These words came as a great shock to Pig, who said, “Brother, if you turn yourself into a spirit and leave me to die you'll be dragging me into disaster.”
“Brother,” said Monkey, “as the saying goes, a chicken doesn't eat what it doesn't earn. We came in here and were given an ample meal, but you had to complain that you were still hungry. Why aren't you willing to help them in their crisis?”
“But, brother,” protested Pig, “I can't do transformations.”
“You can do thirty-six transformations,” said Monkey. “How can you possibly deny that?”
“Wuneng,” Sanzang said to Pig, “what your brother says is absolutely correct, and he has made the right decision. As the saying goes, to save a human life is better than building a seven-storied pagoda. If you do this you will be thanking our hosts for their generous hospitality and accumulating good karma for yourself. Besides, it will be fun for you and your brother on this cool night when you have nothing else to do.”
“What are you saying, Master?” said Pig. “I can only change into a hill, a tree, a rock, a scabby elephant, a water-buffalo or a big, fat man. It'd be pretty hard for me to turn into a little girl.”
“Pay no attention to him,” said Monkey to Chen Cheng, “but bring your daughter out for me to see.”
Chen Cheng then hurried inside and came back into the hall with Pan of Gold in his arms; and everyone in the household, young and old, wives and concubines, members of the family and other relations, all came in to kowtow and beg Monkey to save the child's life. Round her hair the little girl was wearing a patterned turquoise headband from which hung ornaments representing the eight precious things. Her jacket was of red and yellow shot ramie, and over is she wore a cape in green imperial satin with a checked collar. Her skirt was of scarlet flowered silk, her shoes were of pink ramie and shaped like frogs' heads, and her trousers were of raw silk with gold thread. She was holding a piece of fruit in her hand and eating it.
“There's the girl,” said Monkey. “Make yourself like her at once. We're off to the sacrifice.”
“But she's much too small and delicate for me to turn into, brother,” said Pig.
“Hurry up if you don't want me to hit you,” said Monkey.
“Don't hit me,” pleaded Pig in desperation. “I'll see if I can make the change.”
The idiot then said the words of a spell, shook his head several times, called “Change!” and really did make his head look like the little girl's. The only troubles was that his belly was still much too fat and disproportionately big.
“Change some more,” said Monkey with a laugh.
“Hit me then,” said Pig. “I can't change any more, and that's that.”
“But you can't have a little girl's head on a monk's body,” said Monkey. “You won't do at all like that-you're neither a man nor a girl. Do the Dipper star-steps.” Monkey then blew on him with magic breath and in fact did change his body to make it look like the little girl's.
“Will you two old gentlemen please take the young master and the young lady inside and make no mistake about who they are,” said Monkey. “My brother and I will be trying to dodge the monster and fooling around, and we may come in here, so that it will be hard to tell us from the real children. Have some fruit ready for them to eat and don't let them cry, in case the Great King notices and our secret gets out. Now we're off to see if we can fool him.”
The splendid Great Sage then told Friar Sand to look after the Tang Priest while Pig and he changed into Chen Guan-given and Pan of Gold. When the two of them were ready Monkey asked, “How are the victims presented? Tied up in a bundle, or with their hands roped together? Are they steamed or chopped up into little bits?”
“Brother,” pleaded Pig, “don't do me down. I haven't got those magic powers.”
“We would never dare to,” said the old men. “We would just like you two gentlemen each to sit in a red lacquer dish that would be put on a table. You would then be carried into the temple on the tables by a pair of youngsters.”
“Fine, fine,” said Monkey. “Bring the dishes in here for us to try out.” The old men sent for the two red dishes, in which Monkey and Pig sat while four young men carried them for a few steps in the courtyard before setting them down again in the hall. “Pig,” said Monkey with delight, “being carried around on dishes like this makes us like abbots sitting in the seats of honour.”
“I wouldn't be at all scared of being carried in and out of here till dawn,” said Pig, “but being carried into the temple to be eaten is no joke.”
“Just watch me,” said Brother Monkey, “and run away when he eats me.”
“How do you know who he'll eat first?” said Pig. “If he eats the boy first I'll be able to get away; but what shall I do if he eats the girl first?”
At this one of the old men said, “During the sacrifices in other years some of the bolder of us have slipped into the back of the temple or hidden under the tables on which the offerings were made. They have seen that he eats the boy first and the girl afterwards.”
“Thank goodness,” said Pig, “thank goodness.”
While the two brother-disciples were talking they heard a mighty noise of gongs and drums and a blaze of lights outside as the villagers opened the front gates and poured in, shouting, “Bring out the boy and the girl.” The four young men then carried Monkey and Pig out to the sobs and wails of the old men.
If you do not know whether they lost their lives or not, listen to the explanation in the next installment.
Chapter 48
A Devilish Blizzard Makes the Snow Whirl
The Monk Who Seeks to Worship Buddha Walks on Ice
The story tells how the believers in Chen Village noisily carried Monkey and Pig with pork, mutton, beef and wine straight to the Temple of Miraculous Response, where they set them all out with the young boy and girl in the most prominent place. Monkey looked around and saw that the offertory tables were covered with fragrant flowers and wax candles. In front of him was a tablet on which were inscribed in letters of gold, GREAT KING OF MIRACULOUS RESPONSE. There were no statues of any other gods. When the believers had set everything out properly they all kowtowed and made this prayer:
“Great King, our lord, at this hour of this day of this month of this year Chen Cheng, the master of the sacrifice, and all the other faithful of different ages beg to offer in accordance with annual custom the little boy Chen Guan-given, the little girl Pan of Gold, pork, mutton, beef and wine for the delectation of the Great King. We beg you to give us the right amounts of wind and rain and to grant a good harvest for all our crops.” After praying they burnt paper horses and all went home.
When they had all gone Pig said to Monkey, “Let's go home.”
“Where's your home?” Monkey asked.
“Let's go back to old Chen's place for a sleep,” Pig replied.
“You're talking nonsense again, idiot,” said Monkey. “You've made them a promise and now you've got to fulfil their wish.”
“You're the idiot, not me, despite what you've always saying,” replied Pig. “Why don't we just take him for a ride. You can't be serious about us being sacrificed for them.”
“Always finish what you begin,” said Monkey. “We'll only be able to tidy this business up if we stay here till the Great King comes to eat us up. Otherwise we'll make him cause disasters, which would be terrible.”
As they were talking they heard the howling of a wind outside. “This is terrible,” said Pig. “What made the wind come?” ”