齐天大圣
Great Sage Equal to Heaven
Name: ________________ Date: ________
孙悟空当上弼马温以后，在御马监干得十分卖力。他白天喂马，夜里守马，把天上的千匹好马养得又胖又精神。不到半个月，那些马一匹比一匹胖，悟空心里别提多得意了。
这天，手下的小官们请他喝酒庆祝。喝到一半，悟空忽然问：“我这个弼马温，到底是几品官？”大家回答：“没有品级。”悟空说：“没有品级？那一定是大到头了！”大家哈哈大笑：“正相反，是小到头了，根本不入流！就算把马喂得再胖，也只能听到一句‘好’；要是马瘦了，还要受罚呢。”
悟空一听，气得跳了起来：“老孙在花果山做大王，他们竟然骗我来养马！不干了，不干了！”他一把推倒桌子，从耳朵里取出金箍棒，一路打出南天门，天兵天将谁也挡不住他。
回到花果山，猴子们纷纷围上来：“大王，您去了十几年，一定做了大官吧？”悟空奇怪地说：“我才去了半个月，怎么就十几年了？”原来天上一日，人间一年。听说大王在天上养马，猴子们气坏了：“您这么厉害，怎么能给他们养马！”
正说着，两个独角鬼王前来拜见，说：“大王神通广大，为什么要给人养马？不如就叫‘齐天大圣’，和天一样大！”悟空听了非常高兴，叫猴子们做了一面大旗，高高挂在洞口，上面写着四个大字：齐天大圣。
玉皇大帝知道后十分生气，马上下令，让托塔李天王和他的儿子哪吒带着天兵去抓这只猴子。
打头阵的是巨灵神。他举着一把大斧，在洞外大喊：“小猴子，快出来投降！”悟空笑道：“你个子不小，可惜没什么本领。”说完举起金箍棒就打，一下子把巨灵神的大斧打断了，吓得他赶紧逃了回去。
哪吒见了，大喝一声：“变！”立刻变成三头六臂，六只手里拿着六件武器，朝悟空冲了过来。悟空也喊一声：“变！”同样变成三头六臂，金箍棒也变成了三根，迎了上去。两人打来打去，谁也赢不了谁。悟空想了个办法：他悄悄拔下一根毛，变成自己的样子继续跟哪吒打，真身却绕到哪吒背后，举起金箍棒，打中了他的左胳膊。哪吒疼得受不了，只好逃走了。
李天王见赢不了，只好回到天宫，请玉帝多派些兵。这时，太白金星又出了个主意：“这猴子只知道打打闹闹，不如就封他做‘齐天大圣’。只给他一个名号，不给他俸禄，也不让他管事，把他留在天上，他就不会再闹了。”玉帝点头同意。
悟空听说天上承认了他的名号，高高兴兴地飞回了天上。玉帝为他造了一座齐天大圣府，还派了两个小官照顾他。从此，悟空每天不干正事，东游西逛，今天跟这个称兄道弟，明天找那个喝酒聊天。
有人担心他闲久了会生事，玉帝便把蟠桃园交给他管。土地公告诉他：园里的桃子，前边的三千年成熟一次，吃了能成仙；中间的六千年成熟一次，吃了能长生不老；后边的九千年成熟一次，吃了能和天地一样长寿。悟空看着满树又大又红的桃子，咽了咽口水：自己的肚子，正好有点饿了……
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 天上 | tiānshàng | in the sky; in heaven |
| 匹 | pǐ | classifier for horses, mules and bolts of cloth |
| 精神 | jīngshen | spirit; mind |
| 品 | pǐn | article; product |
| 骗 | piàn | to deceive; to lie to; to cheat; to swindle |
| 一路 | yílù | all the way; throughout the journey |
| 挡 | dǎng | gear (of a car) |
| 猴子 | hóuzi | monkey |
| 纷纷 | fēnfēn | one after another; in succession |
| 围 | wéi | to surround; to encircle |
| 前来 | qiánlái | to come; to come over |
| 洞 | dòng | hole; cave |
English (for the teacher)
After Sun Wukong became Keeper of the Heavenly Horses, he worked extremely hard in the Imperial Stables. He fed the horses by day and guarded them by night, and he made heaven's thousand fine horses fat and full of life. In less than half a month the horses were each fatter than the last, and Wukong was terribly pleased with himself.
One day the junior officials under him invited him to a drink to celebrate. Halfway through, Wukong suddenly asked: "This Keeper of the Heavenly Horses post of mine, what rank is it exactly?" They answered: "It has no rank." Wukong said: "No rank? Then it must be as high as it goes!" Everyone roared with laughter: "Quite the opposite, it's as low as it goes, not even on the list! Feed the horses as fat as you like and all you'll hear is 'good'; if a horse gets thin, you get punished."
At this Wukong leapt up in a rage: "Old Sun is a king on Flower Fruit Mountain, and they tricked me into raising horses! I quit, I quit!" He shoved the table over, took the golden-hooped staff out of his ear, and fought his way out through the Southern Gate of Heaven; none of heaven's soldiers and generals could stop him.
Back on Flower Fruit Mountain, the monkeys crowded around him: "Your Majesty, you've been gone more than ten years, you must have become a great official!" Wukong said, puzzled: "I was only gone half a month, how can it be more than ten years?" It turned out that one day in heaven is one year among humans. When they heard their king had been raising horses in heaven, the monkeys were furious: "You're so amazing, how could you raise horses for them!"
Just then two one-horned demon kings came to pay their respects and said: "Your Majesty, your powers are boundless, so why raise horses for anyone? Why not call yourself 'Great Sage Equal to Heaven', as great as heaven itself!" Wukong was delighted, and had the monkeys make a big banner and hang it high at the mouth of the cave, with four large characters on it: Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
When the Jade Emperor found out, he was furious and at once gave the order for Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King Li and his son Nezha to lead heaven's soldiers down and catch the monkey.
The first to attack was the Giant Spirit God. Holding up a huge axe, he bellowed outside the cave: "Little monkey, come out and surrender!" Wukong laughed: "You're big enough, but it's a pity you can't fight." With that he raised his golden-hooped staff and struck, snapping the Giant Spirit God's axe in one blow, and the god fled back in fright.
When Nezha saw this, he roared: "Change!" At once he had three heads and six arms, with six weapons in his six hands, and he came charging at Wukong. Wukong shouted too: "Change!" He also grew three heads and six arms, his staff became three staffs, and he went to meet him. The two fought back and forth, and neither could beat the other. Then Wukong had an idea: he quietly plucked out a hair and turned it into a copy of himself to keep fighting Nezha, while his real self slipped round behind Nezha, raised his staff and struck him on the left arm. Nezha couldn't bear the pain and had to flee.
Seeing he couldn't win, Heavenly King Li had to go back to the Heavenly Palace and ask the Jade Emperor for more soldiers. Then the Great White Planet had another idea: "This monkey only knows how to fight and make trouble, so why not just make him 'Great Sage Equal to Heaven'? Give him the title but no salary, don't let him be in charge of anything, and keep him up in heaven, and he won't make any more trouble." The Jade Emperor nodded and agreed.
When Wukong heard that heaven accepted his title, he flew happily back up to heaven. The Jade Emperor built him a Mansion of the Great Sage Equal to Heaven and sent two junior officials to look after him. From then on, Wukong did no real work every day, wandering east and west, calling one immortal his brother today and drinking and chatting with another tomorrow.
Someone worried that if he stayed idle too long he would make trouble, so the Jade Emperor put him in charge of the Peach Garden. The Earth God told him about the peaches in the garden: the ones in front ripen once in three thousand years and make you an immortal; the ones in the middle ripen once in six thousand years and let you live forever; and the ones at the back ripen once in nine thousand years and let you live as long as heaven and earth. Wukong looked at the trees full of big red peaches and swallowed hard: his stomach, as it happened, was feeling a little empty...