EIGHTY-THREE

Mind Monkey knows the elixir source;

Fair girl returns to her true nature.

We were telling you about Tripitaka, who was escorted out of the cave by the monster-spirit. Sha Monk drew near and asked, “Master, you’ve come out, but where’s Elder Brother?” “He’s calculating enough,” said Eight Rules, “so he must have accompanied Master out here somehow.”

Pointing at the monster-spirit, Tripitaka said, “Your Elder Brother is in her belly.”

“How dirty and smelly!” said Eight Rules with a giggle. “What’s he doing in her belly? Come out!”

Pilgrim cried out from within: “Open wide your mouth and let me come out!” The fiend opened her mouth as bidden. Pilgrim reduced his size and crawled up to her throat; he was about to go out, but fearing that she might bite him, he took out the iron rod and blew his immortal breath onto it, crying, “Change!” It changed into a small nail, which propped up the roof of her mouth. With a bound he leaped clear of her mouth, taking along with him the iron rod as he jumped. One stretch of his torso helped him to assume his characteristic appearance, as he struck with uplifted rod. The monster-spirit also picked up her pair of treasure swords and blocked his blow with a loud clang. The two of them thus began a fierce battle on the top of the mountain:

Double swords flying that slash at the face;

A golden-hooped rod that aims at the head.

One is a Heav’n-born ape with a mind-monkey frame;

One is an Earth-born spirit with a fair-girl form.

The two of them

Are full of hate;

Gladness breeds rancor, causing a mighty bout.

That one desires primal yang to be her mate;

This one fights pure yin to form the holy babe.¹

The upraised rod fills the sky with chilly fog;

The sword goes forth, the land roils with black dirt.

Because the elder’s

In quest of Buddha,

They strive bitterly, showing great power.

Water wars with fire to hurt the basic way;²

Yin-yang cannot unite, each drifting free.

The two engage in such a lengthy brawl

That mountain and earth quake as forests sprawl.

When Eight Rules saw them battling in this manner, he began to murmur against Pilgrim. Turning to Sha Monk, he said, “Brother, Elder Brother’s twiddling! When he was in her just now, he could have sent her a belly-full-of-red with his fists and crawled out by punching through her stomach. That way he would have had done with her, wouldn’t he? Why did he have to come out through her mouth and fight with her, allowing her to be so insolent?”

“You’re quite right,” replied Sha Monk, “but Elder Brother, after all, has worked very hard to have Master rescued from a deep cave. Now that he has to fight some more with the monster-spirit, I think Master should sit by himself while you and I go with our weapons to lend some assistance to Elder Brother. Let’s go and knock down that monster-spirit.”

“No! No! No!” said Eight Rules, waving his hand. “He has magic powers, but we’re quite useless.”

“What are you saying?” asked Sha Monk. “That’s something that will benefit everyone. We may be useless, but even our fart can add to the wind!” That Idiot did become aroused for the moment; whipping out his rake, he cried, “Let’s go then!”

Abandoning their master, they both mounted the wind and rushed forward to battle, madly delivering blows to the monster-spirit with their rake and staff. The monster-spirit was already having difficulty withstanding Pilgrim by herself; when she saw the two of them, she knew that defeat was certain. Twirling around, she tried to flee.

“Brothers, catch her!” snapped Pilgrim. When the monster-spirit saw that they were pressing, she yanked off the flower slipper from her right foot and blew her immortal breath on it, crying, “Change!” It at once took on her appearance, attacking her pursuers with two swords. She herself, with one shake of her body, changed into a clear gust of wind and sped away. Now, you may think that we were only speaking of her defeat and of her retreat out of regard for her own life. How could you know that this had to be the turn of events? It must be that the star of calamity had not withdrawn its influence over Tripitaka. As the monster-spirit sped by the cave entrance, she saw Tripitaka sitting all alone beneath the towered gate. Rushing up to him, she snatched him and the luggage as well and bit through the reins; she succeeded in abducting both person and horse into the cave, where we shall leave them for the moment.

We tell you instead about Eight Rules, who found an opening and struck down the monster-spirit with one blow of his rake. Then he discovered that it was only a flower slipper. “You two idiots!” said Pilgrim. “It’s enough for you to look after Master. Who asked you to come and help?”

“There you are, Sha Monk!” said Eight Rules. “Didn’t I tell you not to come? This monkey’s sick in his brains! We help him to subdue the fiend, but he blames us instead!”

“Where on earth did you subdue a fiend?” Pilgrim said. “When she fought with me yesterday, that fiend tricked me by this ploy of dropping her slipper. I wonder how Master is faring now that you two have left his side. Let’s hurry back and look!”

The three of them hurried back, but their master indeed had vanished. There was not even a trace of the luggage or the white horse. So astonished was Eight Rules that he dashed back and forth in confusion, while Sha Monk searched hither and yon. The Great Sage Sun too was racked by anxiety as he looked everywhere, and then he saw half a rein lying by the side of the road. Picking it up, he could not stop the tears flowing from his eyes. “O Master!” he cried aloud. “When I left I took leave of both man and horse; when I returned I could see only this rope!” Thus it was that

Seeing the saddle he recalled the horse;

Shedding tears he thought of his kin.

When Eight Rules saw him shedding tears, however, he broke into loud guffaws with face raised toward the sky.

“You coolie!” scolded Pilgrim. “You want to disband again!”

“O Elder Brother!” said Eight Rules, still laughing. “It’s not like that. Master must have been abducted into the cave once more by the monster-spirit. As the proverb says, ‘Success comes only with a third try.’ You have entered the cave twice. Now go in a third time, and I’m sure that you’ll be able to bring out Master.”

Wiping away his tears, Pilgrim replied, “All right! Since things are this way, I have little choice but to go in again. Now that you don’t even have to worry about the luggage and the horse, you must take care to guard the entrance.”

Dear Great Sage! He turned and leaped into the cave; not undergoing transformation, he merely retained his characteristic appearance. Truly

Of strange-looking cheeks and a valiant mind,

He grew up a fiend with great magic strength.

His face like a saddle curved up and down;

His eyes flashed gold beams that blazed like fire.

Hard like needles were his whole body’s furs;

His tiger-skin kilt jingled with loud floral bells.

In Heav’n he crashed through ten thousand clouds;

His rod in the sea lifted mountainous waves.

That day his might beat up the devarājas

And repelled one hundred and eight thousand foes.

Appointed Great Sage, the Handsome Monkey Sprite,

He used, by custom, a golden-hooped rod.

In the West today displaying his might,

To save Tripitaka he enters the cave.

Look at him! He stopped the cloudy luminosity after he reached the residence of the monster-spirit, where he found the towered gates were all shut. Without regard for good or ill, he broke through with one blow of his rod and barged in. It was completely quiet and not a trace of the inhabitants could be found. The Tang Monk was no longer seen by the east corridor; the furniture in the pavilion and the various utensils had all disappeared.

There were, you see, some three hundred miles of living space inside the cave, and the monster-spirit had many residences. When she had brought the Tang Monk to this particular spot the time before, Pilgrim had found them. Now that she had abducted the Tang Monk again, she feared that Pilgrim would return to the same place, and so she immediately moved somewhere else. Our Pilgrim was so exasperated that he pounded his chest and stamped his feet, crying, “O Master! You are a misfortune-begotten Tripitaka Tang, a scripture monk forged by calamity! Alas! This road is familiar enough to me. Why aren’t you here? Where should old Monkey look for you?”

As he was shouting like this in great annoyance, his nose suddenly caught a whiff of scented breeze. Calming down all at once, he said to himself, “This incense drifted out from the rear. They must be back there.” Gripping the iron rod, he strode in but found no movement whatever—only three small chambers. At the back of one of these chambers was a lacquered sacrificial table with open-mouthed dragons carved on both sides. On the table was a huge incense urn of melted gold from which fragrant incense smoke curled upward. Above the urn was hung a large plaque with the following inscription in gold letters: The Tablet of Honored Father, Devarāja Li. Slightly below it to one side was another inscription: The Tablet of Honored Brother Naṭa, the Third Prince. Filled with delight by what he saw, Pilgrim immediately abandoned his search for the fiend or the Tang Monk. He gave his iron rod a squeeze to change it back into an embroidery needle, which he could store in his ear. Stretching forth his hands, he took the plaque and the urn and trod on his cloudy luminosity to go back out to the entrance of the cave, hee-hawing in continuous laughter on the way.

When Eight Rules and Sha Monk heard him, they stepped aside to meet him, saying, “Elder Brother, you must have succeeded in rescuing Master, and that’s why you’re so happy.”

“No need for us to go rescue Master,” said Pilgrim, still guffawing, “just make our demand known to this plaque.” O Elder Brother!” said Eight Rules. “This plaque is no monster-spirit, nor does it know how to speak. Why should we make our demand known to it?”

“Take a look, both of you,” said Pilgrim as he placed the plaque on the ground. Sha Monk approached and saw the inscriptions: The Tablet of Honored Father Devarāja Li, and The Tablet of Honored Brother Naṭa, the Third Prince. “What’s the meaning of this?” he asked.

“It’s something to which the monster-spirit makes offerings,” replied Pilgrim. “When I broke into her residence, I found that both persons and things had disappeared. There was only this plaque. She has to be the daughter of Devarāja Li, the younger sister of the third prince, who has descended to the Region Below out of profane longings. Disguised as a fiend, she has abducted our master. If we don’t demand of the persons whose names appear on this plaque, whom should we ask? While the two of you stand guard here, let old Monkey take the plaque and go up to Heaven to file charges before the Jade Emperor. That’ll make Devarāja Li and his son return our master.”

“O Elder Brother!” said Eight Rules. “As the proverb says, ‘To charge someone with a mortal offense is itself a mortal offense.’ You can’t do it unless your cause is just. Besides, do you think that filing charges before the throne is an easy thing? You’d better tell me how you plan to go about it.”

“I have my way,” said Pilgrim with a laugh. “This plaque and this urn I shall use as evidence. In addition, I shall file a formal, written complaint.”

“What are you going to put in that complaint?” asked Eight Rules. “Let’s hear it.”

Pilgrim said, “This is what I plan to say:

The plaintiff Sun Wukong, whose age and birthday are recorded here in the document, is the disciple of the priest, Tripitaka Tang, who has been sent by the Tang Court in the Land of the East to seek scriptures in the Western Heaven. The complaint I lodge concerns the crime of abetting a monster in kidnapping a human. I hereby accuse Li Jing, the Pagoda-Bearer Devarāja, along with Prince Naṭa, his son, of gross negligence in domestic affairs, which caused his own daughter to become a runaway. At the Region Below she had assumed the form of monstrous perversity in the Bottomless Cave of Mount Void-Entrapping, bringing vexation and harm to countless humans. She has, at the moment, abducted my master into the crooked recesses of her habitation, where he cannot be found at all. I have no choice but to charge father and son with an act of great atrocity, for allowing the daughter to become a spirit and to harm people. I beg you, therefore, to sustain in your great mercy my complaint and arrest the culprits, so that perversity may be brought to submission, my master may be rescued, and the guilt of the offenders may be clearly established. In anticipation of your kind assistance, I hereby submit my complaint.

On hearing these words, Eight Rules and Sha Monk were terribly pleased, both saying, “O Elder Brother, your complaint is most reasonable! You will undoubtedly win the case. You’d better go there at once, for we fear that a little delay may result in the monster-spirit’s taking our master’s life.”

“I’ll hurry! I’ll hurry!” said Pilgrim. “It’ll take me no more than the time needed for boiling tea, or at most for rice to be cooked, to get back here.”

Dear Great Sage! Holding the plaque and the urn, he leaped up to mount the auspicious cloud and went straight before the South Heaven Gate. When Devarājas Powerful and Dhṛtarāṣṭra, who were standing guard at the gate, saw him, both bent low to bow to him and dared not bar his way. He was permitted to go straight up to the Hall of Perfect Light, where he was greeted by Zhang, Ge, Xu, and Qiu, the four Celestial Masters. “Why has the Great Sage come?” they asked.

“I have a document here,” replied Pilgrim, “which I intend to file as a formal complaint.”

“This caster of blame!” said one of the astonished masters. “I wonder whom he plans to accuse.” They had no choice but to lead him into the Hall of Divine Mists to announce his arrival. He was then summoned into the presence of the Jade Emperor.

After putting down the plaque and the urn and paying homage to the throne, he presented his plaint, which the Immortal Ge received and spread out on the imperial desk. When the Jade Emperor had read its content from beginning to end, he signed the document and endorsed it as an imperial decree. Then he commanded Gold Star Venus, Longevity of the West, to take the decree and go to the Cloud-Tower Palace to summon Devarāja Li, the Pagoda-Bearer, to appear before the throne.

“I beg the Heaven Lord to punish him properly,” said Pilgrim, walking forward, “or else he may start some other trouble.”

The Jade Emperor gave this order also: “Let the plaintiff go along.”

“Should old Monkey really go along?” asked Pilgrim.

“Since His Majesty has already issued the decree,” said one of the Celestial Masters, “you may go with the Gold Star.”

Pilgrim indeed mounted the clouds with the Gold Star to reach the Cloud-Tower Palace, which was, you see, the residence of the devarāja. There was a divine youth standing in front of the gate who recognized the Gold Star. He went inside at once and announced, “The Holy Father Gold Star Venus has arrived.” The devarāja went out to meet his guest; when he saw that the Gold Star was bearing an imperial decree, he asked immediately for incense to be lighted. Then he caught sight of Pilgrim following the Gold Star in, and the devarāja stirred with anger.

Why was he angered, you ask? During the time when Pilgrim caused great disturbance at the Celestial Palace, the Jade Emperor once appointed the devarāja as the Demon-Subduing Grand Marshal and Prince Naṭa as the God of the Three Charities Grand Assembly. They were to lead the Heaven hosts against Pilgrim, but they could not prevail even after several engagements. The defeat of five hundred years ago, you see, still rankled him, and that was why he became angry. Unable to restrain himself, he asked, “Old Longevity, what’s that decree you’re bearing?”

“It happens to be a complaint,” replied the Gold Star, “lodged against you by the Great Sage Sun.”

The devarāja was already sorely annoyed; when he heard this, he became enraged, saying, “What’s he accusing me of?”

“The crime of abetting a monster in kidnapping a human,” replied the Gold Star. “After you’ve lit the incense, you may read it for yourself.”

Panting hard, the devarāja hurriedly set out the incense table; after he had expressed his gratitude toward the sky and kowtowed, he spread out the decree. A careful reading of the document, however, sent him into such a rage that he gripped the table with both hands and said, “This ape-head! He has so wrongly accused me!”

The Gold Star said, “Don’t get so mad! He happens to have a plaque and an urn for evidence before the throne, and he claims that all those objects point to your own daughter.”

“But I have only three sons and a daughter,” said the devarāja. “The eldest is Suvarnaṭa, who serves Tathāgata as the vanguard of the Law. My second son is Mokṣa, who is the disciple of Guanshiyin at South Sea. My third son Naṭa is with me and attends court night and day as an imperial guardsman. My only daughter, named Zhenying, happens to be only seven years old. She doesn’t even know much of human affairs. How could she be a monster-spirit? If you don’t believe me, let me carry her out for you to see. This ape-head is mighty insolent! Let’s not say that I am a marshal in Heaven, who has received such a high appointment that I’m permitted to execute someone first before memorializing to the throne. Even if I were one of the common people in the Region Below, I should not be falsely accused. The Law says, ‘A false accusation should receive a thrice-heavy penalty.’” He turned to his subordinates with the order: “Tie up this ape-head with the fiend-binding rope!”

The Mighty-Spirit God, General Fish-Belly, and Marshal Vajrayakṣa, who were standing in a row down at the courtyard, immediately surged forward and tied up Pilgrim. “Devarāja Li,” said the Gold Star, “you’d better not start any trouble! He is one of the two persons decreed by the throne to come here to summon you. That rope of yours is quite heavy. If you hurt him in any way, you’ll be the loser!”

“O Gold Star!” said the devarāja. “How could you allow him to file false charges and disturb the peace like that? Please be seated, while I cut off this ape-head with the fiend-hacking scimitar. Then I’ll return with you to see the throne.”

When the Gold Star learned that he was about to raise the scimitar, his heart quivered and his bladder shook as he said to Pilgrim, “You’ve made a mistake! Filing charges before the throne is no light thing! Why didn’t you try to ascertain the truth first? All your foolish doings now may cause you to lose your life. What’ll you do?”

Not frightened in the least, Pilgrim said, full of smiles, “Relax, old Minister, it’s nothing! Old Monkey has to do his own business this way: he must lose first, and then he’ll win.”

Hardly had he finished speaking when the devarāja wielded his scimitar and brought it down hard on Pilgrim’s head. All at once the third prince rushed forward and parried the blow with the fiend-hacking sword, crying, “Father King, please calm your anger!” The devarāja turned pale with alarm.

Ah! When the father saw the son parrying the scimitar with his own sword, he should have commanded the son to turn back. Why should he turn pale with alarm? This is the reason, you see:

When this child was born to the devarāja,³ he had on his left hand the word Na, and on his right the word Ṭa, and that was why he was named Naṭa. On the third morning after he was born, this prince already decided to bathe in the ocean and caused a great disaster. He overturned the water-crystal palace and wanted to pull out the tendons of one of the dragons to use them for a belt. When the devarāja learned of the incident, he feared that his son might prove to be a calamity afterward and sought to have him killed. Naṭa became enraged; knife in hand, he cut off his own flesh to give it back to his mother and carved up his bones to give them back to his father. After he had, as it were, repaid his father’s sperm and his mother’s blood, his soul went to the region of ultimate bliss in the West to complain to Buddha.

Buddha at the time was lecturing to the various bodhisattvas when he heard someone on the sacred banners and parasol calling, “Save me!” One look with his eyes of wisdom and Buddha knew it was the soul of Naṭa. Using the root of the lotus for bones and its leaves for garment, he recited the magic words of revivification and restored Naṭa to life. With his newfound divine strength, Naṭa succeeded in subduing the fiendish demons of ninety-six caves. His magic powers were so great that he later wanted to kill the devarāja in order to exact vengeance for self-immolation.

The devarāja had little choice but to plead with Tathāgata, who, of course, was an advocate of peace. He therefore bestowed on the devarāja a compliant, yellow-gold treasure pagoda of the finest openwork carving and filled with śārī-relics; the pagoda, in fact, symbolized Buddha on each level, and the entire edifice was bathed in luminosity. The sight of the pagoda thus would remind Naṭa of Buddha, who was to be revered as the prince’s true father, and that is how the enmity was dissolved. This is the reason also for Li Jing to be named the Devarāja Pagoda-Bearer.

Since he was at home today, at leisure, the devarāja had not been carrying his pagoda, and he thought that Naṭa had been seized by the desire for vengeance again. That was the reason he paled with fear. Immediately reaching for the gold treasure pagoda on the stand and holding it high, he asked Naṭa, “Son, you’ve parried my scimitar with your sword. What do you want to say to me?”

Abandoning his sword and kowtowing, Naṭa replied, “Father King, you do have a daughter at the Region Below.”

“Son,” said the devarāja, “I have had only the four of you. What other daughter do I have?”

“You have quite forgotten, Father King,” said Naṭa. “That other daughter was originally a monster-spirit. Some three hundred years ago she became a fiend who stole and devoured the fragrant flowers and treasure candles of Tathāgata at Spirit Mountain. Tathāgata sent us, father and son, to lead an expedition against her. When she was caught, she should have been beaten to death, but Tathāgata gave us this instruction:

For fishes reared in the ponds you never fish;

For deer fed in the mountains long life’s your wish.

At that time, therefore, we spared her life, and in gratitude she took you as her father and your child as her elder brother. She was to set up our tablets down below, to which she would offer perpetual incense fires. Who would have expected her to become a spirit again and conspire to harm the Tang Monk? When Pilgrim Sun searched through her lair, the tablets were found and charges were thus filed before the throne. This is your daughter by the bond of grace, not a sister of mine by blood.”

Astounded by what he heard, the devarāja said, “My child, I have indeed forgotten the whole matter. What’s her name?”

“She has three of them,” replied the prince. “At her birthplace she was originally called the Golden-Nosed White-Haired Rodent-Spirit. Because she had stolen the fragrant flowers and treasure candles, her name was changed to Bisected Guanyin. When she was spared and sent to the Region Below, she changed her name again to Mistress Ground-Rushing.”

Only then did the devarāja realize what had happened. Immediately he wanted to untie Pilgrim with his own hands, but Pilgrim had turned rowdy. “Who dares untie me?” he cried. “You can take me in ropes to see the throne! Old Monkey will then win his litigation!” The hands of the devarāja turned numb with fear, the prince became speechless, and the various subordinate officers retreated shamefacedly.

Rolling all over the place in a tantrum, the Great Sage insisted that the devarāja appear before the throne with him. Having no alternative, the devarāja could only plead pitifully with the Gold Star to speak on his behalf. The Gold Star said, “As the ancients put the matter, ‘One should be lenient in all things.’ The way you do things, however, is rather hasty! You’ve bound him, and you even wanted to kill him. This monkey happens to be notorious in casting blame. Now what do you want me to do? According to what your son has told us, she is not your daughter by blood but only by bond. Nonetheless, that is still an important tie of kinship. No matter how you dispute the matter, you are somewhat guilty.”

The devarāja said, “If the venerable Star would speak on my behalf, then my guilt will be absolved.” “I would like indeed to pacify you both,” said the Gold Star, “but I don’t quite know how to plead for you.”

“Why don’t you,” said the devarāja, “just mention the former incident, when you went to him on your mission of pacification and gave him his appointment?” The Gold Star did indeed go forward to touch Pilgrim and said, “Great Sage, for my sake let us untie you so that we may all go see the throne.”

“Old Minister,” said Pilgrim, “you needn’t untie me. I know how to roll, and I’ll roll my way there!”

“Monkey, you’re quite unfeeling!” said the Gold Star, chuckling. “I was, after all, rather kind to you in times past. Now you refuse me even in a trivial matter like this.” “What sort of kindness have you shown me?” asked Pilgrim.

The Gold Star said, “In those years when you were a fiend in Mount Flower-Fruit, when you tamed tigers and subdued dragons, when you abolished the register of death by force, and when you assembled various monsters to perpetrate your delinquency, Heaven above wanted to arrest you. It was this old man who boldly memorialized to the throne to issue a decree of pacification and have you summoned to the Celestial Palace and appointed you a BanHorsePlague. After you had drunk the immortal wine of the Jade Emperor and needed pacification once more, it was this old man’s bold memorial also that got you the appointment of Great Sage, Equal to Heaven. But you did not behave and went on to steal peaches, filch wine, and rifle elixir from Lord Lao. Only after this and that did you attain a state of birthlessness and deathlessness. But if it hadn’t been for me, would you have reached this day?”

Pilgrim said, “The ancients truly had put the matter well: even in death you should not share a grave with an old man! Like it or not, he knows how to carp! What’s so big that I did? I merely disturbed the Celestial Palace as BanHorsePlague. All right! All right! For your sake, Venerable Sir, I’ll relent, but he himself must untie me.” Only then did the devarāja dare approach and untie the rope. Pilgrim was then invited to tidy his clothes and take the honored seat, after which the various deities went forward one by one to pay their respects.

Facing the Gold Star, Pilgrim said, “Old Minister, how about it? Didn’t I tell you that I would lose first, and then win? That’s how one should do business! Let’s urge him to go see the throne quickly, lest my master is harmed.” “Let’s not rush things,” said the Gold Star. “Having squandered all this time already, let’s have a cup of tea first.”

“If you drink his tea,” said Pilgrim, “you’re in fact accepting his bribe. What sort of crime should you be charged with, when you free the felon on a bribe and slight the imperial decree?”

“I won’t drink his tea! I won’t drink his tea!” exclaimed the Gold Star. “Now you’re even casting blame on me! Devarāja Li, go quickly! Go quickly!” But the devarāja, of course, dared not go with Pilgrim to see the Throne, for he was terribly afraid that the ape might turn rowdy once more. If he were to mouth all kinds of accusations before the Jade Emperor, how could the devarāja hope to refute them? He had no choice but again to plead with the Gold Star to speak up for him.

At length the Gold Star said to Pilgrim, “I have just one word for you! Will you agree to it?”

“I have already overlooked for your sake the affront of being bound and hacked by the scimitar,” said Pilgrim. “Do you have anything more to say? Speak up! Speak up! If it’s good, I’ll listen; if not, don’t blame me!”

The Gold Star said, “Remember the proverb, ‘One day’s litigation will take ten days to settle.’ You file a charge before the throne, claiming that the monster-spirit is the daughter of the devarāja, and he denies it. The two of you can argue this matter back and forth before the Jade Emperor. Meanwhile, let me remind you that one day in Heaven is equivalent to one year in the Region Below. For this whole year the monster-spirit has had your master imprisoned in the cave. Let’s not mention a wedding ceremony. Even if it’s a makeshift affair, by now she must have produced a little monk for him! Hasn’t your delay upset the great enterprise?”

Lowering his head, Pilgrim thought to himself, “Yes, indeed! When I left Eight Rules and Sha Monk, I told them that I would return after a time no longer than it takes tea to boil, or at most for rice to be cooked. I’ve messed around here all this while. Am I too late?” He said thereby to the Gold Star, “Old Minister, how should we return this imperial decree?”

“Let’s ask Devarāja Li to summon his troops to go down with you to subdue the fiend,” replied the Gold Star. “I’ll return the decree.”

“What will you say as your report?” asked Pilgrim.

“That the plaintiff has fled,” said the Gold Star, “and that the defendant has been dismissed from the case.”

“How nice!” said Pilgrim with a laugh. “For your sake I’m dropping my charges, and you claim instead that I have fled! Tell him to call up the troops and wait for me outside the South Heaven Gate. I’ll go with you to return the decree.”

Growing alarmed once more, the devarāja said, “If he starts talking once he gets inside the palace, I may end up with the crime of treason.”

“What sort of person do you take old Monkey for?” said Pilgrim. “I, too, am a true man! ‘Once my word is given, horses can’t retrieve it.’ You think I would smear you with slander?”

The devarāja then thanked Pilgrim, who left with the Gold Star to return the decree. The devarāja at once called up the troops under his command and had them stationed outside the South Heaven Gate. Going before the throne with Pilgrim, the Gold Star said to the Jade Emperor, “The person who has imprisoned the Tang Monk happens to be a gold-nosed, white-furred rodent which has become a spirit. She is also the one who has set up the tablets of Devarāja Li and his son. Since learning of this, the devarāja has already called up his troops for an expedition against the fiend. I beg the Celestial-Honored One to pardon him.”

Since the Jade Emperor had already known of this, he at once extended his Heaven grace and pardon. Pilgrim turned back his cloudy luminosity to go out of the South Heaven Gate, where he found the devarāja, the prince, and the Heaven hosts waiting in smart formation. Behold! Those divine warriors, in churning wind and fog, received the Great Sage and then lowered their clouds to descend to Mount Void-Entrapping. Eight Rules and Sha Monk, with bulging eyes, were waiting on the mountain when they saw Pilgrim arriving with the Heaven hosts. Bowing to the devarāja, Idiot said to him, “We’ve troubled you!” “Marshal Heaven Reeds,” said the devarāja, “we have something to tell you: we, father and son, may have enjoyed one stick of her incense, but the monster-spirit has thereby grown audacious enough to have your master imprisoned. Please don’t blame us for this tardy arrival. Is this Mount Void-Entrapping? I wonder which direction the entrance of her cave faces.”

“I’m familiar enough with the way in,” said Pilgrim. “Her cave here is named the Bottomless Cave, and its inside is about three hundred miles in circumference. The monster-spirit actually must have many lairs. Previously she had my master detained within a double-eaved towered gate. Now it’s so quiet there that you won’t see even the shadow of a ghost! I have no idea where she has moved to.” The devarāja said, “No matter.

Let her maneuver in a thousand ways;

She’ll n’er escape the net of Heav’n and Earth.

Let’s approach the entrance first, and then we’ll decide what to do.” All of them immediately proceeded. Ah! After some ten miles they reached the big boulder. Pointing to the entrance about the size of a huge barrel, Pilgrim said, “That’s it.”

“‘Without entering the tiger’s lair,’” said the devarāja, “‘how could one capture the tiger cubs?’ Who dares lead the way?”

“I do,” said Pilgrim.

“Since I’m to subdue a fiend by imperial decree,” said the prince, “I’ll lead the way.”

At that moment our Idiot became even more impetuous. “Old Hog will be the one to lead the way!” he shouted.

“No need to make so much noise!” said the devarāja. “Let me give the order: the Great Sage Sun and the prince will lead the troops down there. We three will stand guard up here at the entrance. We shall coordinate our efforts within and without, so that she will have no route to flee to Heaven and no door to enter Earth. Only then will we truly show our power.” All of them responded with a resounding “Yes!”

Look at Pilgrim and the prince! Leading the captains and troops, they slid inside the cave and immediately mounted the cloudy luminosity. As they looked about, it was a fine cave indeed!

The sun and moon’s familiar orbs

Shine on the same mountains and streams;

Pearly deeps, jade wells warmed and sheathed in mist,

And e’en many more lovely sights.

Red painted towers in layers,

Scarlet walls and green fields endless.

Late autumn lotus and willows of spring—

Such a cave-heaven’s rarely seen.⁴

In a moment, they stopped their cloudy luminosity right before the old residence of the monster-spirit. Noisily the celestial warriors began a door-to-door search; they looked everywhere, spreading out through all those three hundred miles, but neither a single monster-spirit nor a Tripitaka could be seen at all.

“This cursed beast,” said the warriors, “must have left the cave and removed herself far away.” Little did they know that there was another small cave at the dark southeast corner; there was a tiny door in the cave and a house built rather low, surrounded by a few pots of flowers and several stalks of bamboo. It was a place shrouded in darkness and faint fragrance. Here the old fiend had brought Tripitaka and wanted to force him to marry her, thinking that Pilgrim would never be able to find them. She did not realize, of course, that her fate was about to overtake her. As those little fiends crowded together inside, you see, one of the more courageous ones stuck out his head to take a peek outside, and he ran directly into the celestial warriors.

“They’re here!” they cried, and Pilgrim became so aroused that he went crashing in, his hand gripping the golden-hooped rod. The whole nest of monster-spirits was packed in that small and narrow place. When the prince and his troops surged forward, where could any of the fiends run to hide?

Pilgrim soon located the Tang Monk, the luggage, and the dragon horse. When the old fiend realized that there was no way for her to flee, she faced Prince Naṭa and kowtowed repeatedly, begging for her life. The prince said, “Our expedition here to arrest you is decreed by the Jade Emperor, and it’s no small thing. We, father and son, by enjoying one stick of your incense, nearly brought on ourselves colossal calamity!” Thereupon he bellowed: “Celestial soldiers, take out the fiend-binding ropes and tie up all those monster-spirits!” The old fiend, you see, could not avoid a little suffering.

The company then turned around their cloudy luminosity and went outside the cave, with Pilgrim chortling loudly all the way. The devarāja left his post at the entrance to meet Pilgrim, saying, “This time you’ve seen your master!”

“Thank you! Thank you!” replied Pilgrim, and at once led Tripitaka to bow to thank the devarāja and the prince. Sha Monk and Eight Rules would have liked very much to hack the old spirit into tiny pieces, but the devarāja said, “Since she was arrested by imperial decree, she should not be easily disposed of. We have yet to return to make a report to the throne.”

So the devarāja and the third prince led the divine warriors and celestial soldiers to guard the monster-spirit and take her back to face judgment before Heaven’s tribunal. Meanwhile Pilgrim and Sha Monk scurried around the Tang Monk to pack as Eight Rules steadied the horse for him to mount. They headed for the main road together. Thus it is that

The silk threads are sundered to dry the golden sea;

The jade lock’s broken and he leaves the bird-cage.

We do not know what happens as they journey forth; let’s listen to the explanation in the next chapter.