紧箍咒
The Tightening Spell
Name: ________________ Date: ________
原来是六个强盗。唐僧吓得从马背上掉了下来，悟空却一点儿也不怕，笑着说：“好啊，我正缺钱用。把你们抢来的东西拿出来，也分我一份吧！”强盗们气坏了，拿起刀就往他头上砍，砍了几十下，悟空却一点儿事也没有。他从耳朵里拿出金箍棒，一棒一个，把六个强盗全打死了。
唐僧的脸都白了：“你怎么能杀人呢？我们出家人，走路都怕踩死蚂蚁，你一下子就打死了六个人！他们就算是强盗，也不应该死。你这样做，怎么能去西天取经？”他一路上说个不停。
悟空最受不了别人在耳边说个没完。他生气地说：“既然你觉得我做不了和尚，去不了西天，那我就回去了！”说完，他翻了一个筋斗，就不见了。唐僧一个人坐在路边，又伤心又孤单。
悟空飞到东海，去龙宫找老朋友东海龙王喝茶。龙王说：“听说大圣已经出来了，恭喜你！怎么不保护师父，反而到我这里来了？”悟空就把打死强盗、师父生气的事说了一遍。这时，他看见墙上挂着一幅画：一个老人坐在桥上，鞋掉到了桥下，一个年轻人正在帮他捡鞋。龙王说：“这个年轻人叫张良。那老人三次把鞋扔到桥下，张良三次都去捡回来，还很客气地给他穿上。老人觉得他有耐心，就把兵书传给了他。后来，张良成了一个了不起的人。大圣，你要是不保护唐僧，不肯吃苦，就永远只是一个妖仙。”悟空听了，想了很久，说：“好吧，我回去！”
就在悟空离开的时候，一个老太太来到唐僧面前，送给他一件衣服和一顶花帽。她说：“你那个徒弟要是不听话，就让他戴上这顶帽子，再念这段咒语，他就不敢不听你的了。”这段咒语叫“紧箍咒”，唐僧把它念了好几遍，记在心里。老太太一转身，变成一道金光，往东飞去了。唐僧这才知道，她就是观音菩萨。
悟空回来以后，唐僧没有告诉他帽子的事，只说自己饿了，让他从包里拿点儿吃的。悟空打开包，看见了那件衣服和那顶花帽，就问：“这是哪里来的？”唐僧说：“是我小时候穿戴的。戴上这顶帽子，不用学就会念经。”悟空一听，马上把衣服穿上，把帽子戴在了头上。
唐僧轻轻地念起了紧箍咒。悟空马上抱着头大叫：“头疼！头疼！”他在地上滚来滚去，想把帽子摘下来，却发现帽子已经不见了，头上多了一个金箍，像长在肉里一样，怎么拉也拉不下来。
唐僧一停，悟空的头就不疼了；唐僧一念，他又疼得满地打滚。悟空大叫：“一定是观音菩萨害我！我去找她！”唐僧说：“这咒语是她教的，她当然也会念。”悟空没办法，只好跪下来说：“师父，我再也不敢了，以后一定听您的！”
从此，悟空真的听话多了——至少大部分时候是这样。师徒二人继续往西走，来到一条很深的山涧前。忽然，水里冒出一个巨大的东西……
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 掉 | diào | to fall; to drop |
| 缺 | quē | to lack; to be short of |
| 份 | fèn | portion; share |
| 气 | qì | air; gas |
| 刀 | dāo | knife; blade; sword |
| 全 | quán | whole; all; entire; complete; completely; entirely |
| 死 | sǐ | to die; dead |
| 伤心 | shāngxīn | sad; heartbroken |
| 保护 | bǎohù | to protect; to safeguard; protection |
| 挂 | guà | to hang; to put up |
| 幅 | fú | width (of cloth); size (as in 幅度) |
| 抢 | qiǎng | to snatch; to grab; to rob |
English (for the teacher)
They were six robbers. The Tang Monk was so frightened he fell off his horse, but Wukong wasn't the least bit afraid. He laughed and said: "Good, I happen to be short of money. Bring out what you've stolen and give me a share too!" The robbers were furious and hacked at his head with their knives, dozens of times, but Wukong wasn't hurt at all. He took the golden-hooped staff out of his ear and, one blow each, killed all six robbers.
The Tang Monk's face went white: "How could you kill people? We monks are afraid even of stepping on an ant, and you've killed six people in one go! Even if they were robbers, they didn't deserve to die. How can you go to the West for the scriptures, behaving like this?" He kept on and on about it all along the road.
Wukong couldn't stand people going on at him without end. He said angrily: "Since you think I can't be a monk and can't get to the West, I'll just go back!" With that he turned a somersault and was gone. The Tang Monk sat alone by the road, sad and lonely.
Wukong flew to the East Sea and went to the dragon palace to have tea with his old friend the East Sea Dragon King. The Dragon King said: "I hear you're free now, Great Sage. Congratulations! But why have you come here instead of protecting your master?" So Wukong told him all about killing the robbers and his master getting angry. Just then he noticed a painting on the wall: an old man sitting on a bridge, his shoe fallen under it, and a young man picking it up for him. The Dragon King said: "That young man is Zhang Liang. Three times the old man threw his shoe under the bridge, and three times Zhang Liang fetched it and politely put it back on him. The old man saw that he was patient, and passed his book on warfare on to him. Zhang Liang later became a great man. Great Sage, if you won't protect the Tang Monk and won't put up with hardship, you'll never be more than a demon immortal." Wukong listened, thought for a long time, and said: "All right, I'll go back!"
While Wukong was away, an old woman had come up to the Tang Monk and given him a robe and a flowered cap. She said: "If that disciple of yours won't behave, have him put on this cap, then recite this spell, and he won't dare disobey you." The spell was called the Tightening Spell, and the Tang Monk recited it several times until he knew it by heart. The old woman turned around, became a ray of golden light and flew off to the east. Only then did the Tang Monk realise she was Guanyin.
When Wukong came back, the Tang Monk said nothing about the cap; he only said he was hungry and told him to get something to eat from the bag. Wukong opened the bag, saw the robe and the flowered cap, and asked: "Where did these come from?" The Tang Monk said: "I wore them when I was little. Put on the cap, and you can chant the scriptures without learning them." As soon as Wukong heard that, he put on the robe and put the cap on his head.
The Tang Monk softly began to recite the Tightening Spell. At once Wukong clutched his head and screamed: "My head! My head!" He rolled about on the ground and tried to pull the cap off, but found the cap was gone. Instead there was a golden band around his head, as if it had grown into his flesh, and however hard he pulled it wouldn't come off.
When the Tang Monk stopped, Wukong's head stopped hurting; when he recited again, Wukong rolled all over the ground in pain. Wukong yelled: "It must be Guanyin who did this to me! I'll go and get her!" The Tang Monk said: "She taught me the spell, so of course she can recite it too." Wukong had no choice but to kneel and say: "Master, I'll never dare do it again. From now on I'll always do as you say!"
From then on Wukong really did behave much better — most of the time, at least. Master and disciple went on west and came to a deep gorge. Suddenly, something huge rose up out of the water…