“How do you know so much about him?” the demon king asked.
“I used to live in the Lion Cave of the demon king on Lion Ridge,” the junior devil replied. “He was reckless enough to want to eat the Tang Priest, and that Sun the Novice smashed his way in through the gates with his gold-banded cudgel. It was terrible. They were wiped out. Luckily I had enough sense to escape by the back door and come here, where Your Majesty allowed me to stay. That's how I know about his powers.”
The senior demon turned pale with shock when he heard this: it was a case of the commander-in-chief being afraid of the soothsayer's words. How could he help being alarmed when he heard all this from one of his own people? Just when they were all feeling terrified another junior devil stepped forward and said, “Don't be so upset and afraid, Your Majesty. As the saying goes, easy does it. If you want to catch the Tang Priest let me make you a plan to capture him.”
“What plan?” the senior demon asked.
“I have a plan to 'divide the petals of the plum blossom.'”
“What do you mean by 'dividing the petals of the plum blossom?'“ the demon king asked.
“Call the roll of all the devils in the cave,” the junior devil replied. “Choose the best hundred from all thousand of them, then the best ten out of that hundred, and finally the best three out of the ten. They must be capable and good at transformations. Have them all turn into Your Majesty's doubles, wear Your Majesty's helmet and armor, carry Your Majesty's mace, and lie in wait in three different places. First send one out to fight Zhu Bajie, then one to fight Sun the Novice and finally one to fight Friar Sand. This way you'll only have to spare three junior devils to draw the three disciples away. Then Your Majesty will be able to stretch down from mid-air with your cloud-grabbing hand to catch the Tang Priest. He'll be in the bag. It'll be as easy as catching flies in a dish of fish juice. Nothing to it.”
This suggestion delighted the demon king, who said, “What a brilliant plan, brilliant! If I don't catch the Tang Priest this way, that'll be that. But if I do I can assure you you'll be richly rewarded. I'll make you commander of the vanguard.” The junior devil kowtowed to thank him for his grace and went off to call the roll of the devils. After all the monsters in the cave had been carefully checked through, three capable junior devils were selected. They turned into the senior devil's doubles and went to lie in wait for the Tang Priest with their iron maces.
The venerable Tang elder meanwhile was following Pig along the way without a care in the world. When they had been going for some time there was a crashing sound from beside the track and out leapt a junior devil who rushed straight at them, evidently to grab Sanzang. “The evil spirit's here, Pig,” Monkey shouted. “Get him!”
The idiot, who was taken in by the imposture, hacked wildly at the devil with his rake. The evil spirit parried Pig's blows with his mace as he met the onslaught. While the battle between the pair of them ebbed and flowed on the mountainside there was a noise in the undergrowth as another monster sprang out and charged at the Tang Priest.
“This is bad, Master,” said Monkey. “Pig can't see straight. He's let the monster escape to catch you. I'm going to fight him.” Pulling his cudgel out in a flash, he went up to the monster, shouting, “Where d'you think you're going? Take this!”
Without saying a word the evil spirit raised his mace to meet the attack. But while the two of them were locked in combat, swinging at each other, there was a howling wind from the other side of the mountain and a third evil spirit sprang out who also rushed straight at the Tang Priest. When Friar Sand saw it he exclaimed in alarm, “Master, big brother and second brother both can't see straight. They've let the evil spirit get away to catch you. Stay on the horse while I get him.”
Friar Sand was taken in too. Brandishing his staff he blocked the evil spirit's iron mace and started a bitter combat. It was a wild fight with shouts and awful yells, and they drew further and further away. When the demon king saw from up in the sky that the Tang Priest was alone on the horse he reached down with his five-clawed steel hook and seized him. The master lost horse and stirrups as the evil spirit carried him off in a gust of wind. Alas! This was a case of
When the dhyana-nature encountered a monster the true achievement was hard;
The monk of the river current met once more with a star of disaster.
Bringing his wind down to land, the demon king took the Tang Priest into the cave and called, “Commander of the vanguard!”
The junior devil who had made the plan came forward, knelt and said, “I am not worthy.”
“How can you say that?” the demon king replied. “Once the commander-in-chief has spoken, white becomes black. What I said before was that if I failed to catch the Tang Priest, that would be that; but that if I succeeded I'd make you my commander of the vanguard. Your brilliant plan has succeeded today, so there is no reason why I should break faith with you. Bring the Tang Priest here and tell the underlings to fetch water, scrub the cooking pot, fetch some firewood and light the fire. When he's been steamed you and I will each have a piece of his flesh and live for ever.”
“Your Majesty,” the commander of the vanguard replied, “he mustn't be eaten yet.”
“Why ever not?” the demon king asked. “We've captured him.”
“It wouldn't matter if you ate him, Your Majesty,” said the commander of the vanguard, “as far as Zhu Bajie and Friar Sand are concerned. They would be reasonable. But I'm worried about that Sun the Novice: he'd be really vicious. If he found out we'd eaten the Tang Priest he wouldn't come to give us a straight fight. He'd just thrust that gold-banded cudgel of his into the mountainside and make a hole so big that the whole mountain would collapse. We'd be homeless.”
“What do you suggest, commander of the vanguard?” the demon king asked.
“In my opinion,” the commander replied, “we should send the Tang Priest out to the back garden, tie him to a tree, and starve him for two or three days. That will clean him up inside and let us make sure that the three disciples don't come here looking for him. Once we've found out that they've gone home we can bring the Tang Priest out and enjoy him at our leisure. That'd be better, wouldn't it?”
“Yes, yes,” the senior demon said with a laugh. “You're right, commander of the vanguard.”
An order was issued and the Tang Priest taken into the back garden to be roped to a tree, while all the junior devils went out to the front to keep watch. Look at the venerable elder as he suffers in his bonds, tied up tightly and unable to stop the tears rolling down his cheeks.
“Disciples,” he called, “where did you chase those demons to when you went to capture them in the mountains? I have been captured by a wicked ogre and have met with disaster. When will I ever see you again? The pain is killing me.”
Just when the tears from both eyes were joining in a single stream he heard someone calling from a tree opposite, “Venerable elder, you're here too.”
Taking control of himself, the Tang Priest asked, “Who are you?”
“I'm a woodcutter who lives on this mountain,” the other replied. “I've been tied up here for three days. I reckon they're going to eat me.”