The Birth of the Monkey King

The deeds of this marvellous creature, the hero of the Hsi yu chi, appear continually in Chinese popular literature and remain vivid in people’s minds.are to be met with continually in Chinese popular literature, and they are very much alive in the popular mind. In some regions he is regularly worshippedcertain parts a regular worship is offered to him, and in many temples representations of or legends concerning him are to be seen or heard.

Sun Hou-tzŭ is also known as:Other names by which Sun Hou-tzŭ is referred to are: Sun Hsing-chê, Sun Wu-k’ung, Mei Hou-wang, Ch’i-t’ien Ta Shêng, and Pi-ma Wên. The last of these was a title that annoyed him because it reminded him of the mocking honour Yü Huang had given him., the last-mentioned being a title which caused him annoyance by recalling the derisive dignity conferred upon him by Yü Huang. Throughout the rest of this chapter, Sun Hou-tzŭ will be called ‘Sun’ for short.remainder of this chapter Sun Hou-tzŭ will be shortly referred to as ‘Sun.’

Beyond the seas, in the Eastern continent, in the kingdom of Ao-lai, is the mountain Hua-kuo Shan. On the steep sides of this mountain there is a rocky point 36 feet 5 inches high and 24 feet in circumference. At the very top an egg formed, and, made fertilefructified by the breath of the wind, gave birth to a stone monkey. The newborn greetednewly-born saluted the four points of the horizon; from his eyes shone golden streaks of lightning, which filled the palace of the North Pole Star with light. This light faded as soon as he was able to eat and drink.subsided as soon as he was able to take nourishment.

“TodayTo-day,” said Yü Huang to himself, “I am going to complete the wonderful diversity of the beings brought into existenceengendered by Heaven and earth. This monkey will skip and gambol to the highest peaks of mountains, jump about in the waters, and, eating the fruit of the trees, will be the companion of the gibbon and the crane. Like the deer he will pass his nights on the mountain slopes, and during the day will be seen leaping on their summits or in their caverns. That will be the finest ornament of all for the mountains!”

The creature’s exploits soon caused him to be proclaimed king of the monkeys. He then began to try to find some means of becoming immortal. After travelling for eighteen years by land and sea he met the Immortal P’u-t’i Tsu-shih on the mountain Ling-t’ai-fang-ts’un. During his travels the monkey had gradually acquired human attributes; his face remained always as it had been originally, but dressed in human clothesapparel he began to be civilized. His new master gave him the family name of Sun and givenSun, and personal name of Wu-k’ung, ‘Discoverer of Secrets.’ He taught him how to fly through the air, and to change into seventy-two different forms. With one leap he could cover 108,000 li (about 36,000 miles).