Then Your Majesty will sit in the place of honour while we, your kinsfolk, play music, sing and dance around you and wait on you; and you will be able to take your pleasure at your ease. Wouldn’t that be best?” The monster accepted the suggestion and had Sanzang stored away in a six-foot-long stone chest behind the palace.

Pig and Friar Sand meanwhile recovered the luggage in the river, loaded it on the back of the white horse, and swam up through the waves as they parted the waters. When Monkey saw them from up in the air he asked, “Where’s the master?”

“He’s not the Tang Priest now,” said Pig. “He’s the Drowned Priest. We can’t find him anywhere, so let’s go back ashore and decide what to do.” Now Pig was a mortal incarnation of Marshal Tian Peng who had once commanded eighty thousand sailors on the Heavenly River in the sky, Friar Sand had come from the Flowing Sands River, and the white horse was the grandson of the Dragon King of the Western Ocean, so they were all good swimmers. With the Great Sage showing them the way from mid-air they were soon back at the Eastern bank, where they dried and brushed the horse and wrung out their clothes.

Monkey then landed his cloud, and they went back together to the Chen household, where a messenger had already reported that only three of the four venerable gentlemen who were going to fetch the scriptures were now returning. The two aged brothers hurried outside to meet them.

“Gentlemen,” they said, seeing their wet clothes, “we tried so hard to persuade you to stay longer, and look what has come of your refusal. Where is the venerable Tang Priest?”

“He isn’t the Tang Priest any more,” said Pig. “He’s the Drowned Priest.”

“Alas, alas,” said the aged brothers, bursting into tears. “We said that you should wait until the snow had melted and we could send you all across in a boat, but he refused to agree, and now he’s dead.”

“Old men,” said Monkey, “don’t upset yourselves over your friend. I can assure you that the master will not die. I’m certain that the Great King of Miraculous Response has captured him by magic. So stop worrying, have our clothes washed and starched, our passport dried out, and the white horse fed. My brothers and I will find the damned creature, rescue the master, and wipe this evil monster out. Then he’ll give you village no more trouble and you will, I hope, have a safe and peaceful future.” Old Mr. Chen, greatly encouraged to hear this, ordered a vegetarian meal to be provided.

The three brothers ate their fill, handed the horse and the luggage over to the care of the Chen household, got their weapons ready, and hurried off to find their master and catch the monster. Indeed:

The true nature was harmed by treading on the ice;

How could they be complete without the Cinnabar?

If you do not know how they rescued the Tang Priest listen to the explanation in the next installment.