Monkey Read Online Free PDF Page B

‘Stop!’he called, ‘I’ve got a message for you to take. Say that the master of the Water Curtain Cave is here. The Demon of Havoc, or whatever he is called, who lives here, has been ill-treating my little ones and I have come on purpose to settle natters with him.’
    They rushed into the cave and cried out, ‘Great King, a terrible thing has happened!’
    ‘What’s the matter?’ said the demon.
    ‘Outside the cave,’ they said, ‘there is a monkey-headed creature who says he is the owner of the Water Curtain Cave. He says you have been ill-using his people and he has come on purpose to settle matters with you.’
    ‘Ha, ha,’ laughed the demon. ‘I have often heard those monkeys say that their king had gone away to learn religion. This means that he’s come back again. What does he look like and how is he armed ?’
    ‘He carries no weapon at all,’ they said. ‘He goes bareheaded, wears a red dress, with a yellow sash, and black shoes – neither priest nor layman nor quite like a Taoist. He’s waiting naked-handed outside the gate.’
    ‘Bring me my whole accoutrement,’ cried the demon.
    The small imps at once fetched his arms. The demon put on his helmet and breastplate, grasped his sword, and going to the gate with the little imps, cried in a loud voice, ‘Where’s the owner of the Water Curtain Cave ?’
    ‘What’s the use of having such large eyes,’ shouted Monkey, ‘if you can’t see old Monkey ?’
    Catching sight of him the demon burst out laughing. ‘You’re not a foot high or as much as thirty years old. You have no weapon in your hand! How dare you strut about talking of settling accounts with me ?’
    ‘Cursed demon,’ said Monkey. ‘After all, you have no eyes in your head! You say I am small, not seeing that I can make myself as tall as I please. You say I am unarmed, not knowing that these two hands of mine could drag the moon from the ends of Heaven. Stand your ground, and eat old Monkey’s fist!’
    So saying he leapt into the air and aimed a blow at the demon’s face. The demon parried the blow with his hand.
    ‘You such a pigmy and I so tall!’ said the demon. ‘You using your fists and I my sword – Nol If I were to slay you with my sword I should make myself ridiculous. I am going to throw away my sword and use my naked fists.’
    ‘Very good,’ said Monkey. ‘Now, my fine fellow, come onl’
    The demon relaxed his guard and struck. Monkey closed with him, and the two of them pommelled and kicked, blow for blow. A long reach is not so firm and sure as a short one. Monkey jabbed the demon in the lower ribs, pounded him in the chest, and gave him such a heavy drubbing that at last the demon stood back, and picking up his great flat sword, slashed at Monkey’s head. But Monkey stepped swiftly aside, and the blow missed its mark. Seeing that the demon was becoming savage, Monkey now used the method called Body Outside the Body. He plucked out a handful of hairs, bit them into small pieces, and then spat them out into the air, crying ‘Change!’ The fragments of hair changed into several hundred small monkeys, all pressing round in a throng. For you must know that when anyone becomes an Immortal, he can project his soul, change his shape, and perform all kinds of miracles. Monkey, since his Illumination, could change every one of the eighty-four thousand hairs of his body into whatever he chose. The little monkeys he had now created were so nimble that no sword could touch them or spear wound them. See how they leap forward and jump back, crowd round the demon, some hugging, some pulling, some jabbing at his chest, some swarming up his legs. They kicked him, beat him, pommelled his eyes, pinched his nose, and while they were all at it, Monkey slipped up and snatched away the Demon’s sword. Then pushing through the throng of small monkeys, he raised the sword and brought it down with such tremendous force upon the demon’s skull, that he clove it in twain.