“I don't know where they are,” Monkey said.
“Thieving ape,” the Bodhisattva shouted. “If you hadn't stolen those bells then ten Sun Wukongs, never mind one, would have dared go nowhere near him. Hand them over at once.”
“I really haven't seen them,” Monkey replied with a smile.
“In that case I'll have to recite the Band-tightening Spell,” said the Bodhisattva.
This scared Monkey, who could only plead, “Don't say it, don't say it. The bells are here.” This was indeed a case of
Who could untie the bells from neck of the giant hound?
To find that out ask the one who first fastened them on.
The Bodhisattva then placed the bells round the giant hound's neck, and flew up to her high throne. Watch as the
Four-stalked lotus flowers blazed with fire;
Her whole body was thickly clad in cloth of gold.
We will say no more of how the Great Merciful One returned to the Southern Ocean.
The Great Sage Sun Wukong then tidied up his clothing and charged into the Horndog Gave swinging his iron cudgel and killing to his heart's content. He wiped all the demons out till he reached the inner quarters of the palace and asked the Golden Queen to go back to her country. She prostrated herself to him for a long time. Monkey told her all about how the Bodhisattva had subdued the demon and why she had been separated from her husband. Then he gathered some soft grasses that he twisted together into a long straw dragon.
“Sit on this, ma'am,” he said, “and shut your eyes. Don't be afraid. I'm taking you back to court to see your master.” The queen followed his instructions carefully while he used his magic power. There was a sound of the wind whistling in her ears.
An hour later he brought her into the city. Bringing his cloud down he said, “Open your eyes, ma'am.” When the queen opened her eyes and looked she recognized the phoenix buildings and dragon towers. She was very happy, and getting off the straw dragon she climbed the steps of the throne hall. When the king saw her he came straight down from his dragon throne to take the queen by her jade hand.
He was just going to tell her how much he had missed her when he suddenly collapsed, shouting: “My hand hurts, my hand hurts.”
“Look at that mug,” Pig said, roaring with laughter, “he's out of luck. No joy for him. The moment he meets her again he gets stung.”
“Idiot,” said Monkey, “would you dare grab her?”
“What if I did?” Pig asked.
“The queen's covered with poisonous spikes,” Monkey replied, “and she has poison on her hands. In the three years she was with the Evil Star Matcher in Mount Unicorn the monster never had her. If he had, his whole body would have been in agony. Even touching her with his hand made his hand ache.”
“Then what is to be done about it?” the officials asked. While all the officials were wondering what to do in the outer palace and the consorts and concubines in the inner palace were full of terror, the Jade and the Silver Queen helped their king to his feet.
Amid-the general alarm a voice was heard in the sky shouting, “Great Sage, I'm here.” Brother Monkey looked up, and this is what was to be seen:
The cry of a crane soaring through the heavens,
Then flying straight down to the palace of the king.
Beams of auspicious light shone about;
Clouds of holy vapors drifted all around.
Mists came from the cloak of coconut that covered his body:
Rare were the straw sandals on which he trod.
The fly-whisk in his hand was made of dragon whiskers,
And silken tassels hung around his waist.
He joined human destinies together throughout heaven and earth
As he roamed free and easy all over the world.
He was the Purple Clouds Immortal of the Daluo Heaven,
Come down to earth today to lift an enchantment.
Monkey went over to him to greet him with, “Where are you going, Zhang Boduan of the Ziyang sect?”
The True Man of Ziyang came to the front of the hall, bowed and replied, “Great Sage, the humble immortal Zhang Boduan greets you.”
“Where have you come from?” Monkey replied.
“Three years ago I passed this way when going to a Buddha assembly,” the True Man said. “When I saw that the King of Purpuria was suffering the agony of being parted from his wife I was worried that the demon would defile the queen. That would have been an affront to morality and made it hard for the queen to be reunited with the king later on. So I turned an old coconut cloak into a new dress of many colours and gave it to the demon king. He made the queen wear it as her wedding dress. As soon as she put it on poisonous barbs grew all over her body. They were the coconut cloak. Now that you have been successful, Great Sage, I've come to lift the spell.”
“In that case,” said Monkey, “thank you for coming so far. Please remove the barbs at once.” The True Man stepped forward, pointed at the queen, and removed the coconut cloak. The queen's body was once more as it had originally been.
The True Man shook the cloak, put it over his shoulders, and said to Monkey, “Please forgive me if I leave now, Great Sage.”
“Don't go yet,” said Monkey. “Wait till the king has thanked you.”
“I won't trouble him,” said the True Man with a smile, then raised his hands together in salute, rose up into the sky and went. The king, queen and the officials high and low were so astonished that they all bowed to the sky.
When the bowing was over the king ordered that the Eastern hall of the palace be thrown open so that they could give thanks to the four monks. The king led all his officials to go down on their knees and kowtow to them, and husband and wife were reunited. In the middle of the celebratory banquet Monkey said, “Master, bring out that declaration of war.”
The venerable elder produced it from his sleeve and handed it to Monkey, who passed it in turn to the king. “This was a letter that the demons sent his lieutenant to deliver,” Monkey said. “He was the officer I killed and brought here as a trophy. Then I turned myself into the officer and went back to the cave to report. That was how I saw Her Majesty and stole the golden bells. He almost caught me, but I did another change, stole them again, got them out and fought him. It was lucky for him that the Bodhisattva Guanyin came to collect him and tell me why you and Her Majesty were parted.”
He told the whole story from beginning to end in great detail. Everyone in the country-whether ruler or ministers, whether within the palace or outside-expressed admiration and gratitude.
“In the first place,” said the Tang Priest, “it was because of Your Majesty's own good fortune, and in the second place it was thanks to my disciple's efforts. We are deeply obliged to you for this sumptuous banquet today, and now we must take our leave of you. Please do not delay us poor monks on our pilgrimage to the West.”
When the king realized that his efforts to keep them there would be of no avail he inspected and returned the passport and arranged a great procession of royal coaches. The Tang Priest was invited to sit in his own dragon carriage, while the king, his queens and his consorts themselves all pushed it along as they saw them on their way then bade them farewell. Indeed:
He was fated to have his melancholy washed clean away:
The mind finds peace of itself when thought and worrying cease.
If you do not know what of good or ill lay in store for them on the way ahead listen to the explanation in the next installment.