The Monkey King jumped off the bridge, muttered an incantation, and dove right in. The waves parted before him forming a path that lead straight to the bottom of the East Sea.1 About halfway, a yaksha2 on patrol suddenly blocked his way, and said, “You who command the waters, what manner of immortal or godContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 3.2”
Tag Archives: sun wukong
Journey to the West – Chapter 3.1
I am experimenting with narration styles in chapters 3 and 4. Click here to learn more. They say that the Handsome Monkey King defeated the Demon Lord of Mayhem and returned victorious with his trophy: the demon king’s big dao. He trained every day in the fighting arts. The other monkeys cut bamboo to makeContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 3.1”
Journey to the West – Chapter 2.3
Wukong’s hair stood on end, he quickly bowed, saying, “Master, in your infinite compassion, please tell me how to avoid these catastrophes. I will never cease to be grateful.” The patriarch said, “It is not difficult, but you are different from others. I cannot teach this to you.” Wukong said, “My head points toward theContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 2.3”
Journey to the West – Chapter 1.1
First, a note on retelling Journey to the West. As a part of this, I wanted to share with you some of the decisions I made during translation, but I don’t want to distract from the story, so I’ve inserted them footnotes with mouseover text. There are these decisions almost everywhere. (For touchscreen viewers, clickingContinue reading “Journey to the West – Chapter 1.1”
Journey to the West – a beginning?
Journey to the West is my childhood. My first memory of it was probably this 1963 Chinese cartoon – 大闹天宫 – a movie adaptation of one of the first major episodes in Journey to the West1. Growing up, I read abridged children’s versions in Chinese manhua, watched the 1999 cartoon religiously2, studied a simplified versionContinue reading “Journey to the West – a beginning?”
Etymology Adventures 