Chapter 34

The Demon King's Clever Scheme Traps the Mind-Ape; the Great Sage's Nimble Shifts Cheat Him of the Treasures

Now the two imps held the false gourd in their hands and squabbled over a look at it, when suddenly they looked up and Pilgrim was gone. Quick-Wit said: "Brother, even immortals tell lies. He said he would trade treasures and make immortals of us—and then leaves without a word of farewell?" Fine-Wit said: "We got the better end by far; how could he have gotten away with it? Hand over the gourd—let me pack the sky a little and see how it works." He truly tossed the gourd into the air, and flop—it dropped right down. Quick-Wit in a panic said: "Why does it not pack? Not pack? Could Pilgrim Sun have disguised himself as an immortal and traded us his false gourd for our true one?" Fine-Wit said: "Nonsense. Pilgrim Sun is pinned under those three mountains; how could he get out? Hand it here—let me say that spell of his and try the packing." This imp too flung the gourd into the air, mumbling as he did: "If there is the least sound of refusal, I go straight up to the Numinous Mists Hall and set the blades to war." Before the words were out, flop—it dropped down again. The two said: "It will not pack, it will not pack—it must be a fake."

While they were clamoring, the Great Sage Sun, up in midair, had heard every word and seen it plainly; and fearing that if the farce went on too long the secret would leak at the crucial point, he shook himself, recalled to his body the hair changed into the gourd, and left the two demons with nothing in any of their four hands. Fine-Wit said: "Brother, hand me the gourd." Quick-Wit said: "You have it." "Heavens! Where has it gone?" Both groped wildly on the ground, rummaged in the grass, turned out their sleeves, patted their waists—nothing was to be found. The two, scared into a stupor, said: "What shall we do? What shall we do? The Great King entrusted his treasures to us and told us to take Pilgrim Sun. Now we have not taken Pilgrim Sun, and the treasures are gone besides—how dare we go back and make our report? That thrashing would beat us to death outright. What shall we do! What shall we do!" Quick-Wit said: "Let us run for it." Fine-Wit said: "And run where?" Quick-Wit said: "Anywhere at all. If we go back and say the treasures are lost, we are dead men for certain." Fine-Wit said: "Do not run; go back. The Second Great King has always liked you; I will shove a word or two onto your back. If he will let it pass, we keep our lives; if he will not be argued down, then beaten to death here is better than nowhere at all. Do not end up empty on both ends. Come on, come on." Having thus taken counsel, the imps turned back toward the mountain.

Pilgrim, in midair, saw them turning back, shook himself into a fly again, and flew down to follow the imps. And where, do you suppose, did he keep the treasures, once he had become a fly? If he had dropped them on the road or hidden them in the grass for someone to find and take, would all his labor not have been in vain? He carried them on his person. Carried on his person—but a fly is no bigger than a bean grain; how could it hold them? Well, those treasures, like his gold-banded staff, were called the Buddha treasures of As-You-Will, changing with their bearer's body, growing great or growing small—so his person could hold them after all.

With a whine he flew down and kept close to the imps; in no time they reached the cave. There sat the two demon chiefs drinking wine, and the imps knelt before them. Pilgrim fastened himself on the door-cupboard and lent an ear. The imps said, "Great King," and the two elder demons set down their cups: "You have come back?" "We have." "And have you taken Pilgrim Sun?" The imps kowtowed, not daring to speak. The old demon asked again; again they dared not answer, but only kowtowed. Asked a third time, the imps groveled on the ground: "Pardon your servants ten thousand capital offenses, pardon ten thousand. We were carrying the treasures and had come halfway up the mountain when we suddenly met an immortal of Mount Penglai. He asked where we were going, and we said: 'To take Pilgrim Sun.' At the name of Pilgrim Sun he too was vexed with him, and wanted to help us. We never asked for his help, but we told him the whole business of taking a man with the treasures. That immortal had a gourd of his own that could pack the sky. It was covetousness and the wish to better our house: his packed the sky, ours packed men—let us trade. The bargain was gourd for gourd, and Quick-Wit threw in the vase besides. Who could have thought that the things of immortals will not suffer a mortal's hands? The moment we tried them, man and all had vanished. A hundred thousand times, spare your servants' lives."

At this the old demon raged like thunder: "It is over, it is over! This is Pilgrim Sun disguised as an immortal, tricking us out of them. That ape's powers are vast and he knows everyone; some hairy god must have let him out, and he has tricked away the treasures." The second demon said: "Calm your anger, elder brother. The insolence of that ape—it passes all bearing. If he has the arts, let him go; but to trick away our treasures besides? If I have not the skill to take him, may I never again be a monster on the western road." The old demon said: "How will you take him?" The second demon said: "We had five treasures; two are gone, three remain—and take him we must." The old demon said: "And which three are those?" The second demon said: "The Seven-Star Sword and the banana-leaf fan are at my side; the gold-swaying rope is kept at my old mother's, in Squeeze-Dragon Cave on Press-Dragon Mountain. Send two imps now to invite my mother to come eat the Tang monk's flesh, and have her bring the gold-swaying rope to take Pilgrim Sun." The old demon said: "Which two shall go?" The second demon said: "No use sending such useless things." He shouted Fine-Wit and Quick-Wit out of his presence. The two said to themselves: "What luck, what luck—no beating, no cursing, and we are let off." The second demon said: "Bring me those constant attendants of mine, Tiger Who Hugs the Mountain and Dragon Who Leans on the Sea." The two knelt, and the second demon instructed them: "You must be careful." "Careful," they answered together. "And be wary." "Wary," they answered together. He asked again: "Do you know your old grandmother's house?" "We know it," they answered together. "Since you know it, make haste and be off. To your old grandmother: many, many compliments, and say we invite her to eat the Tang monk's flesh; and have her bring the gold-swaying rope, for we must take Pilgrim Sun."

The two demons took the order and hurried off—not knowing that Pilgrim, beside them, had heard it all, point by point. He spread his wings, flew off, overtook Tiger Who Hugs the Mountain, and fastened on his body. After two or three li he was minded to beat the two of them to death. Then he thought: "What difficulty would there be in beating them to death? But their grandmother has that gold-swaying rope by her, and I do not know where she lives. Let me question them first, and beat them after." Brave Pilgrim! With a whine he slipped away from the imps and let them go a hundred-odd paces on. Then he shook himself and changed into an imp as well, put on a fox-fur cap, tucked his tiger-skin kilt up and cinched it, and caught up with them: "Fellow travelers, wait for me a moment." Dragon Who Leans on the Sea turned his head: "Where do you come from?" Pilgrim said: "Fine brother! Can you not tell your own folk?" The imp said: "Our house has no one like you." Pilgrim said: "How has it no me? Look again." The imp said: "Your face is strange to us, strange; we have never met." Pilgrim said: "Just so. You have never met me because I am of the outside shift." The imp said: "An officer of the outside shift—that explains it. Where are you bound?" Pilgrim said: "The Great King says he sent you two to invite your old grandmother to come eat the Tang monk's flesh, and to have her bring the gold-swaying rope to take Pilgrim Sun. Fearing you might travel slow, or tarry at your play, and spoil the business, he has sent me after you to hurry you along."

Hearing the inner secret spoken, the imps had no further doubt and took Pilgrim truly for one of the household. In haste and bustle they flew on ahead, covering another eight or nine li at a stretch. Pilgrim said: "A shade too fast. How far are we from home now?" The imp said: "Fifteen or sixteen li." Pilgrim said: "And how much farther?" Dragon Who Leans on the Sea pointed with his finger: "Just there in the dark wood." Pilgrim looked up and saw a belt of black wood not far off, and judged the old demon must be in or about the wood. He halted and let the imps walk on. Then he took out the iron staff, stepped up behind, and swept it at their heels. Pity them—they could not stand a stroke: the staff swept both imps flat into a cake of meat. He dragged the bodies by the feet and hid them in the deep tussocks by the road. Then he plucked a hair, blew on it a breath of immortal air, and cried: "Change!" It became a Tiger Who Hugs the Mountain, while he himself changed into a Dragon Who Leans on the Sea. Disguised as the two imps, he went straight to Squeeze-Dragon Cave to fetch the old grandmother. This was what is meant by: vast the magic of his seventy-two changes; high the art that takes the shape of any named thing.

In three or five bounds he leapt into the wood. While he was searching he saw two stone doors, half open, half shut, and did not presume to enter unbidden. He had only to call out loudly: "Open the door! Open the door!" At once a she-demon on the gate was startled and pushed half the leaf open: "Where do you come from?" Pilgrim said: "I am sent from Lotus Cave on Flat-Top Mountain to invite the old grandmother." The she-demon said: "Go in." At the second gate he poked his head in to look and saw, seated in the very middle, an old mother dame. And what did she look like, do you think? Behold:

Snowy temples loose and flossy; eyes glinting bright as starlight.Her cheeks still ruddy, though seamed with many a line; her teeth sparse, her spirit sturdy.Her face like a fading flower holding color in the frost; her form like an old pine fresh after rain.Her head wrapped in white silk, a gauze kerchief gathered; at her ears golden pendants set with gems.

When the Great Sage Sun saw this he dared not go in, but stood outside the second gate, screwing up his face, and fell to sobbing outright. And why, do you think, did he weep? Could it be fear of her? Even in fear he would not weep—besides, had he not already tricked away her treasures and beaten her imps to death? What had he to weep for? In his time he had gone down into the nine-cauldron oil boiler and been fried for seven or eight days without one drop of tears. Only, at the thought of the Tang monk's bitter toil in seeking the scriptures, the tears rose from his grieving heart, and he let them flow. In his heart he thought: "Old Sun having shown his art and turned himself into an imp to fetch this old demon, it would not do to stand straight up and talk; a kowtow is what the meeting calls for. In all my days as a bold fellow I have bowed to only three: in the Western Heaven, to the Buddha; in the Southern Sea, to Guanyin; and at Two-Bounds Mountain, when my master freed me, I bowed to him four times. For him I would shatter liver and lungs, all six leaves, and spend the whole of my three-haired, seven-apertured heart. What is a scroll of scriptures worth, after all? And now I am sent to bow to this demon. If I do not kneel, the secret will surely leak. Bitter! When it comes to it, it is all because my master is in peril that I must take this shame from others."

Driven to it, with no way out, he pushed inside, knelt facing her, and said: "Your grandson kowtows to Grandmother." "Rise, my child," said the demon. Pilgrim said to himself: "Good, good, good—she calls me soundly!" The old demon asked: "Where do you come from?" Pilgrim said: "From Lotus Cave on Flat-Top Mountain. By command of the two Great Kings I am sent to invite Grandmother to come eat the Tang monk's flesh, and to ask you to bring the gold-swaying rope, for we must take Pilgrim Sun." The old demon rejoiced: "What dutiful sons!" She called at once for the sedan to be brought out. Pilgrim said to himself: "My dear children—demons keep a sedan?" At the back two she-demons at once carried out a sedan of fragrant rattan, set it outside the door, and hung its green silk curtains. The old demon rose, came out of the cave, and sat in the sedan. Behind her followed several little she-demons, one bearing her toilet box, one the mirror stand, one towels, one the incense casket, in attendance on either side. The old demon said: "What are you coming for? I go to my own sons' place—am I to worry that no one waits on me there, that I need your bustling and your flattery? All of you go back, shut the gate, and keep the house." The little demons indeed all went back; only the two bearers remained. The old demon asked: "What is the name of the one they sent?" Pilgrim answered promptly: "He is called Tiger Who Hugs the Mountain, and I am Dragon Who Leans on the Sea." The old demon said: "You two walk ahead and clear the way for me." Pilgrim thought to himself: "The luck of it! No scriptures got yet, and here I am keeping order for a demon like a common constable." Yet he dared not resist; he could only lead the way ahead, bawling the road clear at the top of his voice.

When they had gone five or six li or so, she sat on a rocky ledge to wait until the bearers came up. Pilgrim said: "Shall we not rest a moment? The carrying makes my shoulders ache." The imps, suspecting nothing, set the sedan down. Pilgrim, behind the sedan, plucked a hair from his chest and changed it into a great griddle cake, and sat gnawing it. The bearers said: "Officer, what are you eating?" Pilgrim said: "Nothing worth telling. A road this long, sent to fetch Grandmother, with never a reward—my belly is empty. This is the dry ration I brought along; let me eat a little before we go on." The bearers said: "Give us a share." Pilgrim laughed: "Gladly—we are all one family; why stand on terms?" The imps, knowing no better, crowded round him to share the ration. Pilgrim swept out his staff against their heads: the one it struck full was beaten to a pulp; the one it grazed did not die, but only moaned. At the moaning the old demon thrust her head from the sedan to look—and Pilgrim sprang before her and dealt her a blow full on the crown, smashing a hole; brain burst out, and blood spurted high. He dragged her from the sedan and looked: it was a nine-tailed fox. Pilgrim laughed: "Sinful beast, calling yourself Grandmother! If you are Grandmother, then Old Sun should be styled Great-Ancestor Grandsire, should he not?"

Brave Monkey King! He searched out the gold-swaying rope and stowed it in his sleeve, exulting: "Arts or no arts, that brazen demon—three of the treasures now bear the surname Sun." Then he plucked two hairs and changed them into a Tiger Who Hugs the Mountain and a Dragon Who Leans on the Sea; plucked two more and changed them into the two bearers; and he himself, changed into the old grandmother's likeness, sat in the sedan. The sedan was lifted up, and they took the road straight back.

Before long they reached the mouth of Lotus Cave, and the hair-changed imps called out ahead: "Open the door! Open the door!" Inside, the imp on the gate opened it: "Is that Tiger Who Hugs the Mountain and Dragon Who Leans on the Sea?" "It is," said the hairs. "And the grandmother you went to fetch?" The hair-imp pointed: "Is she not there in the sedan?" The imp said: "Wait you here, while I go in and announce it first." He announced: "Great Kings, Grandmother has come!" The two demon chiefs, hearing it, at once ordered the incense table spread to receive her. Hearing this, Pilgrim rejoiced within: "Luck! Now it is my turn to be somebody. Before, I turned imp to fetch the old demon and paid her one kowtow; this time I come as the old demon herself—their mother—and they will surely perform the rite of four bows. Small matter in itself, but it earns me a couple of kowtows." Brave Great Sage! He stepped down from the sedan, shook out his clothes, and gathered the four hairs back into his body. The imps on the gate carried the empty sedan inside. He followed at a slow pace, mincing and dainty, wriggling and simpering, just as the old demon moved, and went straight in. There the demons, great and small, all came kneeling to receive her. Drums and music, flutes and pipes, filled the air with sound; in the Boshan censer the incense smoke hung soft. He came into the main hall and sat facing south. The two demon chiefs fell on both knees, kowtowed before her, and cried: "Mother, your sons bow to you." "Rise, my children," said Pilgrim.

Now Zhu Bajie, hanging from the beam, burst into a great laugh. Sha Monk said: "Second Brother, well now—hanging has made you laugh." "Brother, there is a reason in my laughing," said Bajie. "What reason?" "We were afraid Grandmother had come, and that we should be steamed and eaten. It is not Grandmother—it is the old story come again." "What old story?" Bajie laughed: "The Bimawen has come." "How can you tell it is he?" "Bent at the waist, saying 'Rise, my children'—and behind him the monkey's tail pokes up. I hang higher than you, so I can see plainly." "Say nothing yet; hear what he has to say," said Sha Monk. "Right, right," said Bajie.

The Great Sage Sun, seated in the middle, asked: "My children, what business have you that you sent for me?" The demon chiefs said: "Mother, these days your sons have been remiss and have not shown you their duty. This morning your foolish brothers took the Tang monk of the Land of the East; not daring to eat him on our own authority, we have asked you, Mother, to come and make the offering of the first taste, that we may steam him for you to eat and lengthen your years." Pilgrim said: "My children, as for the Tang monk's flesh, I shall not eat it. But I hear that Zhu Bajie's ears are a delicacy: cut one off, dress it well, and I will take it with my wine." At this Bajie panicked: "You plague-struck wretch—so you have come to cut off my ear! Shall I shout the truth out loud, and see how sweet that sounds?"

Ah! One knowing word from the Idiot, and the Monkey King's transformation was blown. Thereupon the imps on mountain patrol and the demons at the gate all came tumbling in, crying: "Great Kings, disaster! Pilgrim Sun has beaten Grandmother to death and disguised himself in her shape!" At these words the demon chiefs brooked no parley: the Seven-Star Sword flashed out and hacked full at Pilgrim's face. Brave Great Sage! He shook his body, and in a blaze of red light that filled the cave he had slipped away beforehand. Such arts as these made rare good sport—truly: gathered, it takes form; scattered, it becomes vapor.

The old demon chief's soul flew and his spirit scattered, and the whole pack of spirits bit their fingers and shook their heads. The old demon said: "Brother, give the Tang monk and Sha Monk and Bajie and the white horse and the luggage all back to that Pilgrim Sun, and shut the door on strife." The second demon said: "Brother, what talk is this? Heaven knows the pains I took to lay this scheme and spirit the monks here. Now, for you to be so afraid of Pilgrim Sun's trickery as to hand them all back—those are the ways of men who dread the blade and dodge the sword; is that the conduct of a true man? Pray sit, and be not afraid. You say Pilgrim Sun's powers are vast: I have met him once, but never matched him. Bring my armor: I will go find him and fight him three rounds. If in three bouts he cannot beat me, the Tang monk is still our meat; if in three bouts I cannot beat him, there will be time enough then to return the Tang monk." "Worthy brother, well said," said the old demon, and ordered the armor brought.

The demons carried out the armor; the second demon buckled it on trim and neat, took his precious sword, went out the gate, and called: "Pilgrim Sun, where have you fled to?" The Great Sage was already up in the clouds; hearing his name called, he turned quickly to look: it was the second demon. And how was he accoutered? Behold:

On his head a phoenix helm whiter than twelfth-month snow; on his body battle armor gleaming like refined iron.At his waist a belt of python-dragon sinew; his white-leather boots cut with plum-blossom creases.His face like the living True Lord of Guankou; his aspect the very twin of the Giant Spirit.The Seven-Star precious sword upraised in his hand, his wrath rushing to the sky, his might blazing.

The second demon called loudly: "Pilgrim Sun, give me back my treasures and my mother, and I will let you take the Tang monk on to his scriptures." The Great Sage could not contain himself, and cursed: "You brazen monster, you have mistaken your grandfather Sun. Deliver my master, my brother-disciples, the white horse, and the baggage back to me this instant, and put some travel money in my hand for the western road; and if between your teeth there passes half a 'no,' twist yourself a rope and make your own end, and spare your grandfather the labor." At this the second demon sped up his cloud in haste, sprang into the air, and whirled his precious sword to stab; Pilgrim swept out the iron staff to meet him face to face. There in midair they fought a fine battle:

Chess meets its match; the general meets his peer.When chess meets its match, zest cannot be hidden; when the general meets his peer, skill finds its field.The two divine captains closed like the tiger-fight of the Southern Mountain, the dragon-strife of the Northern Sea.Where dragons strive, scale and plate flash fire; where tigers battle, claw and fang fly thick.Claw and fang flying thick are silver hooks scattered; scale and plate flashing fire are iron leaves braced.This one turned and returned with a thousand schools of play; that one came and went, yielding never half a moment's ease.The gold-banded staff misses the crown of the head by three inches; the Seven-Star Sword drives for the breast, a single turn away.One's martial bearing chills the Dipper and the Ox; the other's wrath is deadlier than thunderbolts.

The two fought thirty rounds without decision.

Pilgrim said to himself with secret pleasure: "This brazen monster can actually hold up Old Sun's iron staff. I have three of his treasures already—why wear myself out battling him like this and waste my time? Better to pack him in the gourd or the vase—that were worthier." Then he thought again: "No, no. As the saying goes, 'The tool follows its master's convenience.' If I call and he does not answer, would that not spoil the whole enterprise? Let me use the gold-swaying rope and snare his head." Brave Great Sage! One hand plied the staff to parry his blade; the other took up the rope and, with a swish, snared the demon chief.

Now that demon chief had a tight-rope spell and a loose-rope spell. Snare another, pronounce the tight-rope spell, and there is no escaping; snare one of his own household, pronounce the loose-rope spell, and it cannot harm him. He knew the rope for his own treasure, pronounced the loose-rope spell, loosened it, slipped free, and flung it back at Pilgrim—and it snared the Great Sage instead. The Great Sage was on the very point of working his art of Body-Slimming to slip away when the demon pronounced the tight-rope spell and bound him fast; how could he escape? The rope ran down under his neck, where a gold ring held it fast. The demon gave the rope a pull, hauled him down, and laid seven or eight sword strokes on that bald pate. Pilgrim's scalp did not so much as redden. The demon said: "This monkey, with a head so hard, I shall not hack; I will take you home and beat you there. Restore those two treasures of mine, and quickly." Pilgrim said: "What treasures of yours do I hold, that you demand them of me?" The demon chief searched him over carefully and found both the gourd and the vase. Leading him by the rope, he brought him into the cave: "Elder brother, I have taken him." "Taken whom?" "Pilgrim Sun. Come and see, come and see." At one look the old demon knew it was Pilgrim, and joy lit his face: "It is he, it is he! Tie him up with a good long rope to the pillar-post, for sport." So they bound Pilgrim fast, and the two demon chiefs went into the hall behind to drink.

The Great Sage, wriggling at the foot of the pillar, soon stirred Bajie. The Idiot, hanging from the beam, laughed out: "Brother, so much for my ears as a delicacy!" Pilgrim said: "Idiot, do you hang there comfortably? I am going out this instant, and I promise I shall save you all." "For shame, for shame! Cannot free yourself, and dream of freeing others. Enough, enough—let master and disciples die together, and ask our way about in the land of shades." "No nonsense; watch me get out," said Pilgrim. "And how do I watch you get out?" said Bajie. The Great Sage talked with Bajie, but his eyes kept glancing at the two demons. They were inside drinking, with several imps carrying plates and cups, plying the pot and pouring, running to and fro without cease; the watch had grown a little slack. Seeing no one at hand, he worked his powers: out came the staff; he blew on it a breath of immortal air, cried "Change!"—and it became a file of pure steel. He bent up the ring at his neck and, three or five strokes of the file, cut it in two. He opened the filed gap and slipped out. He plucked a hair, changed it into a false body of himself, and left it tied there. His true body shook itself once and changed into an imp, standing close by. Bajie called again from the beam: "Disaster, disaster! The one tied up is a fake; the true body hangs here!" The old demon set down his cup: "What is Zhu Bajie bawling about?" Pilgrim, by now an imp, stepped up: "Zhu Bajie egged Pilgrim Sun on to change himself and slip away; he would not go, and that is what he is bawling about." The second demon said: "And folk call Zhu Bajie the honest one! So much for his honesty—twenty blows of the staff for that troublemaking tongue."

So Pilgrim went and fetched a staff for the beating. Bajie said: "Strike softly, mind; if it is heavy I shall shout again—I know you." Pilgrim said: "Old Sun's transformations are all for your sake—why must you let the wind out of the sails? Not one demon in this cave knows me; why must it be you that knows me?" Bajie said: "Though you changed your head and face, you never changed your backside—what are those two red patches on it? That is how I knew you." Pilgrim went around behind, made his way to the kitchen, took a handful of soot from the bottom of the pot, blackened both his haunches, and came round to the front. Bajie saw it and laughed again: "Where has that monkey been loitering all this while? He has come back with a black backside."

Pilgrim still stood close by, minding his chance to steal the treasures. And in truth he had an eye for it: he walked up into the hall and pulled the demon's leg: "Great King, look at Pilgrim Sun there, tied to the pillar, wriggling this way and that—he has chafed that gold rope nearly through. You want a stouter rope to take its place." "Well said," said the old demon, and unbuckled the lion-embroidered belt from his waist and handed it to Pilgrim. Pilgrim took the belt and belted the false Pilgrim fast with it. He drew off the rope, coiled it coil upon coil, and stowed it in his sleeve. Then he plucked another hair, blew on it a breath of immortal air, changed it into a false gold-swaying rope, and presented it to the demon with both hands. The demon, fuddled with wine, never looked closely, but took it as it came. So it was the Great Sage's shifting skill at work: a hair changed out for the gold-swaying rope.

Treasure in hand, he whirled about, sprang out the door, showed his own form, and shouted: "Monsters!" The imps on the gate asked: "Who are you, bawling here?" Pilgrim said: "In with you, quickly, and tell your brazen demons: Zhexingsun has come!" The imps reported as told, and the old demon was alarmed: "We have Pilgrim Sun taken—how comes there to be a Zhexingsun besides?" The second demon said: "Brother, why fear him? The treasures are all in my hands. Wait while I take the gourd out and pack him inside." "Be careful, brother," said the old demon. The second demon took the gourd and came out the mountain gate, and saw one the very likeness of Pilgrim Sun, only a trifle shorter. He asked: "Where do you come from?" Pilgrim said: "I am Pilgrim Sun's brother. I hear you have taken my kinsman, and I have come to make trouble over it." The second demon said: "Taken him I have, and locked him in the cave. Since you are here you will want a battle; but I will not cross weapons with you. I shall only call your name—do you dare answer me?" Pilgrim said: "Call a thousand times if you dare; I will answer you ten thousand!" The demon took up the treasure, leapt into the air, held the bottom to the sky and the mouth to the ground, and called: "Zhexingsun!" Pilgrim did not dare answer, thinking to himself: "If I answer, in I go." The demon said: "Why do you not answer me?" Pilgrim said: "My ears are a little stopped; I did not hear. Call louder." The monster called again: "Zhexingsun!" Pilgrim, ticking it off on his fingers below, reasoned: "My true name is Pilgrim Sun; the false name I invented is Zhexingsun. The true name it could pack; the false name, surely not." And he could not contain himself, and answered him. Whoosh—he was sucked into the gourd, and the slip pasted on. For that treasure cares nothing for true names or false: catch but the breath of an answer, and it packs you off inside.

Inside the gourd the Great Sage found utter blackness. He pushed his head upward—there was no budging it; the stopper was fast indeed. His heart grew feverish: "Back on the mountain, those two imps told me: gourd or vase, once a man is packed inside, in next to no time he turns to pus. Could it be dissolving me now?" Then his whole thought turned: "No matter; it cannot dissolve me. Five hundred years ago Old Sun wrecked the Heavenly Palace, and the Supreme Lord Lao set him in the Eight Trigrams furnace for nine and forty days, and out he came with heart and liver of gold, lungs of silver, head of bronze, back of iron, fiery eyes and pupils of gold. When could a moment or two dissolve me? Let him carry me in; we shall see what he does."

The second demon carried it inside: "Brother, I have him." "Taken whom?" "Zhexingsun—I have packed him in the gourd." The old demon was delighted: "Worthy brother, sit down. Do not stir; only when it sloshes when shaken may the slip be peeled off." Hearing this, Pilgrim thought: "A body like mine—when would it ever slosh? Only once I melt into thin broth would it slosh. Let me pass a little water; if it sloshes when he shakes it, he is sure to peel the slip and lift the lid, and I can slip away in the gap, plague take him." Then he thought again: "No, no. Water would make the noise, but it would foul this cassock. When he shakes it, let me simply gather some spit, rinse my mouth, and let it dribble and gurgle to trick him into lifting the lid—then Old Sun can go." The Great Sage made ready, but the demon, deep in his cups, did not shake it. So the Great Sage played his trick to lure him into shaking it, and suddenly cried out: "Heaven! My ankle-bones are dissolving!" Still the demon did not shake it. Pilgrim cried again: "Mother! Now the small of my back is dissolving too!" The old demon said: "Dissolved to the waist—then it is all but done. Peel off the slip and look."

At this the Great Sage plucked a hair, cried "Change!", and made a half-body of himself, which he set on the bottom of the gourd. His true body changed into the tiny midge and fastened by the mouth of the gourd. The moment the second demon peeled back the slip to look, the Great Sage had already flown out. He turned a somersault and changed into a Dragon Who Leans on the Sea. Dragon Who Leans on the Sea was the very imp first sent to fetch the old grandmother; so changed, he stood close by. The old demon peered into the mouth of the gourd, saw a half-body still stirring there, could not tell true from false, and cried in haste: "Brother, cover it, cover it—it is not dissolved yet." The second demon pasted the slip back on. The Great Sage, beside him, laughed to himself: "Little do they know Old Sun is already out here."

The old demon took the pot, filled a cup brimming, came close, and passed it to the second demon with both hands: "Worthy brother, let me hand you a cup." "Elder brother, we have been drinking half the evening already—what need of another cup?" "To have taken the Tang monk, Bajie, and Sha Monk were much; but to have snared Pilgrim Sun as well, and packed Zhexingsun in the gourd—such merit calls for many a cup more." The second demon, so honored by his brother, dared not refuse; but one hand held the gourd and he dared not take the cup with one, so he passed the gourd to Dragon Who Leans on the Sea and took the cup with both hands. He did not know that Dragon Who Leans on the Sea was Pilgrim Sun changed. See him hold the gourd, attentive in his service. The second demon drank the wine, and would return the courtesy with a cup of his own. "No need to return it," said the old demon. "Let me keep you company with a cup here." The two went on deferring to each other. Pilgrim, holding the gourd, eyes unwavering, watched the two pass the cup back and forth with never a thought of care; he slid the gourd into his sleeve. He plucked a hair, changed it into a false gourd, identical in every part, and held that in his hands. The demon, having passed the wine a while, took the treasure back without a look at true or false. Each went to his place at the table, sat at ease, and went on drinking. The Great Sage Sun slipped away with the treasure in hand, rejoicing inwardly: "Cunning as this demon chief is, the gourd bears the surname Sun after all."

But how he would set about it from here, to save his master and destroy the demons—who could say? Listen to the next chapter to find out.

The demon king's clever scheme traps the mind-monkey; the Great Sage shifts and tricks away the treasures

Now the two little demons held the fake gourd in their hands, passing it back and forth for a look, when suddenly they looked up and Pilgrim was gone. Clever Bug said, "Brother, even immortals lie. He said that once we'd traded treasures he'd carry us off to immortality. How could he leave without a word of goodbye?" Fine Ghost said, "We got the better of that bargain by far. How could he get away with it? Hand over the gourd. Let me pack up the sky and try it out." He really did toss the gourd up, and down it flopped again. Clever Bug panicked: "How does it not pack? Not pack? Could it be that Pilgrim Sun disguised himself as an immortal and traded his fake gourd for our real one?" Fine Ghost said, "Don't talk nonsense. Pilgrim Sun is pinned under those three mountains. How could he get out? Give it here. Let me say those few words of his spell and see it pack." The demon too threw the gourd into the air, muttering: "If there's one word of refusal, I'll go up to the Lingxiao Hall and start a war." He had hardly finished the words when down it flopped again. Both demons said, "It won't pack, it won't pack. It must be a fake."

While they were shouting, the Great Sage Sun in mid-air heard it all plainly and saw it clearly. Fearing they would waste more time and the secret would leak at the worst moment, he shook himself and drew back the hair that had been the gourd—leaving the two demons with four empty hands. Fine Ghost said, "Brother, hand me the gourd." Clever Bug said, "You're the one holding it." "Heavens! Where has it gone?" Both groped about on the ground, thrashed through the grass, shook out their sleeves, patted their waists. Nothing anywhere. The two demons, scared stiff, mumbled: "What now? What now? The king gave us the treasures and told us to catch Pilgrim Sun. Now we haven't caught him, and the treasures are gone too. How dare we go back and report? That beating would kill us for sure. What now! What now!" Clever Bug said, "Let's run away." Fine Ghost said, "Run where?" Clever Bug said, "Anywhere at all. If we go back and say we've lost the treasures, they'll take our lives for certain." Fine Ghost said, "Don't run. Go back. The second king has always liked you. I'll shift a word onto your back. If he lets it pass, we keep our lives. If he won't hear it, beaten to death here is as good as beaten to death anywhere. Don't end up with neither. Come on, come on." The demons settled it that way and turned back up the mountain.

Pilgrim, in mid-air, saw them turn back, shook himself again, changed into a fly, and flew down after the little demons. Now that he had become a fly, where did he keep the treasures? If he left them on the road or hid them in the grass and someone saw them and took them, all his work would be wasted. So he kept them on his body. But a fly is no bigger than a bean—how could his body hold them? The truth is, his treasures were like his gold-banded staff, called the As-You-Will Buddha treasure: they change with their bearer, big or small at will, so his body could hold them after all.

With a whirr he flew down and kept to the demons' trail. Before long they reached the cave. The two demon kings sat there drinking wine, and the little demons knelt before them. Pilgrim stuck himself on the door frame and listened with a cocked ear. The little demons said, "Your Majesty." The two old demons set down their cups at once: "So you've come?" The little demons said, "We've come." They asked again: "Did you catch Pilgrim Sun?" The little demons knocked their heads, not daring to speak. The old demon asked again; again they dared not answer, only knocked their heads. Asked a third time, the little demons groveled on the ground: "Spare your servants ten thousand deaths, spare us ten thousand deaths. We were carrying the treasures and had come halfway up the mountain when we suddenly met an immortal from Penglai. He asked where we were going, and we said: 'To catch Pilgrim Sun.' When the immortal heard Pilgrim Sun's name, he was angry with him too, and wanted to help us. We never asked him for help, but we did tell him the whole story of the treasures that pack a man up. The immortal had a gourd too, one that packs up the sky. Foolish hope and the wish to do well by our families got the better of us: we traded, his sky-packing one for our man-packing one. The deal was a gourd for a gourd, and Clever Bug threw in the vase on top. Who would have thought that things of the immortals cannot bear a mortal's hand? Just as we were trying it out, man and all vanished. We beg you a thousand times to spare your servants' lives."

Hearing this, the old demon raged like thunder: "It's over, it's over. This was Pilgrim Sun disguised as an immortal, tricking the treasures away from them. That monkey has vast powers and knows people everywhere. Some hairy little god must have let him out to work the swindle." The second demon said, "Calm yourself, elder brother. That monkey is truly insolent. If he has the skill to escape, fine—but why steal the treasures too? If I haven't the means to take him, may I never be a demon on the western road again." The old demon said, "How do we take him?" The second demon said, "We had five treasures. Two are gone; three remain. We must take him." "Which three?" "The seven-star sword and the banana-leaf fan are with me. The gold-swaying rope is kept by our old mother in Dragon-Pressing Cave on Dragon-Pressing Mountain. Send two little demons to ask Mother to come eat the Tang monk's flesh, and have her bring the gold-swaying rope to catch Pilgrim Sun." The old demon said, "Which two shall go?" The second demon said, "Not such useless trash as these." He shouted Fine Ghost and Clever Bug away. The two said, "What luck, what luck. No beating, no cursing, and we're let off." The second demon said, "Call those two regular attendants, Bashan Tiger and Yihai Dragon." The two knelt. The second demon instructed: "Be careful." Both answered, "Careful." "Be thorough." Both answered, "Thorough." He asked, "Do you know old Granny's house?" Both answered, "We know it." "Since you know it, get moving quickly. Go to Granny's, give her many greetings, and say she is asked to come eat the Tang monk's flesh. Have her bring the gold-swaying rope—we mean to catch Pilgrim Sun."

The two demons took the order and hurried off. How could they know Pilgrim was beside them, hearing every word? He spread his wings, flew, caught up with Bashan Tiger, and stuck to his body. After two or three li he was ready to beat the two of them to death. Then he thought: "What's hard about killing them? But that gold-swaying rope is with their granny, and I don't know where she lives. Let me question them first, then beat them." The fine Pilgrim whirred away from the little demons and let them go a hundred-odd paces ahead. Then he shook himself, changed into a little demon too, put on a fox-fur cap, tucked up and cinched his tiger-skin kilt, and caught up: "Fellow walkers, wait for me." Yihai Dragon turned and asked, "Where have you come from?" Pilgrim said, "Fine brother—can't you even know your own kin?" The little demon said, "You're not from our house." Pilgrim said, "How am I not? Look at me again." The little demon said, "Your face is strange to me, strange. We've never met." Pilgrim said, "Right. You've never met me. I'm from the outside shift." The little demon said, "An officer of the outside shift—we wouldn't have met. Where are you headed?" Pilgrim said, "The king says he sent you two to ask Granny to come eat the Tang monk's flesh, and to bring the gold-swaying rope to catch Pilgrim Sun. He's afraid you two walk slow and like your fun too much, and spoil the business, so he sent me to hurry you along."

Hearing such inside knowledge, the little demons had no doubt at all, and took Pilgrim for one of their own. In a hurry they ran on ahead, another eight or nine li in one stretch. Pilgrim said, "A bit too fast. How far from home are we now?" The little demon said, "Fifteen or sixteen li." "How much farther?" Yihai Dragon pointed: "In that black wood." Pilgrim looked up, saw the black wood not far off, and reckoned the old demon was in or near it. He stopped and let the little demons walk ahead. Then he took out the iron staff, stepped up, and swept it behind their heels. Poor things, they could not stand a blow at all: the staff swept the two little demons into one lump of meat paste. He dragged the bodies off the road and hid them in deep grass. Then he plucked a hair, blew on it a breath of immortal air, called "Change!"—and it became Bashan Tiger; he himself changed into Yihai Dragon. Made up as the two little demons, they went straight to Dragon-Pressing Cave to fetch old Granny. As the saying goes: seventy-two changes, powers so great; point at a thing and slip into it—craft so high.

In three or five bounds they reached the wood. While they searched, they saw a pair of stone doors, half open, half shut, and did not dare push in. They could only call out: "Open the door! Open the door!" The gate-keeping she-demon was startled, opened one half, and said, "Where are you from?" Pilgrim said, "We're sent from Lotus Cave on Flat-Top Mountain to fetch old Granny." The she-demon said, "Go in." At the second gate they poked their heads in and looked: right in the middle sat an old mother. What did she look like? See:

Snowy temples, loose and fluffy, glinting like starlight.A face still fresh and red, though wrinkled many times over; teeth thin and sparse, but her spirit strong.Looks like a late flower keeping its color in the frost; form like an old pine green after rain.White silk wound on her head, a gathered gauze kerchief; golden earrings set with gems hanging at her ears.

The Great Sage Sun saw her, did not dare go in, but stood outside the second gate making a face—and suddenly burst out crying. Why do you think he cried? Could it be fear? Even afraid, he would not cry—especially after tricking away her treasures and beating her little demons to death. So why cry? He had once gone into a nine-tripod vat of boiling oil and been fried there seven or eight days without shedding one tear. Only the thought of the Tang monk's troubles in fetching the scriptures wrung tears from his aching heart, and he let them flow. In his heart he thought: "Now that Old Sun has shown his skill, changed into a little demon, and come to fetch this old demon, it would never do to stand bolt upright and talk. I must knock my head to her when I see her. All my life as a bold fellow I have bowed to only three: to the Buddha in the Western Heaven; to Guanyin in the Southern Sea; and at Two-Bounds Mountain, when Master saved me, I bowed to him four times. For him I have worn out six leaves of liver and lung and spent all the wit of my three hairs and seven openings. What is a scroll of scripture worth? And today he has me bowing to this demon. If I don't kneel, the secret will surely leak. Bitter! It comes to this: only because Master is in trouble must I suffer shame from others."

At that pass there was nothing for it. He pushed in, knelt facing her, and said, "Granny, your grandson knocks his head." The demon said, "Rise, my child." Pilgrim said to himself, "Good, good, good. That's said like the real thing!" The old demon asked, "Where are you from?" Pilgrim said, "From Lotus Cave on Flat-Top Mountain. The two kings have given orders: we're sent to ask Granny to come eat the Tang monk's flesh, and to have her bring the gold-swaying rope—they mean to catch Pilgrim Sun." The old demon was delighted: "What dutiful sons!" She called for a sedan chair to be brought out. Pilgrim said to himself: "My children—demons keep sedan chairs?" At once two she-demons from the back carried out a fragrant-vine sedan, set it outside the door, and hung it with green silk curtains. The old demon rose, left the cave, and sat in the chair. Behind her several little she-demons followed: one holding the traveling case, one the mirror stand, one towels, one the incense box, all in attendance. The old demon said, "Why have you come? I'm going to my own sons'. Do you think nobody there will wait on me, that you must come fussing and flattering? All of you go back, shut the door, and mind the house." The little demons really did all go back; only the two chair-bearers remained. The old demon asked, "What are the names of the ones they sent?" Pilgrim answered quickly: "He is Bashan Tiger; I am Yihai Dragon." The old demon said, "You two walk ahead and clear the road for me." Pilgrim thought: "What luck. The scriptures aren't fetched yet, and here I am serving as her footman." But he did not dare resist; he could only lead the way, shouting at the top of his voice.

After five or six li, Pilgrim sat down on a rock ledge. When the chair-bearers caught up, he said, "How about a short rest? My shoulders ache from the weight." The little demons, knowing no better, set the chair down. Behind it Pilgrim plucked a hair from his chest, made it into a big griddle cake, and hugged it, gnawing. The chair-bearers said, "Officer, what are you eating?" Pilgrim said, "Never mind. A road this far, sent to fetch Granny, and no reward at all. My belly's empty. This is the dry rations I brought. Let me eat a bit, then we'll go." The chair-bearers said, "Give us some too." Pilgrim laughed: "Of course. We're all one family. Why haggle?" The little demons, knowing no better, crowded around Pilgrim to share the rations. Pilgrim whipped out the staff and ground it across their heads: the one it struck full was smashed to a pulp; the one it only grazed was not dead, and moaned. The old demon heard the moaning and put her head out of the chair to look—and Pilgrim leaped in front of the chair and cracked her skull with one stroke, smashing a hole, brains spilling out, blood gushing. He dragged her out of the chair and looked: it was a nine-tailed fox. Pilgrim laughed: "Sinful beast, and she called herself Granny. If she's Granny, then Old Sun should be addressed as Great-Grandfather Ancestor."

The fine Monkey King searched out the gold-swaying rope, tucked it in his sleeve, and rejoiced: "Skill or no skill, that brazen demon's treasures—three of them by now—have changed their family name to Sun." Then he plucked two hairs and made a Bashan Tiger and a Yihai Dragon; plucked two more and made two chair-bearers; and he himself took old Granny's shape and sat in the chair. They lifted the chair and headed straight back the way they had come.

Before long they reached the mouth of Lotus Cave, and the hair-made little demons called out in front: "Open the door! Open the door!" The door-keeping demons opened up: "Bashan Tiger, Yihai Dragon, back so soon?" The hairs said, "Back." "And the Granny you went to fetch?" The hairs pointed: "Isn't that her in the chair?" The little demon said, "Wait here while I go in and announce you." He reported: "Your Majesty, Granny has come." The two demon kings heard and at once ordered an incense table set out to receive her. Pilgrim heard it and rejoiced inside: "What luck. Now it's my turn to be somebody. First I turned into a little demon, went to fetch the old demon, and gave her one knock of the head. This time I've come as the old demon herself—their mother. They're sure to make four bows. It's nothing much, but it earns me two knocks of the head." The Great Sage stepped down from the chair, shook out his clothes, and took the four hairs back onto his body. The door demons carried the empty chair inside. He followed at a slow walk, mincing and simpering exactly like the old demon, and went straight in. There the demons, big and small, all knelt to receive her. Drums and music sounded everywhere; from the Boshan censer, incense smoke curled thick. He took the seat of honor in the main hall, facing south. The two demon kings fell on both knees, knocked their heads, and cried: "Mother, your sons bow to you." Pilgrim said, "Rise, my children."

Now Zhu Bajie, hanging from the beam, let out a laugh. Sha Monk said, "Second Brother, fine—laughing while you hang." Bajie said, "Brother, there's a reason in my laugh." "What reason?" Bajie said, "We were afraid it was Granny come, and we'd be steamed and eaten. It's not Granny. It's the old story come back." "What old story?" Bajie laughed: "The Bimawen has come." Sha Monk said, "How can you tell it's him?" Bajie said, "Bending at the waist, saying 'Rise, my children'—and behind, that monkey tail is poking up. I hang higher than you, so I can see plainly." Sha Monk said, "Say nothing yet. Listen to what he says." Bajie said, "Right, right."

The Great Sage Sun sat in the middle and asked: "My children, why did you ask me here?" The demon kings said, "Mother, these days your sons have been remiss and haven't shown their duty. This morning we brothers caught the Tang monk of the Land of the East. We dared not eat him without you: we ask Mother to come accept the offering of the live one, so we can steam him for you to eat and lengthen your life." Pilgrim said, "My children, as for the Tang monk's flesh, I don't care for it. But I hear this Zhu Bajie has fine ears. Cut one off, fix it up nicely, and I'll take it with my wine." Bajie heard this and panicked: "You plague! You came to cut off my ears? I'll shout it out and make it ugly for you."

Ah! One word of hint from the Idiot, and the Monkey King's disguise blew away. Several mountain-patrolling little demons and all the door-keeping demons rushed in, crying: "Your Majesty, disaster! Pilgrim Sun has beaten Granny to death—he's here in her shape!" At these words the demon kings allowed no explanation. They drew the seven-star sword and chopped straight at Pilgrim's face. The Great Sage gave a shake: red light filled the cave—he had already slipped away. Such skill was truly fine fun: gather it and it takes form; scatter it and it becomes vapor.

The old demon king's soul flew and his spirit scattered; the demon crowd bit their fingers and shook their heads. The old demon said, "Brother, give the Tang monk, Sha Monk, Bajie, the white horse, and the luggage all back to that Pilgrim Sun, and shut the door on this trouble." The second demon said, "Brother, what talk is this? Who knows how much toil went into this scheme of mine to carry the monks here. And now, as scared as you are of Pilgrim Sun's tricks, to hand everything back—that's the way of men who fear knives and dodge swords. Is that the work of a true man? Sit down and don't be afraid. You say Pilgrim Sun's powers are vast. I met him once, true, but I never tested him. Bring my armor. Let me find him and fight him three rounds. If he can't beat me in three, the Tang monk is still our meat. If in three rounds I can't beat him, then it will be time enough to hand the Tang monk back." The old demon said, "Worthy brother, well said." He called for the armor.

The demons brought out the armor; the second demon dressed neatly, took his precious sword, went out the door, and called: "Pilgrim Sun, where have you run?" By then the Great Sage was in the clouds. Hearing his name called, he turned quickly to look: it was the second demon. See how he was dressed:

On his head a phoenix helmet whiter than December snow; on his body battle armor flashing refined iron.At his waist a belt of python-dragon sinew; white leather boots with plum-blossom folds.A face like the living true lord of Guankou; a build no different from the giant spirit.The seven-star sword held high in his hand; his rage shot to the sky, fierce and blazing.

The second demon called at the top of his voice: "Pilgrim Sun, hand back my treasures and my mother quickly, and I'll let the Tang monk go on for his scriptures." The Great Sage could not hold back the curse: "You brazen beast, you've mistaken your grandfather Sun. Return my master, my brothers, the white horse, and the bags quickly, and give me some travel money for the western road. If half a 'no' passes between your teeth, you can go twist your own hanging rope—and spare your grandfather the trouble of using his hands." Hearing this, the second demon leaped onto a cloud in a hurry, jumped into the air, and swung his precious sword to stab; Pilgrim drew his iron staff and met him face to face. The two of them, in mid-air—what a fight:

Chess meets its match, a general meets his equal. Chess meets its match, and the zest can't be hidden; a general meets his equal, and his craft can have its work.Those two divine captains locked—like tigers fighting in the southern hills, dragons contending in the northern sea.Where dragons contend, scales and armor blaze; where tigers fight, claws and fangs fly down.Claws and fangs fly like silver hooks scattering; scales and armor blaze like iron plates clashing.This one turned and turned again with a thousand strokes; that one came and went and never gave an inch.The gold-banded staff missed the crown of the head by three parts in ten; the seven-star sword pressed at the heart, off by one flash.That one's bearing froze the Dipper and Ox stars cold; this one's rage outdid the peril of thunder and lightning.

The two fought thirty rounds, with no winner.

Pilgrim rejoiced inside: "This brazen beast can actually hold up Old Sun's iron staff. I've already got three of their treasures. Why keep slugging it out like this and wasting my time? Better to take him in the gourd or the vase. That would be the sensible way." Then he thought: "No good, no good. The saying goes: 'A thing follows its master's will.' What if I call and he doesn't answer? Wouldn't that spoil the work too? Use the gold-swaying rope and snare his head for now." The fine Great Sage worked the staff with one hand and turned aside the demon's weapon; with the other hand he raised the rope and snapped it around the demon king.

Now that demon king had a tightening spell for the rope and a loosening spell. Snare a stranger, chant the tightening spell, and there is no escaping; snare one of his own household, chant the loosening spell, and it cannot hurt him. He knew the treasure for his own, chanted the loosening spell at once, and the rope slackened. Out he slipped—and flung it back at Pilgrim, snapping it around the Great Sage before he knew it. The Great Sage was just calling up his body-thinning art to slip free, but the demon chanted the tightening spell and cinched it fast. How could he get loose? It slid down below his neck: it was a gold ring set there. The demon hauled on the rope, dragged him down, and hacked seven or eight sword blows at that bare head. Pilgrim's scalp did not so much as turn red. The demon said, "This monkey, with a head this hard, I'll stop hacking. I'll take you back and beat you instead. Hand back those two treasures of mine, and quickly." Pilgrim said, "What treasures of yours do I have, that you ask me for them?" The demon king searched him over carefully and brought out both the gourd and the vase. Leading him by the rope, he brought him into the cave: "Elder brother, I've caught him." The old demon said, "Caught whom?" The second demon said, "Pilgrim Sun. Come look, come look." At one look the old demon knew Pilgrim, and joy filled his face: "It's him, it's him. Tie him up with a nice long rope to the post, for fun." So they tied Pilgrim up, and the two demon kings went into the back hall to drink wine.

The Great Sage squirmed about at the foot of the post—and startled Bajie. The Idiot, hanging from the beam, laughed: "Brother, there go my ears—I won't get to eat them after all." Pilgrim said, "Idiot, are you hanging comfortably? I'm getting out right now, and I'll surely save you all." Bajie said, "Shame, shame. You can't free yourself, and you talk of saving others. Enough, enough, enough. Master and disciples die together—it will be handy for asking directions in the land of the dead." Pilgrim said, "No nonsense. Watch me get out." Bajie said, "Let's see how you get out." The Great Sage talked with Bajie while his eyes kept tab on the two demons. He saw them in the back drinking, with little demons carrying trays and cups, pouring from the pot, running back and forth without stop—the guard grown a little slack. Seeing no one before him, he worked his magic: out came the staff. He blew on it a breath of immortal air, called "Change!"—and it became a file of pure steel. He bent the ring at his neck around, filed three or five strokes, and filed it in two. He opened the filed joint and slipped out. He plucked a hair, called it into a fake body, and left it tied there. His true body gave a shake, became a little demon, and stood alongside. Bajie called again from the beam: "Trouble, trouble! The one tied there is a fake; the true body is hanging here." The old demon set down his cup and asked: "What's that Zhu Bajie yelling about?" Pilgrim, already changed into a little demon, stepped up: "Zhu Bajie egged Pilgrim Sun to change his shape and escape. He wouldn't go, so he's yelling there." The second demon said, "And they call Zhu Bajie honest. He's this dishonest after all. Twenty strokes on the mouth for him."

So Pilgrim went to get a staff to beat him. Bajie said, "Hit me lightly. If it's too heavy, I'll shout again—I know you." Pilgrim said, "Old Sun changes his shape for your sake, and you're the one to leak the secret? None of the demons in this cave knows me—how come you alone do?" Bajie said, "You changed your head and face, but not your backside. Those two red patches on your rump—are they not there? That's how I know you." Pilgrim went back, made his way to the kitchen, rubbed a handful from the bottom of the pot, blackened both cheeks of his rump, and came back to the front. Bajie saw it and laughed again: "That monkey's been off getting into something—he's come back with a black backside."

Pilgrim still stood at their side, meaning to steal their treasure. And how well he saw his chance: he walked up the hall and tugged the demon's leg: "Your Majesty, look at that Pilgrim Sun tied to the post, squirming this way and that, wearing out the gold rope. You'd better swap it for a thicker rope." The old demon said, "True." He undid the lion-barbarian belt at his waist and handed it to Pilgrim. Pilgrim took the belt, tied up the fake Pilgrim with it, and stowed the rope away coil by coil in his sleeve. Then he plucked another hair, blew on it a breath of immortal air, made a fake gold-swaying rope, and presented it to the demon with both hands. The demon, greedy for his wine, never looked closely, and took it. So the Great Sage worked his shifting craft, and a single hair swapped for the gold-swaying rope.

With that treasure in hand, he spun about, leaped out the door, showed his true form, and shouted: "Monster!" The door-keeping little demon asked, "Who are you, yelling out here?" Pilgrim said, "Hurry in and report to that brazen demon of yours: say Zhexingsun has come." The little demon reported as told, and the old demon was startled: "We've caught Pilgrim Sun—how is there a Zhexingsun too?" The second demon said, "Brother, what's to fear? The treasures are all in my hands. Wait while I take the gourd out and pack him up." The old demon said, "Careful, brother." The second demon took the gourd and walked out the mountain gate—and saw someone looking exactly like Pilgrim Sun, only a little shorter. He asked, "Where have you come from?" Pilgrim said, "I'm Pilgrim Sun's brother. I hear you've caught my elder brother, so I've come to pick a quarrel with you." The second demon said, "I did catch him, and he's locked in the cave. Now that you've come, you must be spoiling for battle. I won't cross weapons with you. I'll just call your name—do you dare answer me?" Pilgrim said, "Call a thousand times if you dare. I'll answer you ten thousand!" The demon took up the treasure, jumped into the air, held the bottom to the sky and the mouth to the ground, and called: "Zhexingsun!" Pilgrim did not dare answer. He thought to himself: "If I answer, I get packed inside." The demon said, "Why don't you answer me?" Pilgrim said, "My ears are a little stopped. I didn't hear you. Call louder." The monster called again: "Zhexingsun!" Below, Pilgrim counted on his fingers and reckoned: "My true name is Pilgrim Sun; the made-up ghost name is Zhexingsun. The true name can be packed; surely the ghost name can't." And he could not help answering him. Whoosh: he was sucked into the gourd, and the label was pasted on. The truth is, the treasure cared nothing for true or false names: catch the breath of anyone who answers, and it packs him up.

Inside the gourd the Great Sage found total blackness. He pushed his head up. Nothing budged, and it was packed tight. Then his heart grew fretful: "Back on the mountain, when I met those two little demons, they told me: gourd or vase, once a man is packed inside, in an hour and three quarters he melts into pus. Am I going to melt?" Then he thought again: "No fear. It can't melt me. Five hundred years ago Old Sun wrecked the Heavenly Palace, and the Supreme Lord Lao refined me forty-nine days in the Eight Trigrams furnace: gold heart and liver, silver lungs, a copper head and iron back, fiery eyes and golden pupils. How would an hour and three quarters melt me? Let him carry me in. We'll see what he does."

The second demon carried it inside: "Brother, I've got him." The old demon said, "Got whom?" The second demon said, "Zhexingsun. I've packed him in the gourd." The old demon was pleased: "Worthy brother, sit down. Don't touch it. Only when it sloshes should we peel the label." Pilgrim heard and thought: "A solid body like mine—how would it slosh? Only melted into thin juice would it slosh. Let me pass some water. If it sloshes, they'll peel the label and lift the lid for sure, and I'll slip away in the gap, hang it all." Then he thought: "No good, no good. Water might slosh, but it would foul my robe. When he shakes it, I'll just gather some spit, swill it around, and swish-slosh it to fool him into opening. Then Old Sun walks." The Great Sage got ready, but the demon, greedy for wine, did not shake it. The Great Sage played his trick to lure him into shaking it. Suddenly he cried: "Heavens! My shins have melted!" The demon still did not shake it. The Great Sage cried again: "Mother! Even my waist bones have melted!" The old demon said, "Melted to the waist—it's all gone then. Peel the label and look."

Hearing this, the Great Sage plucked a hair, called "Change!"—and made a half body lying in the bottom of the gourd. His true body changed into the tiny gnat and stuck to the rim of the gourd's mouth. The second demon peeled the label to look—and the Great Sage had already flown out. He gave a roll and changed into Yihai Dragon—the very little demon originally sent to fetch Granny—and stood to one side. The old demon bent the gourd's mouth back and peered in, saw a half body stirring, could not tell true from false, and cried in a hurry: "Brother, cover it, cover it! It hasn't finished melting." The second demon pasted the label back on. The Great Sage laughed to himself nearby: "Little do they know Old Sun is already out here."

The old demon took the pot, filled a cup brimful, came close, and offered it to the second demon with both hands: "Worthy brother, let me hand you a cup." The second demon said, "Elder brother, we've been drinking half the evening. Why another cup?" The old demon said, "Catching the Tang monk, Bajie, and Sha Monk would have been enough—and then you tied up Pilgrim Sun and packed away Zhexingsun. For merit like that, I owe you several cups." How could the second demon refuse his brother's courtesy? But one hand held the gourd, and he dared not take the cup with the other, so he passed the gourd to Yihai Dragon and took the cup with both hands. He did not know this Yihai Dragon was Pilgrim Sun in disguise. See him hold the gourd, attentive and obliging. The second demon took the wine, drank, and moved to return a cup. The old demon said, "No need to return it. I'll keep you company with one here." The two went on politely deferring. Pilgrim held the gourd, eyes fixed, and watched the two pass the cup back and forth, entirely off guard. He slipped the gourd into his sleeve. He plucked a hair, made a fake gourd, identical in every way, and held it in his hands. After another round of cups, the demon, without checking true from false, took back the treasure. They took their seats at the table and went on drinking at ease. The Great Sage Sun slipped away with the treasure, his heart rejoicing: "Let the demon king have all the skill he wants—the gourd ends up surnamed Sun after all."

But how would he go on from here to save his master and destroy the demons? Listen to the next chapter to find out.