Monkey King's Amazing Adventures. Wu Cheng'en

the deep ran away to hide themselves.

      The Seeker of Secrets sat in the Crystal Palace of the Dragon King, holding the precious weapon in his hand, and said to the Dragon King smiling, “Many thanks, neighbor, for your great kindness. I have one thing more to say. If there had been no such iron staff, I would have had nothing to ask. But since I have it, I have no armor to match it. Please let me have a suit of armor, and I shall be much obliged.” The Dragon King said, “I am sorry, I have nothing of the kind.” The Seeker of Secrets said, “A visitor does not trouble more than one host. If you cannot find one, I will never leave this place.” The Dragon King said, “Please look through another sea, perhaps you can find some armor there.” The Seeker of Secrets said, “It is better to remain in one quarter than to search in two quarters. I beg of you a million times to give me a suit.” The Dragon King said, “Truly I have none. If I had, I would give it you.” The Seeker of Secrets said, “Since you will not give it, let me try this weapon on you.” The Dragon King became much alarmed and said, “Worthy Sage, please do not. Wait till I find if my brother has any, then I will give you a suit.” The Seeker of Secrets said, “Where is your brother?” The King replied, “One brother, Aojin, is King of the Southern Ocean. Another, Aosun is King of the Northern Ocean, while the third, Aoyun is King of the Western Ocean.” The Seeker of Secrets said, “I will not go to them. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I hope you will find me one somewhere nearby.” “You, Worthy Sage, need not go so far,” said the Dragon King. “I have here an iron drum and a golden bell. When there is anything very urgent we beat the drum and strike the bell. Then my brothers come here at once.” The Monkey King then said, “Beat the drum and strike the bell immediately.”

      True enough, as soon as the drum and bell sounded, the three Dragon brothers were alarmed and immediately appeared. Aojin asked, “Elder Brother, what is the matter? Why do you beat the drum and strike the bell?” The Old Dragon said, “I am afraid to tell you. There is a Sage from the Mountain Garden come to call on me as a neighbor, and he desires some weapons. I gave him the steel prong, but he said it was too small. When I gave him the carved lance, he said it was too light. Then I took from the bottom of our cave the wonderful iron staff. He was pleased with that, and he now sits in the palace and demands some armor. I have none here; therefore I beat the drum and the bell. My dear brothers, let him have a suit of armor, so that he may go.” The brother Aojin hearing this, got very angry and cried, “Let us get soldiers and arrest him.” The elder Dragon said, “Do not do that, do not do that! If he touches you with that iron beam, or if it falls upon you, you are dead.” The third brother, Aoyun said, “We must not fight with him. The best thing we can do is, to give him a suit of armor so that he may go. We will memorialize High Heaven about him and Heaven will punish him.” Then Aosun said, “That is right. I have here a pair of silk sandals for traveling in the air.” Aoyun said, “I have with me a chain coat with gold buckles.” Aojin said, “And I have a red gold helmet.” At this the elder Dragon King was greatly pleased, and led them to the crystal palace to be presented to his visitor.

      The Seeker of Secrets took the gold helmet, and the gold buckled coat, and the silk sandals and put them all carefully on. Then he took up the magic beam and walked straight out. The four Sea Kings were greatly displeased at this and discussed how they might memorialize about the matter. But the Monkey King looked for his waterway in order to get back to the top of the iron bridge in his cave.

      All the monkeys were there gathered, waiting for him. Suddenly their king jumped out of the water, with not a drop of water left on him, and landed on the iron bridge. At the sight all the monkeys were greatly frightened, and fell on their knees saying, “Great King, how beautifully dressed you are.” The Monkey King was mightily pleased and ascended a high throne. He took the iron beam and made it stand on end in their midst. The monkeys were all full of wonder and came round to feel that precious beam, but their strength was like that of flies, and they could not move it the least bit. They all put out their tongues and cried, “Aiyah! Aiyah! It is terribly heavy. How did you manage to bring it? Such a tremendous weight!”

      The Seeker of Secrets came up, took it in his hand, and smiled at them. “Everything has a master, so has this precious beam. It has been lying in the storehouse of the sea, who knows for how many thousands of years. But just when I was there, it emitted light in all directions, and the Dragon King thought it only a bit of black iron. But it was called the Pearl of the River of Heaven. None of the people there could move it, so they asked me to go and take it. At that time this precious beam was more than twenty feet long, and stouter than a bushel measure. When I looked at it, I thought it was too big, then suddenly it became less. I thought it still too big, and again it became much less. On it are engraved a few words, “As You Like It.” All of you stand back and I will command it to change, so that you can see what it will do in my hand. When I say ‘Small, Small, Small,’ instantly it becomes the size of an embroidery needle, so that I can hide it in my ear.” And so it was.

      All the monkeys were greatly astonished and said, “Oh Great King, show us how you handle it.” The Monkey King took it from his ear, put it on the palm of his hand and cried, “Big, Big, Big.” Instantly it became as a bushel measure in thickness and twenty feet long. He took it in his hand with great joy, jumped outside the cave with it, and then exercised his own magic on it. He doubled up his back and cried out, “High, High, High.” In an instant he was 100,000 feet tall, and his head was as high as the peak of Mount Tai. His loins were as great as mountain ridges, his eyes like lightning, his mouth like a bucket of blood, his teeth like sharp spears. He then took the magic lance in his hand, which reached up to the 33rd heaven and down to the 18 hells, frightening the 72 demon kings in hell, so that they all kowtowed to him in fear and trembling. In the twinkling of an eye, he took the precious lance, changed it by magic to the size of an embroidery needle, and hid it in his ear, and then returned to his cave.

      After this, all the demon kings came to pay homage to him. Then according to previous arrangement they hoisted the flag and beat the drum. The Monkey King appointed the four elder monkeys to be strong guardian generals. The two red tailed ones, who were called the Horse-like Generals, and two long armed ones, who were called Palm Leaf Generals, regulated all the rewards and punishments in the camp. Since these matters were in the hands of the four generals, the Monkey King was at leisure to mount the clouds, and visit the seas in the four quarters of the world, and see the heroes of all lands.

      During this time he met six brothers: the King of the Ox demons, the King of the Crocodile demons, the King of the Roc demons, the King of the Lion demons, the King of the Gorilla demons and the King of the Baboon demons, and daily discussed with them civil and military affairs, feasting and drinking from morning till eve, and enjoying unlimited pleasure.

      One day, he invited the six kings to dine at his cave, and they drank until they were all incapable. After seeing his guests off, while leaning on the iron bridge in the shade of the pine trees, he suddenly fell asleep. The four generals at once surrounded him to protect him, but dared not speak in case they might wake him. The Monkey King dreamt he saw two men carrying a warrant, with the name of Sun the Seeker of Secrets on it, approach him, and without any words bind him with ropes, take his soul away, and carry him off to the gates of a city. The Monkey King saw above the gates of the city an iron tablet on which was written, “The World of Hell.” The King said, “Hell is the place where Yama the Judge of the Dead lives; how is it that I am here?” The two men replied, “Your days on earth are numbered, and we two have been ordered to fetch you here.” The Monkey King on hearing this said, “I have crossed over beyond the gates of death and am no longer to be counted among mortals and cannot be under the rule of the Judge of Hell. How have you so blundered and dared to bring me here?” The two who had so far dragged him along, were determined to drag him in. The King, getting angry, drew out from his ear his precious weapon. It shone forth as he caused it to grow large, and with it he beat the two men to a pulp. He then tore off the rope that bound him, cast off the handcuffs and making of them a weapon went into the city. He frightened the bull-headed and horse-headed demons, so that they flew in all directions towards the office of Yama. They reported the matter to the great chief crying, “A great calamity, a great calamity. Outside a bearded thunderer has come.” Thus they terrified the Ten Officers of the Lower Regions, so that they hurriedly donned their official robes and went to see. Finding