The flames and the smoke had made the Great Sage unbearably hot, so he plunged straight into the stream to put out the flames, not realizing that the shock of the cold water would make the fire attack his heart, driving his three souls out of him. Alas,
When breathing stopped, cold went his mouth and tongue;
All his souls scattered and his life was done.
In their horror the dragon kings of the four seas who were watching from mid-air stopped making rain and shouted, “Marshal Tian Peng, Curtain-raising General, stop hiding in the woods. Go and find your brother.”
Hearing their divine shouts Pig and Friar Sand immediately untied the horse, put the luggage-pole on their shoulders, and rushed out of the wood. They searched for Monkey along the stream, not caring about getting wet and muddy. Upstream they could see someone being carried by the rushing torrent and tossed around in the waves. The moment Friar Sand spotted this he leapt fully clothed into the water and hauled him to the bank. It was the body of the Great Sage. Alas! He was curled up, unable to stretch any of his limbs and as cold as ice all over. “Poor brother,” said Friar Sand. “You who were once going to be immortal are now had your life cut short as a traveler.”
“Stop crying, brother,” laughed Pig. “The ape's just shamming dead to give us a fright. Feel his chest and see if it's still warm.”
“He's cold all over,” said Friar Sand, “with only a touch of warmth. How are we going to revive him?”
“He knows how to do seventy-two transformations,” said Pig, “and that means seventy-two lives. You grab his feet and I'll manipulate him. So Friar Sand pulled at Monkey's feet while Pig supported his head. They straightened him out, stood him up, then made him sit cross-legged. Pig warmed Monkey up by rubbing vigorously with the palms of his hands, covered his seven orifices, and gave him a dhyana massage. The shock of the cold water had blocked the breath in Monkey's abdomen, leaving him unable to speak. Thanks to Pig's massage and rubbing, the breath in Monkey's body soon flowed through the Three Passes again, circulated in his Bright Hall, and came out through his orifices with a shout of “Master.”
“Brother,” said Friar Sand, “you live for the master, and his name is on your lips even when you're dying. Wake up. We're here.”
Monkey opened his eyes and asked, “Brothers, are you here? I've lost.”
“You passed out just now,” said Pig with a laugh, “and if I hadn't saved you you'd have been done for. You owe me some thanks.”
Only then did Monkey get to his feet, look up and say, “Where are you, Ao brothers?”
“We humble dragons are in attendance up here,” the dragon kings of the four oceans replied from mid-air.
“I've given you the trouble of this long journey for nothing,” said Monkey. “Would you like to go back now? I'll come to thank you another day.” We will say no more about the dragon kings as they led their watery tribes home in majesty.
Friar Sand helped Monkey back into the woods, where they both sat down. Before long Monkey had recovered and was breathing normally as the tears poured down his cheeks. “Master,” he cried,
“I remember when you left Great Tang,
And saved me from my torture in the cliff.
Demons have plagued you at each mount and stream;
Your heart was torn by countless pains and woes.
Sometimes you have eaten well and sometimes not;
You've spent your nights in forests or in farms.
Your heart was always set on the Achievement;
Who knows what agonies you suffer now?”
“Don't upset yourself so, brother,” said Friar Sand. “We'll work out a plan to get reinforcements and rescue the master.”
“Where from?” Monkey asked.
“Long ago, when the Bodhisattva ordered us to protect the Tang Priest, she promised us that if we called on Heaven or earth for help there would always be a response,” replied Friar Sand. “Where shall we turn now?”
“I remember that when I made havoc in Heaven,” said Monkey, “the Heavenly soldiers were no match for me. That evil spirit has tremendous magic. Only someone with more powers than I have will be able to subdue him. As the gods of Heaven and earth are useless the only way to catch the monster will be by going to ask the Bodhisattva Guanyin for her help. But I can't ride my somersault cloud: my skin is much too sore and my body is aching. How are we going to get her help?”
“Tell me what to say,” said Pig, “and I'll go to ask her.”
“All right,” said Monkey with a laugh, “you go. If the Bodhisattva receives you, you mustn't look her in the face. Keep your head down and bow to her respectfully. When she asks you, tell her what this place and the demon are called, then ask her to save the master. If she agrees to come she'll certainly capture the demon.” Pig set off South on his cloud.
Back in the cave the demon was saying with delight, “Sun the Novice is beaten, my little ones. I may not have killed him this time, but at any rate he passed out for a long time.” He sighed, then added, “The only thing is that he might send for reinforcements. Open up, and I'll go out to see who he's sending for.”
The demons opened the gates for the evil spirit to spring out and look around from mid-air. Seeing Pig heading South the spirit reckoned that he must definitely be going to ask the Bodhisattva Guanyin to come as there was nowhere else to the South where he might be going. The demon brought his cloud down quickly and said to his followers, “Little ones, fetch my leather bag. The string at the mouth may not be any good now as I haven't used it for ages, so please put a new string in it and leave it outside the inner gates. I'll lure Pig back here and pop him in the bag. Then we can steam him nice and tender as a reward for all of you.” The little demons fetched their king's As-You-Will leather bag, replaced the string in it, and put it inside the main gates.
As the demon king had lived there so long he was very familiar with the district, and knew which ways to the Southern Sea were quicker and which were longer. Riding his cloud by the quick route he overtook Pig and turned himself into an imitation Guanyin to sit on a crag and wait for him.
When the idiot suddenly saw Guanyin as he was hurtling along on his cloud he had no way of telling that this was a false one: it was a case of seeing the image and taking it for a Buddha. The idiot stopped his cloud, bowed down, and said, “Bodhisattva, your disciple Zhu Wuneng kowtows to you.”
“Why have you come to see me instead of escorting the Tang Priest to fetch the scriptures?” the Bodhisattva asked.
“I was travelling with master,” Pig replied, “when an evil spirit called the Red Boy carried my master off to the Fire-cloud Cave by Withered Pine Ravine on Mount Hao. Monkey and us two went to find the demon and fight him. Because he can make fire we couldn't beat him the first time. The second time we asked the dragon kings to help out with rain, but even that couldn't put it out. The flames have hurt Monkey so badly that he can't move, which is why he's sent me to ask for your help, Bodhisattva. I beg you in your mercy to save the master.”
“The lord of the Fire-cloud Cave is no killer,” said the evil spirit. “You must have offended him.”
“I never offended him,” said Pig. “It was my brother Monkey who did. The demon turned himself into a little boy hanging at the top of a tree to tempt my master. My master is so kind-hearted that he told me to untie the boy and made Monkey carry him. It was Monkey who smashed him to bits and made him carry the master off in a wind.”
“Get up,” said the evil spirit, “and come with me to the cave to see its lord. I shall ask him to be kind to you. You will just have to kowtow as an apology and ask for your master back.”
“Bodhisattva,” said Pig, “I'll kowtow to him if I can get the master back that way.”
“Come with me,” said the demon king. Knowing no better, the idiot followed the demon back to the Fire-cloud Cave by the way he had come instead of going on to the Southern Sea. They were back at the entrance in an instant.
“Do not worry,” said the evil spirit as he went in, “he is an old acquaintance of mine. Come in.” As soon as the idiot raised his foot to go inside the demons all captured him with a great shout, knocked him over, and pushed him into the bag. Then the cord at the mouth was drawn tight and Pig was hung up from a rafter.
The evil spirit resumed his true form, took his seat in the midst of the demons, and said, “Pig, what powers do you think you have? How do you have the nerve to promise to protect the Tang Priest on his way to fetch the scriptures, or to ask the Bodhisattva here to subdue me? Take a good look. Can't you see I'm the Sage Boy King? Now I've got you I'm going to hang you up for four or five days, steam you, and give you as a treat to the little devils to nibble with their drinks.”
Hearing this, Pig started cursing inside the bag: “Damn you, monster. It's disgraceful behavior. You may have used all your tricks and devices to be able to eat me, but I guarantee I'll give every one of you the head-swelling plague.” The idiot kept on cursing and yelling, but we will say no more of him.
Monkey meanwhile had felt a stinking wind rush past him as he sat with Friar Sand. “That's bad,” he said with a sneeze. “That's a thoroughly ill wind. I'm afraid Pig's got lost.”
“But wouldn't he ask the way if he got lost?” asked Friar Sand.
“He must have run into the demon,” said Monkey.
“But wouldn't he have come rushing back here if he'd met a demon?” said Friar Sand.
“Can't be sure,” said Monkey. “You sit here and look after the things while I go over the ravine and see what's going on.”
“Let me go,” said Friar Sand. “Your back is still aching and he might fight you again.”
“You'd be useless,” said Monkey. “It'll have to be me.”
Splendid Monkey gritted his teeth against the pain, took his cudgel in his hand, crossed the ravine, and shouted “Vicious monster!” at the mouth of the cave. The little devil at the gate rushed inside to report that Sun the Novice was yelling at the gates again. The demon king ordered Monkey's capture. With a great battle-cry a crowd of demons armed with swords and spears opened the gates and shouted, “Get him.” Monkey was indeed too exhausted to fight them. He squeezed himself against the side of the path, shouted, “Change,” and turned himself into a bundle wrapped in a gold-embroidered cloth. As soon as they saw it the little devils picked it up and took it inside. “Your Majesty,” they reported, “Monkey's a coward. As soon as we shouted 'Get him' he was so scared he dropped his bundle and ran.”
“There won't be anything in there that's worth anything,” smirked the demon king. “Probably just some worn-out monks' habits and old hats. Get them in, and wash and tear them up to use as rags.” One of the little demons took the bundle right inside the cave, not realizing it was really Monkey. “Splendid,” thought Monkey, “they're carrying the bundle in.” The evil spirit dropped it inside the doors without paying any attention to it.
Splendid Monkey could work transformations within transformations and deceits within deceits. Pulling out one of his hairs he blew on it with magic breath and made it look just like the first bundle. He then turned himself into a fly that perched on the pivot of the door. He could hear Pig grumbling away rather indistinctly, like a hog with swine-fever. When Monkey buzzed over to look for him he found Pig hanging up in the leather sack. Monkey landed on the sack, where he could hear Pig cursing and swearing at the demon.
“How dare you pretend to be the Bodhisattva Guanyin and trick me into coming here! Then you hang me up and say you're going to eat me. One day soon my elder brother