“You've come to the wrong place,” said the dragon king. “I'm not the person to ask for rain.”
“But you're the dragon king of the four oceans,” said Monkey, “the lord of rain. If I don't ask you who else should I ask?”
“I am in charge of rain,” replied the dragon king, “but I can't do anything without authorization. I must have permission from the Jade Emperor as to where and when and how many inches of rain I should pour down, and I've to get a lot of official signatures before I can ask the help of Grandpa Thunder, Mother Lightning, Uncle Wind and the Cloud Boys. As the saying goes, dragons can't travel without cloud.”
“But I don't need wind, clouds, thunder or lightning,” said Monkey. “All I want is some rain to put the fire out.”
“You may not need wind, clouds, thunder or lightning, Great Sage,” said the dragon king, “but I can't help you alone. What would you say if I asked my younger brothers too?”
“Where are they?” Monkey asked. “Ao Qin is Dragon King of the Southern Sea, Ao Run is Dragon King of the Northern Sea, and Ao Shun is Dragon King of the Western Sea.”
“It'd be easier to go up to Heaven and ask the Jade Emperor for an edict than to trek round all three seas,” replied Monkey with a laugh. “No need for you to go, Great Sage,” said the dragon king. “If I beat my iron drum and bronze bell they'll be here this instant.”
“Please sound them at once, Senior Dragon King,” said Monkey.
A moment later the three other dragon kings came crowding in. “Elder brother,” they asked, “what orders do you have for us?”
“The Great Sage Monkey is here to borrow some rain to help him subdue a demon,” said the Senior Dragon King. After the greetings were over Monkey explained why he needed water. The dragons were all delighted to comply. They mustered the following:
The brave Shark as the vanguard,
With big-mouthed Hemibagrus to the fore;
Marshal Carp who plunges through the waves,
Commander Bream who spews out mists.
Colonel Mackerel to patrol the East,
Major Culler to advance to the West.
The Cavalryman Red Eye gallops to the South,
While General Black-shell breaks through in the North.
Brigadier Croaker commands the central force;
Every unit is a crack force of heroes.
A master of strategy is Chief of Staff Turtle;
Lord Tortoise excels in subtle predictions.
Prime Minister Alligator is full of wisdom,
Garrison Commander Terrapin has great ability.
Advancing sideways, crab soldiers wield their swords,
While leaping shrimp amazons draw their bows.
Secretary Catfish looks after the paperwork,
And calls the rolls of the dragon army.
There is a poem about this that goes:
The four ocean dragons were glad to give their help
When Monkey the Sage to seek assistance came.
As the priest Sanzang was in trouble on his journey
They all carried water to put out the flame.
Monkey was soon back at the Withered Pine Ravine on Mount Hao with his dragon army. “Worthy brothers of the Ao clan,” he said, “I have brought you a long way. This is where the demon lives. Will you please stay up here in mid-air and not show your faces while I have it out with him. If I can beat him, I won't need to trouble you gentlemen to capture him for me. If he beats me, there'll be no need for you gentlemen to join in the fray. The only thing I'd like you to do is all to spurt out rain together when I call if he starts his fire.” The dragon kings did as they had been told.
Monkey then brought his cloud down to land in the pine wood, saw Pig and Friar Sand, and called to them. “You were quick,” said Pig. “Did you get the dragon king to come?”
“They're all here,” Brother Monkey replied. “You'd both better be very careful not to let the baggage get wet if it rains hard. I'm off to fight the demon.”
“Off you go, and don't worry,” said Friar Sand. “We can cope.”
Monkey leapt across the ravine to the cave entrance and shouted, “Open up!” The little devils ran back in to report, “Sun the Novice is here again.”
The Red Boy looked up with a smile and said, “The monkey thinks no fire can burn him, because none ever has. That's why he's here again. But this time we won't let him off: we'll burn him to cinders.” He sprang up, grasped his spear, and ordered the little demons to wheel the fire carts out. Then he went out in front of the gates and asked Monkey, “Why are you here again?”
“Give me back my master,” Monkey replied.
“Keep up with the times, ape,” said the demon. “He may be a master to you, but to me he's something to eat with my drinks. You might as well forget about him.” These words threw Monkey into a fury. He raised his gold-banded cudgel and struck at the monster's head. The demon quickly parried the blow with his fire-tipped spear. This fight was not like the one before:
A furious evil demon,
An enraged Monkey King.
One set on saving the pilgrim priest,
Whom the other intended to devour.
When the heart changes kinship disappears;
No concessions are made in the absence of feeling.
One would gladly have skinned his foe alive;
The other wanted his enemy pickled in sauce.
Such heroism,
What ferocity!
Spear parried cudgel in the struggle for mastery;
Cudgel blocked spear in the battle to win.
After twenty rounds of combat
Both sides were on equal terms.
When the demon king had fought twenty rounds with Monkey and could see that neither of them was going to win he feinted, pulled back, clenched his fist, punched himself twice on the nose, and started breathing out fire again. Flames roared from the carts in front of the entrance, and his mouth and eyes were full of the blaze. Monkey looked back to shout, “Where are you, dragon kings?” The dragon king brothers then led their watery hosts in spurting rain on the demon's fire. It was a splendid rainstorm,
Mighty,
Heavy.
Mighty as stars falling from the heavens,
Heavy like waves crashing on the shore.
At first the drops are the size of fists,
Then each is a bowl of water upturned.
Flowing across the land, making duck's necks green;
Washing the mountainside to show it deep blue.
The waters in the ravine are a thousand fathoms of jade,
The spring stream swells to a myriad strands of silver.
Soon the crossroads is flooded,
And the meandering river flows straight.
The dragons help the Tang Priest in his trouble,
Making the Heavenly River overflow.
But heavy though it was, the downpour could not stop the demon's fire. Dragon king's private rain can only put out ordinary fires, not this demon's Samadhi Fire. The rain was like oil poured on the flames: the more there was, the fiercer the blaze. “I'll make a hand-spell and plunge into the fire,” said Monkey, who went after the demon, swinging his cudgel. Seeing Monkey coming, the demon blew a cloud of smoke straight into his face. Turn away though he did, Monkey's eyes smarted terribly, and he could not stop the tears from pouring down. Although not bothered by fire, the Great Sage was vulnerable to smoke. Back at the time when he had made havoc in Heaven and been refined by Lord Lao Zi in the Eight Trigram Furnace he had saved himself from being burnt up by staying in the part of the furnace controlled by the Wind Trigram Xun. But the wind had blown smoke at him, and he had been so thoroughly cooked that his eyes turned fiery and his pupils golden. That was why he was still vulnerable to smoke. When the demon blew another cloud of smoke at him it was more than he could bear, and so he made off on his cloud. The demon king then had the fire-raising equipment put away and went back into the cave.