The Stone Monkey Is Born
This eight-chapter volume is an original condensed retelling based on Wu Cheng'en's public-domain classic, not the complete original text or a line-by-line translation.
Beyond the kingdom of Aolai in the Eastern Continent stood the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. On its summit rested an immortal stone. After ages of drinking sunlight and moonlight, it split open and gave birth to a monkey. Golden beams flashed from his eyes toward Heaven. Then he sprang up, raced through the forest, drank from clear streams, and lived without rule or fear.
One day the monkeys gathered before a waterfall. They promised to crown whoever could leap through the curtain of water and discover what lay beyond. The stone monkey volunteered. He closed his eyes, jumped, and found a spacious cave behind the falls, complete with stone bowls and beds. Over its entrance were carved the words: “Blessed Land of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit; Cave Heaven of the Water Curtain.” The monkeys moved in and acclaimed him the Handsome Monkey King.
Yet during a feast, the Monkey King suddenly wept. “We may be happy today,” he said, “but age and death will find us in the end.” Seeking immortality, he crossed the sea on a raft and wandered among sacred mountains. At last, Patriarch Subhuti accepted him as a disciple, gave him the name Sun Wukong, and taught him seventy-two transformations and the cloud-somersault.
When Wukong returned home, he obtained the Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod from the Dragon Palace of the Eastern Sea. The divine iron weighed 13,500 catties and changed size at his command. His raids on the Dragon Palace and the registers of the dead soon alarmed Heaven. The Jade Emperor summoned him and appointed him Keeper of the Heavenly Stables. Discovering how humble the post was, Wukong stormed back to his mountain and proclaimed himself Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
Heaven tried to tame him with new titles but could not tame his heart. When Wukong learned that he had not been invited to the Peach Banquet, he ate the immortal peaches, drank the imperial wine, swallowed Laozi's elixir pills, and threw the celestial palace into chaos. At last the Buddha held out one hand and challenged him to escape it. Wukong somersaulted to what he thought was the edge of the universe, yet he had never left the Buddha's palm. The five fingers became Five Elements Mountain and pinned him beneath it.
For five hundred years the wind swept over the mountain. There the monkey who had bowed to no one waited for a monk traveling west.