Chapter 34: The Demon King's Clever Scheme Traps the Mind-Monkey; the Great Sage Uses Ruses to Cheat the Treasures

Now the two little devils held the false gourd and looked it over for a while. When they lifted their heads again, Sun Wukong was gone.

Quick-Wit said, "Brother, immortals can lie too. He said he would trade treasures and turn us into immortals, and then he left without a word."

Fine Ghost said, "We came away too easily. Hand me the gourd. I will try the heaven-covering trick myself."

He tossed the gourd up, but it fell at once. Quick-Wit cried out, "Why does it not cover? Is it possible that Sun Wukong changed into an immortal and swapped a fake gourd for our real one?"

Fine Ghost said, "Do not talk nonsense. Sun Wukong is pinned beneath three mountains. How could he get out? Give it here and let me recite the charm and test it."

He threw the gourd into the air and muttered the words, "If it gives so much as half a sound of refusal, let it be taken to the Hall of Mirrored Heavens and let blades be drawn."

Still it dropped straight down.

The two devils cried, "It will not cover. It will not cover. It must be a fake."

They were still shouting when Wukong, in the sky above, heard everything plainly and saw everything plainly. Fearing that too much time would spoil the matter and let the secret leak out, he shook himself once and pulled the hair back into his body. At once the two demons were left empty-handed.

Fine Ghost said, "Brother, where is the gourd?"

Quick-Wit said, "You had it."

"Heaven help us! How did it vanish?"

They searched the ground in panic, groped through the grass, stuffed their sleeves, and felt at their belts. There was nothing at all.

The two were scared stiff.

"What are we to do? What are we to do? The Great King gave us the treasure and told us to capture Sun Wukong. Now we have neither the treasure nor the monkey. How dare we go back and report? The beating will be enough to kill us."

Quick-Wit said, "Then let us run."

Fine Ghost said, "Run where?"

Quick-Wit said, "Anywhere will do. If we go back and say we lost the treasure, it will be a sentence of death."

Fine Ghost said, "Do not run yet. Go back first. The second master has always liked you better. I will shoulder one word for you. If he is willing to be lenient, we may keep our lives. If not, he can beat us to death right there. At least then we will not be left in the middle. Come, come."

So the two little demons turned and went back to the mountain.

Wukong, seeing them return, changed again, this time into a fly, and followed after them.

Where was the treasure? Had it fallen on the road or been hidden in the grass, and could anyone have seen it and taken it? No. He had brought it with him. Though a fly is no bigger than a bean, the treasure could still be held because it was the same kind of thing as the Golden-Hooped Rod - a treasure of will and change, able to grow large or shrink small. Wukong's body could carry it.

He buzzed along behind the two devils and followed them back into the cave.

There the two demon kings were sitting over wine. The little monsters knelt below and reported the whole affair.

Wukong, still as a fly, clung to the side of a cupboard by the door and listened.

The little devils said, "Great King!"

The two old monsters set down their cups.

"You have come back?"

"We have."

"Did you catch Sun Wukong?"

The little devils did not dare speak. They only kowtowed.

The old monster asked again and again, and at last the two fell flat on the ground.

"Forgive us, forgive us ten thousand times. We carried the treasures to the middle of the mountain and there met an immortal from Mount Penglai. He asked us where we were going, and we said we were going to catch Sun Wukong. When he heard that name, he took a dislike to him and offered to help us. We had not asked him for help, but we told him how we used the treasures to capture people. He too had a gourd, and it could cover heaven. We both let covetous thoughts guide us, thinking, 'His treasure covers heaven, mine covers people. Let us trade.' So we traded gourd for gourd, and Quick-Wit even threw in the jade vase. Who could have guessed that his was a treasure of the immortals and could not be touched by mortal hands? The moment we tried to test it, the man disappeared. We beg you to spare our lives."

The old monster roared with rage.

"It is all over. That must have been Sun Wukong disguised as an immortal and cheating us out of our treasure. The monkey has such powers and is so well acquainted with men that I do not know which little god let him out and tricked him away with the treasure."

The second demon said, "Brother, calm yourself.

"That monkey is hateful enough, and since he has skill, let him get away if he wants. But why steal the treasure as well? If I cannot catch him, I will never again make trouble on the Western Road."

The old monster asked, "How would you catch him?"

The second demon said, "We still have three treasures. Two are gone, but three remain. We must use them to seize him."

The old monster asked, "What three?"

The second demon said, "The seven-star sword and the plantain fan are here with me. The golden rope is with our mother in the Mother-Subduing Cave on Mother-Subduing Mountain. Send two little devils to invite the old mother here to eat Tang Sanzang, and tell her to bring the golden rope with her so we can capture Sun Wukong."

The old monster asked, "Which two are we to send?"

The second demon said, "Not those useless trash heaps."

He shouted for Fine Ghost and Quick-Wit.

The two knelt and said, "Good fortune! Good fortune! We were not beaten and not scolded, and now we are spared."

The second demon called in the usual attendants, Bashan Tiger and Yihai Dragon.

The two knelt.

The second demon warned them, "You must be careful."

Both answered, "Careful."

"And you must be thorough."

Both answered, "Thorough."

He asked, "Do you know the old mother's house?"

Both answered, "We do."

"Since you know it, go quickly. Bow deeply on my behalf and say that we invite her to eat Tang Sanzang's flesh. Tell her to bring the golden rope, because we want to capture Sun Wukong."

The two monsters took their orders and hurried off.

How should they have known that Wukong, standing nearby, had heard every word? He spread his wings and flew after Bashan Tiger. In two or three li he was already thinking of killing them both.

Then he thought again, "If I kill them, what harm is there? But the old mother's side has that golden rope, and I do not yet know where she lives. Better that I ask first and kill them later."

So, with a soft hum, he drew away from the little devils and let them go ahead by a hundred paces.

Then he shook himself once more and changed into a little devil too, wearing a fox-fur cap and tucking his tiger-skin skirt up tight. He hurried after them and called out, "Wait for me! Wait for me!"

Yihai Dragon turned back and asked, "Who are you?"

Wukong said, "Brother, how can you not recognize your own family? Why, you really have no eyes."

The little devil said, "We do not know you."

Wukong said, "How can you not know me? Look again."

"You are unfamiliar to us. We have never met."

Wukong said, "Exactly. We have never met, because I am from the outer office."

"If you are from the outer office, then of course we have not met. Where are you going?"

Wukong said, "The Great King has sent you two to invite the old mother to eat Tang Sanzang, and told her to bring the golden rope so that Sun Wukong can be captured. But you two were walking so slowly, and you seem to like play and dawdling, that he sent me to hurry you along."

The little monsters heard the inside story and no longer doubted him. They rushed forward at once and ran eight or nine li in a breath.

Wukong said, "You are walking too fast. How far are we from home?"

One monster said, "Fifteen or sixteen li."

Wukong said, "How much farther?"

Yihai Dragon pointed and said, "That black wood there is the place."

Wukong lifted his head and saw a stretch of black forest not far away. He guessed that the old monster lived somewhere inside or just beyond it. So he stopped and let the little devils go on ahead. At once he took out his iron staff, stepped forward, and kicked from behind.

Alas, they were far too weak to withstand the blow. The two little monsters were beaten into a single meat pie. Wukong dragged them off the road and hid them in the deep grass at the roadside.

Then he plucked out a hair, blew on it with immortal breath, and cried, "Change!"

It turned into Bashan Tiger.

He himself changed into Yihai Dragon.

Thus disguised as the two little devils, he went straight to Mother-Subduing Cave to invite the old mother. This is called great magical transformation and skillful maneuvering.

In only three or five steps he was in the forest.

There he searched until he found two half-open stone doors and did not dare barge in. So he shouted, "Open the gate! Open the gate!"

His shout startled the gatekeeper, a female monster, who opened the door a crack and asked, "Where have you come from?"

Wukong said, "I have been sent from Lotus Cave on Flat-Topped Mountain to invite the old mother."

The female monster said, "Go in."

At the second gate he peeped inside and saw an old woman sitting in the middle.

What did she look like? Her white hair was fluffy and frosted, gleaming like starlight. Her face was ruddy and wrinkled, but her teeth were still sparse and her spirit vigorous. Her looks were like a flower gone to frost, and her body like an old pine after rain. A white silk scarf was wrapped around her hair, and gold earrings set with jewels hung from her ears.

Wukong looked at her and did not dare enter. He stood at the second gate and burst into loud weeping. Why was he crying? Not because he was afraid. Even if he had been afraid, he would not have cried. More to the point, he had already cheated her out of her treasure and killed her little monsters. Why cry now? When he had been thrown into the Nine-Cauldron Oil Pot, he had been fried for seven or eight days and had not shed a single tear. It was only because he thought of the hardship of Tripitaka's scripture quest that the tears burst from his heart and eyes at once.

He thought to himself, "Since Old Sun has shown his skill and taken the form of a little devil to invite this old monster, there is no way I can stand straight and speak to her. I must bow first.

"In my life I have bowed only three times: once in the Western Heaven before the Buddha, once in the South Sea before Guanyin, and once at Mount of Two Boundaries before the master who saved me. For him I bowed four times. I gritted my teeth through his six-petal lotus of heart and liver and wore out every pore of my mind. A single scroll of scripture is worth how much? Yet today I must kneel before this monster. If I do not kneel, the wind will leak out and the trick will fail. Alas, it is only because my master is in trouble that I am forced to be humiliated in this way."

At last, with no help for it, he went in, knelt, and said, "Mother, I pay my respects."

The old monster said, "My child, rise."

Wukong thought to himself, "Good, good. She has called me just right."

The old mother asked, "Where have you come from?"

Wukong said, "I am from Lotus Cave on Flat-Topped Mountain. By order of the two Great Kings, I have come to invite the old mother to eat Tang Sanzang's flesh. They told me to bring the golden rope, because they mean to seize Sun Wukong."

The old mother was delighted.

"What a dutiful son."

She called for a chair. Wukong said, "My son, do monsters sit in chairs?"

Then two female devils came from the back and brought out a fragrant bamboo sedan chair, setting it outside the door with green silk curtains hung around it.

The old mother rose and went out of the cave to sit in the chair. A few little female devils followed along carrying face-powder, a mirror stand, hand towels, and incense boxes.

The old mother said, "What are you all doing here? I am going to see my own children. Are you worried there will be no one to serve me? Do not crowd in and chatter. Go back and close the gate."

The female devils all went back, and only the two chair-bearers remained.

The old mother asked, "What are the names of the messengers who came?"

Wukong answered at once, "One is Bashan Tiger; I am Yihai Dragon."

The old mother said, "You two go ahead and clear the way."

Wukong thought to himself, "This is bad luck. I have not yet fetched the scripture, and now I have to serve as her lackey."

But he dared not refuse, and so he led the way, shouting loudly.

They traveled five or six li, and Wukong sat on a cliff rock to wait until the bearers arrived.

"Why not rest a little?" he said. "My shoulders are sore from the load."

The little monsters knew no trickery and set the chair down.

Wukong, behind the chair, plucked a hair from his chest and changed it into a huge steamed bun, which he held and gnawed at.

The chair-bearers asked, "Officer, what are you eating?"

Wukong said, "It is hard to say. This road is so long, and there has been no reward for inviting the old mother. I am hungry, and the dry rations I brought are all I have. Let me eat a little before we go on."

The chair-bearers said, "Give us some too."

Wukong laughed. "Come on then. We are all one family. Why be stingy?"

The little monsters knew no better, and they crowded around Wukong to divide the dry food.

Wukong drew his staff and gave it a turn.

One was smashed to pieces; the other, though not dead, could only groan.

The old mother heard the groans and leaned out of the chair to look. Wukong leapt to the front of the chair and struck her in the head. With one blow he bored a hole through her skull. Brain and blood burst out at once.

When they dragged the chair open, they saw that it was a nine-tailed fox.

Wukong laughed. "You wretched beast, what do you mean by calling yourself old mother? If you are old mother, then Old Sun ought to be called Great-Grandfather."

The Great Sage searched her body and found the golden rope, which he tucked into his sleeve with delight.

"That wicked monster may have some skill, but now three of his treasures bear Sun's name."

Then he plucked out two hairs and turned them into Bashan Tiger and Yihai Dragon, and two more hairs into the two chair-bearers. He himself turned into the old mother. The chair was lifted, and he went back along the road.

Before long they were at the gate of Lotus Cave.

The hair-made little devils shouted, "Open the gate! Open the gate!"

Inside, the gatekeeper asked, "Have Bashan Tiger and Yihai Dragon returned?"

The hair-made devils said, "They have."

"Where is the old mother you invited?"

One of them pointed to the chair. "Is she not inside?"

The little monster said, "Wait here while I report."

He went in and said, "Great King, the old mother has arrived."

The two demon kings heard this and at once ordered an incense table to be set to receive her.

Wukong listened and was secretly delighted.

"Fortune, fortune. Now it is my turn to play the mother."

He had first taken the role of a little monster and gone to invite the old demon, bowing once before him. Now he had turned into the old demon's mother, so he should receive four bows. It was not much, but he would at least earn him two more bows for free.

The Great Sage stepped down from the chair, shook out his robe, and pulled the four hairs back into his body. The gatekeeper carried the empty chair inside.

Wukong followed slowly after, moving with all the mincing steps and affected motions of the old mother herself, and walked straight in.

There he saw the whole pack of monsters kneeling to receive her. Drums and pipes rang in one chorus; the incense burner sent up its misty smoke. He sat down at the head of the hall, facing south.

The two demon kings knelt on both knees and bowed with their foreheads to the floor.

"Mother, your sons pay their respects."

Wukong said, "My children, rise."

Now Zhu Bajie, hanging from the beam, burst out laughing once.

Sha Wujing said, "Second Brother, good heavens. You are hanging there and still laughing?"

Bajie said, "Brother, I am laughing for a reason."

Sha Wujing asked, "What reason?"

Bajie said, "We thought the old mother had come to steam and eat us. It turns out she is not the old mother at all, but only old news."

Sha Wujing said, "What news?"

Bajie laughed. "The horse keeper from Heaven has come."

Sha Wujing said, "How do you know it is him?"

Bajie said, "He bends over and says, 'My child, rise,' and the monkey tail curls right up behind him. I hang higher than you, so I can see more clearly."

Sha Wujing said, "Stop talking and listen to what he says."

Bajie said, "Just so, just so."

Sitting in the center, the Great Sage asked, "My children, why did you invite me here?"

The demon kings said, "Mother, we have been remiss these last days and have not shown you proper duty. This morning, my foolish brother captured the Tang monk from the Eastern Lands. We do not dare eat him without asking you, so we have invited you to see the fresh flesh and then steam it for your own long life."

Wukong said, "My children, I do not eat Tang monk's flesh. But I hear that Zhu Bajie's ears are quite fine. Cut one off and prepare it; I will drink with it."

Bajie heard this and panicked.

"The plague-struck monkey! So you have come for my ears. If I yell out, it will not sound good."

Alas, because the fool spoke such a revealing word, the old monkey's change leaked away.

Little devils patrolling the mountain and gatekeepers crowding about all rushed in and shouted, "Great King, disaster! Sun Wukong has killed the old mother. He was disguised as her!"

The demon kings heard this and would not let him explain.

The second demon drew his seven-star sword and hacked at Wukong's face. The Great Sage shook his body, and all at once the cave flashed red. He had already slipped away. Such was his skill - to gather as form and scatter as breath.

The old demon was nearly beside himself with terror. The little monsters shook their heads and gnawed their fingers.

The old demon said, "Brother, hand Tripitaka, Bajie, Sha Wujing, the white horse, and the baggage back to that Sun Wukong. Let us close the gate of trouble."

The second demon said, "Brother, what are you saying? I do not know how much labor I spent to set this scheme in motion and bring the monk here. If we now act as if we were afraid of Sun Wukong and send everything back, we would truly be cowards who fear blades and dodge swords. That is no deed of a man. Sit down and do not be afraid. I have heard you speak of Sun Wukong's powers and know them to be great, but I have not yet measured him myself. Bring my armor."

When he had dressed, he took up his seven-star sword and went out to the door.

"Sun Wukong, where have you gone?"

The Great Sage, at that moment, was already in the clouds. Hearing himself called by name, he turned at once.

It was the second demon. Look how he was dressed: a phoenix helmet sat on his head and shone against the frost; battle armor draped his shoulders and gleamed like tempered iron. Around his waist was a belt of dragon sinew, and his boots with powdered leather and plum-blossom trim were light as clouds. His face was like Erlang at Guankou, and his looks were no different from the spirit giant's. He held a seven-star sword in his hand, and anger shot skyward from him in fierce waves.

The second demon shouted, "Sun Wukong, quickly return my treasure and bring back my mother, and I will let you go on fetching scriptures with Tang monk."

The Great Sage could not hold back his anger.

"You wicked beast! You have mistaken your grandfather Sun. Quickly return my master, my brother, the white horse, and the baggage, and send me some travel money besides, so I can keep going west. If you dare say even half a no from between your teeth, then go braid yourself a rope and wait for me. It will save Old Sun from having to lay hands on you."

The second demon heard this and leapt into the air, sword in hand. Wukong raised his iron staff to meet him.

They fought a splendid battle in the clouds:

Two worthy opponents had met, each the other's match.
The clash of skill could not hide the spirit within, and every move found its answer.
The two divine warriors came together like tigers fighting in the south mountain and dragons contending in the north sea.
Where the dragons struggled, scales flashed bright; where the tigers fought, claws and fangs flew loose.
The claws and fangs fell like silver hooks; the scales shone like iron leaves.
One whirled and turned through a thousand variations; the other came and went without giving the slightest opening.
The Golden-Hooped Rod was but three inches from the top of the crown; the seven-star sword pressed only a step from the heart.
The demon's fierceness chilled the field like the Bullfight Palace; Wukong's rage was fiercer than thunder and lightning.

The two fought for thirty rounds without a winner.

Wukong thought to himself, "This wicked thing can indeed stand up to Old Sun's iron staff. I have already won three of his treasures, but to keep wrestling him like this will only waste time. Why not take the gourd or the vase and use them to gather him in?"

Then he thought again, "No, no. As the saying goes, a tool obeys its master. If I call and he does not answer, that would only waste my effort. Better to use the golden rope."

The Great Sage kept one hand on the staff to hold the sword back and raised the rope with the other.

With a flash it snapped shut around the demon.

But the demon had a rope-tightening spell and a rope-loosening spell. If he tied someone else, he chanted the tightening spell and there was no escape. If he tied one of his own, he chanted the loosening spell and the rope would not hurt him. Recognizing his own treasure, he chanted the loosening spell, slackened the rope, slipped free, and flung it back at Wukong.

At once it caught the Great Sage.

Wukong was about to use the shrinking art to get free, but the demon chanted the tightening spell and cinched him hard. How could he escape? By the time the rope slipped down toward his neck, it had become a golden ring around his throat.

The demon yanked it off and cut eight or nine times at his bald head with the seven-star sword. Not even the skin of Wukong's scalp turned red.

The demon said, "Monkey, your head is too hard for me to cut. I will not strike you any more. I will take you back and beat you there. Hand over my two treasures at once."

Wukong said, "What treasure have I taken from you? Why are you asking me for them?"

The demon searched him carefully and found the gourd and the jade vase after all.

He then tied the rope to Wukong and brought him back to the cave.

"Brother, I have brought one back."

The old demon asked, "Who have you brought?"

The second demon said, "Sun Wukong. Come and look. Come and look."

The old demon saw that it was indeed Wukong and laughed with joy.

"It is him, it is him. Tie him by a long rope to the pillar and let us have our fun with him."

So they actually tied Wukong fast and went into the rear hall to drink.

At the foot of the pillar, the Great Sage worked and crept and kept moving, until he startled Bajie.

The fool hanging from the beam burst into laughter.

"Brother, the ears will not be eaten after all."

Wukong said, "Fool, can you hang there comfortably?"

"I can," said Bajie. "I can even laugh at you while I am at it."

Wukong said, "Do not laugh. I am going to get out and save you all."

Bajie said, "Enough, enough. You cannot even free yourself, and you want to save others? Very well, let us all die together. Then at least we can ask the underworld for directions."

Wukong said, "Do not babble. Watch how I get out."

Bajie said, "And how will you get out?"

The Great Sage was speaking to Bajie with his mouth, but with his eyes he was already watching the two demons. They were inside drinking, and the little monsters were carrying plates and cups, passing the wine pots back and forth, so the guarding of the door had grown a little slack.

Seeing no one directly before him, Wukong used his art. He pulled the staff straight out, blew on it with immortal breath, and cried, "Change!"

It became a steel file.

He took the golden ring at his neck, filed it three or five strokes, and cut it in two. He opened the file mouth and slipped free.

Then he plucked a hair and turned it into a fake body to leave tied there.

His true body flashed once and changed into a little monster standing to one side.

Bajie, still hanging from the beam, shouted, "Bad news! Bad news! The one tied up is the fake, and the real one is loose."

The old demon set down his cup and asked, "What is that pig bawling about?"

Wukong, now disguised as a little monster, stepped forward and said, "Zhu Bajie says Sun Wukong urged him to change and run away, but he would not go. That is why he is shouting."

The second demon said, "People always say Zhu Bajie is simple-minded, but he is not simple-minded at all. He ought to be beaten twenty times for talking so much."

Wukong went to fetch a staff and started toward Bajie.

Bajie said, "Go easy, go easy. If you hit me too hard, I will shout again, and I know you."

Wukong said, "Old Sun changed for your sake, and still you leak the secret. There are demons all over this cave, and none of them recognized me. Why do you?"

Bajie said, "You changed your face, but you did not change your backside. Aren't there still two red patches there? That is how I know you."

Wukong slipped to the rear and went into the kitchen. He rubbed a hand through the soot at the bottom of a pot and blackened both hips. Then he came back to the front.

Bajie looked at him and laughed again.

"Where did that monkey go for such a long while? He has come back with a black backside."

Wukong stood there a moment longer, still waiting to steal the treasures. He had good sense. He went into the hall and said to the demon, "Great King, look at Sun Wukong tied to the pillar. He keeps scraping about and will wear out the golden rope. It would be better to change it for a stronger one."

The old demon said, "That makes sense."

He loosened the lion-patterned belt at his waist and handed it to Wukong.

Wukong took it, tied up the fake Wukong, and then took down the rope. He coiled it up in his sleeve.

Then he plucked another hair, blew on it with immortal breath, and made a fake golden rope, which he handed over with both hands.

The demon, busy with wine and not looking closely, took it at once.

Then all went back to their seats and drank as before.

Wukong quietly withdrew, now in possession of the treasure.

He was overjoyed.

"No matter how capable that monster may be, the gourd and rope still belong to Sun."

But how he would go on from here to rescue his master and put an end to the demon, that must wait for the next chapter.