The demon quickly turned and rushed inside, where he said to the queen, “Get me my treasures at once.”
“What for?” she asked.
“The man challenging me to battle this morning was a disciple of the monk who's going to fetch the scriptures,” he said. “He's called Sun Wukong, or Sun the Novice, and Grand Par was just a nickname. I've been battling it out with him all this time, but still there's no outcome. Just wait while I take my treasures out and set off smoke and flames to burn that ape.” These words made the queen feel very uneasy. If she didn't fetch the bells, she was worried that he might be suspicious, but if she did she feared that Sun the Novice would be killed. As she was hesitating the demon king pressed her again: “Hurry up and fetch them.” She had no choice but to undo the lock, bring out the three bells and hand them to the demon king, who took them and went outside the cave again. The queen sat in the inner quarters, her tears pouring down like rain, as she thought that Monkey would not possibly be able to escape with his life. Neither of them realized that the bells were only copies.
Once outside the cave the demon stood upwind and shouted, “Stay where you are, Sun the Novice. Watch while I ring these bells.”
“You have your bells, but why shouldn't I have mine?” Monkey replied. “You can ring yours, so why shouldn't I ring mine?”
“What bells have you got?” the demon king asked. “Show me.” Monkey pinched his iron cudgel to make it into an embroidery needle that he tucked into his ear then brought out the three real treasures from at his waist.
“Here are my purple gold bells,” he said to the demon king. The sight of them came as a shock to the demon.
“That's funny,” he thought, “very funny. Why are his bells exactly the same as mine? Even if they'd been cast from the same mould they'd not have been properly smoothed: you'd expect some extra marks or missing knobs. How can they be identical with this?”
“Where did you get your bells from?” he went on to ask again.
“Where are yours from, dear nephew?” Monkey replied.
Being honest, the demon king replied, “These bells of mine,
Come from deep in the Way of the Immortal of Great Purity,
Are made of gold long refined in the Eight Trigrams Furnace
Formed into bells renowned as ultimate treasures
Left by Lord Lao Zi till the present day.”
“That's where my bells come from too,” Monkey replied with a smile.
“How were they made?” the demon king asked.
“These bells of mine,” said Monkey,
“Were made of gold refined in the furnace
When Lord Lao Zi made elixir in the Tushita Palace.
They are cyclical treasures.
The two threes make six:
Mine are the female and yours are the male.”
“The bells are golden elixir treasures,” the demon king said, “not birds or beasts. They can't be male or female. As long as they yield what's precious when they're rung they're good ones.”
“Words prove nothing,” said Monkey. “Show it by actions. Shake yours first.” The demon king then rang his first bell three times. No fire came out. He rang his second three times. No smoke came out. He rang his third three times, and no sand came out either.
“Very odd,” he said, making wild gestures, “very odd. The world's changed. These bells must be hen-pecked. When the males see the females they don't dare to do their stuff.”
“Stop, nephew,” said Monkey. “Now I'm going to shake mine to show you what happens.” The splendid ape then grasped all three bells in one hand and rang them together. Watch as clouds of red flames, black smoke and yellow sand all come gushing out, setting the trees and the mountain ablaze. Monkey then said the words of another spell and shouted “Wind!” towards the Southeast; and a wind did indeed spring up that fanned the flames. With the power of the wind behind them the flames and smoke filled the heavens, blazing red and deepest black, and the earth was covered by the yellow sandstorm. The Evil Star Matcher's souls fled from his body in his terror, but he had nowhere to turn: amid that fire there was no way of escaping with his life.
Then a penetrating shout was heard from mid-air: “Sun Wukong, I am here.” Monkey quickly looked up and saw that it was the Bodhisattva Guanyin holding her vase of pure water in her left hand and a sprig of willow in her right with which to sprinkle sweet dew and put out the flames. In his alarm Monkey hid the bells at his waist, put the palms of his hands together and prostrated himself in a kowtow. The Bodhisattva flicked a few drops of sweet dew from her willow sprig and in an instant both flames and smoke disappeared, while no sign of the yellow sand remained to be seen.
“I did not realize, Most Merciful One, that you were coming down to the mortal world,” said Brother Monkey as he kowtowed, “and it was wrong of me to fail to keep out of your way. May I venture to ask where you are going, Bodhisattva?”
“I am here especially to find and take this evil monster,” the Bodhisattva replied.
“What is the monster's background, and how can he put you to the trouble of capturing him in your illustrious person?” Monkey asked.
“He is a golden-haired giant hound on which I used to ride,” the Bodhisattva replied. “The boy in charge of it fell asleep and failed to keep proper guard over it, so that the wicked beast bit through its iron chains and escaped to save the king of Purpuria from disaster.”
When Monkey heard this he hastily bowed and said, “You have it the wrong way round, Bodhisattva. He's been mistreating the king and his queen, and thus damaging public morality. So how can you say that he has saved the king from disaster when in fact he has brought him disaster?”
“You would not know,” the Bodhisattva replied, “that when the previous king of Purpuria was reigning and the present king was the crown prince and had not yet taken the throne he was a superb archer and huntsman. Once he led his men and horses hunting with falcon and hound. They came to the Fallen Phoenix Slope, where a young peacock and peahen, two children of the Buddha's mother in the West, the Bodhisattva Maurya Vidya Rani were resting. When the king shot with his bow he wounded the cock, while the hen died with an arrow still in her. After the Buddha's mother realized to her regret what had happened she ordered that the prince should be separated from his wife for three years and suffer himself the way birds do when they are parted from their mates. At the time I was riding that hound and we both heard her say that. I never imagined that the beast would remember it and come back to mistreat the queen and thus save the king from disaster. That was three years ago, and now that the misdeed has been paid for it was fortunate that you came along to cure the king. I am here to recover the wicked and evil creature.”
“Bodhisattva,” said Monkey, “this may well be so, but he did sully the queen, damage public morality, offend ethics and break the law. You can't let him off a non-capital punishment. Let me give him twenty blows before handing him over for you to take back.”
“Wukong,” said the Bodhisattva, “as you know I am here you really ought to show me the respect I deserve and spare him completely. This still counts as one of your successes in subduing a demon. If you hit him with your cudgel it'll kill him.”
Monkey dared not disobey, but bowed and said, “If you're taking him back to the ocean with you, Bodhisattva, you mustn't let him escape and come down to the human world again. That would be quite a catastrophe.”
Only then did the Bodhisattva shout, “Wicked beast! Turn back into your own form! What are you waiting for?” The monster could be seen doing a roll and turning back into himself. Then he shook his fur for the Bodhisattva to mount on his back. The Bodhisattva looked down at his neck to see that the three golden bells were missing. “Wukong,” she said, “give me my bells back.”