Friar Sand liked this idea. “Splendid, splendid,” he said, “You've found the subtle solution when things were looking rough, the calm way out of the crisis.” The two of them then led the horse to the other side of the rock screen.
Monkey then showed his magic powers. Making a spell with his hands and saying the words he shook himself and turned into an exquisite bee. Just look at him:
Fine wings bending in the wind,
A narrow waist gleaming with the sun.
With his sweet mouth he searched for stamens,
While the sting in his tail killed toads.
Great was his achievement in making honey,
And he always entered the hive with courtesy.
Now be would use a brilliant plan
As he flew in under the eaves of the doorway.
Monkey squeezed in through the crack between the outer doors then past the inner doors to see a female monster sitting in a flower pavilion with serving girls in brightly-coloured embroidered clothes and their hair sticking upwards in two bunches. They were all very pleased, but he could not hear what they were talking about. Monkey flew up to them very quietly, perched on the lattice of the pavilion, and cocked his ear to listen. He saw two women with their tangled hair tied in a bun carrying two piping hot dishes of food to the pavilion and saying, “Madam, this dish has steamed rolls with human flesh in them, and that one has vegetarian ones with sweet beanpaste fillings.”
“Little ones,” said the she-devil with a smile, “Bring the Tang emperor's brother out.” Some of the serving girls in embroidered clothes went to the room at the back to help the Tang Priest out. His face was sallow, his lips white, and his eyes red as the tears streamed down his face, “The master's been drugged,” thought Monkey with a silent sigh.
The she-devil went down from the pavilion and showed her ten fingers that were as delicate as spring onions as she grabbed hold of Sanzang and said, “Don't worry, emperor's brother. This may not be as rich and splendid as the palace in the Womanland of Western Liang, but it's peaceful and comfortable, and an ideal place for reciting the Buddha's name and reading the scriptures. With me as your companion we'll be able to live in harmony till we're a hundred.” Sanzang said nothing.
“Don't be upset,” the she-devil said. “I know that you had nothing to eat or to drink at your banquet in Womanland. Here are two dishes, one of meat and one of vegetarian food. Won't you take some to calm your nerves?”
Sanzang thought deeply: “If I say nothing and eat nothing, this she-devil may murder me. She is worse than the queen, who was at least human and knew how to behave. What am I to do? My disciples don't know that I'm a prisoner here. If I let her murder me I'll be throwing my life away for nothing.” Though he racked his brains he could find no other plan, so he pulled himself together and asked, “What is the meat dish and what is the vegetarian one?”
“The meat one is steamed rolls stuffed with human flesh, and the vegetarian one steamed rolls with sweet fillings,” the she-devil replied.
“I would like some of the vegetarian ones,” said Sanzang.
“Servant girls,” said the she-devil, “bring hot tea and give your master some vegetarian steamed rolls.” A servant girl then brought in a tray of tea that she set before the Tang Priest. The she-devil broke a vegetarian roll open and handed it to Sanzang, who offered a whole meat one to her. “Why won't you open it for me, emperor's brother?” the she-devil asked with a smile.
“I am a man of religion, so I would not dare to break meat food,” said Sanzang.
“In that case,” said the she-devil, “Why did you eat wedding cake at the Motherhood River, and why are you insisting on eating beanpaste now?”
To this Sanzang replied,
“When the river is high I'm carried away.
When bogged down I have to slow down.”
Monkey, who could hear from his perch in the lattice just how friendly their conversation was getting, started worrying that the master's true nature might become disturbed. It was more than he could bear, so he resumed his own appearance and brandished his cudgel with a shout of “Behave yourself, you evil beast.” When the she-devil saw him she spat out smoke and light that covered the pavilion and told her underlings to shut the Tang Priest away.
Then she seized her steel trident and leapt out through the door of the pavilion, shouting abusively, “Hooligan ape! How dare you sneak into my house to set your dirty eyes on me! Stay where you are and take this!” The Great Sage parried the lunge from her trident and fell back, fighting all the way.
When they came to the outside of the cave where Pig and Friar Sand were waiting, the sight of the hard-fought battle so alarmed Pig that he led the white horse over to Friar Sand and said, “Look after the horse and the luggage. I'm joining in.” The splendid idiot then raised his rake with both hands and rushed forward with a shout, “Stand back, brother, while I kill this vicious beast.” Seeing Pig coming the she-devil used another kind of magic to breathe fire out of her nose and smoke from her mouth as she shook herself and charged him with her trident flying and dancing. Goodness only knows how many hands she had as she somersaulted towards them, lashing out furiously. Monkey and Pig were both fought to a standstill.
“Sun Wukong,” said the she-devil, “you don't know when to keep your head down. I know who you are, but you don't recognize me. Even your Tathagata Buddha from the Thunder Monastery is afraid of me. Where do you think you two little wretches are going to get? Come here, all of you, and watch me beat every one of you.” It was a fine battle:
Great was the she-devil's prowess
As the Monkey King's anger rose.
Then Marshal Tian Peng joined in the fight,
Showing off wildly wielding his rake.
One was a many-handed mistress of the trident,
Surrounding herself with smoke and with light;
The other two were impatient and their weapons powerful,
As they stirred up many a cloud of mist.
The she-devil was fighting to win a mate,
But the monk would never lose his vital seed.
Ill-matched male and female fought it out,
Each showing heroism in the bitter struggle.
Calmly the female had built up her strength, longing for action;
The male was on guard in his love of pure stillness.
This made peace between them impossible
As trident fought for mastery with cudgel and rake.
Powerful was the cudgel,
Even stronger the rake,
But the she-devil's trident was a match for them both.
Nobody would yield on Deadly Foe Mountain;
No mercy was given outside Pipa Cave.
One was happy at the thought of the Tang Priest as a husband;
The other two were going with him to collect the scriptures.
Heaven and earth were alarmed by the battle,
Which darkened sun and moon and displaced all the stars.
When the three of them had been fighting for a long time without anyone emerging as victor, the she-devil shook herself and used the sting in her tail to jab the Great Sage in the head. Monkey yelled in agony at the unbearable pain and fled, defeated. Seeing that things were going badly Pig withdrew too, dragging his rake behind him. The victorious she-devil put her steel trident away.
Monkey had his hands round his head and his face screwed up in agony as he shouted, “It's terrible, it's terrible.”
“Brother,” said Pig, going up to him, “why did you run away howling in pain just when you were fighting so well?”