“Brother, I've got him,” he announced.
“Who?” the Senior King asked.
“Sun the Novice,” replied the Junior King. “Come and see.”
When the Senior King saw that it was Monkey his face was wreathed in smiles. “It's him,” he said, “it's him. Tie him to a pillar with a very long rope and we'll have some fun with him.” And indeed Monkey was tied up while the two demon kings went into the back hall for a drink.
Monkey's fidgeting at the foot of the pillar disturbed Pig. As he hung from his beam the idiot mocked Monkey: “So you didn't manage to eat those ears.”
“Fool,” said Monkey, “do you like hanging up there? If I get out I guarantee that I'll rescue you all.”
“You're shameless,” said Pig, “quite shameless. You can't escape yourself, and you want to rescue others. I've had enough. Let's all die with the master, then at least we'll be able to ask the way for him in the Underworld.”
“Stop talking such nonsense,” said Monkey, “and watch me get out.”
“How?” Pig asked. While the Great Sage told Pig he was keeping a sharp eye on the two demon kings, who were feasting inside while little demons brought them dishes of food and jugs of wine. The two of them were staggering all over the place, and security was very relaxed.
Seeing that there was nobody in front of him Monkey used his magic powers to slide his cudgel out. He blew on it and said “Change!” turning it into a pure steel file. Tugging at the ring at his neck he filed it apart with four or five strokes of the file, then removed the file, freed himself, plucked out a hair, turned it into a replica of himself, and left it tied up there. Then in a flash he changed into a little devil and stood beside it.
Up by the roof-beam Pig started to shout, “This is terrible, terrible. The one tied up is a fake. The genuine article is hanging up here.”
The Senior Demon King put his wine cup down to ask, “Why is Pig yelling?” Monkey, now in the guise of a little devil, came forward to report, “Pig was inciting Sun the Novice to transform himself and escape. Sun refused to do so, and so Pig is yelling.”
“Who said that Pig was well-behaved?” asked the Junior King. “Now we know just how cunning he is. He must be hit twenty times on the snout.”
When Monkey fetched a rod to hit him with, Pig said, “Don't hit me hard, because if you do I'll start shouting again. I know who you are.”
“It's only for your sakes that I'm making all these transformations,” replied Monkey. “Why ever did you have to give the game away? None of the demons in the cave knew who I was. It would have to be you who found out.”
“You may have altered your face,” Pig replied, “but you can't change your backside. You have a patch of red on either cheek down there, don't you? That's how I know it's you.” Monkey went through to the inner quarters, slipped into the kitchens, rubbed the underneath of a pan, smeared the soot on both his buttocks, and went back to the front part of the cave.
“Where's that monkey been messing around?” mocked Pig when he saw him. “His bum's all black.”
Monkey was still standing in front of them, trying to steal their treasures. Being extremely wise he entered the main hall, tugged at the old demon's leg, and said, “Your Majesty, Sun the Novice is fidgeting around where he's tied to the pillar, trying to wear his way through the golden rope. It would be best to change it for a thicker one.”
“You're right,” said the Senior Demon King, taking off the belt of lion-hide he wore at his waist and handing it to Monkey, who used it to tie up the imitation Monkey. The golden rope he tucked loop by loop into his sleeve before plucking out a hair, blowing on it with magic breath, and turning it into a copy of the Dazzling Golden Cord, which he respectfully returned to the demon with both hands. The demon was too preoccupied with his drinking to look at it carefully as he accepted it. Thus it was that the Great Sage used his power of improvisation and turned a hair into the Dazzling Golden Cord.
Now that he had this treasure he bounded out of the cave as fast as he could, turned back into himself, and shouted, “You devils.”
“Who are you, yelling like that?” the devils on the doors asked.
“Go inside at once and announce to your lousy demon kings that the Novice Sun is here.” When the little devils passed on the message the Senior King was greatly shocked.
“We've captured Sun the Novice, so how can there be another Novice Sun?”
“He's nothing to be frightened of,” said the Junior King. “We have all our treasures back. I'll fetch the gourd and put him inside it.”
“Do be careful, brother,” said the Senior King.
The Junior King went outside carrying the gourd to see someone just like Sun the Novice except that he was a little shorter. “Where are you from?” he asked.
“I'm Sun the Novice's brother,” Monkey replied. “I've heard that you've captured him, which is why I'm here to have it out with you.”
“Yes, I have got him,” said the Junior Demon King. “He's tied up in the cave. As you're here you must want a fight, and I'm willing to cross swords with you. But do you have the guts to answer if I call your name?”
“If you call my name a thousand times,” said Monkey, “I'll answer ten thousand times.”
The demon leapt into mid-air with his treasure, which he held upside-down as he called out, “Novice Sun.” Monkey did not dare reply.
“If I reply,” he thought, “he'll have me inside.”
“Why don't you answer me?” the demon asked.
“I can't hear you,” replied Monkey, “I'm a bit deaf. Shout louder.”
“Novice Sun,” the demon shouted again. Down below Monkey pinched his own fingers as he thought things out: “My real name is Sun the Novice. Novice Sun is only a false name I've made up. With my real name I could be put in the gourd, but I reckon that with a false name I can't be.” Unable to restrain himself any longer he replied this time. With a roaring of wind he was sucked into the gourd and the label was put on it. As it happened it made no difference to that treasure whether a name was real or false: any response was enough to get you put inside.
The Great Sage found it pitch-black inside the gourd. When he tried to raise his head he could not move it at all, so tightly was he squeezed in it. He now began to feel very anxious. “The two little devils I met on the mountain,” he thought, “told me that any one put in the gourd or the vase turns to pus in three and a half hours. Perhaps that's going to happen to me.” Then he started on another line of thought: “No problem. I won't turn into pus. When I made havoc in the Palace of Heaven five hundred years ago Lord Lao Zi put me in his Eight Trigram Furnace and fired me for forty-nine days, and this gave me a heart and liver of gold, lungs of silver, a brazen head, an iron back, eyes of fire and golden pupils. I couldn't possibly be turned to pus in three and a half hours. I'll let him take me inside and see what he does.”
Taking Monkey inside, the Junior Demon King said, “I've got him, brother.”
“Who?” the Senior King asked.
“I've got the Novice Sun packed in my gourd,” the Junior King replied.
“Do sit down, dear brother,” said the Senior King, “and don't move. We must shake the gourd till we hear him sloshing around inside before taking the label off.” Hearing this, Monkey wondered, “How could they shake my body till they heard it sloshing around? They wouldn't hear anything unless I'd turned runny. I'll take a piss, then if they shake me and hear is sloshing around they're bound to take the label and the lid off, and I'll be able to get the hell out of here. No, that won't do. Piss would sound right but it would get my tunic filthy. When he shakes the gourd I'll have my mouth full of saliva that I can swish around noisily to fool him into opening up. Then I'll be off.” The Great Sage got ready, but the demons were too thirsty for their wine to shake the gourd. So he thought of a way to trick them into shaking it.