are we going East?”

“You wouldn’t know,” said Monkey. “That girl who was tied up in the Black Pine Forest the other day—I saw through her with my fiery eyes and golden pupils, but you all thought she was a good person. And now it’s her who’s eaten the monks and her who’s carried the master off. You all did a fine thing rescuing that ‘lady Bodhisattva’. As she’s carried the master off we’re going back the way we came to look for her.”

“Good, good,” sighed the other two with admiration. “You’re much cleverer than you look. Let’s go.”

The three of them hurried back into the forest, where this was what could be seen:

Piles of cloud,

Heavy mists,

Many a layer of rock,

A twisting path.

The tracks of foxes and hares cross each other;

Tiger, leopard, jackal and wolf move in and out of the undergrowth.

With no sign of a monster to be seen in the wood

They do not know where Sanzang might be found.

In his anxiety Monkey pulled out his cudgel, shook himself and made himself look as he had when he made great havoc in Heaven, with three heads, six arms and six hands wielding three cudgels. With these he lashed out furiously and noisily among the trees.

“Friar Sand,” said Pig when he saw this, “not finding the master has made him go off his head.” In fact Monkey had beat a way through the trees and flushed out two old men—the mountain god and the local deity—who went up to him, knelt down and said, “Great Sage, the god of this mountain and the local deity pay their respects.”

“That rod certainly gets results,” said Pig. “He clears a path with it and flushes out the mountain god and the local deity. If he cleared another path he’d even flush out an evil star.”

“Mountain god, local deity,” said Monkey, “you’re a disgrace. You’re hand in glove with the bandits here. When they make a good haul they buy pigs and sheep to sacrifice to you. On top of that you’re accomplices of the evil spirit. You helped her kidnap my master and bring him here. Where’s he being hidden? If you want to be spared a beating tell me the truth right now.”

“Great Sage,” the two gods said with alarm, “you are misjudging us. The evil spirit doesn’t live on our mountain or come within our jurisdiction. But when the wind blows at night we have heard a thing or two about her.”

“Tell me everything you know,” said Monkey.

“The evil spirit carried your master off to a place over three hundred miles due South of here,” the local deity replied. “There’s a mountain there called Mount Pitfall with a cave in it called the Bottomless Cave. He was taken there by a disguised evil spirit from that cave.” This news gave Monkey a shock that he did not reveal.

Shouting at the mountain god and the local deity to dismiss them he put his magical appearance away, turned back into himself and said to Pig and Friar Sand, “The master’s a long way from here.”

“If it’s a long way let’s go there by cloud,” Pig replied.

The splendid idiot went ahead on a wild wind followed by Friar Sand on a cloud. As the white horse had originally been a dragon’s son he too came by wind and mist as he carried the luggage on his back. The Great Sage set off by somersault as he headed due South, and before long a high mountain came into view that was blocking the way for the clouds.

The three of them took hold of the horse and stopped their clouds. This is what the mountain looked like:

The summit touched the azure sky,

Its peaks joined with the blue of the heavens.

Trees by the million grew on every side,

While flying birds sung noisily all around.

Tigers and leopards moved in packs,

Water deer and roebuck walked through the bushes.

On the Southern slopes rare flowers bloomed fragrant;

On the Northern side the snow never melted.

Steep and craggy were its ridges,

Sheer were its overhangs and rockfaces.

Pinnacles shot straight up

And deep ravines curved all around.

It was dark green among the pines,

And the rocks were jagged.

It struck fear into the traveler’s heart.

No sign could be seen of woodcutters,

And the immortal boys picking herbs had vanished.

The tigers and leopards here could make mists,

And all the foxes set winds roaring.

“Brother,” said Pig, “this mountain’s so high and sheer there must be evil on it.”

“Goes without saying,” Monkey replied. “High mountains all have monsters; there’s never a steep ridge without spirits. Friar Sand,” he called, “you and I are going to stay here while we send Pig into the mountain hollows to look around and find out the best way for us to take. If there really is a cave palace he must discover where the entrance is. Find everything out so that we can go in together to find the master and rescue him.”

“Just my lousy luck,” said Pig, “having to go first and take the brunt.”

“Last night you said we could leave it all to you,” Monkey replied, “so why are you trying to get out of it now?”

“Stop shouting at me,” Pig said. “I’m going.” The idiot put down his rake, tugged at his clothes and leapt empty-handed down from the mountain to find the path.

If you don’t know whether this departure was to be for good or ill listen to the explanation in the next installment.