When Brother Monkey heard this he was very happy indeed and he downed the huge goblet of wine in two gulps. “Your Majesty,” he said with a smile to the king, “so that's what caused your shock and your depression. Today you've been lucky: you met me and you were cured. But I don't know whether you want the Golden Queen back in the palace.”
To this the king answered with tears, “We have been longing for her night and day, but nobody has ever been able to catch the evil spirit. Of course we want her back in our country.”
“What if I go to deal with that evil creature for you?” said Monkey.
The king fell to his knees and replied, “If you can rescue our queen we will gladly take our three queens and nine consorts away from the capital and go to live as commoners, leaving the whole kingdom to be yours to reign over, holy monk.”
When Pig, who was sitting beside them, heard all this being said and such great honors being done he could not help bursting into noisy laughter.
“This king's got no sense of what's proper,” he chortled. “Fancy giving up his kingdom and going on his knees to a monk for the sake of his old woman.”
Monkey hurried forward to help the king back on his feet and ask, “Your Majesty, has the evil spirit been back since he got the Golden Queen?”
“In the fifth month of the year before last,” the king said, “he carried off the Golden Queen. In the tenth month he came back to demand a couple of ladies in waiting to serve her, and we presented him with a couple. In the third month of last year he came to demand another couple, and two more in the seventh month. Then in the second month of this year it was a fourth pair. We do not know when he will be back again.”
“If he comes that often you must be terrified of him,” Monkey replied.
“Because he has come so frequently we are afraid of him and of his murderous intentions,” said the king. “In the fourth month last year we ordered the building of a demon shelter, so that whenever we hear the wind and know that he's coming we can shelter there with our two queens and nine consorts.”
“Would Your Majesty mind taking me to see the shelter?” Monkey asked, and the king led Monkey by his left hand from the table. All the officials rose to their feet.
“Brother,” protested Pig, “you're very unreasonable. Why leave this royal wine and break up the banquet to go looking at something?”
Hearing this and realizing that Pig was worried for his stomach the king told his attendants to have two tables of vegetarian food brought along so that Pig could go on being wined outside the demon shelter. Only then did the idiot stop making a fuss and join in with his master and Friar Sand saying, “Let's break up the banquet.”
As a column of civil and military officials led the way the king and Monkey went arm-in-arm through the living quarters of the palace to the back of the royal gardens, but there were no great buildings to be seen.
“Where's the demon shelter?” Monkey asked, and before the words were out of his mouth two eunuchs levered open a square flagstone with red lacquered crowbars.
“Here it is,” said the king. “Twenty feet or more below us a large underground palace hall has been excavated. In it there are four great vats of purified oil in which lights burn night and day. When we hear the wind we take shelter here and the flagstone is put on again from outside.”
“So the evil spirit doesn't want to kill you,” said Monkey with a smile. “If he did this would give you no protection.” Just as he was speaking there came the roaring of a wind from due South that made the dust fly.
In their alarm all the officials complained, “That monk has the mouth of an oracle. The moment he mentions the evil spirit it turns up.” The panic-stricken monarch abandoned Monkey and scuttled into his underground shelter. The Tang Priest went with him, and all the officials fled for cover.
Pig and Friar Sand wanted to hide too, but Monkey grabbed one of them with each hand and said, “Don't be afraid, brothers. You and I are going to identify him and see what sort of evil spirit he is.”
“Nonsense,” said Pig. “What do we want to identify him for? The officials have all hidden and the king's shut himself away. Why don't we clear off? What kind of hero are you trying to be?” But struggle though he might the idiot could not break free. When Monkey had been holding on to him for some time an evil spirit suddenly appeared in mid-air. Just see what it looked like:
A loathsome great body nine feet tall,
Round eyes flashing like lamps of gold.
Two huge ears sticking out as if they were round fans,
Four steel fangs like very long nails.
Red hair curled at his temples; his brows were as flames;
His nose was a hanging trough; his nostrils flared.
His whiskers were strands of cinnabar thread,
And jutting cheekbones shaped his green face.
On red-muscled arms were hands of indigo blue,
And ten sharp claws grasped a spear.
A leopardskin kilt was tied round his waist.
Bare feet and tangled hair completed his fiendish looks.
“Friar Sand,” asked Monkey when he saw the evil spirit, “can you recognize him?”
“I don't know who he is,” Friar Sand replied. “I've never seen him before.”
“Pig,” Monkey next asked, “do you know?”
“I've never had a cup or a drink with him,” Pig replied. “He's no friend or neighbour of mine. How could I know?”
“He reminds me of the sallow-faced golden-eyed gate keeper ghost under the Equal of Heaven of the Eastern Peak.”
“No he isn't, no he isn't,” said Pig.
“How do you know he isn't?” Monkey asked.
“Because ghosts are spirits of the dark and the underworld,” Pig replied. “They only come out at night, between five and midnight. It's only ten in the morning, and no ghost would ever dare come out now. And even if it was a devil it'd never ride a cloud. Ghosts that stir up winds make whirlwinds, not gales. Perhaps he's the Evil Star Matcher.”
“You're not such an idiot after all,” said Monkey. “That sounds sensible, so you two look after the master while I go to ask him his name. That'll help me rescue the Golden Queen and bring her back to the palace for the king.”
“Go if you must,” Pig replied, “but don't tell him anything about us.” Monkey did not deign to answer, but leapt straight up on his magic light. Goodness!
To settle the nation he started by curing the king;
To preserve the Way love and hatred had to go.
If you don't know who won the battle that followed when Monkey rose up into the sky or how the evil monster was captured and the Golden Queen rescued listen to the explanation in the next chapter.
Chapter 70
The Evil Monster's Treasures Emit Smoke,
Sand and Fire Wukong Steals the Golden Bells by Trickery
The story tells how Brother Monkey summoned up his divine prestige and rose up into the air on his magic light, wielding his iron cudgel. “Where are you from, evil monster?” he asked, shouting in the evil spirit's face. “And where are you going to wreak havoc?”