Thus did he emerge from under the rafters,
Going out to take a look.
He saw that the monks had piled firewood and straw all around the meditation hall and were setting it alight. Smiling to himself he thought, “So my master was right. This is their idea. They want to kill us and keep our cassock. I wish I could lay into them with my cudgel. If only I wasn't forbidden to use it, I could kill the lot of them; but the master would only be angry with me for murdering them. Too bad. I'll just have to take my chances as they come, and finish them off.”
The splendid Monkey leapt in through the Southern Gate of Heaven with a single somersault, startling the heavenly warriors Pang, Liu, Gou and Bi into bowing, and Ma, Zhao, Wen and Guan into bending low as they all said, “Oh no, oh no! The fellow who turned Heaven upside down is here again.”
“There's no need to stand on courtesy or be alarmed, gentlemen,” said Monkey with a wave of his hand, “I've come to find the Broad-Visioned Heavenly King.”
Before the words were out of his mouth the Heavenly King was there and greeting Monkey with, “Haven't seen you for ages. I heard the other day that the Bodhisattva Guanyin came to see the Jade Emperor to borrow the four Duty Gods, the Six Dings and Jias and the Revealers of the Truth to look after the Tang Priest on his pilgrimage to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures. They were also saying that you were his disciple, so how is it that you have the spare time to come here?”
“Let's cut the cackle,” said Monkey. “The Tang priest has run into some villains who have started a fire to burn him to death. It's very urgent, which is why I've come to ask you for the loan of your Anti-fire Cover to save him with. Fetch it at once; I'll bring it straight back.”
“You've got it all wrong,” the Heavenly King replied. “If villains are trying to burn him, you should rescue him with water. What do you need my Anti-fire Cover for?”
“You don't understand,” Monkey continued. “If I try to save him with water, he may still be hurt even if he isn't burnt up. I can only keep him free from injury if you lend me that cover; and with that it doesn't matter how much burning they do. Buck up, buck up! It may be too late already. Don't mess up what I've got to do down there.”
“You monkey,” said the Heavenly King with a laugh, “You're as wicked as ever, thinking only of yourself and never of others.”
“Hurry up, hurry up,” Monkey pleaded. “You'll ruin everything if you go on nattering.” The Heavenly King, no longer able to refuse, handed the cover to Monkey.
Taking the cover, Monkey pressed down on his cloud and went straight to the roof of the meditation hall, where he spread the cover over the Tang Priest, the dragon horse, and the luggage. Then he went to sit on top of the aged monk's room to protect the cassock. As he watched them starting the fire he kept on reciting a spell and blew some magic breath towards the Southwest, at which a wind arose and fanned the flames up into a wild and roaring blaze. What a fire!
Spreading black smoke,
Leaping red flames;
The spreading black smoke blotted out all the stars in the sky,
The leaping red flames made the earth glow red for hundreds of miles.
When it started
It was a gleaming golden snake;
Later on
It was a spirited horse.
The Three Spirits of the South showed their might,
The Fire God Huilu wielded his magic power,
The bone-dry kindling burned ferociously,
As when the Emperor Suiren drilled wood to start a fire.
Flames leapt up from the boiling oil before the doors,
Brighter than when Lord Lao Zi opens his furnace.
As the cruel fire spreads,
What can stop this willful murder?
Instead of dealing with the disaster
They abetted it.
As the wind fanned the fire.
The flames flew many miles high;
As the fire grew in the might of the wind,
Sparks burst through the Nine Heavens.
Cracking and banging,
Like firecrackers at the end of the year;
Popping and bursting,
Like cannon-fire in battle.
None of the Buddha statues could escape the blaze,
And the guardian gods in the Eastern court had nowhere to hide.
It was fiercer that the fire-attack at Red Cliff,
Or the burning of the Epang Palace.
A single spark can start a prairie fire. In a few moments the raging wind had blown the fire up into an inferno, and the whole Guanyin Monastery was red. Look at the monks as they move away boxes and baskets, grabbing tables and carrying cooking-pots on their heads. The whole monastery was full of the sound of shouting and weeping. Brother Monkey protected the abbot's rooms at the back, and the Anti-fire Cover covered the meditation hall in front; everywhere else the fire raged, its red flames reflected in the sky and its dazzling brightness shining through the wall.
When the fire broke out, all the animals and devils of the mountain were disturbed. Seven miles due South of the Guanyin Monastery was the Black Wind Mountain, on which there was a Black Wind Cave. In this cave a monster awoke and sat up. Seeing light streaming in through his window, he thought it must be dawn, but when he got up to take a better look he saw a fire blazing to the North.
“Blimey,” the monster exclaimed with astonishment, “those careless monks must have set the Guanyin Monastery on fire. I'd better go and help them.” The good monster leapt off on a cloud and went down below the smoke and flames that reached up to the sky. The front halls were all empty, and the fire was burning bright in the cloisters on either side. He rushed forward with long strides and was just calling for water when he noticed that the rooms at the back were not burning as there was someone on the roof keeping the wind away. The moment he realized this and rushed in to look, he saw a magic glow and propitious vapours coming from a black felt bundle on the table. On opening it he found it contained a brocade cassock that was a rare treasure of the Buddhist religion. His mind disturbed by the sight of this valuable object, he forgot about putting out the fire or calling for water and grabbed the cassock, which he made off with in the general confusion. Then he went straight back to his cave by cloud.
The fire blazed on till dawn before burning itself out. The undraped monks howled and wailed as they searched through the ashes for bronze and iron, and picked over the cinders to find gold and silver. Some of them fixed up thatched shelters in what remained of the frames of the buildings, and others were rigging up pots to cook food at the bases of the exposed walls. We will not describe the weeping, the shouting and the confused hubbub.
Brother Monkey grabbed the Anti-fire Cover, took it back to the Southern Gate of Heaven with a single somersault, and returned it to the Broad-visioned Heavenly King with thanks. “Great Sage,” said the Heavenly King as he accepted it. “You are as good as your word. I was so worried that if you didn't give me back my treasure, I'd never be able to find you and get it off you. Thank goodness you've returned it.”
“Am I the sort of bloke who'd cheat someone to his face?” asked Monkey. “After all, 'If you return a thing properly when you borrow it, it'll be easier to borrow it next time.'”
“As we haven't met for so long, why don't you come into the palace for a while?” said the Heavenly King.
“I'm no longer the man to 'sit on the bench till it rots, talking about the universe,'“ Monkey replied. “I'm too busy now that I have to look after the Tang Monk. Please excuse me.” Leaving with all speed, he went down on his cloud, and saw that the sun was rising as he went straight to the meditation hall, where he shook himself, turned into a bee, and flew in. On reverting to his true form he saw that his master was still sound asleep.