“Very well then,” said the little devil. “We patrollers are divided into ten companies of forty each, which makes four hundred in all. We're all known by our ages, appearances, names and descriptions. Because Their Majesties want to keep the organization neat and roll-calls convenient they've given us all passes. Have you got one?” Monkey, who had seen what the devil looked like and heard what he had said, had been able to turn himself into the devil's double. But not having seen the devil's pass he was not carrying one himself. Instead of saying that he did not have one the splendid Great Sage claimed that he had.
“Of course I've got one,” he said. “But it's a new one that's only just been issued to me. Show me yours.”
Not realizing what Monkey was up to, the little devil lifted his clothes to reveal a gold-lacquered pass with a silken cord through it fastened next to his skin that he lifted out to show Monkey. Monkey saw that on the back of it were the words “Demon-suppresser,” while on the front was handwritten “Junior Wind-piercer.”
“Goes without saying,” Brother Monkey thought, “all the ones in mountain patrols have 'Wind' at the end of their names. Put your clothes down now,” he said, “and come over here while I show you my pass.” With that he turned away, put a hand down to pull a little hair from the tip of his tail, rubbed it between his fingers, called “Change!” and turned it into another gold-lacquered pass on a green silken cord on which were handwritten the words “Senior Wind-piercer.”
With his liking for taking things to extremes and his gift of finding the right thing to say, Monkey remarked, “There's something you don't know. When Their Majesties promoted me to patrolling for doing so well in the kitchen they gave me a new pass as a Senior Patroller and put me in charge of you forty lads in this company.”
At this the demon at once gave a “na-a-aw” of respect and said, “Sir, I didn't recognize you as you've only just been appointed. Please forgive me if anything I said offended you.”
“I'm not angry with you,” said Monkey, returning his courtesy. “There's just one thing. I want some money from you all to mark our first meeting: five ounces of silver each.”
“Please be patient, sir,” the little devil replied. “When I get back to the Southern end of the ridge to meet the rest of our company we'll all give it to your together.”
“In that case I'm coming with you,” said Monkey, and he followed behind as the demon led the way.
After a mile or two a writing-brush peak was seen. Why was it called a writing-brush peak? Because on the top of the mountain there was a pinnacle about forty or fifty feet high that looked just like a writing brush standing upright on a brush stand.
Going up to it Monkey lifted his tail, jumped to the top of the pinnacle, sat down and called, “Come here, all of you.”
The young Wind-piercers all bowed low beneath him and said, “We're at your service, sir.”
“Do you know why Their Majesties appointed me?” Monkey asked.
“No,” they replied.
“Their Majesties want to eat the Tang Priest,” said Monkey, “but they're worried about Sun the Novice's tremendous magic powers. They've heard that he can do transformations and are worried that he might turn himself into a young Wind-piercer and come along the path here to find out what's going on. That's why they're made me Senior Wind-piercer to check up on you and find out if there are any impostors among you.”
“We're all genuine, sir,” the junior Wind-piercers all replied at once.
“If you're all genuine do you know what powers His Senior Majesty has?” Monkey asked.
“Yes,” one of the young Wind-piercers said.
“In that case,” said Monkey, “tell me about them at once. If what you say matches what I know, you're genuine. If it's at all wrong you're impostors, and I'll take you to Their Majesties for punishment.”
Seeing him sitting up on high, playing wise and cunning as he shouted at them, the young devils had nothing for it but to tell him the truth. “His Majesty has vast magical abilities and enormous powers,” one of the young devils replied. “He once devoured a hundred thousand heavenly warriors in a single mouthful.”
“You're an impostor,” Monkey spat out when he heard this.
“Sir, Your Honour,” said the young devil in panic, “I'm real. How can you call me an impostor?”
“If you're genuine why did you talk such nonsense?” Monkey replied. “No matter how big he is His Majesty couldn't have swallowed a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers in a single mouthful.”
“This is something you don't know about, sir,” the young devil replied. “His Majesty can do transformations. He can make himself tall enough to hold up the sky or as small as a cabbage seed. Some years ago when the Queen Mother invited all the immortals to a peach banquet she didn't send him an invitation, so His Majesty wanted to fight Heaven. The Jade Emperor sent a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers to subdue His Majesty, gave himself a magical body and opened his mouth that was as big as a city gate. He made as if to swallow hard, which frightened the heavenly soldiers so much that they dared not give battle, and the Southern Gate of Heaven was shut. That's how he could have swallowed a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers at a single mouthful.”
Monkey grinned to himself and thought, “Frankly, I've done that too. What powers does His Second Majesty have?” he asked.
“His Second Majesty is thirty feet tall with brows like sleeping silkworms, phoenix eyes, a voice like a beautiful woman, tusks like carrying-poles and a nose like a dragon. If he's in a fight he only needs to wrinkle his nose for his enemy to be scared witless even if he's covered in bronze and iron.”
“Evil spirits who get people with their noses are easy enough to catch,” said Monkey, who then asked, “and what powers does His Third Majesty have?”
“He's no monster from the mortal world,” the young devil replied. “His name is Ten Thousand Miles of Cloud Roc. When he moves he rolls up the wind and shifts the waves, shaking the North as he heads for the South. He carries a treasure about with him called the Male and Female Vital Principles Jar. Anyone who's put in that jar is turned liquid in a few moments.”
That news gave Monkey something to worry about. “I'm not scared of the monsters,” he thought, “but I'll have to watch out for his jar.” Then he said aloud, “Your account of Their Majesties' powers isn't bad-it fits exactly with what I know. But which of them wants to eat the Tang Priest?”
“Don't you know, sir?” said the young Wind-piercer.
“As if I didn't know better than you!” shouted Monkey. “I was told to come and question you because they're worried that you don't know all the details.”
“Our Senior King and Second King have long lived in Lion Cave on Lion Mountain,” the young devil replied, “but the Third King doesn't live here. He used to live over a hundred miles to the West of here in the capital of a country called Leonia. Five hundred years ago he ate the king of the country, his civil and military officials, and everybody else in the city, young and old, male and female. So he seized their country, and now all the people there are evil monsters. I don't know which year it was in which he heard that the Tang court has sent a priest to the Western Heaven to fetch the scriptures. They say this priest is a good man who has cultivated his conduct for ten incarnations, and anyone who eats a piece of his flesh will live for ever and never grow old. But the Third King is worried about the priest's disciple Sun the Novice who's a real terror, so he's come to swear brotherhood with our two kings, all three are now working together to catch the Tang Priest.”