This greatly pleased the king, who told the officials in attendance on him, “Fetch the four treasures of the study, so that our son-in-law can write down the matching verses he composes for us to savor at our leisure.” The venerable elder was glad to comply. Picking up a brush, he produced matching lines. The matching poem on the spring scene read:
The sun's warmth melts the ice the world around;
Within the palace garden, flowers are renewed.
Gentle winds and rain enrich the people;
Rivers and seas are calm; gone is all worldly dust.
The matching poem on the summer scene read:
The Dipper now points South; the day goes slow;
Locust and pomegranate trees contend in brilliance.
Golden oriole and purple swallow sing in the willows,
Their melodious voices drifting through red curtains.
The matching poem on the autumn read:
Fragrant the green mandarin; the orange turns to yellow.
Blue pine and cypress welcome frost's coming.
Half-open chrysanthemums make a tapestry on the trellis;
Pipes and songs waft through the watery, cloud-covered land.
The matching poem on the winter scene read:
As skies clear after welcome snow the air is cold;
Grotesque-shaped crags and boulders mark jade hills.
As charcoal burns in the stove to warm the yogurt
Singing with hands in their sleeves they lean on jade balustrades.
The king was utterly delighted by the matching verses. “'Singing with hands in their sleeves they lean on jade balustrades' is really good,” he said with admiration, and ordered the royal orchestra to set the new poems to music. The banquet did not break up until the day was over.
Brother Monkey and the other two were also having a splendid meal in the Pavilion of Lingering Spring. Each of them was feeling rather merry after downing a few cups, and they decided to go to see their master, who was in another building with the king. This made Pig start acting like the idiot he was.
“This is great,” he yelled at once. “We're doing very nicely here. Today we've had a right good time. But now we're full we ought to go to sleep it off.”
“You really are ill-bred, brother,” said Friar Sand with a grin. “How could you possibly go to sleep when you're as full as that?”
“You wouldn't know,” said Pig. “There's a saying that goes,
Unless you stretch out for a nap when you've dined
How can your belly with fat be well lined?”
When the Tang Priest had taken his leave of the king he went back to the pavilion and scolded pig: “Cretin! You acted coarser than ever. What sort of place do you think this is, to shout and yell like that? If you had made the king angry he would have had you killed.”
“Don't worry,” Pig replied, “don't worry. We're being treated as his in-laws, so it would be very awkward for him to get angry with us. As the proverb goes,
If you're related a beating can't rend it;
If you are neighbors a cursing won't end it.
We were only joking. He's nothing to be frightened of.”
At this the venerable elder shouted, “Bring the idiot here. Give him twenty strokes of the dhyana staff.” Monkey then grabbed Pig and knocked him over, while Sanzang raised the cudgel to beat him.
“Master, Royal Son-in-law,” the idiot shouted, “Spare me! Spare me!”
One of the officials who was present at the banquet persuaded Sanzang not to hit Pig, who clambered back on his feet, grumbling, “You're a fine excellency; you're a fine royal son-in-law. Applying the royal law before you're even married!”
“Stop that nonsense,” said Monkey, making a face at him, “stop that nonsense! Go to bed at once.” They then spent another night in the Lingering Spring Pavilion. The next morning they feasted as before.
Before long they had been enjoying themselves for three or four days, by when it was that splendid day, the twelfth. The officials of the three sections of the Department of Foreign Relations all submitted a memorial that said, “Since we received the edicts on the eighth the palace for the Royal Son-in-law has been built, and all that we are waiting for is for the trousseau to be installed. The nuptial banquet has been prepared, with meat and vegetarian food for over five hundred guests.”
This greatly pleased the king, who was just going to invite his future son-in-law to come to the banquet when a eunuch from the inner quarters of the palace reported to him, “Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Queen asks you to come.” The king then withdrew to the inner quarters of the palace, where the queens of the three palaces and the consorts of the six compounds brought the princess to the Sunlight Palace to talk and joke together. The place was truly a mass of flowers or brocade. The magnificence and beauty was more than a match for the halls of heaven or the moon's pavilions; nor was it inferior to the jade palaces of immortals.
There are four new lyrics on the “Happy Gathering and Splendid Wedding” about it. The lyric “Happy” goes:
Happy! Happy!
Delight and bliss!
The wedding is celebrated
With its love and beauty.
Elegant court dresses
That the Lady of the Moon could never rival;
Dragon and phoenix hairpins,
Sumptuous threads of flying gold.
Cherry lips, white teeth and rouge-red cheeks
Sylphs with forms as delicate as flowers.
Brocades upon brocades,
An extravagance of color,
Full of fragrance,
A host of princesses.
The lyric “Gathering” goes:
Gathering! Gathering!
Bewitching charms,
Rivaling the great beauties of the past,
Enough to topple a city or a state,
Like flowers or jade.
Dressed to make them lovelier still,
Even more dazzling in their finery,
And the splendor of their jewels.
Their orchid hearts and natures were pure and lofty;
Noble were their powder-white faces and ice-smooth skin.
The lines of their painted eyebrows were like distant hills;
They formed a throng of willowy elegance.
The lyric “Splendid” goes:
Splendid! Splendid!
Jade girls, fairy maidens,
Utterly adorable,
Truly to be admired,
Perfumed with fine fragrances,
Adorned with cosmetics.
Although far from the Tiantai paradise,
This was no mere palace of a king.
Sweet were their smiling words
As the sound of pipes and songs was wafted around.
A thousand beauties, massed flowers, a splendid brocade:
How could its match be found in the world?
The lyric “Wedding” goes:
Wedding! Wedding!
Orchid Fragrance,
Ranks of fairy girls,
Crowds of beauties.
The royal concubines have put on new splendor;
The princesses are in fresh garments.
Piled clouds of raven hair,
Rainbow gowns over phoenix skirts.
Soft music of immortals,
Two rows of purple and red.
In the past they pledged to ride in one phoenix chariot;
This morning is the happy occasion and the splendid wedding.
When the king arrived his queens and consorts led the princess and the other palace ladies out to meet him. The delighted king took them into the Sunlight Palace to sit down. When the queens, consorts and others had made their obeisances the king said, “Princess, my good daughter, we think that your heart's desire was fulfilled when you had the good fortune to find the holy monk by throwing your ball from the decorated tower on the eighth. The officials of all the departments have been most understanding of our wishes, so that everything is now ready. As today is a lucky one let us hurry to the nuptial banquet and not be late.”