One morning, the Queen Mother of the West threw open the Treasure Pavilion to host a banquet for the Immortal Peach Festival at the Turquoise Pool. The red, white, blue, black, purple, yellow, and green-gowned maidens, each bearing her basket atop her head,1 were sent to the Immortal Peach Orchard to pick peaches for the banquet. The rainbow maidens arrived at the entrance of the orchard and found the orchard earth spirit, the gardeners, and the officials of the Great Sage Pavilion all guarding the entrance.
The maidens approached and said, “By edict of the Queen Mother, we2 are here to pick peaches for the banquet.” “Maidens, please wait here,” the earth spirit said. “This year is different from previous years. The Jade Emperor has appointed the Great Sage, Equal to Heaven as keeper here, and we must first report to the Great Sage before we can open the orchard.” “Where is the Great Sage?” the maidens asked. “The Great Sage is inside the orchard,” the earth spirit said. “He is tired and resting alone in the pavilion.” The maidens said, “In that case, go and find him. We can’t be delayed.”
They all went to the pavilion in the orchard, but the Great Sage was nowhere to be found. Only his hat and gown lay there. The Great Sage, having played for a while and eaten a few peaches, had shrunk himself down to a figure two inches tall, climbed to the top of the big tree, and fallen asleep under a leaf. The rainbow maidens said, “We can’t find the Great Sage, but we came here on imperial orders. How can we go back emptyhanded?” A nearby official said, “Since the immortal maidens are here on imperial orders, they should not be delayed. Our Great Sage has a habit of wandering around at his leisure; no doubt he is off visiting friends somewhere else. Go ahead and pick the peaches, and we will inform him on your behalf.”
The maidens did as he said and went into the orchard to pick peaches. They picked two basketfuls from the front of the orchard, then picked three basketfuls from the middle of the orchard. When they came to the back of the orchard, they saw that the flowers and fruits were sparse on the trees. There were only a few green fruits with downy stems. You see, the ripe ones had all been eaten by the monkey king. The rainbow maidens looked all around and saw one half-ripened peach on a southern branch. The blue-gowned maiden pulled down the branch and the red-gowned maiden picked it. The branch sprang back as it released. As it happened, the transformed Great Sage was sleeping on that very branch, and this startled him awake. The Great Sage reverted to his real form and pulled the gold-banded staff from his ear, swung it to the thickness of a bowl, and yelled, “Who dares to steal my peaches?”3
The rainbow maidens hurriedly knelt down and said, “Great Sage forgive us! We are not monsters. We are seven maidens sent by the Queen Mother of the West to pick immortal peaches for when she opens the Treasure Pavilion for the Immortal Peach Festival. We spoke to the orchard’s earth spirit and officials, but we couldn’t find Great Sage. We were afraid to tarry in carrying out the Queen Mother’s decree, so we did not wait for the Great Sage and started picking peaches. We beg your forgiveness!” The Great Sage’s anger turned to joy at hearing this and he said, “Please get up, my good maidens. Who is invited to the Treasure Pavilion for the Queen Mother’s banquet?”
The maidens said, “In previous years it was customary to invite the Buddha, bodhisattvas, and holy monks of the Western Heavens, Guanyin of the South, the Chongen Emperor of the East, the ancients of the ten continents and three islands,4 the Dark Spirit of the North, the Yellow-horned Sage of the Central Region: these are the elders of the Five Regions. From the upper eight caves there’s also the five Polestar Generals, the Three Pure Ones, the Four Thearchs, and the Holy Immortal Taiyi, from the middle eight caves there’s the Jade Emperor, the nine Heroes, the various immortals of the seas and mountains, from the lower eight caves there are the gods of the Peaceful Realms, the earthly immortals, the immortals of every palace and mansion, big and small: all are invited to the Immortal Peach Festival.”5
The Great Sage laughed and said, “Am I invited?” The maidens replied, “We haven’t heard your name mentioned.” The Great Sage said, “I am the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven. Why shouldn’t Old Sun be the honored guest at the banquet?” The maidens said, “These are the customs from previous years. We do not know about this year.” The Great Sage said, “What you say is true, so I don’t blame you. You all wait here while Old Sun goes to find out whether Old Sun is invited or not.”
That Great Sage! He invoked his magic, spoke a spell, and pointing toward the maidens cried, “Freeze! Freeze! Freeze!” 6 This, it turns out, was a paralyzing spell, and the rainbow maidens were frozen there, staring blankly ahead, under the peach tree. The Great Sage summoned his magic cloud, jumped up out of the orchard, and headed straight towards the Turquoise Pool.
In the sky, hazy light flickered against swathes of prismatic clouds. On the riverbanks, leaves of purple rivergrass rustled in the call of white cranes. Between these an immortal appeared, his ancient visage virtuous and with elegant. His spirit shrouded him in dancing rainbows, records of life and death hung from his waist. His name was the Barefoot Immortal, attending the Immortal Peach Festival to extend his life.
Chancing upon the Barefoot Immortal like this, the Great Sage immediately began to scheme: by deceiving the real immortal, he could sneak into the banquet. He asked, “Elder Taoist, where are you headed?” The old immortal replied, “By the Queen Mother’s invitation, I am headed to the Immortal Peach Banquet.” The Great Sage said, “Elder Taoist hasn’t heard then. The Jade Emperor has ordered Old Sun to go quickly on my somersault cloud to inform all that are invited to first go to the Palace of Transcendence for the opening ceremony and then to go to the banquet.” The old immortal, being a person of honor, took the Great Sage at his word. “In prior years, the ceremony has always been held at Turquoise Pool. Why is the ceremony at the Palace of Transcendence this year instead?” Having said this, he turned his cloud instead toward the Palace of Transcendence.
1 There is a one-word verb in Chinese for carrying something on your head. ↩
2 The formal ‘we’ used by the maidens literally translates to ‘I, etcetera’. ↩
3 He actually says ‘From whence comes a demon to steal my peaches? ↩
4 Not really sure which region these continents/islands are considered. ↩
5 Seems like everyone who’s anyone is invited to this thing. ↩
6 Petrificus totalus! ↩
Etymology Adventures 