descended from the clouds and found a cave from which flowed a river. About the entrance some small demons were at play. At the sight of the Seeker of Secrets they ran away. He cried out, “Do not run away. I am the Master of the Mountain Garden and Cave with the Water Curtain in the South. Your chief, the Disturber of the World’s Peace, has been frequently assaulting my children, and I have come to get an apology.” The little demons ran in and said, “Trouble has come, oh King,” and repeated the message of the Monkey King. The Demon King laughed and said, “I have often heard the monkeys say that they had a great chief, and that he had gone away to lead a religious life. I suppose it is he who has come. How is he dressed and how is he armed?” They replied, “He is not armed, but is hatless and dressed in a red gown and yellow girdle and black boots. He is not like an ordinary man, nor like a Buddhist monk or a Taoist priest, and he is waiting outside with no weapons in his hands.” On hearing this the Demon King put on his armor, took a sword in his hand and went out, followed by a crowd of little demons, and cried out, “Where is the Master of the Water Screen Cave?” The Seeker of Secrets opened his eyes and saw the Demon King.Black helmet crowned his head,
Red coated was his back.
Black armor over all,
Black leather boots he wore.
His girdle ten times others round
His height was thirty feet.
His hand bore a huge sword,
All polished for the fight.
The Seeker of Secrets cried out, “You incorrigible demon! You have such big eyes but you cannot even see me.” The Demon King looked down and seeing him, said, “You are not five feet tall and not more than thirty years old, and have no weapons, how dare you be so mad as to talk to me about an apology?” The Seeker of Secrets cursed him and said, “You insolent demon, it is plain you cannot see. You think I am small, but if I wish to be big, I can easily become big. You think I have no weapons, but I can stretch my arms to reach the moon. Wait till you get a taste of my fists. Let us have a bout of boxing.” The Demon King took off his armor saying, “You are short and I am tall. If you use your fists and I use a sword and kill you, it will be ridiculous. Let me put down my sword and fight with my fists.” Having put down his armor, he then began fighting. The Seeker of Secrets got close to him and they fought each other hard, but the long fist beat the air while the short one hit the mark. After the Monkey King had given him several hard knocks, he began to swell. Suddenly the Demon King seized his great steel sword and made a rush to strike him down. The Monkey quickly evaded him, so that he struck the empty air. The Seeker of Secrets then used one of his wonderful arts. He pulled out one of his hairs, put it in his mouth and chewed it into minute bits, then blew them out of his mouth and said, “Transform!” and these bits were instantly changed into hundreds of small monkeys who gathered round him. The Monkey King, since he had discovered this supernatural gift, had 84,000 hairs on his body, and each of these could be transformed in like manner, as he pleased. The small monkeys were so lively that the demon could not hit them on the right or left. They went at him from behind and before, they seized him and pulled him and tripped him, played with his hair and eyes, as if he were a pincushion. The Seeker of Secrets then laid hold of his sword, went up amongst the monkeys, struck the top of the Demon King’s head till it split open, and went into the cave, killing as he went, leaving not one of the demons alive. Then he put back the hair in its place on his body again. Those who did not suffer in the cave were a few dozen monkeys, which the Demon King had carried captive before. He ordered them out to light a fire to burn all the demons. Then he told these monkeys to follow him home. “Shut your eyes tight.” He then uttered an incantation, and a strong wind carried them over the clouds. When he descended from the clouds he called on them to open their eyes. They then found they were at home again, and were very glad, and ran into the cave as of old. Then all the monkeys assembled in the cave to welcome the king and get ready a banquet. They asked him how he had vanquished the Demon King. The Seeker of Secrets told them the whole story. The monkeys’ praises were interminable, and they asked, “Where, Oh King, did you learn all these wonders?” He answered, “That year when I left you, I sailed across the China Sea till I reached the Southern Continent and there I learnt how to become human, and put on clothes and wear boots for some 8 or 9 years, but had not found the secret forces of nature. I then crossed over the great Western Ocean till I reached the Unicorn Continent in the West, and searched for this secret for a long time. Finally I met an old patriarch who taught me the true way of living eternal as the heavens, so as never to become old.” All the monkeys congratulated him on having discovered how to avoid all calamities. The Seeker of Secrets smiled on his followers and said, “You may congratulate me on one other thing. You all have a family name now.” They all cried, “Oh King, what is thy name?” The king said, “My surname is Sun, which means macaque, and my name is the Seeker of Secrets.” When they heard this, they clapped their hands with great joy and said, “The great King is the venerable Sun, we are his sons and grandsons, one family and one nation—all of the same name. Let us all honor our ancestor Sun with cups of coconut wine, grape wine, and fairest fruits, for this is a great joy to the whole family.”
3
Monkey Visits the Dragon King
THE MONKEY KING RETURNED HOME with honors. Having killed the Disturber of the World’s Peace, he took away his great sword and daily practiced with it. He taught the monkeys how to use it, how to make wooden swords to cut bananas and thistles, and how to build a camp. They played at this for a long time. One day when sitting quietly he suddenly thought, “Perhaps this sham fight may become a real one. We may excite the fear of a human king, or of a king of the birds, or of the king of beasts, and they may say that we are practicing military affairs in order to rebel and lead forth an army to kill. How can we get something better than these wooden weapons?” On hearing this, all the monkeys were filled with fear. Then four great monkeys, two red tailed and two long armed, went up and said, “Great King, if you wish sharp instruments, that is easy. Two hundred li to the south of us, across the water, on the borders of Aolai, there is a city full of soldiers. They have workers in copper and iron. If you go there you can buy or have made weapons with which we can practice for the defense of our mountain, and then we shall have nothing to fear.”
On hearing this, the Seeker of Secrets was full of joy. He leaped to the clouds and was there in a minute. The city had streets and markets and business, both small and great, a very busy place. The Seeker of Secrets thought, “Here there must be plenty of ready made weapons. I will go down and buy them. But perhaps I had better use my magic power.” He pronounced an incantation and drew in his breath, and then blew it out. Then there arose a tremendous cyclone blowing sand and stones, and the people of Aolai were so terrified that they shut their doors, as none dare stay outside. The Seeker of Secrets then descended from the clouds, went to the armory and burst open the doors. Inside were eighteen kinds of weapons, all complete. He rejoiced greatly at the sight. “But I cannot take many alone. I had better call my monkeys by magic.” Then he plucked a hair, chewed it into bits, and blew them out with an incantation, and many thousands of monkeys appeared. They cleared the armory of all the weapons, took them through the air, and returned home with them.
Then the Monkey King shook his body, put back the hair and set up the weapons in a heap and called the monkeys together to choose their arms. They came and struggled to get knives and swords, hatchets and spears, bows and arrows, and with these they played all day. Next day they were called to drill as usual, and their king numbered them and found them to be over 47,000. This frightened all the beasts of the mountain. The elf chiefs of the 72 caves on the mountain came to do homage to the Monkey King, and brought their yearly tribute. They were drilled every season, and all paid their taxes regularly, till the Mountain Garden became an iron city, where they drilled daily for military purposes.
In the midst of this splendid success, however, the Monkey King said, “I
