Chapter 82

The Maiden Seeks the Yang; The Primal Spirit Guards the Way

Bajie jumped down the mountain and found a small path. He followed it five or six li, and suddenly saw two women monsters drawing water at a well. How did he know they were women monsters? On their heads they wore bamboo-thread chignons a foot and two or three inches high, quite out of fashion. The Idiot came up close and called: "Demons!" The monsters flew into a rage at the word and said to one another: "What a hateful monk! We are no acquaintance of his, and never traded banter with him before—why does he call us demons?" In their anger the monsters whirled up their water-carrying poles and smashed away at his head.

The Idiot, weaponless, could not parry; he took several blows and ran up the hill clutching his head, crying: "Brother, let us go back—the demons are fierce." The Pilgrim said: "How fierce?" Bajie said: "Two woman demons were drawing water at a well in the vale. I called out to them once, and they knocked me three or four blows with their poles." The Pilgrim said: "What did you call them?" Bajie said: "I called them demons." The Pilgrim laughed: "The beating is too small by half." Bajie said: "Much obliged for your sympathy. My head is knocked into a lump, and he calls it small." The Pilgrim said: "Gentleness travels the whole world over; stiffness cannot move an inch. They are the demons of this place and we are monks from far away; though your whole body is hands, you must show some tenderness. Suppose you had gone calling them demons—would they have beaten you, or me? Courtesy comes first among men." Bajie said: "That I understand even less." The Pilgrim said: "You have eaten men in the mountains since your youth: do you know there are two kinds of wood?" Bajie said: "No. What kinds?" The Pilgrim said: "One is poplar, one is sandalwood. Poplar is soft of temper: a skillful craftsman takes it and carves a sacred image, or cuts a Tathagata, gilds it and powders it, inlays it with jade and flowers, and ten thousand people burn incense and bow before it, and it receives boundless blessings. Sandalwood is hard of temper: the oil press takes it for a pestle, hoops its head with iron, and hammers down on it with an iron mallet; because it was stiff, it suffers such torment." Bajie said: "Brother, if you had preached me that fine sermon sooner, I'd have been spared the beating." The Pilgrim said: "Go back and ask them plainly." Bajie said: "This time they will know me." The Pilgrim said: "Go changed." Bajie said: "Brother, suppose I do change—how then do I question them?" The Pilgrim said: "Changed, go up to them, make a bow, and see how old they are. If they are near our age, call them 'missy'; if older than we, call them 'granny.'" Bajie laughed: "What a fix—'granny' across all these miles of fields! What kin is there to claim?" The Pilgrim said: "It is no claiming of kin; we want to pump them. If they have the master, we can set to work; if it is not they, why should we spoil other business?" Bajie said: "Well said. I'll go again."

Good Idiot: he stuck his rake in his sash, went down into the vale, shook himself, and changed into a fat black monk. Waddling up to the monsters, he bowed very deep and cried: "Granny, your poor monk salutes you." The two were delighted: "This monk is a fine one—he knows how to bow, and how to give a title." They asked: "Elder, where do you come from?" Bajie said: "Where do I come from." They asked: "Where are you going?" He said: "Where am I going." They asked: "What is your name?" He answered: "What is my name." The monsters laughed: "The monk is fine enough, but he has no history; whatever is on his tongue is what he says." Bajie said: "Granny, why do you draw water?" The monster said: "Monk, you don't know: our old mistress tonight carried a Tang monk into the cave and means to entertain him. The water in our cave is not clean, so she sent the two of us to fetch this mingled water of yin and yang, and lay a banquet of fruit and vegetables, plain all, for the Tang monk to eat; this evening they are to be wed."

At this the Idiot whipped about and ran up the hill, crying: "Sha Monk, bring the luggage quickly—we'll divide it." Sha Monk said: "Second brother, why divide it now?" Bajie said: "Divide it, and you go back to the Flowing Sand River to eat men, I go to Gao Village to see my wife, brother goes to Mount Flower-Fruit to be called Sage, and the white dragon horse returns to the sea to be a dragon. The master is already wed inside this demon's cave; let each of us go his own way and mind his own trade." The Pilgrim said: "The Idiot talks nonsense again." Bajie said: "Your son talks nonsense, then. Those two water carriers just said a plain banquet is being laid for the Tang monk, to eat and be wed." The Pilgrim said: "The demon has the master shut in the cave; the master watches with all his eyes for us to save him, and you stand here talking like this." Bajie said: "How save him?" The Pilgrim said: "You two lead the horse and carry the load; we will follow those two woman monsters as a lure, trail them to their door, and fall on together."

So the Idiot had to go along. The Pilgrim tagged the two monsters from far off; deeper and deeper into the mountains, ten and twenty li—and suddenly they were gone. Bajie cried in alarm: "A daylight ghost has carried off the master!" The Pilgrim said: "Fine eyes you have, to spot their true forms so soon!" Bajie said: "The two were trudging along with their water and suddenly vanished—isn't that a daylight ghost?" The Pilgrim said: "They must have slipped into the cave. Wait while I look."

The Great Sage snapped open his fiery eyes and golden pupils and swept the mountain: indeed no movement anywhere. Only, before a sheer cliff, stood an ornamental gateway, delicate and pierced, hung with fine flowers, heaped with five colors, three tiers of roofs and four clustered columns. He came up with Bajie and Sha Monk to look: on it were six great characters—Sunken Void Mountain, Bottomless Cave. The Pilgrim said: "Brothers, the demon has set up a fine front here, but who knows which way her door opens?" Sha Monk said: "Not far, not far; look carefully." They turned to look: beneath the gateway, at the mountain's foot, lay a single great stone, ten-odd li around, and in its very middle a hole the size of a vat's mouth, polished smooth by climbing. Bajie said: "Brother, this is the demons' way in and out." The Pilgrim looked and said: "Strange! Since I took up guarding Tripitaka Tang—I hide nothing from you two—I have seen demons carry him off, but never a cave dwelling like this. Bajie, go down first and try it, see how deep it runs, so I can go in and save the master." Bajie shook his head: "Hard, too hard. Old Pig's body is lumpish; if my feet slipped and I hung on the way down, it might take me two or three years to reach bottom." The Pilgrim said: "Can it be so deep?" Bajie said: "Look." The Great Sage lay along the rim and peered carefully down—ah, deep! A good three hundred li around. He looked back: "Brothers, deep indeed." Bajie said: "Then you may as well go home; the master cannot be saved." The Pilgrim said: "What talk is that? Entertain no laziness, rise no slack heart. Set the luggage down and tether the horse to a pillar of the gateway. You take the rake, Sha Monk the staff, and bar the cave mouth; let me go in and scout. If the master is truly inside, I will club the demon out from within and run for the doorway, and you two will block it from without: aid from inside, joining from outside. Beat the fiend, and the master is saved." The two obeyed.

The Pilgrim gathered himself and leaped into the cave; beneath his feet colored clouds sprang out in ten thousand rays, and auspicious vapors warded him a thousand layers deep. In no time he reached the far depths, and there all was bright and clear—there was sunlight as elsewhere, and the sound of wind, and flowers, grasses, and fruit trees. The Pilgrim said with delight: "What a place! When your old Sun was born, heaven gave him the Water Curtain Cave; this too is a heaven of caverns, a blessed land." As he looked, another gate tower came in sight, double-eaved, ringed all about with pines and bamboo, with many dwellings inside. He thought: "This must be the demon's lodging. Let me go in and scout. But stay—if I go as I am, she'll know me. Better changed." He shook himself, pinched a spell, and became a tiny fly, and lightly perched on the gate tower to listen. There sat the demon enthroned in a grass pavilion; and her looks, beside the woman he had saved in the pine wood, the prisoner he had seized in the monastery, were quite another thing—far lovelier dressed:

Her cloud-black hair is coiled in a raven heap; she wears a green velvet flowered vest.Her pair of golden lilies bends just half an inch; her ten fingers rise like spring bamboo shoots.Her round powdered face is a silver basin; her vermilion lips, slippery cherries.Trim and straight her beauty stands—even Chang'e in the moon would smile on her.Today she has caught the scripture-seeking monk, and means to take her joy with him on one pillow.

The Pilgrim said nothing, and listened to what she would say. Presently her cherry lips parted, and she cried out gaily: "Little ones! Lay the plain banquet quickly; I and brother Tang monk will eat and be wed." The Pilgrim laughed to himself: "So it is true after all! I thought it was the Idiot babbling for sport. Let me fly in and look for the master, and see what his heart is worth. If she has already toyed him into motion, we might as well leave him here." He spread his wings and flew inside to look: there in the east corridor, behind red-lattice windows, light above and dark below, sat Tripitaka Tang.

The Pilgrim butted through a lattice eye, lit on the master's bald head, and called: "Master." Tripitaka knew the voice and cried: "Disciple, save my life!" The Pilgrim said: "Master, you are beyond help—the demon has laid a banquet and means to wed you. If a son or a daughter comes of it, they will be a monk's posterity too; what are you fretting about?" At this the elder ground his teeth: "Disciple, since I left Chang'an and took you in at the Two-Boundary Mountains and have come west all this way, in what hour did I touch meat? On what day did I harbor a wicked thought? Now this demon has seized me and demands a mate: if I lose the true yang, my body falls into the wheel of rebirth, beaten behind the Dark Mountain, never to turn over again forever." The Pilgrim laughed: "Don't swear oaths. If your heart is truly set on the Western Heaven and the scriptures, your old Sun will carry you out." Tripitaka said: "I have quite forgotten the way in." The Pilgrim said: "Never mind your forgetting. This cave is not like walking in and out a door: we came by drilling down from the top. Now that you are saved, we must drill up from the bottom. With high luck you strike the mouth of it and are out; with low luck you miss, and there are days of suffocation yet." Tripitaka, eyes brimming, said: "With such difficulty, what is to be done?" The Pilgrim said: "No matter, no matter. The demon will prepare wine for you; there is no help for it—drink a cup with her. Only have it poured fast, so the foam stands up in a blossom of joy; I will change into a gnat-fly and perch beneath the bubbles. If she swallows me in one gulp, I will pinch her heart and liver, tear her bowels apart, and kill the fiend; then you get free." Tripitaka said: "Disciple, if it must be so—yet that is not a thing to say." The Pilgrim said: "Go on being merciful and your life is finished. The demon is the root that harms men; why spare her?" Tripitaka said: "Very well, very well. Only—stay close to me." Truly:

So the Great Sage Sun guarded Tripitaka Tang fast;the scripture-seeking monk leaned wholly on the Handsome Monkey King.

Before master and disciple had done talking, the demon had everything ready; she came to the east corridor, unlocked the door, and called: "Elder." Tripitaka Tang dared not answer. She called again; again he dared not. Why did he not dare answer? One thought said: "Open the mouth and the spirit scatters; stir the tongue and strife is born." But another thought pressed on him: "If I play the mute and never open my lips, she may turn cruel and take my life on the spot." Truly the heart asked the mouth, caught between advance and retreat, and the mouth asked the heart after three turnings of forbearance. While he wavered the demon called once more: "Elder." Tripitaka Tang, driven to it, answered: "My lady—here." In speaking that one word the elder dropped a thousand pounds of flesh. Men say Tripitaka Tang was a monk of true heart, bound for the Western Heaven to worship Buddha and seek the scriptures—how could he exchange words with this woman demon? They do not know that this was the very hour of life and death, that sheer helplessness wrung the word from him; though the mouth answered, the heart desired nothing. The demon, hearing him answer, pushed the door open, helped Tripitaka Tang up, took his hand, pressed shoulder to shoulder and head to head, whispering ear to ear. Look at her—a thousand coaxing airs, ten thousand alluring graces. Who knew that Tripitaka's breast was brimming with trouble? The Pilgrim laughed in the dark: "My master is beguiled like this—I fear his heart may stir." Truly:

The true monk, beleaguered by the fiend, meets a lovely girl; the demon's grace is beyond all praise.Pale green brows part like willow leaves; a glowing red face sets off peach blossom.Embroidered shoes half show twin phoenix feet; the cloudy chignon coils high over raven temples.Smiling, hand in hand with the master—orchid and musk drift over his cassock.

The demon, linking Tripitaka's arm, came near the grass pavilion: "Elder, I have ordered a cup of wine; let us drink together." Tripitaka Tang said: "My lady, your poor monk never takes meat." The demon said: "I know you do not take meat; because the water in the cave is not clean, I specially sent to the mountaintop for pure water of yin and yang mingled, and had a banquet of fruit and vegetables, plain all, prepared, to make merry with you." Tripitaka Tang went in with her to look, and indeed saw this:

Over the doorway, embroidered knots of many colors; through the whole court, incense breathing from a gold lion censer. Set out were black lacquered tables inlaid with shell, and ebony bamboo-woven dishes. On the inlaid tables, rare delicacies; in the woven dishes, strange vegetarian fare. Crab apples, olives, lotus seeds, grapes, torreya nuts, crabapple pears, hazelnuts, pine nuts, lychees, longans, mountain chestnuts, water caltrops, jujubes, persimmons, walnuts, ginkgo nuts, kumquats, fragrant oranges—fruits such as the mountain yields; and the vegetables of the season, fresher still: bean curd, wheat gluten, wood ears, fresh bamboo shoots, mushrooms, fragrant fungi, Chinese yam, Solomon's seal. Stone-moss jelly and day-lily buds, fried and tossed in green oil; hyacinth beans and cowpea pods, dressed in cooked sauce; cucumbers and bottle gourds, ginkgo nuts and turnips. Spiral-peeled eggplant shaped like quail; seeded winter melon carved as square eggs. Taro stewed soft and tossed with sugar; white radish boiled plain and dressed with vinegar. Pepper and ginger, pungent, every dish a beauty; salt and mildness so blended that every flavor balances.

The demon put forth her sharp jade fingers, held out a shining gold cup brimming with fine wine, and offered it to Tripitaka Tang, crying: "Elder brother, sweet man, take a cup of the wine of love." Tripitaka, blushing, took the cup, poured a libation on the air, and silently prayed: "Guardians of the Law, all you devas; wardens of the five quarters; duty officers of the four watches: your disciple Chen Xuanzang, since leaving the Land of the East, has been guarded in secret by deities sent forth by the Bodhisattva Guanyin, bound for Thunderclap, to see Buddha and seek the scriptures; now on the road a demon has seized him and forces marriage, and hands him this cup of wine. If it is truly plain wine and your disciple drinks it against his will, he may still see Buddha and succeed; but if it is meat wine, it breaks your disciple's vows, and he sinks forever into the bitterness of rebirth." Now the Great Sage Sun, changed so light and small, hung behind the elder's ear like a whisperer at the ear: whatever was said, only Tripitaka heard it; no one else. He knew the master ordinarily liked plain wine made of grapes, and bade him drink the cup. The master, unable to refuse, drank; then quickly filled a cup to the brim and offered it back to the demon. And indeed the foam stood up in a blossom of joy. The Pilgrim, changed to a gnat-fly, gently flew beneath the blossom. The demon took the cup in hand but did not drink; she set it down and bowed twice to Tripitaka Tang, murmuring a few tender words in her soft, shy voice. Just as she raised the cup the blossom had scattered, and the insect showed. The demon could not tell it was the Pilgrim changed; taking it for a common gnat, she flicked it to the ground with her little finger.

Seeing the thing misfire, and judging he could not reach her belly this way, the Pilgrim changed into a hungry old hawk. Truly:

Jade talons, golden eyes, iron pinions; a heroic bearing, fierce spirit spiraling into cloud.Demon foxes and cunning rabbits bustle at his sight; over a thousand li of hills and rivers they scatter and hide.Hungry, he takes the wind and chases sparrows; gorged, he rides high, flat against heaven's gate.His old fists, steel-hard, wound men most; when fortune favors, even the highest blue seems too near.

Up he flew, spread his jade talons, and with a whack overturned the tables, smashing every dish of fruit and vegetable, every plate, pot, and cup; leaving Tripitaka Tang, he flew out of doors. The demon's heart and gall split with fright, and the master's very marrow went soft. Trembling, the demon clasped Tripitaka Tang: "Elder brother, where did that thing come from?" Tripitaka said: "Your poor monk does not know." The demon said: "I spent such pains laying this plain feast to make merry with you, and now this woolly-bodied brute flies in from who knows where and smashes my tableware." The little demons said: "Madam, smashed dishes could be borne, but the plain fare is all splashed into the dirt—how can it be used now?" Tripitaka knew perfectly well it was the Pilgrim's trick, but dared not say so. The demon said: "Little ones, I understand: it must be that heaven and earth cannot endure my holding the Tang monk prisoner, and so they sent down this creature. Sweep out the broken dishes and lay other wine and food—meat or plain, no matter. I will take Heaven for my matchmaker and Earth for my witness, and then wed the Tang monk." And she had the elder led back to sit in the east corridor—no more of that.

The Pilgrim flew out, showed his true form, came to the cave mouth, and called: "Open the door!" Bajie laughed: "Sha Monk, brother's back." The two threw their weapons wide. Out sprang the Pilgrim, and Bajie caught hold of him: "Any demon? Any master?" The Pilgrim said: "Yes, yes, yes." Bajie said: "Is the master suffering in there—tied or trussed? To be steamed or boiled?" The Pilgrim said: "Nothing of that sort; only a plain banquet is laid, and she means to do that thing with him." Bajie said: "You're in luck, in luck—did you drink the wedding-guest's wine?" The Pilgrim said: "Idiot, the master's very life is hardly safe—what wedding-guest's wine?" Bajie said: "How is it you came out so soon?" The Pilgrim told the whole story of finding Tripitaka Tang and the changes he had used, and added: "Brothers, no more wild fancies. The master is here, and this going in of mine will surely fetch him out."

He turned and went back inside, changed again into a fly, perched on the gate tower, and listened. The demon was panting with anger, giving her orders in the pavilion: "Little ones, meat or plain, bring it, and burn paper offerings; beg Heaven and Earth to be matchmaker and witness—the marriage shall be done." The Pilgrim heard and laughed to himself: "The creature has no scrap of shame—shutting a monk in her house to manage him in broad daylight. No hurry; let your old Sun go in and look further." With a whine he flew down under the east corridor: there sat the master inside, clear tears running down his cheeks. The Pilgrim drilled in, lit on his head, and called: "Master." The elder knew the voice, leaped up, and gnashed his teeth in wrath: "Ape! Other men are bold because the body houses the gall; your boldness is the gall housing the body. You flaunted your changes and smashed her dishes—what did that win? You have fired the creature's lust; now she will lay meat and plain together and have her will of me. What becomes of us?" The Pilgrim laughed to himself, apologetically: "Master, do not be vexed; there is a way to save you." Tripitaka Tang said: "Where is the way?" The Pilgrim said: "When I flew out just now I saw a garden behind. Coax her out to the garden for pleasure, and I will save you." Tripitaka Tang said: "How save me in the garden?" The Pilgrim said: "When you are in the garden, walk to the peach trees and stop. I will fly up on a peach branch and change into a red peach. When you ask for fruit, pick the red one first. The red one is I. She is sure to want one too—let her have the red one; you take the green. If she eats it in one bite, I am in her belly; I'll burst her skin-bag, tear her liver and bowels, kill her, and you go free." Tripitaka said: "If you have the power, fight her outright; why must you get into her belly?" The Pilgrim said: "Master, you don't see it. If her cave were easy to come and go, one might fight her; but the going is hard, the winding ways impassable. If we come to blows, her whole den, old and young together, would hang on even me—what then? Only by striking like this, one blow from within, can the thing be done clean for all of us." Tripitaka nodded and believed him, crying only: "Stay close to me." The Pilgrim said: "I know, I know—I am on your head."

When master and disciple had settled it, Tripitaka raised himself, gripped the lattice with both hands, and called: "My lady! My lady!" The demon heard and ran up smiling: "Sweet brother, what is it you want?" Tripitaka said: "My lady, since I left Chang'an and came west, never a day without mountains, never a day without rivers. The night before last I lodged at the Zhenhai Monastery and caught a bad cold; today the sweat has broken and I am somewhat better; and your great kindness has brought me into this immortal dwelling. But after sitting all day I feel dull again in mind and spirit. Could you take me somewhere to stroll a little, for change and pleasure?" The demon was overjoyed: "Sweet brother, that is a fine fancy; let us go play in the garden." She called: "Little ones! Bring the key, open the garden gate, sweep the paths." The demons all ran to open and tidy.

The demon opened the lattice and led Tripitaka Tang out. Look at her troop of little demons, all oiled hair and powdered faces, willowy and trim, bustling and crowding, going with Tripitaka Tang straight to the garden. A monk for you: amid silks and gauze no harm in him, deaf and dumb in a thicket of brocade. Had his heart not been iron-cast toward Buddha, he was the second wine-and-lust commoner who could never have fetched the scriptures. When the whole company reached the garden gate, the demon murmured low and sweet: "Sweet brother, playing here truly eases the heart and scatters care." Tripitaka Tang took her hand, and they entered the garden together; he looked up—and a fine place it was. Behold:

Winding paths, strewn thick with gray moss; secluded latticed windows, everywhere darkly curtained with embroidered blinds. A light breeze beginning to stir unrolls, fluttering, Shu brocade and Wu gauze; a fine rain just ended reveals, tender and glistening, skin of ice and substance of jade. The sun blazes on fresh apricots, red as a fairy drying her rainbow robes; the moon shines on plantain leaves, green as Taizhen swaying her feather fan. On the four sides of the white wall, ten thousand willows and warbling orioles; around the idle pavilions, a court full of crab-apple blossoms and flitting butterflies. And there were the Holding-Fragrance Pavilion, the Green-Moth Pavilion, the Sobering-Up Pavilion, the Lovesick Pavilion, tier upon tier, shutters rolled, red curtains caught on hooks hung with silk tassels; and the Sour-Allaying Pavilion, the Plain-Draped Pavilion, the Painted-Brow Pavilion, the Four-Rains Pavilion, each one commanding, its lacquered plaque inscribed in bird-seal characters. Look at the Crane-Bathing Pool, the Cup-Washing Pool, the Moon-Delighting Pool, the Tassel-Washing Pool, duckweed and green algae flashing with golden scales; and the Ink-Flower Studio, the Rare-Chest Studio, the Pleasure-Fitting Studio, the Cloud-Admiring Studio, jade dippers and jasper goblets afloat with green-ant wine. About pools and pavilions stood Lake Tai stones, purple quartz stones, parrot-alighting stones, Brocade-River stones, with tiger-whisker sweet flags planted green; east and west of the studios rose wooden artificial hills, Kingfisher-Screen Hill, Whistling-Wind Hill, Jade-Fungus Hill, phoenix-tail bamboo growing in clumps everywhere. Rose trellis by rose trellis, close beside the swing frame, all like a brocade canopy with gauze curtains; pine-and-cypress pavilions and magnolia pavilions, facing the Wood-Fragrance Pavilion, like jasper ramparts hung with embroidered drapery. Peony borders and peony thickets, reds and purples vying in bloom; the silk-tree terrace and the jasmine railing, year after year putting on fresh charms. Purple michelia dripping dew, fit for the painter's brush; scarlet hibiscus burning the sky, begging to be inscribed and sung. For scenery, do not boast of the Lang Garden or Penglai; for fragrance, count no more the Yao yellow and the Wei purple. Come the third month, at the idle grass games, the garden would lack only the jade flower.

The elder, arm in arm with the demon, strolled the garden, admiring flowers without number, past pavilion after pavilion, truly entering finer and finer scenery. Suddenly he raised his head: they were at the edge of the peach grove. The Pilgrim pinched the master's head, and the elder understood. The Pilgrim flew up onto a peach branch, shook himself, and changed into a red peach, red indeed beyond resisting. The elder said to the demon: "My lady, the flowers are fragrant in your garden and the fruit is ripe on the bough. The flowers fragrant, the bees vie to gather; the fruit ripe, the birds contend to pilfer. Why then are the peaches on this tree some green and some red?" The demon laughed: "Without yin and yang in heaven, sun and moon would give no light; without yin and yang in earth, grass and trees would not grow; without yin and yang in man, there would be no dividing of male and female. Of the fruit on this tree, what faces the sun and is baked in its light ripens first, and so is red; what stands in the shade without sun is still unripe, and so is green: such is the reason of yin and yang." Tripitaka said: "I thank you for the teaching, my lady; your poor monk truly did not know." He reached forward and picked a red peach. The demon too picked a green one. Tripitaka bowed and held out the red peach to the demon: "My lady, you love the color; pray eat this red peach, and give me the green one." The demon truly swapped, and secretly rejoiced: "What a monk—he is truly a true man; one day of wedlock not yet begun, and already such tender care." So merrily the demon did the honors with Tripitaka Tang. This Tripitaka Tang took the green peach and ate. The demon, joyfully keeping him company, set her teeth in the red peach; her vermilion lips parted, her silver teeth showed—and before she could bite down, Sun Wukong, in his great haste, tumbled head over heels down her throat, straight into her belly. Frightened, the demon said to Tripitaka: "Elder, what a dangerous fruit this is: it would not let me bite it, but rolled straight down!" Tripitaka said: "My lady, fruit newly out of the garden is eaten greedily, and so it went down fast." The demon said: "I had not even spat the pit, and it shot down." Tripitaka said: "My lady, your relish was so fine, you were eating it with such joy, that the pit had no time—it was down before you knew."

Inside her belly the Pilgrim recovered his true form and called: "Master, don't bandy words with her; your old Sun has got his hold." Tripitaka said: "Disciple, be merciful." The demon heard: "Who are you talking to?" Tripitaka said: "To my disciple Sun Wukong." The demon said: "Where is Sun Wukong?" Tripitaka said: "In your belly—was it not that red peach you just ate?" The demon panicked: "It is over, it is over! This monkey-head has drilled into my belly—I am a dead woman. Sun Wukong, by every trick under heaven you have drilled into my belly—what do you want?" From within the Pilgrim said savagely: "Nothing much. Only to eat up your six-leaf lungs with the liver, your three-furrowed seven-gated heart, rinse all five viscera clean, and make of you a clapper-ghost." At this the demon's souls fled and her spirit scattered; trembling, she clasped Tripitaka Tang: "Elder, I thought only that:

In a former life the red thread bound us; fish and water mingled, and both hearts ran deep.Who thought the mandarin ducks would now be parted, or that phoenix mates would fly off east and west?The water rises at Blue Bridge—the tryst fails; the temple smoke sinks low—the glad meeting comes to nothing.A meeting sought with all my heart, and now goodbye again—in what year shall I meet you once more?"

Hearing this from inside her belly, the Pilgrim feared the master's tender heart might be beguiled again; so he swung his fists and kicked his feet, struck stance after stance, squared his fours, and all but burst the skin-bag. The demon, past bearing the pain, fell to the dust, and for a long while dared not utter a sound. The Pilgrim, hearing no sound, thought her dead, and loosened his grip a little. She came back to her breath and cried: "Where are my little ones?" It turned out that the little demons, ever since entering the garden gate, had each known his place, none staying near; each had gone picking flowers and pulling grasses, playing as the fancy took them, leaving the demon and Tripitaka Tang two to their tender talk. At the cry they all came running, and seeing the demon fallen on the ground, her face changed, moaning and unable to rise, they hurried to raise her and crowded about: "Madam, what ails you? Could it be a sudden stitch of the heart?" The demon said: "No, no. Ask nothing—there is a man inside my belly. Carry this monk out quickly, and save my life." The little demons truly came to carry him. From inside the Pilgrim called: "Who dares lift a hand? Only this: you yourself deliver my master outside, and out of doors I spare your life." The fiend, at her wits' end, had only her love of life. She scrambled up in haste, took Tripitaka Tang on her back, and strode for the gate. The little demons followed: "Mistress, where are you going?" The demon said: "So long as the bright moon remains over the five lakes, why worry where to drop the golden hook? I will hand this fellow out, and look for another opening."

Good demon: with one bound of cloud-light she was at the cave mouth. And now came the clatter and clang of weapons. Tripitaka said: "Disciple, weapons are clashing outside." The Pilgrim said: "That is Bajie brandishing his rake. Call him once." Tripitaka called: "Bajie!" Bajie heard: "Sha Monk, the master is coming out!" The two threw rake and staff wide, and the demon carried Tripitaka Tang out on her back. Ah! Truly:

The mind-ape, aiding from within, brings down the wicked demon;wood and earth, holding the gate, receive the holy monk.

What would become of the demon—life or death? Listen to the next chapter to find out.

The Maiden Seeks the Yang Essence; The Primal Spirit Guards the Way

Now Bajie jumped down the mountain and found a small path. Following it along, after five or six li he suddenly saw two woman demons drawing water at a well. How did he know they were woman demons? He saw that on their heads they wore woven-bamboo headdresses a foot and two or three inches tall, quite out of style. The Idiot walked up close and called out: "Demons!" At this the creatures flew into a rage and said to each other: "What a rude monk! We don't know him, and we've never traded banter with him. Why does he call us demons?" The creatures were so provoked that they swung their water-carrying poles and smashed down at his head.

The Idiot had no weapon in his hand and could not ward off the blows. He took several whacks and ran back up the mountain holding his head, saying: "Brother, let's go back — the demons are fierce." Pilgrim said: "How fierce?" Bajie said: "Two woman demons were drawing water at a well in the hollow. I called out to them just once, and they whacked me three or four times with their poles." Pilgrim said: "What did you call them?" Bajie said: "I called them demons." Pilgrim laughed: "They gave you less than you deserved." Bajie said: "Thanks for your kindness. My head is swollen, and you still say it's too little." Pilgrim said: "Gentleness can go anywhere in the world; fierceness cannot move an inch. They are the demons of this place, and we are monks from far away. Even if you were all hands, you should be a little civil. You walk up and call them demons — why shouldn't they beat you, or beat me? People put courtesy first." Bajie said: "Now I understand even less." Pilgrim said: "You ate men in the mountains from your youth. Don't you know there are two kinds of wood?" Bajie said: "I don't. What kinds?" Pilgrim said: "One is poplar wood, one is sandalwood. Poplar is very soft by nature. A skilled craftsman takes it and carves a holy image or a Buddha, gilds it and dusts it with powder, inlays jade and paints flowers. Ten thousand people burn incense and worship it, and it receives boundless blessing. Sandalwood is hard by nature. The oil shop takes it for a press pestle, hoops its head with an iron band, and hammers down on it with iron mallets. Because it is stiff, it suffers this torment." Bajie said: "Brother, if you had given me this fine talk earlier, I might have spared myself the beating." Pilgrim said: "Go back and find out exactly what they are." Bajie said: "This time they'll know me." Pilgrim said: "Then go changed." Bajie said: "Brother, suppose I do change — how do I question them?" Pilgrim said: "Go changed, stand before them, make a bow, and see how old they are. If they are about our age, call them 'missy'; if they are older than us, call them 'granny.'" Bajie laughed: "What a fix — way out in a place like this, claiming kin with strangers?" Pilgrim said: "It is not about claiming kin. We need to draw out their words. If they took the master, we can act; if it was not them, wouldn't lingering here spoil our work elsewhere?" Bajie said: "That makes sense. I'll go again."

That fine Idiot — he tucked his rake in at his waist, went down into the hollow, shook his body, and changed into a fat black monk. Swaying and swaggering, he walked up to the creatures, made a deep bow, and said: "Granny, this humble monk bows to you." The two were pleased: "This monk is all right — he knows how to bow, and how to address people properly." They asked: "Elder, where are you from?" Bajie said: "Where am I from." They asked: "Where are you going?" He said: "Where am I going." They asked: "What is your name?" He answered: "What is my name." The creatures laughed: "The monk is fine enough, only he has no story — he just repeats whatever he hears." Bajie said: "Granny, why are you drawing water?" The creature said: "Monk, you don't know. Our old mistress carried a Tang monk off into the cave tonight and wants to entertain him. The water in our cave is not clean, so she sent the two of us to fetch this fine water where yin and yang mingle, to lay out a feast of fruit and vegetables. The Tang monk will eat, and tonight they will be wed."

When the Idiot heard this, he hurried back up the mountain, calling: "Sha Monk, quick, bring the luggage. Let's split it up." Sha Monk said: "Second brother, why split up again?" Bajie said: "We split it, and then you go back to the Flowing Sand River to eat people, I go to Gao Village to visit my family, brother goes to Mount Flower-Fruit to be called a sage, and the white dragon horse returns to the sea to be a dragon. The master is already getting married in this demon's cave. We'll each go our own way and settle down." Pilgrim said: "That Idiot is talking nonsense again." Bajie said: "Nonsense yourself! Those two water-carrying demons just said they are laying out a vegetarian feast, and when the Tang monk has eaten, they'll be wed." Pilgrim said: "That demon has the master trapped in her cave. The master is watching for us with all his eyes to come save him, and you stand here talking like this." Bajie said: "How do we save him?" Pilgrim said: "You two lead the horse and carry the load. We'll follow those two woman creatures — use them as guides — and when they lead us to the door, we all strike at once."

So the Idiot had to go along. Pilgrim tracked the two creatures from far off as they went deeper into the mountains. After ten or twenty li they suddenly vanished. Bajie said in alarm: "The master has been taken by a daylight ghost!" Pilgrim said: "What sharp eyes — you saw their true shapes right away?" Bajie said: "Those two creatures were walking along carrying water, and suddenly they were gone. If that's not a daylight ghost, what is?" Pilgrim said: "I suppose they ducked into the cave. Wait while I look."

That great Sage! He quickly opened his fiery eyes and golden pupils and scanned the whole mountain. Indeed there was no movement to be seen. But before a sheer cliff stood an ornamental gateway, delicately carved with flowers, piled in five colors, with three eaves and four clustered pillars. He and Bajie and Sha Monk came up to look. On it were six great characters: "Sunken Hollow Mountain, Bottomless Cave." Pilgrim said: "Brothers, the demon has set up this front here, but where her door opens, who knows?" Sha Monk said: "Not far, not far. Search carefully." As they turned to look, below the gateway, at the foot of the mountain, lay a great rock some ten-odd li around. Right in its middle was a hole the size of a vat's mouth, worn smooth and shiny. Bajie said: "Brother, this is the hole the demon comes in and out of." Pilgrim looked and said: "Strange! Since I began protecting the Tang monk — I won't hide it from you two — I have seen my share of demons' lairs, but never a cave like this. Bajie, you go down first and try it. See how deep it is, so I can go in and save the master." Bajie shook his head: "That's hard, that's hard. Old Pig's body is heavy and clumsy. If my feet slipped and I dangled down there, who knows if I'd reach the bottom in two or three years." Pilgrim said: "Is it really that deep?" Bajie said: "Look." The Great Sage lay flat at the edge of the hole and peered down carefully. Ah — deep! It went down and down, a good three hundred li around. He turned back and said: "Brothers, it truly is deep." Bajie said: "Then let's go back. The master can't be saved." Pilgrim said: "What talk is this? Don't give way to laziness; don't let your heart grow slack. Put down the luggage and tie the horse to a pillar of the gateway. You take your rake, Sha Monk his staff, and guard the mouth of the hole while I go in and scout. If the master really is inside, I'll drive the demon out from within with my iron staff and run for the mouth. You two will block it from outside — the inside works with the outside. Only by killing the creature can we save the master." The two obeyed.

Pilgrim sprang and leaped into the hole. Colored clouds opened beneath his feet in ten thousand rays, and lucky vapor guarded him in a thousand layers. In no time he reached the deep interior. In there it was bright and clear — there was daylight just as up above, the sound of wind, and flowers, grass, and fruit trees. Pilgrim said with pleasure: "What a fine spot! When old Sun was born, heaven gave him the Water Curtain Cave. This is a heaven-sent land too." As he looked, there was another gatehouse with a double-sloped roof, ringed by pines and bamboo, with many buildings inside. He thought: "This must be where the demon lives. I'll go in and scout. Hold on — if I go like this, she'll know me. Better go changed." He shook his body, pinched a spell, and changed into a little fly, then flew softly up to the gatehouse to listen. The creature sat high in the thatched pavilion. Compared with the day the master saved her in the pine forest, or the night Pilgrim caught her in the monastery, she was quite different — dressed up even prettier:

Her hair is coiled in a cloudy chignon like piled raven wings; she wears a green wool vest traced with flowers.Her pair of golden lotus feet are barely half a span; her ten fingers rise like shoots of spring bamboo.Her round powdered face is like a silver basin; her red lips are smooth as cherries.Straight and graceful is her beauty — even Chang'e in the moon would be delighted.Today she has caught the scripture-seeking monk, and means to share his pillow in pleasure.

Pilgrim said nothing for the moment and listened to what she would say. Soon she parted her cherry lips and called out gaily: "Little ones, hurry and lay the vegetarian feast. Brother Tang monk and I will eat, and then be wed." Pilgrim laughed to himself: "So it's true! And here I thought Bajie was just joking. Let me fly in and look, and see where the master is. Who knows how his heart is holding up? If she has already worked on him and moved him, we might as well leave him here." He spread his wings and flew inside. Under the east corridor, inside a red-papered lattice, bright above and dark below, sat the Tang monk.

Pilgrim pushed his head through a hole in the lattice, flew out, and perched on the Tang monk's bare scalp, calling: "Master." Tripitaka knew the voice and cried: "Disciple, save my life!" Pilgrim said: "Master, you're hopeless. That demon is laying out a feast; when you've eaten, you two will be wed. Maybe you'll have a son or a daughter — posterity for a monk like you. What are you worrying about?" The elder, gritting his teeth, said: "Disciple, since I left Chang'an and took you on at Two-Boundaries Mountain and came west all this way, what hour have I ever touched meat? What day have I had a crooked thought? Now this demon has caught me and demands a mate. If I lose my true yang essence, my body falls back into the wheel of rebirth; I will be cast behind the Dark Mountain and never turn over again for all eternity." Pilgrim laughed: "Don't swear oaths. If your heart is truly set on fetching scriptures in the Western Heaven, old Sun will take you out." Tripitaka said: "I've clean forgotten the way in." Pilgrim said: "Never mind forgetting. This cave of hers is not like walking in and walking out — you drill down from the top. Once you are saved, we must drill up from the bottom. If your luck is high, you hit the mouth of the hole and you're out; if your luck is low and we can't find it, there will be a day we're smothered in here." Tripitaka, tears filling his eyes, said: "With difficulties like this, what can be done?" Pilgrim said: "No matter, no matter. When the demon prepares wine for you, you'll have no choice — drink a cup. Only let her pour quickly, so the foam raises a little flower of bubbles. I'll change into a tiny gnat and fly in under those bubbles. When she swallows me in one gulp, I'll crush her heart and liver, snap her guts, and kill the demon. Then you can get away." Tripitaka said: "Disciple, heaven forbid — you mustn't talk so." Pilgrim said: "If you keep on being merciful, your life is finished. The demon is the root of harm to people. Why pity her?" Tripitaka said: "Very well, very well. Only you must stay close to me." And so:

The Great Sage Sun stands guard over the Tang Tripitaka; the scripture-seeking monk leans wholly on the Handsome Monkey King.

Before master and disciple had finished their plan, the demon had everything ready. She came up outside the east corridor, undid the lock, and called: "Elder." The Tang monk dared not answer. She called again; again he dared not answer. Why did he dare not answer? He was thinking: "Open your mouth and your spirit breath scatters; move your tongue and quarrels are born." Yet another thought told him: "If I hold fast and never open my mouth, I fear her cruel heart will take my life in a moment." Truly it was: his heart asked his mouth, caught between advance and retreat; his mouth asked his heart, thinking three times and holding back. While he wavered, the creature called once more: "Elder." The Tang monk had no way out and answered: "My lady — here." When the elder let out that one word, it was as if a thousand catties of flesh fell from him. People say the Tang monk was a monk of true heart, going to the Western Heaven to worship Buddha and seek scriptures — how could he answer a woman demon? They do not know that this was a moment of life or death, wrung from him out of utter helplessness. He answered with his lips, but in his heart he wanted nothing. Seeing the elder answer, the creature pushed open the door, helped the Tang monk up, took his hand, pressed against his shoulder, and whispered in his ear. See the thousand charming airs and ten thousand winning ways she put on! How could she know Tripitaka was one whole chestful of trouble? Pilgrim laughed in the dark: "My master is being coaxed like this — I'm afraid his heart may waver for a moment." And so:

The true monk, beset by demons, meets a pretty girl; the demon's graceful figure is worth all praise.Her pale green brows are two willow leaves; her glowing red face sets off peach blossoms.Her embroidered shoes just show a pair of phoenix feet; her cloudy chignon sits high above raven temples.Smiling, she takes the master's hand — orchid and musk scent drift over his cassock.

The demon took Tripitaka's arm and, walking toward the thatched pavilion, said: "Elder, I have prepared a cup of wine. Share a drink with me." The Tang monk said: "My lady, this humble monk does not touch meat." The demon said: "I know you don't eat meat. Because the water in our cave is not clean, I specially ordered water fetched from the hilltop, where yin and yang mingle, and laid out a feast of fruit and vegetables, just to have fun with you." The Tang monk went in with her to look, and this is truly what he saw:

Under the crowded doorway, embroidery wound in colored knots; through the whole courtyard, incense poured from gilded lion burners.Set out were black-lacquered tables inlaid with shell, and black-lacquered platters of woven bamboo.On the inlaid tables were rare delicacies; in the bamboo-woven platters, marvelous vegetarian things.Apples, olives, lotus seeds, grapes, torreya nuts, wild crab apples, hazelnuts, pine nuts, lychees, longans, mountain chestnuts, water caltrops, jujubes, persimmons, walnuts, ginkgo nuts, kumquats, fragrant oranges — fruit of every kind the mountain yields;the vegetables were even fresher: bean curd, wheat gluten, wood-ear fungus, fresh bamboo shoots, mushrooms, fragrant toadstools, Chinese yam, and Solomon's seal.Gelatin moss and day-lily buds, fried in green oil; hyacinth-bean pods and cowpea pods, dressed in rich sauce.Cucumbers and bottle gourds, ginkgo nuts and turnips.Eggplant peeled in spirals and shaped like quail; winter melon seeded and carved into squares — the dish named "square eggs."Taro simmered soft and tossed with sugar; white radish boiled plain and dressed with vinegar.Pepper and ginger, biting hot, each dish lovely; salt and sour balanced so that every taste was even.

The demon showed her sharp jade fingertips, held up a gleaming golden cup brimming with fine wine, and handed it to the Tang monk, calling: "Elder brother, sweet man, have a cup of the wine of union." Tripitaka took the wine bashfully, poured a libation toward the sky, and prayed in his heart: "Guardian devas of the Law, trackers of the five quarters, record keepers of the four watches: your disciple Chen Xuanzang, since leaving the Land of the East, has been protected in secret by you gods, sent by the Bodhisattva Guanyin, on his way to bow at Thunderclap and see the Buddha and seek scriptures. Now on the road a demon has caught me and is forcing marriage on me, and hands me this cup of wine. If this wine is truly vegetarian wine, your disciple can drink it as he must, and still succeed and see the Buddha. But if it is meat wine, it breaks your disciple's vows, and I fall forever into the pain of rebirth." The Great Sage Sun had changed himself nimble and small, behind the elder's ear like a whisperer. When he spoke, only Tripitaka could hear; no one else heard. He knew the master was fond of the mild grape wine, and told him to drink the cup. The master, having no choice, drank. Then he quickly filled a cup to the brim in return and handed it to the demon. Sure enough, as it was poured a little bubble-flower rose on top. Pilgrim changed into the tiny gnat and flew softly in under the bubble-flower. The demon took the cup but did not drink; she set it down, bowed twice to the Tang monk, and murmured a few tender words in a sweet, shy voice. Just as she raised the cup, the bubbles had burst and showed up the insect. The demon could not tell it was the transformed Pilgrim. Taking it for a mere bug, she picked it off with her little finger and flicked it down.

Seeing the plan had failed, Pilgrim judged he could not get into her belly. He changed into a hungry old hawk. Truly:

Jade talons, golden eyes, iron wings; a bold figure, fierce spirit, wheeling through clouds.Demon foxes and crafty hares scramble at the sight of him; over a thousand li of rivers and hills they keep running for cover.When hungry he heads into the wind chasing sparrows; when full he presses high against heaven's gate.His old fists are steel-hard, the most wounding thing there is; once he succeeds, even the highest sky feels too near.

He flew up, spread his jade talons, and with one crash flipped the table and feast, smashing every vegetable and fruit dish, every plate, cup, and goblet. Leaving the Tang monk behind, he flew out. The demon's heart and gall split with fright, and the Tang monk's flesh and bones went soft all over. Trembling, the demon hugged the Tang monk and said: "Elder brother, where did that thing come from?" Tripitaka said: "Your humble monk doesn't know." The demon said: "I took such pains to lay out this vegetarian feast for your amusement — and who knows where that flat-feathered beast flew in from, to smash all my tableware!" The little demons said: "Madam, broken dishes are one thing, but all the vegetarian food is splashed on the ground. Defiled like that, what use is it?" The Tang monk knew perfectly well it was Pilgrim's trick, but how could he say so? The demon said: "Little ones, I understand now. It must be that my keeping the Tang monk trapped here offends heaven and earth, so they sent this creature down. Pick up the broken dishes, and set out food and wine again — meat or vegetable, no matter. I will point to heaven as my matchmaker and to earth as my witness, and then wed the Tang monk." And she seated the elder again in the east corridor, as before. Of that no more.

Now Pilgrim flew out, showed his true form, and reached the mouth of the cave, calling: "Open the door!" Bajie laughed: "Sha Monk, our brother's back." The two pulled their weapons aside. Pilgrim leaped out. Bajie came up, grabbed him, and asked: "Was there a demon? Was the master there?" Pilgrim said: "Yes, yes, yes." Bajie said: "Is the master suffering in there — tied or bound? Will they steam him or boil him?" Pilgrim said: "Nothing like that. They're laying out a vegetarian feast, meaning to do that other thing with him." Bajie said: "Lucky you, lucky you — did you stay for the wedding wine?" Pilgrim said: "Idiot, the master's very life is in danger. What wedding wine?" Bajie said: "Then why are you back already?" Pilgrim told them all that had happened — finding the Tang monk, working his transformations. Then he said: "Brothers, no more wild thoughts. The master is in there. On this trip in, old Sun will surely bring him out."

He turned and went back inside, changed again into a little fly, and perched on the gatehouse to listen. He heard the demon, huffing with anger, giving orders in the pavilion: "Little ones — food, meat or vegetable, and bring paper for burning. I'll beg heaven and earth to be my matchmaker and witness. This marriage will happen, whatever it takes." Pilgrim heard and laughed to himself: "This demon has no sense of shame at all — broad daylight, and she keeps a monk locked up at home to work her will on him. No hurry. Let old Sun go in and look again." With a little hum he flew under the east corridor. The master sat inside, tears running down his cheeks. Pilgrim slipped in, perched on his head, and called again: "Master." The elder knew the voice, jumped up, and said through gritted teeth: "You monkey! Other men are bold because their bodies hold their courage; your boldness is courage swallowing your body whole. You play your transforming tricks and smash her tableware — what is that worth? Now you've whipped the demon's lust to a fever. She'll have food laid on, meat or no meat, and will couple with me no matter what. How does this end?" Pilgrim smiled to himself in the dark and said: "Master, don't be angry. There is a way to save you." The Tang monk said: "How can you save me?" Pilgrim said: "When I flew out just now I saw a garden behind. Coax her to go into the garden with you for a stroll, and I'll get you out." The Tang monk said: "How, in the garden?" Pilgrim said: "When you're in the garden with her, walk to the peach trees and stop there. I'll fly up onto a peach branch and change into a red peach — a truly lovely red one. You say you want fruit, and pick a red one first. The red one is me. She'll be sure to pick one too, but you must insist she take the red one. Once she swallows it, I'm in her belly. Then I'll smash her bag of skin, tear her liver and guts, kill her — and you go free." Tripitaka said: "If you have such powers, why not just fight her outright? Why get into her belly?" Pilgrim said: "Master, you don't see the point. If this cave were easy to get in and out of, I'd fight her. But it isn't — the winding way is hard to travel. If we came to blows here, her whole nest, old and young, would hang onto even me. Then what? It has to be done this way, quick and clean, so we're all clear of it." Tripitaka nodded and took his word, saying only: "Stay close to me." Pilgrim said: "Got it, got it — I'm on your head."

When master and disciple had settled their plan, Tripitaka raised himself up, laid both hands on the lattice, and called: "My lady! My lady!" The demon heard and came running up with a smile: "Sweet brother, what do you want to say?" Tripitaka said: "My lady, since I left Chang'an and came west, not a day has passed without mountains, not a day without water. Yesterday I lodged at Sea-Calming Monastery and caught a bad cold. Today I sweated and am a little better. And your kindness has brought me into this immortal dwelling. But after sitting here all day my spirit feels dull again. Could you take me somewhere to clear my head a little, and let me amuse myself for a bit?" The demon was overjoyed: "Sweet brother has some taste after all. I'll take you to play in the garden." She called: "Little ones, bring the key and open the garden gate, and sweep the path." The demons all ran to unlock and tidy up.

The demon opened the lattice and helped the Tang monk out. Look at her troop of little demons — oiled hair, powdered faces, swaying and graceful, clustering and crowding around, as they went straight with the Tang monk to the garden. What a monk! Amid this silken company he kept his purpose; in that thicket of brocade he played the deaf-mute. If his iron-cast heart had not been set on reaching Buddha, he would have been just one more common man lost to wine and lust, and never fetched the scriptures. The whole party reached the garden. The demon called in a soft, sweet voice: "Sweet brother, playing here truly lifts the heart and drives away gloom." Hand in hand with her the Tang monk entered the garden, looked up, and saw it was truly a lovely place. And this is what he saw:

Winding paths, everywhere flecked with gray-green moss; graceful painted windows, everywhere shaded by embroidered blinds.As a light breeze first stirs, Shu brocade and Wu silk flutter open; as a fine rain just ends, skin like ice and flesh like jade show through, fresh and tender.The sun scorches the bright apricots — red as a fairy drying her rainbow robes; the moon shines on the plantains — green as the Lady Taizhen waving her feather fan.On four sides of the whitewashed walls, ten thousand willows ring with orioles; around the idle pavilions, the courtyard full of crab apples flutters with pink butterflies.And see the Terrace of Gathered Fragrance, the Green Moth Terrace, the Hangover-Cure Terrace, the Lovesick Terrace, rising story on story, red curtains caught on hooks, silken fringes swinging;and see the Sour-Plum Pavilion, the Plain-Draped Pavilion, the Eyebrow-Painting Pavilion, the Four-Rains Pavilion, each one striking, their fine plaques written in bird-seal script.Look at the Crane-Bathing Pool, the Cup-Rinsing Pool, the Moon-Delight Pool, the Cap-Washing Pool, where green duckweed and algae flash with golden scales;and the Ink-Flower Studio, the Rare-Coffer Studio, the Pleasant-Interest Studio, the Cloud-Admiring Studio, where jade cups and gem goblets float with green-ant wine.Below the pools and pavilions lie rocks from Lake Tai, purple-beryl rocks, parrot stones, brocade-river rocks, with sweet flag planted green as tiger whiskers;east and west of the studios stand wooden rockery hills, green-screen hills, wind-whistling hills, jade-mushroom hills, with phoenix-tail bamboo growing in clumps everywhere.Trellises of roses and of wild roses stand near the swing frame, like a brocade tent with gauze curtains;the Pine-and-Cypress Pavilion and the Magnolia Pavilion face the Wooden-Fragrance Pavilion, like a jade city hung with embroidered curtains.Peony borders and peony beds, reds and purples vying in richness; the silk-tree terrace and the jasmine rails, charming year after year.Purple banana shrubs drip with dew, drop by drop, fit to be painted and drawn; red hibiscus burns bright against the sky, begging for poems and inscriptions.For scenery, don't boast of the fairy gardens of Langyuan or Penglai; for flowers, don't count the famous yellows and purples of Yao and Wei.If in spring you came here to play the grass-guessing game, the only thing this garden lacks is the jade blossom of Qiong.

The elder walked with the creature through the garden admiring the flowers, an endless show of rare blooms. They passed many pavilions and truly went deeper into beauty at every step. Suddenly he looked up: they had reached the edge of the peach grove. Pilgrim gave the master's head a pinch, and the elder understood. Pilgrim flew onto a peach branch, shook his body, and changed into a red peach — truly a lovely red. The elder said to the demon: "My lady, your garden is full of flower scent and your branches heavy with ripe fruit. Bees race to gather the fragrant flowers; birds fight over the ripe fruit. But why are the peaches on this tree some green and some red?" The demon laughed: "Without yin and yang in heaven, sun and moon would not shine; without yin and yang in earth, grass and trees would not grow; without yin and yang in people, there would be no men and women. On this peach tree, the fruit on the sunny side, warmed by the sun, ripens first and so is red; the fruit on the shady side, without sun, is still unripe and so is green. That is the way of yin and yang." Tripitaka said: "Thank you for teaching me, my lady. Truly your humble monk didn't know." He reached out and picked a red peach. The demon picked a green one. Tripitaka bowed and held out the red peach to the demon: "My lady, you love the bright color. Eat this red peach, and give me the green one." The demon really did swap, and secretly rejoiced: "What a monk! Truly a true man — not yet one day man and wife, and already such tenderness." The demon happily and tenderly kept company with the Tang monk. The Tang monk took the green peach and ate it. The demon, glad to join him, opened her mouth to bite the red one. Her red lips parted, her silver teeth showed — but before her teeth touched it, Sun the Pilgrim, being very impatient, tumbled head over heels down past her throat, straight into her belly. The demon, frightened, said to Tripitaka: "Elder, this fruit is a fierce one. Why wouldn't it let me bite it open? Down it rolled!" Tripitaka said: "My lady, fruit just in from the garden is so eager to be eaten — that's why it went down so fast." The demon said: "Before I could even spit out the pit, it had darted down." Tripitaka said: "Your wish was so sweet and your liking so strong, my lady, that you swallowed before you could spit the pit — down it went."

Inside her belly Pilgrim returned to his true form and called: "Master, don't bandy words with her. Old Sun has done it!" Tripitaka said: "Disciple, have a little mercy." The demon heard and said: "Who are you talking to?" Tripitaka said: "To my disciple Sun Wukong." The demon said: "Where is Sun Wukong?" Tripitaka said: "In your belly. Wasn't that red peach you just ate him?" The demon panicked: "It's over, it's over. This monkey has got into my belly — I'm a dead thing. Pilgrim Sun, why did you scheme a thousand ways to get into my belly?" From inside, Pilgrim said with spite: "Nothing much. I'm only going to eat your six-lobed lungs and liver, your heart with its three fine hairs and seven openings, rinse out all your five organs, and leave you a hollow block of a demon." At this the demon's soul fled and her spirit scattered. Trembling, she hugged the Tang monk and said: "Elder, I thought:

a red thread tied us from a former life; like fish and water our two hearts ran deep.Who thought the mandarin ducks would be torn apart today, or that the phoenix pair would fly off east and west!The water rose at Blue Bridge, and nothing came of it; smoke has sunk over the temple, and the glad meeting comes to nothing.All this loving care, and now we part again — what year will bring us face to face once more!"

Inside, Pilgrim heard all this and, afraid the master's kind heart might be fooled again, swung his fists and stamped his feet, took his stance and squared his arms, and nearly pounded her bag of skin to pieces. The demon could not bear the pain, fell to the ground, and for a long while dared not speak. Pilgrim, hearing no sound, thought she was dead and eased his hands a little. She got her breath back and called: "Little ones, where are you?" It turned out the little demons, ever since entering the garden gate, had each known his place and gone off separately to pick flowers and play the grass game, amusing themselves as they pleased, leaving the demon and the Tang monk to enjoy each other's talk in private. Hearing her call, they all came running. Seeing the demon fallen on the ground, her face changed color, groaning and unable to rise, they hurried to lift her and crowded around: "Madam, what's wrong? Maybe a sudden pain in the heart?" The demon said: "No, no. Don't ask. There's a man inside my belly. Get this monk out of here quickly — save my life." The little demons really did come to carry him. From inside Pilgrim called: "Who dares lift him? If anything, you carry my master out yourself. Once he is outside, I'll spare your life." The creature had no choice — it was pure love of life. She scrambled up, hoisted the Tang monk onto her back, and strode for the entrance. The little demons followed: "Old mistress, where are you going?" The demon said: "While the bright moon keeps shining over the five lakes, why worry there's nowhere to drop a golden hook? I'll take this fellow out, and look for another opening some other time."

That demon — one spring of cloudy light and she was at the mouth of the cave. There they heard clanging and jangling, weapons rattling. Tripitaka said: "Disciple, weapons are ringing outside." Pilgrim said: "That's Bajie polishing his rake. Call out to him." Tripitaka called: "Bajie!" Bajie heard and said: "Sha Monk, the master is coming out!" The two drew back rake and staff, and the demon carried the Tang monk out. Ah! And so:

The Mind-Ape answers from within and subdues the wicked creature; Wood and Earth guard the gate and receive the holy monk.

Whether the demon lived or died, who can say? Listen to the next chapter to find out.