Journey To The West

28

On the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit the Devils Rise

Sanzang Meets a Monster in the Black Pine Forest

The Great Sage was gazing at the Eastern Ocean, sighing sadly at being driven away by the Tang Priest. "I haven't been this way for five hundred years," he said. As he looked at the sea,

Vast were the misty waters, Boundless the mighty waves.

The vast and misty waters stretched to the Milky Way; The boundless and mighty waves were linked to the earth's arteries. The tides came surging, The waters swirled around. The surging tides

Roared like the thunder in spring; The swirling waters

Howled like a summer hurricane. The blessed ancients riding on dragons Surely must have frowned as they came and went; Immortal youths flying on cranes Certainly felt anxious as they passed above. There were no villages near the coast, And scarcely a fishing boat beside the sea. The waves' crests were like immemorial snows; The wind made autumn in July.

Wild beasts roamed at will, Shore birds bobbed in the waves. There was no fisherman in sight,

And the only sound was the screaming of the gulls. Though the fish were happy at the bottom of the sea, Anxiety gripped the wild geese overhead.

With a spring Monkey leapt over the Eastern Ocean and was soon back at the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. As he brought his cloud down and gazed around him, he saw that all the vegetation on the mountain had gone and the mists had disappeared completely. The peaks had collapsed and the woods were shriveled and dead. Do you know why? It was because when Monkey was taken to the upper world after wrecking the Heavenly Palace, the god Erlang and the Seven Brothers of Meishan had burnt it all down. This made the Great Sage even more miserable than ever. There is a poem in the ancient style about the ruined landscape of the mountain:

I came back to the immortal mountain in tears; On seeing it, my sorrow is doubled. I used to think that it was safe from harm, But now I know that it has been destroyed.

If only Erlang had not defeated me; Curse you for bullying me like that. I shall dig up the graves of your ancestors, And not stop at destroying their tombs.

Gone, gone, the mists that filled the sky; Scattered the winds and clouds that covered the earth. On the Eastern ridge the tiger's roar is silent. The ape's howl no more on the Western mountain.

No sign of hare or fox in the Northern valley; No shadow of a deer in the Southern ravine. The blue rock was burnt to a thousand cinders, The jade−green sands are now just mud.

The lofty pines outside the cave all lean askew; Few are the cypresses before the cliff.

Cedar, fir, locust, chestnut, juniper, and sandalwood−−all are burnt. Peach, apricot, plum, pear, and jujube−−gone every one.

How are the silkworms to be fed without oak and mulberry? The birds cannot nest with no willow or bamboo. The crags and boulders have been turned to dust, The springs have dried up, and weeds grow in the stream−beds.

The earth is black in front of the cliff, and no orchids grow. Creepers crawl in the brown mud by the path. Where did the birds of yesterday fly? To what other mountain did the animals go?

Leopards and pythons dislike this ruined spot; Cranes and snakes avoid the desolation. My criminal thoughts of those days past Brought on the disaster of today.

The Great Sage, deep in gloom, heard a sound from a thorny hollow in front of a grassy slope as seven or eight little monkeys leapt out, rushed up to him, and surrounded him kowtowing. "Great Sage," they shouted, "have you come home today?"