救出悟空

English (for the teacher)

Now, when the Tang Monk heard that great shout, he jumped with fright. Not long after he had left Chang'an, his two servants had been eaten by demons on Double Fork Ridge, and luckily a hunter, Liu Boqin, had saved him and escorted him all the way here. Liu Boqin said: "This mountain used to be called the Five-Element Mountain, and later it was renamed the Mountain of Two Frontiers; on the other side of it, the land is no longer Great Tang's. I've heard the old folk say that when Wang Mang seized the Han throne, this mountain fell from the sky, and a divine monkey is pinned under it who can't die of cold or of hunger. That shout must be his. Don't be afraid, Elder; let's go down and take a look."

The two of them came to the foot of the mountain, and there, sure enough, in a stone box, a monkey's head was sticking out. The monkey had a pointed mouth and hollow cheeks and fiery golden eyes; moss was piled on his head, and green grass was growing out of his ears. He stuck out one hand and waved it about wildly, shouting: "Master, why have you only come now? You've come just in time! Get me out, and I'll escort you all the way to the West!"

The Tang Monk asked: "Who are you?" The monkey said: "I am the Great Sage Equal to Heaven who threw heaven into chaos five hundred years ago; for the crime of deceiving heaven, the Buddha pinned me here. A while ago the bodhisattva Guanyin came by and urged me to do no more harm and to wait for the pilgrim from the East to save me. I'm willing to guard him on his way west and be his disciple." The Tang Monk asked: "But how can I save you?" The monkey said: "On top of this mountain is the Buddha's seal with golden letters; just go up and peel it off, and I'll come out."

The Tang Monk and Liu Boqin climbed up, clutching at vines and creepers, and on the summit, sure enough, they saw ten thousand rays of golden light and a thousand wisps of lucky mist, and a paper seal stuck on a big square rock, with six golden characters on it. The Tang Monk knelt and prayed for a while, and only then stepped forward and gently peeled the seal off. A fragrant wind blew the seal up into the air, and a voice called out: "We are the divine generals who guard the Great Sage. Today his time of punishment is over, and we are going back to return this seal!"

When the two came down the mountain, the monkey called again: "Go further off, so I can come out without frightening you!" They had no choice but to walk five or seven li to the east, and suddenly there was a tremendous crash, as if the earth were splitting and the mountains falling. While everyone was still shaking with fear, the monkey was already kneeling in front of the Tang Monk's horse, stark naked, crying: "Master, I'm out!" He bowed four times to the Tang Monk, and thanked Liu Boqin too.

The Tang Monk asked his name, and the monkey said: "My surname is Sun, and my religious name is Wukong." The Tang Monk said happily: "That name sounds like one of us Buddhists already. You look just like a little wandering monk, so I'll give you a nickname as well: 'Pilgrim'. How's that?" Wukong said: "Good! Good! Good!" From then on he was also called Sun the Pilgrim. When Liu Boqin saw that the Tang Monk had a disciple, he said goodbye and went home.

Master and disciple had not gone far when a fierce tiger came roaring at them. The Tang Monk trembled on his horse, but Wukong said gleefully: "Don't be afraid, Master, he's bringing me some clothes." He took an embroidery needle out of his ear, waved it in the wind, and it became a golden-hooped staff as thick as a rice bowl; he brought it down on the tiger's head, and the tiger's brains burst out and it dropped to the ground. The Tang Monk watched in shock and delight: the other day, Liu Boqin had fought a tiger for half a day, but today Wukong had killed one with a single blow of his staff, without the least effort; truly, however strong you are, there is always someone stronger!

Wukong pulled out a hair, blew his magic breath on it, turned it into a sharp knife, skinned the tiger, cut a neat square from the hide, wrapped it round his waist, and tied it tight with a vine from the roadside, and there was a tiger-skin skirt. When the Tang Monk saw what he could do, he was overjoyed, and felt that on the long road west he now had someone to rely on.

That night master and disciple stayed with a family. Wukong borrowed a needle and thread and sewed up his tiger-skin skirt, and the Tang Monk gave him one of his own white cotton robes to wear. Early the next morning they set off, and before they had gone far, six men suddenly jumped out of the woods beside the road…