to draw up the cards drew up cards, and those who were to set out the banquet set it out. Truly, a state has strength to topple mountains: in a moment it was all done.
Now Eight Rules, seeing the officer deliver the card, could not contain his delight. “Brother,” he said, “it really was a marvellous medicine. This thanksgiving is elder brother's doing.” “What sort of talk is that, second brother?” said Sha the monk. “As the common saying goes: when one man has luck, he carries a whole household along with him. We were here compounding the medicine. We are all men with merit in this. Just go and enjoy it, and let us have no more talk.” Ah! Look at them — the brothers all delight together, and away they go straight to court. The officials received them and brought them up to the Eastern Pavilion, where they saw the Tang Monk, the king and the grand secretaries already there, setting out the banquet. Pilgrim and Eight Rules and Sha the monk called out their salutation and bowed to their master, and the officials came in behind them.
At the head of the room were four vegetarian tables, laid with the sort of feast where one dish is eaten and ten are looked at. In front was one table of meat, and the delicacies on it were laid the same way. To left and right were four or five hundred single tables, and truly they were set out in perfect order:
The ancients said: a hundred flavours of delicacy, a thousand goblets of good wine;
jade-rich creams and curds, brocade-shredded meats rich and red.
Jewelled settings, brilliant with flower-colours; fruits whose savour is fragrant and deep.
Sugar in dippers, dragon-twined, ranged in lion-and-immortal shapes;
cake-ingots drawn from the oven, set out as paired phoenixes.
Of flesh there was pork and mutton, chicken and goose, fish and duck, meat of every kind;
of the lenten sort, vegetable dishes, bamboo shoots, wood-ear and mushroom.
Several kinds of fragrant soup-cake; sugar-soaked pastries brought round again and again.
Smooth and soft, the millet rice; fresh and clean, the wild-rice gruel.
Every sort of noodle broth, fragrant and hot with spice;
every dish replaced as it went, delicious and sweet besides.
Prince and ministers raised their cups and only then took their places;
by station and by rank the flagon went slowly round.
The king raised a cup in his own royal hand and first settled the Tang Monk in his seat. “This poor monk does not drink wine,” said Tripitaka. “It is lenten wine. Might the Master of the Law drink this one cup?” “Wine is the first of the monk's precepts.” The king was much put out. “If the Master of the Law abstains, then with what may I do him honour?” “Let my three stubborn disciples drink in my stead.” Only then was the king pleased. He turned the golden goblet round and passed it to Pilgrim, who took the wine, made his courtesies to the company, and drank a cup. Seeing how briskly he drank, the king offered him another, and Pilgrim did not decline, and drank again. The king laughed. “Have a Three Jewels cup.” Pilgrim did not decline, and drank again. The king called for another pouring — a Four Seasons cup.
Eight Rules, standing by and seeing the wine not come round to him, was reduced to gulping his own saliva. Then, seeing the king pressing wine on Pilgrim so earnestly, he burst out: “Your Majesty! The medicine you took — I had a hand in that too. There was horse in that medicine —” Pilgrim, hearing him, was afraid the idiot would let the secret out, and passed him the cup that was in his own hand. Eight Rules took it and drank, and said nothing more. “The divine monk says there was horse in the medicine,” said the king. “What sort of horse?” Pilgrim took up the thread. “This brother of mine is loose-mouthed like that. Let him get hold of a good tried prescription and he must tell it to everybody. What Your Majesty took this morning had horse-bell in it.” The king asked his officials, “What sort of drug is horse-bell? What ailments does it cure?” An officer of the Imperial Medical Court was standing by, and said: “Your Majesty —
Horse-bell is bitter in flavour, cold in nature, and free of poison;
it settles panting and disperses phlegm, and has great virtue.
It frees the breath and is best of all for dispelling blood congestion;
it supplements depletion, quiets the cough, and eases the middle.”
The king laughed. “Aptly used, aptly used! Let Elder Pig drink another cup.” The idiot said nothing further, but drank a Three Jewels cup all the same. The king passed wine to Sha the monk as well, who also drank three cups, and then they all took their places in order. When they had been drinking a good while, the king raised a great goblet again and offered it to Pilgrim. “Be seated, Your Majesty,” said Pilgrim. “Old Sun will drink his round deep and will certainly not refuse.” “The divine monk's kindness is heavy as a mountain, and Our thanks can never be exhausted. At all events take this great goblet — We have something to say.” “Say what you have to say, and Old Sun will drink the better for it.”
“We have had this sickness of anxiety and doubt some years now, and the divine monk's single dose of magic elixir has broken it open, so that We are well.” Pilgrim laughed. “When Old Sun examined Your Majesty yesterday he already knew it was a sickness of anxiety and doubt. But he does not know what the anxiety and the doubt are about.” “The ancients said: family shame is not to be talked of outside. But the divine monk is Our benefactor. Only do not laugh, and We may tell it.” “How should I dare to laugh? Speak and fear nothing.” “The divine monk has come from the east. How many kingdoms has he passed through?” “Five or six.” “And the queens of those countries — what are they called?” “A king's consorts are called the Principal Palace, the Eastern Palace and the Western Palace.” “Ours are not styled so. We call the Principal Palace the Golden Sage Palace, the Eastern the Jade Sage Palace, the Western the Silver Sage Palace. At present only the Silver and the Jade are in the palace.” “Why is the Golden Sage Palace not in the palace?”
The king let fall tears. “She has been gone three years now.” “Which way did she go?” “Three years ago, at the Double Fifth, We were with Our consorts in the imperial garden, under the Pomegranate Pavilion, untying rice dumplings and setting up mugwort, drinking calamus and realgar wine, and watching the dragon boats race. All at once a gust of wind came, and in mid-air a monster appeared. He called himself Rival of the Year Star, and said that he lived in the Xiezhi Cave on Mount Qilin, that his cave wanted a lady, that he had learned Our Golden Sage Palace was beautiful and delicate, that he would have her for his lady, and that We were to send her out at once; and that if she were not brought out by the third call he would eat Us first, and then Our ministers, and then devour every commoner in the city to the last. At that time, anxious for Our state and Our people, We had no choice: We pushed the Golden Sage Palace out beyond the Pomegranate Pavilion, and with one roar the monster carried her off.
For this We were struck with terror, and the rice dumplings We had eaten congealed and lodged within; and moreover the anxious brooding did not cease by day or night: and so this bitter sickness of three years was formed. Now, having taken the divine monk's magic elixir, We have voided several times, and it was all the matter lodged there three years ago — and so at this hour Our body is sound and light and Our spirits are as they were. Our life this day is wholly the divine monk's gift. How should it be no more than the weight of Mount Tai!” Hearing this, Pilgrim was filled with delight. He swallowed the wine in the great goblet at two gulps, and asked the king with a laugh, “So this is the fright Your Majesty has been carrying. Now you have met Old Sun, and by good fortune you are cured. But I do not know — would you have the Golden Sage Palace back in the kingdom?” The king let fall tears. “We think of her urgently and without ceasing, by day and by night. Only there has been no one able to take the monster. How should there be any question of not wanting her back?” “Suppose Old Sun goes and subdues the monster for you?”
The king knelt down. “If you can rescue Our queen, We will take the three palaces and the nine consorts and go out of the city as a commoner, hand over the whole realm to the divine monk, and let you be emperor.” Eight Rules, standing by and hearing such a speech and seeing such a bow, could not hold it in and roared with laughter. “This emperor has lost all dignity! Giving up his realm for a wife, and kneeling to a monk!” Pilgrim went quickly forward and raised the king up. “Your Majesty — since the monster got the Golden Sage Palace and went, has he come again in all this time?” “He carried off the Golden Sage Palace at the Fifth Month festival the year before last. In the tenth month he came asking for two palace maids, to wait on his lady, he said; and We sent out two; in the third month of last year he came asking for two palace maids again; in the seventh month he took two more; and in the second month of this year, two more again. There is no knowing when he will come again.”
“Coming as often as that — are you afraid of him?” “Seeing him come so many times, We are afraid on the one hand, and on the other We fear he means Us harm. In the fourth month of last year We ordered workmen to raise a Demon-Avoiding Tower. At the sound of wind, knowing it is him, We go into the tower with the two queens and the nine consorts and hide.” “If Your Majesty does not disdain it, might you take Old Sun to see this Demon-Avoiding Tower?” The king at once took Pilgrim by the left hand and led him from the table. The officials all rose together. “Brother, you have no manners,” said Pig Eight Rules. “Leaving royal wine like this undrunk, breaking up the table and upsetting the seating — and going off to look at what?” Hearing him, the king understood at once that Eight Rules was speaking for his stomach. He ordered the officer of the day to carry two vegetarian tables of display wine out and set them waiting beside the Demon-Avoiding Tower. Only then did the idiot stop making a noise, and he said to his master and Sha the monk with a laugh, “We are moving the feast.”
The whole company of civil and military officers led the way. The king and Pilgrim went arm in arm through the palace and out behind the imperial garden — and there was no tower, terrace, hall or pavilion to be seen. “Where is the Demon-Avoiding Tower?” said Pilgrim. Before the words were out, two eunuchs took a pair of red-lacquered poles and prised up a square slab of stone from the bare ground. “This is the place,” said the king. “Below this it goes more than three zhàng down, dug out into nine bays of audience hall. Inside are four great jars filled with clear oil, and lamps burning in them day and night without cease. When We hear the wind we go inside and hide, and men outside put the stone slab over Us.”
Pilgrim laughed. “That monster is not really out to harm you; if he wanted to harm you, how could you hide down here?” Even as he spoke, there came from due south a howling wind that flung up the earth and raised the dust. It so terrified the officials that they complained with one voice: “This monk has a salt-and-sauce mouth — he talks about monsters and the monster comes.” The king was so alarmed that he dropped Pilgrim's hand and dived into the pit; the Tang Monk went in after him; and the officials hid themselves clean away. Eight Rules and Sha the monk wanted to hide as well, but Pilgrim caught hold of the two of them, one with each hand. “Brothers, no need to be afraid. Let you and me take a look at him and see what sort of monster he is.” “What nonsense,” said Eight Rules. “What is the good of looking at him? The officials have hidden, the master has hidden, the king has got out of the way. Let us not go either — whose family are we showing off for?” The idiot struggled left and struggled right, and could not wrench himself free. Held fast by Pilgrim for a good while — and then out of mid-air a monster flashed into view. Look at the shape of him:
Nine chǐ of body, long and hideously fierce;
a pair of ringed eyes flashing like golden lamps.
Two wheels of jutting ear like fans spread open;
four steel teeth like driven nails.
Red hair coiling at the temples, eyebrows standing up like flame;
a pitted nose hanging down, the nostrils gaping wide.
A few strands of whisker like cinnabar thread;
cheekbones jutting sharp in a face all blue.
Red sinews on both arms and hands of indigo;
ten sharp claws holding a spear aloft.
A leopard-skin kilt tied about the waist;
barefoot and wild-haired, like the shape of a demon.
Pilgrim looked and said, “Sha the monk — do you know him?” “I was never acquainted with him. How should I know him?” “Eight Rules — do you know him?” “I never took tea or wine with him, and he is no guest or friend or neighbour of mine. How should I know him?” “He does look like that scorch-faced, gold-eyed demon who keeps the gate for the Eastern Peak.” “He is not, he is not,” said Eight Rules. “How do you know he is not?” “A ghost is a shade of the dark principle. In the whole run of a day it comes out only when the hours of shēn, yǒu, xū and hài come round. Today it is still the hour of sì. Where would a ghost be that dared come out? And even if it were a ghost, a ghost cannot ride a cloud. Even if it could raise a wind, it would only be a whirlwind — and is this a whirlwind? Perhaps he is the Rival of the Year Star himself.”
Pilgrim laughed. “Good idiot — there is something in your argument after all. Since you put it so, the two of you guard here, and let Old Sun go and ask him his name — so that the Golden Sage Palace may be got back to court for the king.” “Go if you must go,” said Eight Rules — “only do not give us away.” Pilgrim held his head high and did not answer. He sprang up in an auspicious light and leapt aloft. Ah! Truly:
To settle a realm, first drive out the sovereign's sickness;
to hold to the Way, one must root out the mind that loves and hates.
In the end there is no knowing how this going up into the air will end in victory or defeat, nor how the monster is to be caught and the Golden Sage Palace rescued. Listen to the explanation in the next chapter.