Journey to the West – Chapter 6.4

The Immortal Master and the Great Sage battled for over three hundred rounds with no victor. The Immortal Master mustered his powers and, with a shake of his body, grew to ten thousand fathoms¹ in height. His two hands raised the three-prong double-edged glaive like the peak of Hua Mountain. His youthful face bore sharp fangs, his hair shone red, fierce, he chopped right at the Great Sage’s head. The Great Sage also called upon his power and grew to match the height of Erlang. Raising his Will-Abiding Gold-Banded Staff, it was as a pillar that holds up the sky on the pinnacle of Kunlun Mountain.² He blocked Erlang’s strike.

Hearing him roar, Marshals Ma and Liu trembled so hard they could not wave their banners and Generals Beng and Ba could not wield their weapons. Taking advantage, the Plum Mountain brothers³ ordered the infantry to release the hounds and falcons and to nock the bows and crossbows, charging toward Shuilian Cave in a surprise attack. They easily dispersed the pitiful monkey generals and captured two thousand or so of the mountain’s demons. The poor monkeys threw down their daggers and abandoned their armor, they cast aside their swords and tossed away their spears. They ran and screamed, scurried up the mountain or into the cave, like birds startled by a cat in the night who scatter into the sky like so many stars. The brothers were easily victorious, but we’ll speak no more of that.

The Great Sage did not engage, but turned and ran. At the cave mouth, he ran into Officers Kang, Zhang, Yao, and Li, and Generals Guo Shen and Zhi Jian. The brothers blocked his way and said, “Rotten monkey! Stop right there!” Panicking, the Great Sage shrunk his staff to the size of an embroidery needle, hid it in his ear, transformed into a sparrow, and flew to a nearby tree branch. The six brothers looked around anxiously but could not find him. They shouted, “The monkey demon’s gone! The monkey demon’s gone!”

As they were shouting, the Immortal Master arrived and asked, “Brothers, which direction did he run off to?” The immortals replied, “He was right here in the enclosure, and just disappeared.” Erlang opened his phoenix eye⁴ wide and looked around and saw the Great Sage in the form of a sparrow perched on the tree. He returned to himself to his original form, put down his glaive and bow, shook himself, and transformed into a sparrowhawk. He spread his wings and pounced. With a swoosh, the Great Sage turned into a cormorant and soared into the air. Erlang hurriedly shook his plumage and turned into a large sea crane,⁵ plunging into the clouds to stab with his beak. The Great Sage descended into the mountain stream and turned into a fish, hiding beneath the surface. Erlang hurried to the riverbank and, not seeing a trace of him, thought to himself, “That macaque must have gone into the water and turned into a fish or shrimp or the like. Let me change again and catch him.” He turned into a heron and settled on the water.

After a short while, the Great Sage, swimming along the current in fish form, saw a bird. It was like a green hawk, but the plumage was not green; it was like an egret, but it had no crest; it was like a crane, but its legs were not red. He thought, “That must be Erlang in disguise, waiting for me.” He turned away with a splash. 

Erlang saw him and thought, “That splashing fish – it looks like a carp, but its tail is not red; it looks like a perch with no pattern on its scales; it looks like a snakehead, but there are no spots on its head; it looks like a bream, but there are no stripes on its cheeks. Why did it leave when it saw me? Must be that monkey in the form of a fish.” He caught up and, with a swoosh, pecked at the fish. The Great Sage jumped out of the water, changed into a water snake and swam onto the shore and into the grass. 

Erlang missed the fish but, seeing a snake slithering out of the water, recognized the Great Sage, and quickly turned into a red-crowned crane. He extended his long beak like a pair of sharp pincers to eat that snake. The water snake jumped and turned into a speckled bustard [image], standing on the sandy shore like a piece of wood. When Erlang saw that he had turned into a lowly bustard – the bustard is the crudest of birds, mating indiscriminately with phoenixes, eagles, or crows – he didn’t approach. He resumed his true form, and drawing his pellet bow to its fullest extent and he sent the bustard flying with one pellet.

The Great Sage seized the opportunity and rolled off the edge of the cliff. At the base of the cliff, he transformed into an Earth Spirit’s temple. His wide-open mouth became the doorway of the temple, his teeth became doors, his tongue became the figure of the Boddhisatva in the shrine, his eyes became the windows. With no easy place to put his tail, he stood it up behind the temple and turned it into a little flag.

When the Immortal Master arrived at the base of the cliff, he didn’t see the bustard he had knocked down. Instead, he saw the little shrine. He quickly opened his phoenix eye to look more closely, and seeing the flagpole erected in the back, he thought, “That macaque, still trying to deceive me! I, too, have seen shrines, but never one with a flag in the back. It must be that bastard’s trick, luring me in so he can take a bite out of me. How then can I go in? Let me first punch those windows and kick those doors!” 

The Great Sage was alarmed hearing this: “Ruthless! Ruthless. The doors are my teeth, and the windows are my eyes. I can’t let him strike my teeth and hit my eyes.” With a single bound he leapt into the air and disappeared. 

To be continued…

^{1 the word here translated as fathoms, 丈, is 3.3 meters ↩}

^{2 a mountain range in Xinjiang ↩}

^{3 the text lists their names ↩}

^{4 a third vertical eye on his forehead ↩}

^{5 the literal Chinese word here is sea crane, which is the modern name of the helmeted hornbill, but is usually portrayed (and makes more sense here) as a Japanese crane ↩}