Chapter 40: A Child's Prank Unsettles the Monk's Heart; Monkey, Horse, and Blade Come to Nothing

Now to return: Sun Wukong and his two brothers lowered the cloud and went straight into court. There they saw the king, the queen, the crown prince, and the ministers kneeling in several ranks to welcome and thank them.

Wukong explained to the king and his court how the bodhisattva had subdued the monster and taken him away. Everyone bowed again and again in gratitude.

Just then the palace eunuch came in to report, "Your Majesty, there are four monks outside, come again."

Bajie was alarmed. "Brother, could it be that the monster has worked some magic, pretended to be Manjushri Bodhisattva, fooled us all, and then changed back into monks to test us?"

Wukong said, "Nonsense." He at once ordered them to be brought in.

The officers passed down the command, and when the monks were brought before him, Wukong saw that they were the men from Baolin Monastery, carrying the crown, jade belt, vermilion robe, and carefree shoes.

He was delighted. "Good, good. You have come at the right time."

He had the monk come forward, removed his wrapping cloth, and set the high crown on his head. He took off the plain robe and put on the vermilion one. He untied the sash and fastened on the jade belt. He took off the monk's shoes and put on the carefree shoes. Then he told the crown prince to bring out the white jade tablet and placed it in the king's hands, ready for him to take the throne.

As the old saying goes, a court cannot go one day without a ruler.

But the king would not sit. Weeping, he knelt in the middle of the steps and said, "I have been dead for three years. Now that I have been revived by the master's mercy, how could I dare take the title of sovereign again? Please let one of the masters be king. I am willing to lead my wife and children outside the walls and live as a common man."

Tripitaka would not accept it. He wanted only to worship Buddha and seek the scriptures.

Wukong was invited in turn, but he laughed and said, "To tell the truth, if Old Sun were willing to be emperor, I could fill the thrones of all the emperors under heaven and in the ten thousand kingdoms. It is only that we are used to being monks, and we have become lazy in our habits. If we became emperors, we would have to let our hair grow long, stay awake after dusk, and rise before dawn; when border reports came in, we would have no peace of mind; when famine or disaster struck, we would worry ourselves half to death. How could we ever be used to that? You may keep your throne. I will keep being a monk and continue my cultivation."

The king could not refuse them any further. So he mounted the throne hall, took the south-facing seat and called himself sovereign. He proclaimed a general amnesty and granted rewards to the monks of Baolin Monastery. Then the eastern hall was opened, and a banquet was set for Tripitaka.

At the same time an imperial order was sent out to summon painters, who made portraits of the four pilgrims and hung them as offerings in the Golden Throne Hall.

The pilgrims settled the kingdom and would not stay long. They took leave of the king and set out westward.

The king, the queen, the crown prince, and all his ministers presented the monastery treasures, gold and silver, and bolts of silk as gifts to thank their masters. Tripitaka refused every bit of it. He only asked for the passport papers to be exchanged, and he urged Wukong and the others to shoulder the luggage and leave early.

The king was deeply reluctant to part with them. So he ordered the full court carriage and ceremonial escort prepared and invited Tripitaka to ride in honor. Both ranks of civil and military officers led the way, and he and the queen, the crown prince, and the whole household pushed the wheels and carried the axle, escorting them out of the city. Only then did the king step down from the dragon carriage and bid them farewell.

"Master," he said, "when the scriptures are successfully brought back from the Western Heaven, you must come again and favor my realm with a visit."

Tripitaka bowed and said, "Your disciple takes the command."

The king wept, and the whole court returned with him.

The four monks set out on the winding road and kept their whole hearts on worshiping Lingshan. It was now the turn from late autumn into early winter:

Frost had withered the red leaves, and every grove looked lean;
rain had ripened the yellow grain, and every field was full.
Warm sun touched the ridge plums into dawn light;
wind shook the mountain bamboo and stirred its cold song.

After leaving Uji Kingdom, they traveled by night and by day. More than half a month passed before they suddenly came upon a high mountain, so tall it seemed to block the sun and press against the sky. Tripitaka, riding along, felt a sudden unease and quickly reined in his horse to call to Wukong.

Wukong asked, "What does Master command?"

Tripitaka said, "Look ahead. There is another steep mountain range. You must be careful. I fear evil things may again come to harm us."

Wukong laughed. "Just keep going. Do not worry so much. Old Sun has his own ways of protection."

The elder could only relax a little and urge his horse on. When they came to the rocky slope, they found it truly perilous.

How high was it? The peak touched the blue sky.
How deep was it? The ravines seemed the gates of hell.
In front, white clouds piled in drifts and black mist churned.
Red plums, green bamboo, cypresses, and pines stood in crowded ranks.
Behind the mountain rose a terrace ten thousand zhang high, a place to catch the soul.
Behind the terrace lay a strange and twisted demon cave, and in the cave a spring that dropped bead by bead.
Beneath the spring ran a winding stream.
Monkeys sprang from rock to rock, deer with horns tossed their heads, and stags stared dumbly at men.
Tigers prowled in the evening looking for dens, and dragons burst from the water at dawn.
A cry at the cave mouth startled the flying birds into the air;
the beasts of the forest moved in startled ranks, and every creature feared to stand.
The blue stone looked like a thousand slabs of jade; green gauze wrapped the mountain in ten thousand layers of smoke.

The pilgrims were still uneasy when they saw, in a hollow of the mountain, a patch of red cloud shoot straight into the nine heavens and gather into a ball of fire.

Wukong was startled. He rushed forward, grabbed Tripitaka's foot, and pushed him off the horse, crying, "Brothers, do not go on. A demon is coming."

Bajie hurriedly took up the rake, and Brother Sha seized his staff. They formed a ring around Tripitaka to protect him.

Let us set that aside for a moment.

The red glow hid a demon indeed. Years before, he had heard that a Tang monk from the Eastern Land was coming west to seek scriptures. He knew the monk was the rebirth of the Elder of Golden Cicada, a man who had cultivated through ten lives. People said that if anyone ate a piece of his flesh, that person would live long and never age.

He had waited in the mountains every day, and now at last the monk had come.

From the clouds, the monster looked down and saw the three disciples surrounding Tripitaka on horseback, each one fully on guard. He could not help praising them.

"What a monk!" he thought. "I had only just seen a fat-faced white monk riding along, and I knew he must be the holy monk from Great Tang. But how has he been guarded by three ugly monks, each with his sleeves rolled up and each holding a weapon as if ready for a fight? Someone with sharp eyes must have recognized me. At this rate I will never get a bite of Tripitaka's flesh."

He thought it over carefully.

"If I try to seize him by force, I will never get near him. Perhaps I can deceive him with a game of goodness instead. If I make his heart wander, I can seize him from within goodness itself."

So he scattered the red cloud, lowered himself to the mountain slope, and changed into a little seven-year-old child. He was naked, with hemp rope binding his hands and feet, hanging high from the tip of a pine tree, and crying out at the top of his lungs, "Help! Help!"

Wukong looked up again. The red cloud was gone and the fire-cloud had vanished. He called out, "Master, mount up and keep going."

Tripitaka said, "You said a demon was coming. How can we go forward again?"

Wukong said, "Just now I saw a red cloud rise from the ground and gather into a ball of fire in the air. It was certainly a demon. Now the red cloud has scattered. It must have been some passing spirit that did not dare harm anyone. Let us go."

Bajie laughed. "Brother, your words are so clever. Since when does a demon have a thing called a passing spirit?"

Wukong said, "What do you know? If the mountain lord and the cave lord are giving a banquet and inviting the demons from every mountain and every cave to attend, then the spirits from east, west, south, and north all come to the feast. Because he only meant to attend the banquet, not to do harm, he is a passing demon."

Tripitaka half believed him and half did not, but he had no choice except to mount and continue along the mountain road.

They had not gone far when they heard a cry: "Help!"

Tripitaka said in alarm, "Disciples, who is crying out in the middle of the mountain?"

Wukong said, "Master, just keep walking. Do not worry about sedan chairs, mule chairs, litter chairs, or sleep-chairs. Even if there were a chair here, no one would carry you in it."

Tripitaka said, "It is not a chair I mean. It is a cry."

Wukong laughed. "I know. Do not meddle in other people's business. Just keep going."

Tripitaka rode on as instructed. Before he had gone a mile, he heard the cry again.

"Help!"

Tripitaka said, "Disciple, that cry is not the cry of a ghost or a demon. If it were a ghost or demon, there would be one cry but no reply. This one cries again and again. It must be someone in distress. We should save him."

Wukong said, "Master, for today put aside your compassion for a while. After we get past this mountain, you may be compassionate again. This place is full of danger. You know the old saying that things can become demons by leaning against grass and clinging to wood. Most things are still bearable, but snakes are the worst. If they cultivate for a long time and become spirits, they can recognize a person's private name. If one of them is hiding in the grass or in a mountain hollow and calls out to a person, and that person answers, the snake spirit can snatch away the person's primal spirit. It will then follow after him that night and surely injure his life. Let us go, let us go. As the old saying goes, if you can get away, thank the gods. Do not listen to him."

The elder had no choice but to follow his advice and press on.

Wukong thought to himself, "That damned fiend does not know where he is, and keeps crying help. I will give him an orbited-star trick and make sure we never meet."

He called Brother Sha forward and said, "Lead the horse and walk slowly. Let Old Sun relieve himself."

So he let Tripitaka go ahead a few steps, muttered a spell, and used his mountain-moving, earth-shrinking art. Pointing the Golden-Hooped Rod behind him, he made the pilgrims pass over the peak and continue forward, leaving the monster behind.

Then he quickened his pace, caught up with Tripitaka, and went on through the mountains.

Once more Tripitaka heard a cry from behind the mountain: "Help!"

He said, "Disciples, the poor soul in distress is terribly unlucky. He has not met us. We have already passed him. Listen, he is crying from behind the mountain."

Bajie said, "He was still in front of us a moment ago. The wind must have turned."

Wukong said, "What does it matter whether the wind turns or not? Just keep going."

So none of them said another word. They wished only to cross the mountain in a single step and not talk about it further.

Meanwhile the demon in the slope had cried three or four times and still no one came. He thought to himself, "We have Tripitaka right here, and he cannot be more than three miles away. Why has he not arrived yet? He must have taken another road."

He shook his body, slipped free of the hemp rope, and once more rose in red cloud to look down from the air.

The Great Sage looked up and recognized the demon. He grabbed Tripitaka's foot and pushed him off the horse again, crying, "Brothers, be careful, be careful. That demon has come back."

Bajie and Brother Sha hurriedly took up rake and staff and again formed a protective ring around Tripitaka.

The spirit in the cloud looked down and could not stop praising the scene.

"What a monk! I had just seen the white-faced monk seated on horseback, and now the three of them have hidden him again. I will know the answer when I meet them face to face. First I must lay out the one with sharp eyes. Only then can I catch Tripitaka. Otherwise I will waste all my cleverness and never win the prize."

So he lowered the cloud once more and changed again into the same little child, hanging by a rope from the pine bough as before. This time he was no more than half a mile farther on.

Wukong looked up and saw the red cloud scatter again. He asked the master to mount and move on.

Tripitaka said, "You said the demon came again. Why do you now tell me to move on?"

Wukong said, "This is still a passing demon. He does not dare to provoke us."

Tripitaka grew angry. "You monkey, you play me for a fool. When there truly is a demon you say there is none. When this place is peaceful, you keep shouting that there is a demon. You make much noise and little fact, and without caring whether I am safe or not, you keep grabbing my foot and throwing me off the horse. Now you explain it away as a passing demon. If I had been injured in the fall, that would be hard to forgive."

Wukong said, "Master, do not blame me. If you had only broken a hand or a foot, that could be treated. But if the demon had carried you off, where would we ever find you?"

Tripitaka was furious and began to grind his teeth, ready to recite the Tightening Spell. Brother Sha tried hard to persuade him, and only then did he mount and continue.

Before he had even settled properly, they heard the cry again: "Master, help!"

Tripitaka looked up and saw that it was indeed a naked little child hanging from the tree.

He hauled back the reins and scolded Wukong, "You brazen monkey, you are hopelessly shameless and not even a little kind. Your heart is bent only on violence. I told you it was a human voice, and you went on and on, insisting it was a demon. Look - is there not a child hanging from that tree?"

The Great Sage saw that his master was angry again. Then he looked up and saw the child with his own eyes. For one thing, he could not work any tricks at that distance. For another, he feared the Tightening Spell. So he lowered his head and did not dare answer back. He let Tripitaka come all the way to the tree.

The elder pointed at the child with the end of his whip and asked, "What family do you belong to? What misfortune has put you there? Tell me and I will save you."

Alas, the creature was plainly a spirit, yet it had transformed itself so well that Tripitaka, with his mortal eyes, could not recognize it.

When the demon saw that he was being questioned, he played the part even harder. Tears filled his eyes and he cried, "Master, west of this mountain there is a withered-pine ravine. Beyond that ravine there is a village. I am from there. My great-grandfather's surname was Red. He amassed silver and gold in great piles, and people called him Red Million. He grew old and died long ago, and his fortune went to my father. In recent years people have grown wasteful, and the family fortune has been falling away. So my father changed his name to Red Hundred Thousand. He made friends with heroes from every quarter and lent out gold and silver, hoping to make interest. But those shameless fellows cheated him, and both principal and profit were lost.

My father swore a mighty oath and would not lend out a single coin. Those who had borrowed the money had no way to pay. They gathered into a gang of ruffians and, in broad daylight with spears and knives, stormed our gate, robbed us of everything, and killed my father. Seeing that my mother was a handsome woman, they carried her off to be their mountain wife. At that time she could not bear to leave me, so she held me in her arms and followed the thieves, crying bitterly and trembling all the way.

When we reached this mountain, they were about to kill me too. My mother begged them and saved me from the blade, but then they tied a rope around me and hung me from this tree, planning to let me freeze and starve to death. No one knows where those thieves carried off my mother.

I have hung here for three days and three nights, and not a single soul has passed by. I do not know what merit I must have planted in a former life to meet a teacher like you in this life. If you will show your great compassion and save my life so I may go home, I would gladly sell my body and serve to repay your kindness. Even if yellow sand covered my face, I would never forget it."

Tripitaka believed him to be genuine and ordered Bajie to cut the rope and rescue him. The fool did not know the child was false, and was just about to step forward when Wukong shouted, "That sham thing! Someone who knows you for what you are is standing here. Do not keep pretending and lying to fool people. You say your family wealth was robbed, your father was killed by thieves, and your mother was carried off. To whom are we supposed to deliver you? What kind of thanks would you give us? Your lie has already fallen apart."

When the demon heard this, he became afraid. He knew the Great Sage was no ordinary man and secretly took him to heart. Still trembling, he said with tears, "Master, though my parents are gone and my family fortune is destroyed, there are still some fields left untouched, and all my relatives are alive."

Wukong asked, "What relatives do you have?"

The demon said, "My grandfather's family lives south of the mountain, my aunt lives north of the ridge, Old Li at the head of the ravine is my uncle by marriage, Red Three in the forest is my clan uncle, and there are also paternal uncles and elder cousins living all around the village. If the master will save me and take me back to the village, I can tell all my relatives of your kindness, sell some land, and repay you richly."

Bajie heard this and pulled Wukong aside. "Brother, why question such a little child? He says the robbers only took some loose wealth. Surely they would not have robbed him of his house and fields as well? If he tells his relatives about us, even with our huge stomachs we could not eat the value of ten acres of land. Save him and bring him down."

The fool thought only of food and cared not at all for right and wrong. He used his monk's knife to cut the rope, and the demon came down.

The creature stood at Tripitaka's horse in tears and kept kowtowing. The elder, full of pity, said, "Child, climb up onto the horse. I will take you with me."

The demon said, "Master, my arms and legs are numb from hanging, and my waist and hips hurt. Besides, I am a country child and do not know how to ride a horse."

Tripitaka told Bajie to carry him.

The demon wiped one eye and said, "Master, my skin is frozen stiff. I would not dare let this brother carry me. His mouth is long and his ears are huge, and the bristles on the back of his head prick me. I would be terrified."

Tripitaka said, "Then let Brother Sha carry you."

The creature wiped another eye and said, "Master, when those thieves robbed my house, every one of them had painted faces, false beards, and knives and staffs in their hands. I was frightened out of my wits. If I see this unlucky-faced brother, I will lose my soul altogether. I would not dare let him carry me either."

Tripitaka told Sun Wukong to carry him.

Wukong laughed. "I will carry him, I will carry him."

The creature secretly delighted in this and settled itself comfortably, waiting for Wukong to carry him.

Wukong took him to the roadside and weighed him. The child only came to a little over three jin and ten taels. Wukong laughed. "You wretched creature, today is the day you die. How dare you play tricks before Old Sun? I know what you are."

The demon said, "I am a child of a good family who has suffered this great misfortune. How can I be what you say?"

Wukong said, "If you are truly a child of a good family, why are your bones so light?"

The demon said, "I have a small frame."

Wukong said, "How old are you this year?"

The demon said, "I am seven."

Wukong laughed. "One year should weigh one jin. You ought to be seven jin. Why are you not even four?"

The demon said, "I was weaned too young."

Wukong said, "Very well. I will carry you. If you need to pee or poop, you must tell me."

Only then did Tripitaka go on ahead with Bajie and Brother Sha, while Wukong carried the child and followed behind. So they traveled west.

A verse says:

When virtue stands high, the barriers of demons rise just as high;
when Zen is still, stillness itself gives birth to demons.
The heart-king walks the middle path in straightness;
the wood-mother stumbles in stubborn foolishness.
The mind-horse says nothing, yet still harbors desire;
the yellow matron says nothing, yet secretly frets.
When a guest-spirit wins the day, it only gains empty joy;
in the end it must still melt away on the right road.

Sun Wukong carried the demon on his back and privately blamed Tripitaka for not understanding hardship.

"On a road this steep and rugged," he thought, "even empty-handed travel is hard. Yet he has me carrying a person. If this were only some demon, that would be one thing. But if he were a good child who had lost his parents, I do not know what I would be carrying him for. Better to smash him flat."

The demon had already sensed his thoughts. It worked a little power, drew four breaths from all directions, and blew them onto Wukong's back. At once the child felt as heavy as a thousand jin.

Wukong laughed. "My son, you are using a heavy-body trick to weigh me down."

The demon heard him and feared the Great Sage would damage him. So it escaped its shell, sent out its primal spirit, and sprang up to stand in the nine heavens. The load on Wukong's back only grew heavier.

The Monkey King flew into a rage, seized the creature, and flung it against a roadside boulder. The body was smashed flat like a meat cake. Still fearing further insolence, he tore off its limbs altogether and threw them to either side of the road, where they were ground to pieces.

The thing in the sky watched this clearly and could not restrain its temper.

"This monkey monk is truly shameless," it thought. "He takes me for a demon who means to harm your master, yet I have not even made my move. Why must he injure me like this? It is only because I was prepared and escaped in spirit. Otherwise that would have been needless killing. If I do not seize Tripitaka now, and if I let him keep this up, he will only grow wiser by staying here."

So the monster stirred up a whirlwind in the clouds. With a whoosh it swept stones and sand into the air and truly was ferocious.

What a wind: it rolled with fury, thick with water-cloud stink and black breath that shut out the daylight.
It tore tree roots from the mountain, pulled wild plums loose with their branches, and leveled everything in its path.
Yellow sand blinded the eyes and made travel impossible; jagged stones mangled the road and left no way to pass.
By its tumbling force the ground itself went dark, and the birds and beasts on every hill cried out in alarm.

Tripitaka could barely keep his seat on the horse, Bajie dared not look up, and Brother Sha lowered his head and covered his face.

Wukong knew the demon was stirring up the wind, and when he rushed to chase it, the creature had already ridden the gale, seized Tripitaka, and vanished without a trace. No one knew where he had carried him, and there was no way to follow.

After a while the wind died down and the sun grew bright again.

Wukong came forward to look. White Dragon Horse was trembling and snorting in fright, the luggage had been dropped by the roadside, Bajie was lying groaning below a cliff, and Brother Sha was crouching on the slope and calling out. Wukong shouted, "Bajie."

Hearing Wukong's voice, the fool raised his head. The gale had already stopped. He got up, grabbed Wukong, and cried, "Brother, what a wind!"

Brother Sha came up and said, "Brother, that was a whirlwind."

Then he asked, "Where is Master?"

Bajie said, "The wind came hard, so we each ducked and covered our eyes. Master was on the horse."

Wukong asked, "Where has he gone now?"

Brother Sha said, "He was as light as a straw bundle. The wind must have carried him off."

Wukong said, "Brothers, then we ought to separate here."

Bajie said, "Exactly. We should separate at once and each find our own road. Why stay on this endless road to the West? How can we ever reach the end of it?"

Brother Sha was startled to the marrow. "Brother, what are you saying? We were guilty in former lives. It was by Guanyin Bodhisattva's mercy that she instructed us, laid her hands on our heads, gave us the precepts, changed our names, and let us take refuge in the Buddha's Law. We willingly promised to protect Tripitaka to the Western Heaven and worship the Buddha while seeking the scriptures, so that we might repay our crimes with merit.

Now that we have come here, if we suddenly say such things as each finding our own road, would that not betray the bodhisattva's good deed and ruin our own virtue? Would people not laugh at us and say we had begun a task and failed to finish it?"

Wukong said, "Brother, what you say is also true. But what can we do when Master will not listen to reason? Old Sun's fiery eyes can tell good from bad. Just now that wind came from the child hanging in the tree. I knew he was a demon, but you did not, and neither did Master. You all took him for a good family's child and made me carry him. I meant to arrange things for him, and he used a heavy-body trick to press down on me. I threw him to pieces. Then he must have used corpse-shedding art and stirred up a wind to seize our Master. That is why I am angry that he never listens to what I say, and why I grew lazy-hearted and said we should each go our own way. Since you, brother, are so sincere, you put me in a hard position. Bajie, what do you really want to do?"

Bajie said, "I misspoke a little just now. In truth we should not split up. Brother, there is nothing for it. Let us trust Brother Sha's words and go look for the demon to rescue Master."

Wukong's anger turned to gladness. "Brothers, then we must still stand together. Gather the luggage and the horses. We will search the mountain for the monster and save Master."

The three of them climbed vines, pulled themselves up slopes, and crossed ravines. They had gone fifty or seventy li, yet there was still no sign of anything. On the mountain there were no birds or beasts at all, only old cypresses and tall pines.

The Great Sage was truly anxious. He sprang up to the most dangerous peak and shouted, "Change!"

At once he changed into a three-headed, six-armed form, just like the body he had once shown when he raised havoc in Heaven.

He shook the Golden-Hooped Rod, and it became three rods. He swung them left and right, smashing east and west, beating at everything in sight.

Bajie cried, "Brother Sha, this is bad. Brother has not found Master and is raging with frustration."

After a while Wukong had beaten out a host of poor local spirits. They were dressed in scraps, bare-legged and ragged, kneeling before the mountain and crying, "Great Sage, we are the mountain god and the earth spirit here to pay our respects."

Wukong said, "How is it that there are so many mountain gods and earth spirits?"

The spirits kowtowed. "We report to the Great Sage: this mountain is called Drill-Head Mountain, six hundred li in extent. We are one mountain god and one earth spirit for every ten li, thirty mountain gods and thirty earth spirits in all.

Yesterday we already heard that the Great Sage was coming, but the company could not be gathered all at once, so the welcome was late and we caused your anger. We beg you to forgive us."

Wukong said, "I will forgive the offense for now. I ask you, how many demons are on this mountain?"

The spirits said, "Grandfather, there is only one demon, but he has rubbed our heads smooth and stripped us down. We get little incense and no paper offerings, no blood sacrifice at all. Our clothes do not cover us and our food does not fill us. How many demons do you think we can feed?"

Wukong said, "Does that demon live at the front of the mountain or the back?"

The spirits said, "He does not live at the front or the back. In this mountain there is a ravine called Withered Pine Ravine. By the ravine is a cave called Fire-Cloud Cave.

Inside that cave lives a demon king with great supernatural power. He often seizes us mountain gods and earth spirits and makes us serve as firewood and doorkeepers. At night he even makes us carry lanterns and shout notices. His little demons still demand extra money from us.

We are only shades and spirit officials. What money could we possibly give him? We can do nothing but catch a few mountain deer and wild deer now and then to make a gift to the troop of demons. If we have nothing to offer, he comes to tear down our shrines and strip our robes, until we can have no peace.

We beg the Great Sage to wipe out this monster and save the living creatures on the mountain."

Wukong said, "Since you are under his control and often stay below his cave, do you know what kind of demon he is, and what his name is?"

The spirits said, "If we speak of him, perhaps the Great Sage will know him too. He is the son of the Bull Demon King, born of Princess Iron Fan. He cultivated for three hundred years on Flame Mountain and refined Samadhi Fire. He is truly very powerful. The Bull Demon King sent him here to guard Drill-Head Mountain. His childhood name is Red Boy, and his title is Holy Infant King."

At this, Wukong was filled with delight.

He dismissed the earth spirits and mountain gods, resumed his true form, and leaped down from the peak to tell Bajie and Brother Sha, "Brothers, set your minds at ease. We need not worry any more. Master will not be harmed. The demon and Old Sun are family."

Bajie laughed. "Brother, do not lie. You are from Dongsheng Shenzhou, and this place is Xiniu Hezhou. The road is far beyond ten thousand rivers and mountains, with two seas between us. How can you call him family?"

Wukong said, "The people just now were the local mountain and earth spirits. I asked them about the demon, and they said he was the son of the Bull Demon King, born of Princess Iron Fan, and that his name was Red Boy, known as the Holy Infant King. Long ago, when I made havoc in Heaven, I traveled all over the famous mountains of the world in search of heroes. The Bull Demon King and I once became sworn brothers, one of seven brothers in all. Of the five or six demon kings among us, I was the youngest and smallest, so they called the Bull Demon King elder brother.

This demon is the Bull Demon King's son. Since I know his father, by rights I am his uncle. How could he dare harm my master? We should go at once."

Brother Sha laughed. "Brother, as the saying goes, if three years go by without visiting someone's door, even a blood relation is no longer close. You have been separated from him for five or six hundred years, and there has been no wine, no gifts, and no exchange of visits. How can he still count you as kin?"

Wukong said, "How can you measure a person like that? As the saying goes, a leaf of duckweed may float back to the sea, and people can meet anywhere under heaven. Even if he does not recognize the family tie, he is not likely to harm my master. I am not expecting him to set out a banquet for me, only to return Tripitaka in one piece."

The three brothers each set their hearts on the task. They led the white horse, loaded the luggage on its back, and found the main road and pressed straight ahead.

They traveled day and night for nearly a hundred li when they suddenly came to a pine forest. In the forest there was a winding ravine, and under it ran clear blue living water. At the end of the ravine was a stone bridge leading toward the cave dwelling.

Wukong said, "Brothers, look at those sparkling cliffs. This must be the demon's home.

Let us discuss it together: who will watch the luggage and horses? Who will go with me to subdue the demon?"

Bajie said, "Brother, I have no patience for sitting still. I will go with you."

Wukong said, "Good, good." Then he told Brother Sha, "Hide the horses and luggage deep in the forest and guard them carefully. Old Sun and Bajie will go to the gate to look for Master."

Brother Sha obeyed.

Bajie followed after him, and the two of them came forward with their weapons in hand.

Thus it is said:

The child whose fire was not yet refined proved stronger than all law;
the monkey heart and the wood mother had to support one another.

But how this journey will end in good fortune or disaster, that is another matter. It must wait for the next chapter.