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“I'm very grateful, Great Sage,” said the river god.
Monkey went by somersault cloud straight to the Western Ocean, where he landed, made water-repelling magic with his hands, and parted the waves. He saw a black fish spirit who was carrying a golden invitation box shoot upstream like an arrow. Monkey met him head-on and smashed his skull open with a single blow of his iron cudgel, sending the poor spirit's brains flying and splitting his cheeks apart, and with a loud noise it emerged from the water. Monkey opened the box and found in it an invitation that read:
Your Excellency Second Uncle Ao,
Your nephew Tuo Jie bows in greeting and is deeply grateful for your kind regards. Today I have captured two priests from the East who are great rarities. Not daring to consume them myself, and remembering that your birthday is imminent, I have arranged a simple banquet to wish you eternal life. I beg that you honour me with your illustrious presence.
“That fellow has given me all the evidence I need for my case,” chuckled Monkey, tucking the invitation in his sleeve and carrying on his way. By then a yaksha patrolling the sea had noticed Monkey and rushed straight back to the crystal palace to report to the dragon king, “Lord Monkey, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, is here.”
The dragon king Ao Shun led his watery tribe from the palace to welcome Monkey: “Great Sage, won't you come into my humble palace for a while and take a cup of tea?”
“I've never had a single cup of your tea,” said Monkey, “but you've drunk my wine before now.”
To this the dragon king replied with a smile, “Great Sage, you have always been a faithful follower of the Buddha and have never touched meat or alcohol. You've never invited me to drinks.”
“You may never have been over for drinks, but you're already in trouble for being a boozer,” said Monkey.
“How am I in trouble?” asked Ao Shun with horror. Monkey produced the invitation and handed it to the dragon king.
At the sight of this the dragon king was scared out of his wits. He fell to his knees in panic, kowtowed and said, “Forgive me, Great Sage. That awful boy is my younger sister's ninth son. My brother-in-law, her husband, sent the wrong amount of wind and cut down on the rain. A heavenly edict was sent to the human prime minister Wei Zheng, who beheaded him in a dream. I brought my sister here because she had nowhere else to live and bring the boy up. Two years ago a disease killed her, and as the boy was then homeless I sent him to nourish his nature and cultivate the truth in the Black River. I never imagined he'd commit such terrible sins, and now I'll send people to arrest him.”
“How many fine sons did your sister have?” asked Monkey. “Are they all monsters?”
“Nine,” the dragon king replied. “The other eight have turned out well. The eldest is the Little Yellow Dragon, and he lives in the Huai River. The second is the Little Black Dragon who lives in the River Ji. The third is the Blue-backed Dragon who occupies the Yangtse. The Red-whiskered Dragon is the fourth son, and he holds the Yellow River. The fifth is the Vain-effort Dragon who looks after the bell for the Lord Buddha. Guardian Dragon is the sixth, and he sits guarding the roof of the Heavenly Palace. Respectful Dragon is the seventh; he holds up the winged column at the Jade Emperor's court. The eighth is Clam Dragon who lives with my eldest brother on Mount Tai. The youngest, Alligator Dragon, has had no particular duties since he is still young. He was only sent to the Black River to nourish his nature last year. He hasn't yet won himself any fame or been transferred and given a job elsewhere. I never expected that he would disobey me by offending you, Great Sage.”
When Monkey heard this he laughed and said, “How many husbands has your sister had?”
“Only one,” Ao Shun replied, “the Dragon King of the Jing River. After his execution she lived here as a widow until she died of an illness the year before last.”
“How could one husband and one wife have had so many little bastards?” Monkey asked.
“It's as the saying goes, there are nine kinds of dragons born, and each one is different,” Ao Shun replied.
“I lost my patience just now,” said Monkey. “With this invitation as evidence I was going to submit a complaint to the Heavenly Court and charge you with conspiring with a monster to kidnap. But from what you tell me the wretch refused to follow your advice, so I'll let you off this time, partly out of respect for your elder brother and partly because that wretch is too young to know any better. Besides, you didn't know what was happening. But you must send someone at once to arrest him and rescue my master. Then we'll decide what to do.”
Ao Shun then told his son Mo'ang, “Take five hundred of our strongest prawn and fish soldiers to arrest and charge Alligator immediately. At the same time arrange a banquet as an apology to the Great Sage.”
“There's no need to worry so, Your Majesty,” said Monkey. “I've already told you I'll let you off, so why bother with the banquet? But I would like to go with your son as my master has been wronged and my fellow-disciples are waiting for me.”
The dragon king tried hard to make him stay, but without success. Then a dragon maiden came in with tea, a cup of which Monkey drank standing up before taking his leave of the old dragon and leaving the Western Sea with Mo'ang and his troops. Soon they were back at the Black River, where Monkey said, “Catch the demon, Your Royal Highness, while I wait on the bank.”
“Don't worry, Great Sage,” said Mo'ang. “I'll arrest him show him to you, Great Sage, to sentence and punish, and return your master to you. Only then will I take him back to the ocean and see my father.”
Monkey took leave of him cheerfully, recited the water-repelling spell and made it with his hands, sprang out of the waves, and made straight for the East bank, where Friar Sand and the river god said, “When you went it was by air, so why have you come back from under the water?” Monkey told them all about how he had killed the fish spirit, taken the invitation, charged the dragon king, and brought soldiers back with the dragon prince. Friar Sand was very pleased, and they all stood on the bank waiting.
Prince Mo'ang sent a herald to the gates of the underwater palace to a
“I sent a black fish spirit with an invitation to my uncle some time ago,” he thought, “and I haven't had any answer yet. Why is my cousin here instead?”
As he was thinking, a little demon came in from a river patrol to report, “Your Majesty, there's a detachment of troops camped in the river West of the palace. Their ba
“That cousin of mine is outrageous,” said the monster. “Presumably my uncle couldn't come and sent him to the feast instead, but he didn't have to bring an army with him. Hmm. There must be something up.”
“Little ones,” he said, “get my armor and my steel flail ready in case things turn rough while I go out to greet him and see what's happening.” On hearing the orders all the devils rubbed their hands and got ready.
When the alligator came out he saw a whole force of sea soldiers camped there on the right:
Embroidered sashes and flying ba
Coloured halberds brighter than the dawn,
Fine swords coldly gleaming,
Spears with many a handsome tassel,
Bows drawn back like the moon,
Arrows like teeth of wolves,
Dazzling broadswords,
Grit-hard maces.