“Put the fire out,” said the demon king, who was badly rattled. As he rushed out to look he saw that Gocome had taken the golden bells, went up to him and shouted, “Dirty slave! Why did you steal my precious golden bells? What sort of nonsense are you up to? Arrest him!” The tiger and bear generals, the leopard and tiger-cat marshals, the elephants, gray wolves, cunning water deer, crafty hares, long snakes, great pythons, orangutans and all the other troops on the gates rushed him in a crowd.
Monkey was thrown into panic. Dropping the golden bells he turned back into himself, pulled out his gold-banded As-You-Will cudgel, went and charged at them, going through his cudgel routines and lashing out wildly. The demon king took his treasures back and ordered, “Shut the main gates.” At this some of the demons shut the gates and others went into battle. Unable to get away, Monkey put his cudgel away, shook himself and turned into a silly fly that attached itself to a spot on the stone wall which was not burning. None of the demons could find him. “Your Majesty,” they reported, “the thief's got away, the thief's got away.”
“Did he get out through the gates?” the demon king asked.
“The front gates are firmly locked and bolted,” the demons replied. “He can't have got out through them.”
“Make a careful search,” said the demon king, and while some of them fetched water to douse the fire the others made a close search but found no trace of him.
“What sort of thief is he?” the demon king asked with fury. “He's got a hell of a nerve, turning himself into Gocome's double, coming in here to report back to me, then staying with me till he found a chance to steal my treasures. It's luck he didn't take them out, if he'd taken them over the mountain top and there had been a heavenly wind it would have been a disaster.”
“Your Majesty's good fortune is divine,” said the tiger general, stepping forward. “It was because our luck has not yet run out that he was discovered.”
Then the bear marshal came forward to say, “Your Majesty, the thief was none other than the Sun Wukong who beat our vanguard warrior. I think he must have run into Gocome when he was on his way, killed him, taken his yellow flag, gong and ivory tablet, and turned into his double to come here and deceive Your Majesty.”
“Yes, yes,” the demon king replied, “you're clearly right. Little ones,” he ordered, “make another careful search and be on your guard. Whatever you do, don't open the gates and let him out.” It is rightly said that
By being too clever one becomes a fool;
What was once a joke can turn out to be real.
If you don't know how Brother Monkey got out through the demons' gates, listen to the explanation in the next installment.
Chapter 71
Under a False Name Monkey Beats the Demon Hound
Guanyin Appears to Subdue the Demon King
Matter has always been empty;
Emptiness said to be matter is only natural.
When one penetrates the dhyana of matter's emptiness
There is no need for cinnabar to be refined into elixir.
Rest not when pursuing perfection of virtue and conduct;
Endure suffering to achieve hard-won skills.
Sometimes one only turns to heaven when one's actions are complete,
To win an unchanging and immortal face.
The story tells how the Evil Star Matcher had the front and back gates tightly closed while Monkey was hunted for. The din went on till dusk, but no sign of him did they find. The demon king sat in the Flaying Pavilion, where he called his demons together and issued orders to the guards on all the gates to carry bells, shout passwords, beat drums and strike clappers. Everyone was to have an arrow on his bowstring or a sword unsheathed as he took his turn to keep watch during the night. Sun Wukong, who had turned into a fly, was sitting by the gates. Seeing how strict the security was at the front gates he spread his wings and flew to the gateway of the living quarters to take a look. He saw the Golden Queen slumped across a low table, the tears flowing down as she wept quietly in her sorrow, so he flew inside and landed lightly on the loose black clouds of her hair to listen to what she was crying about. A moment later she said tearfully, “My lord, you and I,
Burnt in an earlier life the incense of separation,
And now I have encountered an evil demon king.
For three years I have been gone: when will we two be reunited?
Great is the grief of mandarin ducks that are parted.
Just when the priest had brought me your message
Our union has been severed once more and the monkey is dead.
Because he was too curious about the golden bells
I long for you now more desperately than ever.”
When he heard this Monkey went behind her ear, where he whispered, “Don't be afraid, Your Majesty. I'm the holy monk, the venerable Sun Wukong, who was sent from your country. I'm still alive. It was all because I was too impatient. I went to your dressing table and stole the golden bells. While you were drinking with the demon king I sneaked out to the pavilion in the front, but I couldn't restrain myself from opening them up to take a look at them. I didn't mean to, but I tore the cotton wool muffling the bells, and the moment they rang flame, smoke and sand came gushing out. I panicked, threw the bells down, turned back into myself, and tried hard to fight my way out with my iron cudgel. When I failed and was scared they'd kill me I turned into a fly, and hid on the door pivot till just now. The demon king has made the security precautions even stricter and he won't open the doors. Will you act like a wife to him and lure him in here to sleep so that I can escape and find some other way of rescuing you?”
When the queen heard this she shivered and shook, and her hair stood on end as if a spirit were pulling it; she was terrified, as if her heart was being pounded by a pestle. “Are you a man or a ghost?” she asked, the tears streaming down.
“Neither man nor ghost,” he replied. “At the moment I've turned into a fly and I'm here. Don't be afraid. Hurry up and ask the demon king here.” The queen still refused to believe him.
“Stop appearing in this nightmare,” she said in a low voice through her tears.
“I'm not in a nightmare,” said Monkey. “If you don't believe me put your hand out and open it. I'll jump down into it for you to see.” The queen then put out her open hand. Monkey flew down and landed lightly on her jade palm. He was just like
A black bean on a lotus flower,
A bee resting on a peony blossom,
A raisin fallen into a hydrangea,
A black spot on a wild lily stalk.
The queen raised her hand and said, “Holy monk.”
“I'm the holy monk transformed,” Monkey replied. Only then did the queen believe him.
“When I invite the demon king here what are you going to do?” she asked.
“There's an old saying that there's nothing like liquor for ending a life,” Monkey replied, “and another that there's nothing like liquor for solving any problem. Liquor's very useful stuff. The best thing is to give him plenty to drink. Call one of your personal slave-girls in and let me have a look at her so I can make myself look like her and wait on you. Then I'll be able to make my move.”
The queen did as he told her. “Spring Beauty, where are you?” she called, and a fox with a beautiful face came in round the screen, knelt down and said, “What orders did Your Majesty call me in to receive?”
“Tell them to come in and light the silk lanterns, burn some musk, and help me into the front room,” the queen said. “Then I shall ask His Majesty to bed.” Spring Beauty went to the front and called seven or eight deer and fox spirits who lined up on either side of her. They carried two pairs of lanterns and one pair of portable incense-burners. By the time the queen bowed to them with her hands together the Great Sage had already flown off.