“You're very particular,” the widow said. After that the doors were fastened and everyone went to bed.
The story switches to the four of them in the chest. Poor things! They were wearing hats, the weather was very hot and it was airless and stuffy. They took off their hats and clothes, and fanned themselves with their monastic hats for lack of fans. They were all crowded in next to each other and did not fall asleep till the second watch. Monkey, however, wanted to make trouble, so he stayed awake. He put his hand out and gave Pig a pinch on the leg.
The idiot pulled his leg in and mumbled, “Go to sleep. We've had a hard day. What do you want to fool around pinching people's hands and feet for?”
“We started by laying out five thousand ounces of silver,” said Monkey aloud, deliberately making mischief, “and we sold those horses the other day for three thousand. We've got four thousand in the two bags, and we'll sell this herd of horses for another three thousand. That means we'll have doubled our capital. That's not bad.” Pig, who was sleepy, did not bother to reply.
Now the floor staff, the water-carriers and the kitchen porters were in league with bandits. After hearing Brother Monkey talking about all the money they had, several of them slipped off to fetch twenty or more armed bandits to come with torches to rob the four horse traders. As they charger in through the gates they gave Widow Zhao and her daughter such a fright that shivering and shaking they fastened the doors of their room and let the robbers take whatever they wanted outside. Now the bandits were not after the inn's property but were looking for the guests. When they went upstairs and found no sign of them there, they lit their torches and held them out while they looked all around. All they could see was a large trunk in the courtyard, to the bottom of which was tethered a white horse. The lid was tightly locked and could not be prized open.
“Travelling merchants all know what they're about,” the bandits said. “This trunk looks so strong that it's bound to be full of purses, valuables and silk. Let's steal the horse, take the trunk out of town, open it up and share out what's inside. That would be the best thing, wouldn't it?” The bandits then found some rope with which they lifted the box and carried it off, swinging and swaying.
“Brother,” said Pig, woken up by this, “go to sleep. Why are you rocking us?”
“Shut up,” Monkey replied. “Nobody's rocking us.”
Sanzang and Friar Sand had been abruptly awoken too, and they asked, “Who's carrying us?”
“Keep quiet,” said Monkey, “keep quiet. Let them carry us. If they carry us to the Western Heaven we'll be saved the trouble of walking.”
But the successful bandits were not heading West. Instead they headed towards the East of the city, killing the soldiers on the city gate, opening it and letting themselves out. This caused a sensation in the streets and the markets, where the watchmen of all the shops reported it to the commander-in-chief of the city garrison and the East city commissioner. As this was their responsibility the commander-in-chief and the East city commissioner mustered a force of infantry, cavalry and bowmen that left the city in pursuit of the bandits. Seeing that resistance to so powerful a government force would have been pointless, the bandits abandoned the trunk and the white horse, scattered into the undergrowth and disappeared. The government troops did not catch even half a robber: all they captured was the trunk and the white horse, with which they returned in triumph. The commander-in-chief examined the horse in the light of the lamps and saw that it was a fine one:
Threads of silver grew in his mane;
In his tail hung strands of jade.
Forget about Eight Chargers and dragon steeds;
This was steadier than the great Sushuang;
Its bones alone would have sold for a thousand ounces of silver;
It could gallop after the wind for three thousand miles.
When it climbed a mountain it merged into the clouds;
As it neighed at the moon it was as white as snow.
It was truly a dragon from an ocean island,
A unicorn of Jade in the human world.
The commander-in-chief rode the white horse instead of his own steed as he led his men back into the city. The trunk was carried to his headquarters, where he and the East city commissioner sealed it with strips of paper on which they wrote and set a guard over it till morning, when they would submit a memorial to the king and request a decision on what to do with it. After that the other troops were dismissed.
The story now tells how the venerable Tang Priest was grumbling at Monkey inside the chest. “Ape,” he said, “you've killed me this time. If I had been arrested outside and taken to the king of Dharmadestructia I might well have been able to put up a good argument in my defense. But now I am here, locked in this trunk. I have been carried off by bandits and recaptured by the army. When we are shown to the king tomorrow we will be all ready for him to put to the sword and make up his ten thousand.”
“There are people outside!” exclaimed Monkey. “If they open the trunk and take you out you'll either be tied up or hung up. If you don't want to be tied or strung up you'd better show a little patience. When we're taken to see this deluded king tomorrow I'll definitely be able to talk my way out of things. I guarantee that not one hair of yours will be harmed. So stop worrying and go back to sleep.”
In the third watch Monkey used one of his magic powers. Slipping his cudgel out he blew on it with a magic breath, called “Change!” and turned it into a triple auger with which he drilled two or three holes near the bottom of the chest, forming a single larger hole. He put the auger away, shook himself, turned into an ant and crawled out. Then he turned back into himself and rode his cloud straight to the palace gates. The king was fast asleep at the time, so Monkey used his Great All powerful Body-dividing Magic.
Plucking all the hairs out of his left arm he blew on them with a magic breath, called “Change!” and turned them into little Monkeys. Then he pulled all the hairs out from his right arm, blew on them with a magic breath, called “Change!” and turned them into sleep-insects. Next he recited the magic word Om and told the local deity of the place to take the little Monkeys to distribute them throughout the palace to all the officials in every office and department of government. Each holder of official rank was given a sleep-insect to ensure that he or she would sleep soundly and not get up. Monkey then took his gold-banded cudgel in his hands, squeezed it, waved it, called, “Change, treasure!” and turned it into over a thousand razors of the sort used for shaving the head. Taking one himself, he told all the little monkeys to take one each and shave the heads of everyone in the inner quarters of the palace and in all the government departments and offices. This was indeed a case of:
When the Dharma king would destroy it the Dharma is infinite;
The Dharma runs through heaven and earth, opening the Great Way.
The origins of ten thousand Dharmas all come down to one;
The features of the Three Vehicles are basically the same.
He bored through the trunk to find out the news,
Distributed his golden hairs to smash delusion,
Determined to bring the Dharma king to the true achievement,
To the eternal emptiness of what is not born and dies not.
That night the head-shaving was completed, so Monkey said another spell to dismiss the local deity, shook himself to bring all the hairs back to his arms, then touched all the razors to turn them back into their true form as the gold-banded cudgel, which he made much smaller and hid in his ear again. Finally he reverted to being an ant, crawled back into the trunk, and went on guarding the Tang Priest in his time of danger.