Journey to the West

75

The Mind−Ape Bores a Hole in the Male and Female Jar

The Demon King Returns and the Way Is Preserved

The story tells how the Great Sage Sun went in through the entrance of the cave and looked to either side. This is what he saw:

Hills of skeletons, Forests of bones,

Human heads and hair trampled into felt, Human skin and flesh rotted into mud, Sinews twisted round trees, Dried and shining like silver.

Truly there was a mountain of corpses, a sea of blood, An unbearable stench of corruption. The little devils to the East

Sliced the living flesh off human victims; The evil demons to the West Boiled and fried fresh human meat. Apart from the heroic Handsome Monkey King No common mortal would have dared go in.

He was soon inside the second gates, and when he looked around here he saw that things were different from outside. Here was purity, quiet elegance, beauty and calm. To left and right were rare and wonderful plants; all around were tall pines and jade−green bamboo. After another two or three miles he reached the third gates, slipped inside for a peep, and saw the three old demons sitting on high. They looked thoroughly evil. The one in the middle

Had teeth like chisels and saws, A round head and a square face. His voice roared like thunder; His eyes flashed like lightning. Upturned nostrils faced the sky; Red eyebrows blazed with fire. Wherever he walked The animals were terrified; If he sat down

The demons all trembled. He was the king among the beasts, The Blue−haired Lion Monster.

The one sitting on his left was like this:

Phoenix eyes with golden pupils, Yellow tusks and powerful thighs. Silver hair sprouting from a long nose, Making his head look like a tail. His brow was rounded and wrinkled, His body massively heavy.

His voice as delicate as a beautiful woman's, But his face was as fiendish as an ox−headed demon's.

He treasured his tusks and cultivated his person for many years, The Ancient Yellow−tusked Elephant.

The one on the right had

Golden wings and a leviathan's head, Leopard eyes with starry pupils. He shook the North when he headed South, Fierce, strong and brave. When he turned to soaring

Quails laughed but dragons were terrified.

When he beat his phoenix wings the birds all hid their heads, And the beasts all lost their nerve when he spread his talons. He could fly thirty thousand miles through the clouds, The Mighty Roc.

Beneath these two were ranged a hundred and ten commanders high and low, all in full armor and looking most imposing and murderous. The sight delighted Brother Monkey, who strode inside, quite unafraid, put down his clappers and bell, and called, "Your Majesties."

The three old demons chuckled and replied, "So you're back, young Wind−piercer." "Yes," Monkey replied. "When you were patrolling what did you find out about where Sun the Novice is?" "Your Majesties," Monkey replied, "I don't dare tell you." "Why not?" the senior demon chief asked.

"I was walking along sounding my clappers and ringing my bell following Your Majesties' orders," Monkey said, "when all of a sudden I looked up and saw someone squatting and polishing a pole there. He looked like one of the gods that clear the way. If he'd stood up he'd have been well over a hundred feet tall. He'd scooped up some water in his hand and was polishing his iron bar on the rocky scar. He was saying to himself that his cudgel still hadn't the chance to show its magical powers here and that when he'd shined it up he was coming to attack Your Majesties. That's how I realized he was Sun the Novice and came here to report."