Tower of Myriad Mirrors: A Supplement to Journey to the West (Michigan Classics in Chinese Studies) (18 page)

Monkey said, “So—such a pitiful, nameless little general as you wants to soil my cudgel? He raised his cudgel to meet the blow.

They fought several rounds. No one could tell who was winning when King P
ramit
said, “Hold it! If I don't tell you about my family, when I kill you and you become a ghost, you'll still think I'm just a nameless little general. Allow me to explain: I, King P
ramit
, am none other than a direct descendant of Monkey Sun, the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, who caused a great uproar in Heaven.”

Monkey heard this and thought, “Strange…Is it possible that the play given the other day was real? Here is the evidence before my eyes. How can it be false? But I don't know where my other four sons are and if my wife is still alive. If she's not dead, I wonder what she's doing now. And I don't know if this is my youngest son or the eldest. I'd like to ask him for details, but the Master's orders are very strict and I dare not disobey. I'll sound him out a bit more.”

So he shouted, “Monkey is my sworn brother, and he never told me he had any children. How can he suddenly have a son?”

King P
ramit
said, “I see you still don't understand. I, King P
ramit
, and my father, Monkey, are a father and son who have never met. My father, Monkey, was originally a monster who lived in the
Water-curtain Cave. He had a sworn brother, my uncle, called Demon Bull King. My uncle doesn't sleep with his first wife, Lady Rakshas. That woman, who lives in Banana Cave, is my mother. When a T'ang Priest from the southeast wanted to go to the Western Paradise and meet the Buddha, he asked my father, Monkey, to be his disciple. They had encountered numberless hardships on the road to the West, when one day they came upon Flaming Mountain. The Master and his several disciples fretted and grieved to no end.

“Then my father had a good idea. He said, ‘A Master for one day is a father for life. I'll temporarily forget my vows of loyalty to my sworn brother in order to repay my Master's kindness.’ He went at once to the Banana Cave. First he changed himself into the Demon Bull King and deceived my mother. Later he changed into a tiny insect and entered my mother's belly. He stayed there a while and caused her no end of agony. When my mother could no longer bear the pain, she had no choice but to give the Banana-leaf Fan to my father, Monkey. When my father, Monkey, got the Banana-leaf Fan, he cooled the inferno at Flaming Mountain and left.
³
In the fifth month of the next year, my mother suddenly gave birth to me, King P
ramit
. Day by day I grew older and more intelligent. If you think about it, since my uncle and mother had never been together, and I was born after my father, Monkey, had been inside my mother's belly, the fact that I am his direct descendant is beyond dispute.”

After this story Monkey was between tears and laughter. Just then, thoroughly confused, he saw to the northwest Little Moon King bringing a column of soldiers, distinguishable by their purple battle dress, to relieve the T'ang Priest. From the southwest came a column of devil soldiers under a black banner to assist King P
ramit
.