Monkey Captured

CHAPTER sixteen

“Bring Monkey to Heaven,” cried the Jade Emperor as soon as he saw that Monkey was trapped beneath the vase. He sent General Vaisravana and sixty thousand more soldiers to bind Monkey securely with magic ropes.

Everyone in the celestial court cheered when Monkey, still tightly bound, was brought before the Jade Emperor.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself, Monkey?” asked the Jade Emperor.

“Yes,” said Monkey. “I wish I had eyes on the top of my head.”

“And why is that?”
“Then I would have seen the vase coming. And I would have won my battle against Magician Lang.”

The Emperor was outraged. “This Monkey is unrepentant!” he cried. “No punishment is too harsh for him.”

And so, at the Emperor’s orders, Monkey was tied to a pillar. Then soldiers attacked him with their shining knives and swords. But Monkey was as hard as stone, and not a hair on his body was hurt. “S-stop that,” he giggled. “It t-tickles.”

The Jade Emperor frowned. “Bring Fire Star. He will know what to do.” Fire Star set a blazing fire under Monkey. The flames were so hot, everyone stepped back. But Monkey just laughed. “Emperor, how thoughtful! My toes were getting cold.”

Jade Emperor scowled. “Bring in the Thunder Spirit!” The Thunder Spirit began hurling huge bolts at Monkey. But Monkey King only grinned. “I thought I told you that tickles,” he said.

Monkey looked at Jade Emperor and shook his head. “Don’t you know? After eating all those celestial peaches, I became immortal. I am indestructible!”

Jade Emperor turned green with fury. He hardly knew what to do next.

Goddess Guan-yin had one more idea. “Put him in a cauldron and light a fire beneath it for one year. No one, mortal or immortal, could possibly survive that.”

So Monkey was dumped into the cauldron. The lid was fastened down and thirty-two thousand guards were posted all around it. An enormous fire was lit and such fierce flames leaped around the pot that after a while it could not be seen. Poor monkey! It seemed impossible that even he could survive such treatment.

One year passed. Everyone in Heaven reassembled to view the cauldron with the Emperor. The blaze was finally put out and the blackened cauldron, its lid still in place, set to cool. At last a soldier removed the lid. No one wanted to look, and yet everyone leaned forward.

A great yawn came from the depths of the cauldron. Then out popped Monkey, rubbing his eyes! “Ah. What a nice long warm nap I had,” he said, and stretched his arms.

Jade Emperor was beside himself. “Destroy him!” he screamed.

At once the heavenly soldiers, General Vaisravana, his son Natha, the Kings of the Four Directions, the Thunder Spirit, and Fire Star all attacked Monkey at the same time. But Monkey took his magic staff from behind his ear and fought them all, sending this one crying and that one running for cover.

Just when the fighting was at its fiercest, a deep voice thundered, “Stop! This fighting must stop immediately!”

Monkey looked up. A man with a wide forehead and extremely long earlobes was descending from a halo of light. All the generals and kings threw themselves down. Even Goddess Guan-yin and Jade Emperor bowed to him.

“I am in the middle of an important battle,” Monkey complained. “Who are you to interfere?”

“I am Buddha,” said the man. “And I have come to end this dispute.”

“Ah,” said Monkey. Of course, Monkey knew who Buddha was. He was the greatest being of the Western Paradise. Even so he said, “And how do you think you can stop me?”

Buddha gazed down at him. At last he said softly, “Monkey, you have made a great deal of trouble. You have been a bad creature.”

“I?” cried monkey. “I’ve done nothing wrong. I’d merely like to replace Jade Emperor as ruler of Heaven.”

“You are indeed ambitious.” Buddha smiled. “What makes you worthy of such a position?”

Monkey thought. “Well, I can be anything I like. I can leap one hundred and eight thousand leagues. I can live forever. Doesn’t that make me truly magnificent?”

Buddha pondered this. “Very well. If I give you one chance to prove your worth, will you take it?” Monkey laughed. “Of course!”


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