Fables of Journey to the west

Chapter 3: The Monkey King?!

Everyone was enjoying their time near the waterfall. Some monkeys basked in the sun, others swam while some just enjoyed the cool fresh water but a few monkeys had another idea. They were daring their friends to various stunts and mischief for fun until one monkey suggested "Who wants to jump through that waterfall?".

No one came forward. None of them knew what was behind it. There could be a lovely cavern or a stone wall to death, it was hard to tell. "Pfft, wimps." the monkey laughed until her friend snarked, "You wanna try?".

The monkey glanced at the looming waterfall and gulped, "No. But who'd jump through that anyway? I'm still the bravest one here, understand?" she replied, not wanting to let her pride get washed up by a waterfall.

"And you still can't do a simple jump?" her friend teased.

"I'm brave, not suicidal. Bet none of you could do it." she defended. The gradually growing crowd, drawn from commotion, all 'oohed' at this.

"So, whoever manages jump in the waterfall is the bravest one of them all?" someone from the crowd asked.

"Yup. Heck, how about we all make a bet. Whoever is brave enough to jump through and get out alive gets to be the king of this entire troop. And also bragging rights." she declared.

"Any objections?" she asked. No one complained.

"Good. So, who wants to take stab at being the monkey king!" she shouted, not expecting a reply.

"I do!" someone else shouted back. The crowd parted revealing shi hou to be the owner of the voice. The crowd murmured 'was he actually going to do it?'

Shi hou stepped up to the edge, and seeing the looming waterfall, started having second thoughts. It could be a paradise or a gate to wherever you went after you died but backing down now, with so many watching, seemed difficult too.

"Either jump or run away. Just choose faster, we're dying of anticipation here." someone shouted. Well, that made his decision.

So he did the sensible thing. He turned back and got away from the edge.

"Ha, looks like I am the bravest here." the monkey, who started this whole thing, said smugly.

And after enough distance from the edge, shi hou ran back and jumped straight through the waterfall, shocking everyone.

"..."

"Great job o' brave one, you killed him!" the monkey's friend exclaimed.

"I didn't think he'd actually jump!" she shouted back.

While the monkeys were panicking outside shi hou observed his surroundings on the other side, the space he landed was gigantic  and beautiful. There were many plants and trees growing around filled to the brim with fruits, flowers and a turtle? It was hard to tell where it all ended, this place seemed endless!

And of course the main attraction had to be the stone mansion that followed the bridge, made of iron he guessed, overseeing a river.

Moving on to the mansion, the doors seemed to be for someone way taller than him. He hoped not to meet the owner, or former owner he concluded seeing the plant growth around the closed doors implying no one had been here for years.

Climbing through the window, shi hou went inside to look around finding many doors to many rooms, all filled with furniture and accommodating plates, cups, jewellery and so much more. The mansion was massive too, massive enough to accommodate his entire troop and still be willing to take more.

It was perfect, shi hou wanting to tell everyone the good news, came out of the waterfall only to be met by panicked crowd.

"He's alive! See, I didn't kill him! Thank you for not dying!" a monkey, Ba he recalled, exclaimed. Well that explained some things.

After calming the monkeys and gathering the crowd, shi hou announced the good news.

"Ahem, now that I have your attention, you have to go through the waterfall, it is a paradise in there. Food, Water, Shelter you name it. Inside we'll be safe from nasty weather, predators and even the demon king of confusion won't bother us." shi hou declared, and not wanting to wait a second longer, he jumped in.

Slowly the other monkeys followed, though some needed more encouragement. After some sightseeing and astonished by the cave, everyone went inside the mansion and to say they were amazed would be an understatement.

It was complete mayhem inside after the initial shock, monkeys were known for causing trouble after all.

Shi hou, taking pride in his accomplishment went up to Ba to tease her, "So I jumped in and made it out alive. Looks I won the bet, hmm?"

"Yeah I guess you did." Ba replied.

"Wow I was expecting more of a reaction there." shi hou said a bit surprised.

"Well, thinking your pride might've killed someone changes you." Ba said calmly.

"Wow, that's deep."

"Thanks, I guess. Come here, I need to announce something."

"Okay! I feel like I'm forgetting something." he murmured following her.

"As per the terms of the bet shi hou now has bragging rights and from now on is the king of this troop.", Ba declared to everyone.

"So that's what I was forgetting." shi hou murmured, trying to not let his nervousness show as he watched everyone bow to him.

"Your majesty, from now on, what would you like your title be?" one monkey asked.

"Um, I'd like to not be called stone monkey or shi hou. So from now on I guess I'd go as... THE MONKEY KING. And in celebration of that I uh say we eat." shi hou, no, the monkey king declared.

The monkeys rejoiced, and started preparing a banquet in honour of the new monkey king.