Chapter 27: The White Bone Demon Tries Tripitaka Three Times; the Holy Monk in Fury Dismisses the Monkey King

Now to return to the next day. At dawn Tripitaka and his disciples packed up and set out once more. Zhenyuan, too, had formed a brotherhood with Wukong. The two had grown so close of heart that neither would willingly let the other go, and so they prepared a feast and kept them there for five or six days. Tripitaka had swallowed the grass-returning elixir, and he felt truly as if his old skin had been shed and a new body taken on: his spirit was bright, his limbs light, and his frame strong. But his heart was set so firmly on fetching the scriptures that there was no way to keep him there any longer, and at last they took their leave.

After they had gone some distance, a high mountain rose before them. Tripitaka said, "Disciples, the road ahead is steep and dangerous. I fear the horse may not be able to climb it. We must all be very careful."

Wukong said, "Master, do not worry. We know what to do."

The Monkey King took the staff crosswise before the horse, split the mountain path open, and climbed the high ridges to scout ahead. The view was endless:

Peaks and cliffs piled layer on layer, ravines curving back upon themselves.
Tigers and wolves moved in packs; deer and gazelles traveled in herds.
Countless antelopes threaded through thickets, and foxes and rabbits crowded the hills.
Great pythons, a thousand feet long; long serpents, ten thousand feet in length.
The pythons spat out clouds of sorrow; the serpents breathed strange winds.
Thorns and brambles stretched across the road; pines and nanmu grew fair along the ridge.
Mosses filled the eye; fragrant grass reached the sky.
Their shadows fell north of the dark sea; the clouds opened south of the Dipper.
For ten thousand ages the mountain had stored up its primal breath;
through a thousand peaks the cold light of the sun rang clear.

Even Tripitaka, riding along, felt his heart shake.

The Great Sage displayed his art, whirling the iron staff and letting out a roar that sent wolves and tigers crashing and leopards fleeing.

The three travelers entered the mountain and had reached its most jagged part when Tripitaka said, "Wukong, I am hungry today. Go find some vegetarian food for me."

Wukong answered with a smile, "Master, you are hardly sensible. We are in the middle of a mountain, with no village ahead and no inn behind us. Even if we had money, there would be nowhere to spend it. Where are we supposed to find food?"

Tripitaka grew displeased and scolded him. "You monkey! When you were trapped in a stone box under Mount of Two Boundaries, you could speak but not move. I risked my life to save you and received you at the crown of my head into the precepts, making you my disciple. Why will you not work hard? You are always harboring laziness."

Wukong said, "Your disciple is not lazy. How have I been lazy?"

Tripitaka said, "If you are not lazy, why will you not beg food for me? How am I to go on with an empty stomach? And in this mountain mist and miasma, how are we to reach Thunderclap Monastery?"

Wukong said, "Do not blame me, Master. Say less. I know your honored nature is lofty, and if I have offended you too deeply, you will begin to chant that spell. Dismount and sit still while I look for a household and beg some food."

Wukong sprang into the air, rose to the clouds, and shaded his eyes to look. Alas, the road to the West was lonely indeed, with not a village wall nor a farmstead in sight, only trees in plenty and human smoke in very little. After a long look, he saw far to the south a high mountain, and on a sunny slope of it there was a patch of bright red.

He lowered the cloud and said, "Master, there is food."

Tripitaka asked, "What is it?"

Wukong said, "There is no household nearby where we can ask for a meal. But on the southern mountain there is a patch of red. It must be ripe mountain peaches. I will go pick a few for you to fill your stomach."

Tripitaka was delighted. "If a monk can eat peaches, that is the best of fortunes."

Wukong took the alms bowl and leapt away in a radiant cloud. In a flash he was gone toward the southern mountain to pick peaches, and we need not dwell on him.

As the old saying goes: where there is a high mountain, there are bound to be monsters; where the ridge is steep, spirits will surely grow. And so there was indeed a demon on that mountain. The moment Wukong left, he stirred him. Riding a dark wind in the clouds, the creature looked down and saw Tripitaka sitting below. His joy was beyond measure.

"Good fortune, good fortune," he said. "For years men have talked of the Tang monk from the Eastern Land fetching the Great Vehicle scriptures. He is the incarnate body of Jinchan, the true form through ten lives of cultivation. If someone eats one piece of his flesh, he will gain long life and endless years. And now, at last, he has come."

The demon moved in to seize him, but saw that Tripitaka had two mighty protectors left and right, so he dared not come close.

Who were the two? Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing. Though neither of them had any great power to boast of, Bajie had once been Marshal Tianpeng and Wujing had been a Curtain-Lifting General. Their old authority had not yet fully drained away, so the demon did not dare make a careless move.

"Very well," the demon said. "I will tease him a little and see what he says."

The demon settled the dark wind, shook himself in a mountain hollow, and turned into a maiden of moonlike face and flowerlike beauty. Her brows were fine, her eyes bright, her teeth white, her lips red. In her left hand she carried a blue earthenware bowl; in her right, a green porcelain bottle. She came straight from west to east toward Tripitaka.

A holy monk sat his horse upon the hill, and there appeared a girl in skirt and jacket coming softly near. Her blue sleeves swayed, hiding white jade fingers; her green sash trailed, showing golden lotus feet. Sweat gleamed on her powdered face like flowers with dew; the dust brushed her brows like willow smoke. Tripitaka looked up and saw her drawing near.

Tripitaka said, "Bajie, Wujing, Wukong just said there was no one on this waste ground, but look, someone has come out."

Bajie said, "Master, you and Sha Wujing sit tight. Let Old Pig go see what she wants."

The fool set down his rake, straightened his robe, swayed and swaggered, and put on an air of refinement as he went forward to meet her. And indeed, from far away she had seemed unclear, but close up she was plain enough. She was:

Ice skin hiding jade bone; her collar opened to a snowy chest.
Her willow brows were piled with green; her apricot eyes flashed silver stars.
Her face was moon-pure and charming; her nature was fresh and natural.
Her body was like a swallow hidden in the willow, her voice like a oriole singing in the grove.
Half-opened, she was a begonia in the dawn sun; newly bloomed, a peony in the fair spring light.

Bajie saw how pretty she was, and the fool's mortal heart stirred. He could not hold back his nonsense and called out, "Fair bodhisattva, where are you going? What are you carrying?"

Though clearly a demon, he could not see it.

The maiden answered at once, "Reverend sir, in this blue bowl there is fragrant rice. In this green bottle there are fried wheat cakes. I came here for no other reason than to fulfill a vow and offer food to monks."

Hearing this, Bajie was overjoyed. He turned at once and ran at a pig's gallop to report to Tripitaka. "Master, good people have their own heaven-sent luck. You were hungry, so you sent Senior Brother to beg food, and that monkey has gone off somewhere to pick peaches and play. Too many peaches upset the stomach and make it feel heavy besides. Look, is that not one of the women who has come to feed monks?"

Tripitaka would not believe him. "You clumsy fellow, what nonsense are you talking? We have traveled this far and have not yet met a single decent person. Where would a monk-feeder come from?"

Bajie said, "Master, here she is."

Tripitaka looked and hurriedly sprang down, joining his hands at his breast. "Fair bodhisattva, where do you live? What family are you from? What wish brought you here to feed monks?"

He was looking at a demon and did not know it.

The demon, hearing Tripitaka ask her origins, immediately set up a false story and came out with soft words to deceive him.

"Master, this mountain is called White Tiger Ridge, where snakes turn back and beasts are afraid to go. My home is on the lower western slope of the mountain. My father and mother are alive and keep the sutras and do good works, and they often feed monks from near and far. Since they had no son, they prayed to the spirits and gave birth to me. They wanted to marry me into a family with a proper standing, but as they grew old they feared having no one to rely on, and so they took me and my husband in to support them in their old age."

Tripitaka said, "Fair bodhisattva, your words are not quite right. The scriptures say, 'While your parents are alive, do not travel far; if you must travel, you should have a fixed destination.' Since your parents are both alive, and since they have found you a husband, it would be fine enough to let the man stay home and care for them. Why are you walking alone in the mountains without even a maid following you? That is not proper for a married woman."

The maiden smiled and answered quickly in a pretty voice, "Master, my husband is in the hollow on the north side of the mountain, hoeing the fields with a few guests. This is the midday meal I cooked for them. But because it is the fifth and sixth month, there was no one to help me, and my parents are old, so I brought it myself.

"Then, meeting three travelers here, I remembered that my parents are kind to monks, and so I brought this meal to feed monks. If you do not think poorly of it, I would be honored to make so small an offering."

Tripitaka said, "How admirable, how admirable! My disciple has gone to pick fruit and will be back soon. I do not dare eat. If I were to eat your food and your husband learned of it, he might scold you, and then would I not bring sin on myself?"

The maiden still would not give up. Her face brightened again.

"Master, it is nothing that my parents feed monks. My husband is an even better man. All his life he has loved to repair bridges and roads and to care for the old and the poor. If he heard that this meal had been given to you, then in the bond of husband and wife he would be even happier than usual."

Tripitaka still refused to eat.

Bajie was growing furious by the side of the road. The fool pouted and muttered, "There must be thousands of monks in the world, but I have never seen one as soft-hearted as this old monk. A ready meal and he will not take even a third of it, just waiting for the monkey to come back so the four of us can divide it."

He would not wait for any explanation. He shoved the bowl over with his snout and was about to eat.

Just then Wukong returned from the southern mountain with several peaches in hand, carrying the alms bowl. With one somersault he came back, opened his fiery eyes, and saw at once that the woman was a demon. He set the bowl down and raised his iron staff, striking straight at her head.

The elder was so frightened that he grabbed at him at once. "Wukong, who are you hitting?"

Wukong said, "Master, do not mistake her for a good woman. She is a demon come to trick you."

Tripitaka said, "You monkey, sometimes you do have some judgment, so how are you talking nonsense today? This bodhisattva had the kindness to bring us food. Why do you say she is a demon?"

Wukong laughed. "Master, you do not know.

"When I was a demon in Water-Curtain Cave, if I wanted to eat human flesh I would use just this sort of trick. Sometimes I turned into gold or silver, sometimes into a farmhouse or a manorial gate, sometimes into a drunk, sometimes into a woman. If some fool fell in love with me, I lured him into the cave and had my way with him, steaming him or boiling him as I pleased. If I could not finish him, I would dry the rest for a rainy day. Master, if I had come a little later, you would surely have fallen into her snare and suffered her harm."

Tripitaka still would not believe him. He insisted she was a good person.

Wukong said, "Master, I know what is in your heart. You have seen her face and surely your mortal thoughts were stirred. If that is so, let Bajie cut down some trees, let Sha Wujing gather some grass, and I will play carpenter and build a little hut right here. You and she can settle the marriage, and the rest of us can scatter. Would that not be a fine affair? Why go trudging farther to fetch the scriptures?"

Tripitaka was by nature soft and kind. How could he bear such words? He blushed so deeply that the redness spread clear to his ears.

As he stood there in shame, Wukong lost his temper, drew his iron staff, and smashed at the demon's face.

The creature had some skill and used a body-shedding trick. When the staff came down, the demon had already shaken himself free and gone, leaving behind a fake corpse on the ground.

Tripitaka, trembling all over, was now convinced that Wukong had indeed been wildly rude, killing someone for no reason.

Wukong said, "Master, do not blame me. Come and look at what is in this bowl."

Sha Wujing helped Tripitaka forward. When they looked, it was not fragrant rice at all, but a bowl of tail-dragging maggots writhing about. Nor was there any wheat cake: there were only a few frogs and toads, hopping all over the ground.

At that point Tripitaka had only three parts of belief. But Zhu Bajie, unable to restrain himself, moved in beside him and whispered with eight parts of persuasion.

"Master, that woman was just a farm woman from around here. She was taking food to the fields and happened to meet us on the road. How could you call her a demon? Senior Brother's staff is heavy. He came over trying his hand at her and accidentally killed her. He must have feared your Tightening Spell, so he used a trick of illusions and turned the food into this sort of thing to dazzle your eyes."

After that, bad luck truly had arrived for Tripitaka. He was persuaded by the fool's urging and began to chant the spell of Tightening.

Wukong shouted, "My head, my head! Stop chanting, stop chanting. If you have something to say, then say it."

Tripitaka said, "What is there to say? A monk must always make it easy on others and keep the good heart in mind at every moment. Sweep the ground and fear crushing ants; cherish the lamp shade and spare the moth. And yet you go step by step in violence, killing an innocent person for no reason. What use is this scripture quest? Go back."

Wukong said, "Master, go back where?"

Tripitaka said, "I do not want you as my disciple."

Wukong said, "If you do not want me as your disciple, I am afraid your journey to the Western Heaven will not succeed."

Tripitaka said, "My life is in Heaven's hands. If that demon steams me and eats me, or boils me and eats me, so be it. Could you save me from the end of my allotted span? Go back at once."

Wukong said, "Master, if I go back, so be it. I only regret that I have not yet repaid your kindness."

Tripitaka said, "What kindness have I shown you?"

The Great Sage heard this and at once knelt and knocked his head to the ground.

"Old Sun, because of the havoc I made in Heaven, fell into this body-destroying calamity and was pressed under Mount of Two Boundaries by the Buddha. By good fortune the Bodhisattva Guanyin accepted me into the precepts, and by good fortune again, Master, you came and freed me. If I do not go west with you, then I am one who knows kindness and does not repay it, and I will leave behind an eternal name of shame."

Tripitaka was a holy monk of compassion. Seeing Wukong beg so humbly, he changed his heart too.

"Since that is so, I will spare you this once," he said. "But never again be so rude. If you go on as before and still do evil, I will turn the spell backward and chant it twenty times."

Wukong said, "Thirty times is up to you. So long as I do not strike people again."

Then he took care of Tripitaka back onto the horse and brought forward the peaches he had picked. Tripitaka ate several of them in the saddle, just to quiet his hunger for the moment.

Now the demon, having escaped with his life, rose into the air. Wukong's first blow had not killed him after all; he had only sent his spirit out. In the clouds he ground his teeth and hated Wukong to the bone.

"For years I have only heard people speak of his skill," he thought. "Today it turns out none of it was bragging. Tripitaka no longer recognized me and was about to eat. If he had just lowered his head and smelled once, I could have scooped him up in one hand and he would have been mine. But then this monkey came and ruined my business and nearly killed me with that one staff blow. If I spare this monk, I will only have labored for nothing. I had better go down and tease them again."

The demon lowered the dark cloud and changed again at the foot of the front mountain slope. This time he took the form of an old woman, eighty years of age, leaning on a crooked bamboo cane and walking along as she cried.

Bajie saw her and cried out in alarm, "Master, bad news! That old woman has come looking for someone."

Tripitaka said, "Looking for whom?"

Bajie said, "Senior Brother killed her daughter for sure. This must be her mother coming to look for her."

Wukong said, "Brother, do not talk nonsense. The girl was only eighteen, and this old woman is eighty. How could she have given birth sixty years later? It is without doubt a fake. Let me go see."

The Great Sage stepped out briskly and went up to look. The creature had made a false change into a granny:

Hair at the temples white as frost.
Steps slow and trembling.
A weak, thin body with a face like a dried vegetable leaf.
Cheekbones sharp and high; lips turned down at the corners.
Age is not like youth: her whole face was wrinkled like lotus leaves.

Wukong saw that it was a demon and did not waste words. He raised his staff and struck down at once.

The creature, seeing the staff come, shook himself again, sent out his spirit, and vanished true and whole, leaving another fake corpse dead by the mountain road.

Tripitaka saw it and was so frightened that he slipped from the saddle and sat down on the roadside. Without a word more he turned the Tightening Spell backward and chanted it a full twenty times.

Poor Wukong! The spell cinched his head until it looked like a bottle-gourd with a narrow waist, and the pain was unbearable. Rolling about in agony, he begged, "Master, stop chanting. If you have anything to say, say it."

Tripitaka said, "What is there to say? A monk must hear good words and not fall into hell. I have urged you so much, and still you only do violence. You killed one innocent person and then another. What kind of talk is that?"

Wukong said, "She was a demon."

Tripitaka said, "This monkey talks nonsense. How could there be so many demons? You are a man who has no heart to do good and only means to do evil. Go back."

Wukong said, "Master, you are sending me back again? If I must go, I will go. There is only one thing not right."

Tripitaka said, "What is not right?"

Bajie said, "Master, he wants a share of the baggage."

Wukong had followed you as a monk for these years. Would he return empty-handed? If you do not want me, take the old robe, the torn cap, and one or two other things from the bundle and give them to him."

Wukong was so enraged that he jumped like a spring.

"You sharp-snouted fool! I have always followed the Buddha's teaching as a monk and have never had even the slightest envy or selfish greed. Why would I need a share of the baggage?"

Tripitaka said, "If you have no envy or greed, why will you not go?"

Wukong said, "To tell the truth, Master, five hundred years ago, when I lived in Water-Curtain Cave on Flower-Fruit Mountain and showed my heroic ways, I subdued seventy-two caves of evil spirits and had forty-seven thousand little monsters under me. On my head I wore a purple-gold crown; I wore a yellow robe, dyed dark-red; around my waist was a blue jade belt; on my feet were cloud-stepping shoes; in my hand I held the Ruyi Jingu Bang. I was very much a figure in the world.

"Ever since I left the dust and entered the monk's gate in purity, I have followed you as a disciple. Now with this fillet bound on my head, if I go back I will not easily be able to look my home people in the face.

"If, in truth, Master no longer wants me, then chant the spell to loosen the fillet. Let me remove this band, hand it back to you, and have it put on someone else's head. Then I would be happy. I would still count that as following you a time. Could there really be no trace of human feeling left?"

Tripitaka was shocked.

"Wukong, at the time I only received from the Bodhisattva the secret Tightening Spell. There is no loosening spell."

Wukong said, "If there is no loosening spell, then take me with you for the walk."

The elder had no other choice and said, "Then get up. I will spare you once more, but never again go about killing people."

Wukong said, "I will not dare. I will not dare."

He served Tripitaka back onto the horse and went on ahead to cut a path.

The demon, for his part, had not been killed by Wukong's second blow either. He floated in the sky, praising the Monkey King over and over.

"What a Monkey King," he said. "He really has an eye. Even after I changed myself so thoroughly, he still recognized me. These monks travel fast. If they get beyond this mountain, forty li to the west I will no longer be under my own rule. If they are taken by some other demon, then I will only make a fool of someone else's mouth and a ruin of my own heart. I had better go down and tease them once more."

The demon settled the dark wind and changed into an old man at the foot of the slope. Truly he looked like this:

White hair like Peng Zu's; gray beard rivaling the God of Longevity.
Jade chimes rang in his ears; golden stars flashed in his eyes.
A dragon-headed cane was in his hand; a crane-feather robe hung lightly from his shoulders.
Beads of prayer slipped through his fingers, and his mouth recited, "Namo."

Tripitaka saw him from horseback and was delighted.

"Amitabha! The Western Heaven is truly a blessed land. Even that old man can barely walk and is still chanting the sutras."

Bajie said, "Master, do not praise him yet. That one is the root of the disaster."

Tripitaka asked, "How is he the root of the disaster?"

Bajie said, "Senior Brother killed his daughter and then killed his old woman. This must be the old man's turn to come looking. If we run into his hands, Master, your life would be on the line. You would be charged with death; Old Pig would be charged as an accomplice and exiled to the frontier; Sha Wujing would be ordered as a guard and a courier. Then Senior Brother would use his escape trick and slip away, and would it not be us three who had to carry the burden?"

Wukong heard this and said, "This fool of a root of ignorance is spouting nonsense. Would it not frighten the master? Let me go look again."

He hid the staff by his side, went forward, and called to the old man, "Old sir, where are you going? Why do you keep walking and keep chanting sutras?"

The demon, mistaking Wukong for an ordinary being, answered, "Reverend sir, this old man has lived in this place for generations and has always liked to feed monks and recite the Buddha's name. Fate gave me no son, only one daughter, whom I married to a son-in-law. This morning she took food to the fields and seems to have fallen into a tiger's mouth. My old wife came first to look for her and has not returned either. I do not know where they are. So I came to look myself. If it turns out they are gone beyond saving, then there is no help for it but to gather their bones and bury them in the family grave."

Wukong laughed. "I am the ancestor of tiger-tamers. How dare you hide a little ghost in your sleeve and try to deceive me? You may fool the others, but you cannot fool me. I know you are a demon."

The demon was struck dumb.

Wukong drew out his staff and said to himself, "If I do not hit him, it will seem as if he really has the upper hand. If I do hit him, I am afraid Master will chant the spell again. Still, if I do not kill him, then when he finds an opening he will carry off Master and I will have to labor all over again to rescue him. Better to strike."

Then he thought again, "If I do not kill him, he may take the Master. But if I kill him, and Master chants the spell, as the saying goes, 'A tiger does not eat its cub.' If I can use a few smooth words and sweet lies, then perhaps I can fool him and be done with it."

The Great Sage muttered a spell and called on the local earth spirit and mountain god.

"This demon has come three times now to tease my master. This time I am going to kill him. Stand witness in the air and do not let him get away."

The gods heard the command and who would dare disobey? They all answered from the clouds.

The Great Sage raised his staff and struck. The demon fell at once, and the spirit-light in him was extinguished.

Tripitaka, still on horseback, was frightened beyond all speech. Bajie, standing by, laughed again.

"Good Wukong, the wind has risen and you have only been on the road half a day, yet you have already killed three people."

Tripitaka was about to chant the spell, but Wukong rushed up to the horse and cried, "Master, do not chant. Do not chant. Come and look at her."

It was only a heap of white bones.

Tripitaka was shocked.

"Wukong, the man only just died. How did he turn at once into a pile of bones?"

Wukong said, "He was a corpse demon with a hidden spirit, a walking dead thing here to delude and ruin people. I killed him, and he showed his true form. On his back there was a line of writing: White Bone Lady."

Tripitaka heard this and, for a moment, half believed him.

But Bajie, whispering by his side, could not keep his mouth shut.

"Master, he used heavy hands and a fierce staff. He killed people, and when he feared you would chant that spell, he deliberately transformed the corpse into this thing to blind your eyes."

Tripitaka's ears were soft, and he believed the fool again.

Wukong could no longer bear the pain. He knelt by the road and cried, "Do not chant. Do not chant. If you have anything to say, say it quickly."

Tripitaka said, "What more is there to say? A monk walking the good path is like grass in a spring garden: you cannot see it grow, but each day it increases. A man who does evil is like a sharpening stone: you cannot see it wear away, but each day it loses something. Here in this wild road and open country you have already killed three people in a row, and no one has reported you. There has been no complaint. But if you were to enter a city crowded with people and start swinging that mourning staff in ignorance, great disaster would follow, and how could I escape? Go back."

Wukong said, "Master, you have wronged me. This fellow was plainly a demon and truly meant to harm you. I killed him to save you, and you do not recognize it. Instead you believe the foolish slander and cold talk of that simpleton, and again and again you drive me away.

"As the saying goes, 'The matter should not go beyond three times.' If I do not leave now, I would be a despicable, shameless creature. I will go. I will go.

"Only, when I go, there will be no one under you."

Tripitaka said in anger, "This wicked monkey is even more rude than before. So it seems that only you are human, and Bajie and Wujing are not?"

When the Great Sage heard that the other two were called human, he could not contain his grief.

"Alas!" he cried. "When you left Chang'an, Liu Boqin escorted you on your way. At Two-Boundary Mountain you rescued me and took me as your disciple. I have crossed caves and dark forests, seized demons and captured monsters, taken in Bajie, won Wujing, and suffered every hardship there is.

"Now, forgetting what is clear, you insist on muddling me and telling me only to go back. This is truly 'when the birds are gone, the bow is stored; when the hares are dead, the hounds are cooked.' Very well, very well. Only the tightening spell remains."

Tripitaka said, "I will never chant it again."

Wukong said, "That is hard to say. If you meet some poisonous demon or some bitter hardship and cannot escape, if Bajie and Wujing cannot save you, then when you think of me you will not be able to hold back from chanting again. Even if the road is a hundred thousand li long, my head will hurt at the thought of seeing you again. Better not to think of it."

Tripitaka grew angrier with every word.

He rolled out of the saddle, called to Sha Wujing to take the paper and brush from the baggage, took water from the ravine, ground ink on a stone, and wrote out a dismissal letter. Then he handed it to Wukong and said, "Monkey, keep this as proof. I do not need you as my disciple anymore. If I ever see you again, I will fall into the Avici hell."

Wukong took the letter quickly.

"Master, there is no need to swear. Old Sun is going."

He folded the paper and tucked it into his sleeve, then softened his tone and bowed once more.

"Master, I have followed you for a whole journey and have also received the Bodhisattva's instruction. Today we are half-way through and I have not yet made good my practice. Please sit still and receive a bow from me, so that I may leave at peace."

Tripitaka turned away and would not look at him, muttering, "I am a good monk and will not accept the bow of a bad man."

Seeing that he still would not turn, the Great Sage used a body-outside-the-body skill. He plucked three hairs from the back of his head, blew on them with immortal breath, and cried, "Change!"

At once they became three Wukongs. With his own body, that made four in all. The four of them surrounded the master on every side and bowed.

The elder could not turn away to avoid them, and at last had no choice but to receive the bow.

The Great Sage sprang up, shook himself, and drew back the hairs. Then he instructed Sha Wujing:

"Junior Brother, you are a good man. Only keep watch against Bajie's loose tongue, and in the road you must be extra careful. If some demon captures the master, then say that Old Sun is his eldest disciple. The foreign demons of the West know what I can do and will not dare harm the master."

Tripitaka said, "I am a good monk and will not even mention your bad name. Go back."

The Great Sage saw that the elder had turned and turned again and still would not soften. There was nothing to do but leave.

He bowed with tears in his eyes and took leave of the elder, while holding his grief in check he gave Sha Wujing his final instructions. With one hand he brushed away the grass before the slope; with both feet he kicked over the vines on the ground. Up to heaven, down to earth, he could turn like a wheel; over the sea and across the mountains, he was first in skill. In the blink of an eye he was gone, and at once he fled back along the old road.

He clenched his teeth and left his master behind, then rode the somersault cloud all the way back to Flower-Fruit Mountain and Water-Curtain Cave. There he sat alone in misery. Soon he heard the crash of water in his ears. Looking down from midair, he saw it was the roar of the eastern sea tide.

At the sight of it he thought again of Tripitaka. Tears would not stop falling from his cheeks, and he held the cloud still for a long while before departing.

But whether this parting would end in reunion or in worse sorrow, that must wait for the next chapter.