When heaven and earth were first separated
There were ten suns in the sky
Till Yi, the fine archer,
Shot nine of the sun-crows down to the earth,
Leaving only one golden crow star,
The true fire of the sun.
The nine hot springs in heaven and earth
Are the other nine crows transformed.
These nine hot springs are
Cool Fragrance Spring,
Mountain-companions Spring
Warm Spring,
Donghe Spring,
Mount Huang Spring,
Xiao'an Spring,
Guangfen Spring,
Hot Water Spring,
And this Filth-cleansing Spring.
There is a poem about it that goes:
The same vital force runs in all four seasons;
Spring continues throughout the autumn.
The scalding water bubbles like a cauldron;
The snow-white waves are boiling hot.
If the waters are spread they help the crops to grow;
Left where they are they wash worldly dust away.
Little bubbles spread out like pearls,
Rolling ones rise like pieces of jade.
It is rich and smooth although not wine,
Clear, calm and naturally warm.
The whole place thrives on its air of good omen:
It brings good fortune and the natural truth.
When the beauties wash their flesh is smooth as ice;
As dirt is soaked away their jade-like bodies are made new.
The bathing pool was about fifty feet across, a hundred feet long and four feet deep. The water was pure and translucent, and from the bottom of it came up bubbles like rolling pearls or floating jade. In the four sides of the pool there were six or seven pipes through which the water flowed out, keeping warm even when it reached fields up to a mile away. Beside the pool was a three-roomed pavilion, next to the back wall of which stood an eight-legged bench. At each end of the pavilion was a clothes stand painted in coloured lacquers. All this secretly delighted Monkey, who flew straight to one of the stands and landed on it.
When the women saw how clear and warm the water was they wanted to bathe in it, so they all took their clothes off and hung them on the stands before going into the pool together. This is what Monkey saw:
They undid the buttons on their clothes,
Loosened the knots in their gauzy sashes.
Silvery white were their creamy breasts,
Snowy their bodies that looked like jade.
Their arms and elbows were cool as ice,
And scented shoulders more lovely than if powdered.
Soft and supple the skin on their stomachs,
Glistening and clean their backs.
Their knees and wrists were rounded and soft;
Only three inches long were their golden lotus feet.
And as for what lay in between,
They showed a glimpse of the cave of pleasure.
The women all jumped into the water and enjoyed themselves as they frolicked in the waves. “If I wanted to hit them,” Monkey thought, “I'd only need to stir the water with my cudgel. It would be like pouring boiling water on a nest of mice: I could kill the lot of them. What a pity. If I hit them I'd kill them, but it wouldn't do my reputation any good. As they say, a real man doesn't fight women. It'd be hopeless if a man like me killed these girls. If I'm not going to hit them I'll have to make things difficult for them so that they can't move.” The splendid Great Sage made a spell with his hands, said the words of it, shook himself and turned into a hungry eagle.
His feathers were like frost or snow,
His eyes like bright stars.
When evil foxes saw him their souls were scared out of them;
And crafty hares were struck with terror.
His steely claws were sharp as spear-points;
His air was both majestic and ferocious.
He used his talons to seize his food,
And was ready to catch his flying prey himself.
He could fly high and low across the chilly sky,
Swooping through clouds and on his quarry at will.
With a whoosh of his wings he flew towards them, stretched his sharp talons to seize all seven sets of clothes that were hung on the stands and flew straight back to the ridge with them. Here he reverted to his own form to see Pig and Friar Sand.
Just look at the idiot as he comes up to Brother Monkey and says with a grin, “The master must have been taken to a pawnbroker's.”
“How can you tell?” asked Friar Sand.
“Can't you see all those clothes our brother's grabbed?” Pig replied.
“These are the evil spirits' clothes,” said Monkey, putting them down.
“How on earth did you get so many?” Pig asked.
“There are seven outfits,” said Monkey.
“How did you strip them so easily, and strip them naked at that?” Pig asked.
“I didn't have to strip them,” said Monkey. “This place is called Gossamer Ridge, and the farm is called Gossamer Gave. The seven she-devils who live there captured the master, hung him up in their cave and all went off to bathe in the Filth-cleansing Spring. It's a natural hot spring. Their plan was to have a bath then steam the master and eat him. I went there with them and watched them undress and get into the water. I wanted to hit them, but I was worried it would contaminate my cudgel and ruin my reputation so I didn't. I just turned myself into a hungry eagle and grabbed their clothes in my talons. Now they're all squatting in the water, too embarrassed to come out. Let's rescue the master and be on our way as quickly as we can.”
“Brother,” grinned Pig, “you always leave something undone. You could see that they were evil spirits, so why didn't you kill them first then rescue the master? Even if they're too embarrassed to come out now they'll certainly come out after nightfall. They're bound to have enough old clothes at home to be able to put on an outfit each and come after us. Even if they don't come after us they live here permanently and we'll have to come this way back after we've fetched the scriptures. As the saying goes, it's better to get into debt on a journey than to get into a fight. When they stop us and make a row they'll really have it in for us.”
“So what do you suggest?” Monkey asked.
“If you ask me we should kill the demons then rescue the master,” said Pig. “That's what's called cutting down weeds and digging them out by the roots.”
“I'm not going to hit them,” Monkey replied. “If you want them hit go and do it yourself.”
Pig then summoned up his spirits and in high delight rushed straight there, his rake held aloft. As he suddenly pushed the gates open and looked inside he saw the seven women squatting in the water and wildly cursing the eagle.
“Feathery beast,” they were saying, “cat-headed monster. What the hell can we do now you've carried our clothes off?”
Pig could not help laughing as he said to them, “Bodhisattvas, carry on with your bath. Do you mind if I join you?”
“You monk, you're disgrace,” the devils retorted angrily as they saw him. “We're laywomen and you're a man of religion. As the ancient book has it, 'From the age of seven boys and girls do not share the same mat.' You mustn't possibly bathe in the same pool as us.”
“But the weather's so scorching hot I've got no choice,” said Pig. “You'll have to make the best of it and let me take a wash. What do you have to show off all that book-learning about sharing mats for?”
With further argument the idiot dropped his rake, stripped off his cotton tunic and jumped in with a splash, to the fury of the demons who all rushed at him to hit him. Little did they realize how expert Pig was in the water. Once in the pool he shook himself and turned into a catfish spirit. The demons then tried to grab him but even when they caught him they could not get a firm grip. If they grabbed to the East he suddenly shot Westwards, and if they tried to grab him to the West he went East. The funny thing was that he kept wriggling around their crotches. The water was about chest-high, and after swimming around at the surface and then at the bottom of the pool for a while he had covered all of it and was panting and exhausted.