ght Zhu Bajie, then one to fight Sun the Novice and finally one to fight Friar Sand. This way you’ll only have to spare three junior devils to draw the three disciples away. Then Your Majesty will be able to stretch down from mid-air with your cloud-grabbing hand to catch the Tang Priest. He’ll be in the bag. It’ll be as easy as catching flies in a dish of fish juice. Nothing to it.”

This suggestion delighted the demon king, who said, “What a brilliant plan, brilliant! If I don’t catch the Tang Priest this way, that’ll be that. But if I do I can assure you you’ll be richly rewarded. I’ll make you commander of the vanguard.” The junior devil kowtowed to thank him for his grace and went off to call the roll of the devils. After all the monsters in the cave had been carefully checked through, three capable junior devils were selected. They turned into the senior devil’s doubles and went to lie in wait for the Tang Priest with their iron maces.

The venerable Tang elder meanwhile was following Pig along the way without a care in the world. When they had been going for some time there was a crashing sound from beside the track and out leapt a junior devil who rushed straight at them, evidently to grab Sanzang. “The evil spirit’s here, Pig,” Monkey shouted. “Get him!”

The idiot, who was taken in by the imposture, hacked wildly at the devil with his rake. The evil spirit parried Pig’s blows with his mace as he met the onslaught. While the battle between the pair of them ebbed and flowed on the mountainside there was a noise in the undergrowth as another monster sprang out and charged at the Tang Priest.

“This is bad, Master,” said Monkey. “Pig can’t see straight. He’s let the monster escape to catch you. I’m going to fight him.” Pulling his cudgel out in a flash, he went up to the monster, shouting, “Where d’you think you’re going? Take this!”

Without saying a word the evil spirit raised his mace to meet the attack. But while the two of them were locked in combat, swinging at each other, there was a howling wind from the other side of the mountain and a third evil spirit sprang out who also rushed straight at the Tang Priest. When Friar Sand saw it he exclaimed in alarm, “Master, big brother and second brother both can’t see straight. They’ve let the evil spirit get away to catch you. Stay on the horse while I get him.”

Friar Sand was taken in too. Brandishing his staff he blocked the evil spirit’s iron mace and started a bitter combat. It was a wild fight with shouts and awful yells, and they drew further and further away. When the demon king saw from up in the sky that the Tang Priest was alone on the horse he reached down with his five-clawed steel hook and seized him. The master lost horse and stirrups as the evil spirit carried him off in a gust of wind. Alas! This was a case of

When the dhyana-nature encountered a monster the true achievement was hard;

The monk of the river current met once more with a star of disaster.

Bringing his wind down to land, the demon king took the Tang Priest into the cave and called, “Commander of the vanguard!”

The junior devil who had made the plan came forward, knelt and said, “I am not worthy.”

“How can you say that?” the demon king replied. “Once the commander-in-chief has spoken, white becomes black. What I said before was that if I failed to catch the Tang Priest, that would be that; but that if I succeeded I’d make you my commander of the vanguard. Your brilliant plan has succeeded today, so there is no reason why I should break faith with you. Bring the Tang Priest here and tell the underlings to fetch water, scrub the cooking pot, fetch some firewood and light the fire. When he’s been steamed you and I will each have a piece of his flesh and live for ever.”

“Your Majesty,” the commander of the vanguard replied, “he mustn’t be eaten yet.”

“Why ever not?” the demon king asked. “We’ve captured him.”

“It wouldn’t matter if you ate him, Your Majesty,” said the commander of the vanguard, “as far as Zhu Bajie and Friar Sand are concerned. They would be reasonable. But I’m worried about that Sun the Novice: he’d be really vicious. If he found out we’d eaten the Tang Priest he wouldn’t come to give us a straight fight. He’d just thrust that gold-banded cudgel of his into the mountainside and make a hole so big that the whole mountain would collapse. We’d be homeless.”

“What do you suggest, commander of the vanguard?” the demon king asked.

“In my opinion,” the commander replied, “we should send the Tang Priest out to the back garden, tie him to a tree, and starve him for two or three days. That will clean him up inside and let us make sure that the three disciples don’t come here looking for him. Once we’ve found out that they’ve gone home we can bring the Tang Priest out and enjoy him at our leisure. That’d be better, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes, yes,” the senior demon said with a laugh. “You’re right, commander of the vanguard.”

An order was issued and the Tang Priest taken into the back garden to be roped to a tree, while all the junior devils went out to the front to keep watch. Look at the venerable elder as he suffers in his bonds, tied up

tightly and unable to stop the tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Disciples,” he called, “where did you chase those demons to when you went to capture them in the mountains? I have been captured by a wicked ogre and have met with disaster. When will I ever see you again? The pain is killing me.”

Just when the tears from both eyes were joining in a single stream he heard someone calling from a tree opposite, “Venerable elder, you’re here too.”

Taking control of himself, the Tang Priest asked, “Who are you?”

“I’m a woodcutter who lives on this mountain,” the other replied. “I’ve been tied up here for three days. I reckon they’re going to eat me.”

“Woodcutter,” said the Tang Priest with tears in his eyes, “If you die it will only be you. You have nothing else to worry about. But if I die it won’t be a clean end.”

“What do you mean, it won’t be a clean end, venerable elder?” the woodcutter asked. “You have no parents, wife or children, so if you die that’ll be that.”

“I am from the East,” the Tang Priest replied, “and was going to fetch the scriptures from the Western Heaven. I was going on the orders of Emperor Taizong of the Tang to worship the living Buddha and fetch the true scriptures. This was to save all the lonely souls in the underworld who have nobody to care for them. If I lose my life today the vain waiting will kill my sovereign and I will let down his ministers. Countless wronged souls in the City of the Unjustly Slain will suffer a terrible disappointment and never ever be able to escape from the wheel of life. The true achievement will all be turned to dust in the wind. How can that possibly be considered a clean end?”

When the woodcutter heard this the tears fell from his eyes as he said, “If you die that is all there to it. But my death will be even more painful for me to bear. I lost my father when I was a boy, and live alone with my mother. Because we had no property I have had to make our living as a woodcutter. My aged mother is eighty-two this year and I am her only support. If I die who will there be to bury her? It’s very hard to bear: the pain of it is killing me.”

When the venerable elder heard this he began to wail aloud, “Oh dear, oh dear,

Even the mountain man thinks of his mother;

I am reciting the sutras in vain.

Serving one’s monarch and serving one’s parents are both the same in principle. You are moved by your mother’s goodness to you and I by my sovereign lord’s goodness to me.” This was indeed a case of

Weeping eyes looking at eyes that weep,

A heartbroken one who sees off one with a broken heart.

But we will say no more of Sanzang’s sufferings as we return to Monkey, who after driving the junior devil back down the grassy slope rushed back to the track to find that his master had disappeared. All that was left were the white horse and the luggage. In his alarm he led the horse and shouldered the carrying-pole as he headed for the top of the mountain in his search for the master. Oh dear! Indeed:

The long-suffering monk of the river current had met with new suffering;

The Great Sage, subduer of demons, had run into a demon.

If you do not know how his search for his master ended, listen to the explanation in the next installment.