Journey 059: Feeling the Sting
The more San Zang resists, the more irresistible he seems to the women who have him in their power.
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Transcript
Welcome to the Chinese Lore Podcast, where I retell classic Chinese stories in English. This is episode 59 of Journey to the West.
Last time, San Zang had just escaped the lovesick clutches of the queen of the Kingdom of Women when he promptly fell into the lusty clutches of another woman, this one with magic powers that she used to sweep him out of sight. San Zang’s three disciples saw a cloud of dust blowing away toward the northwest, so they quickly flew after it.
The pursuit led them to a tall mountain, where the dust cloud settled and the wind dissipated, leaving no sign of San Zang or his abductor. The disciples descended from the sky and looked around for a while before they came upon a sheer wall of gleaming blue stone that was smooth and bright, standing like a great screen. The disciples, with the horse in tow, went around the stone screen and saw a set of double stone doors, bearing the large characters “Poison Foe Mountain, Pipa Cave.” A pipa, by the way, is a Chinese instrument similar to a lute.
Zhu Bajie went up with with his rake, intent on smashing the doors. But Sun Wukong quickly stopped him and said, “Brother, don’t be in such a rush. We followed the wind here and just came up on these doors. We don’t know the details. What if this is not the place? Wouldn’t we be causing trouble? You two take the horse and go wait for a minute on the other side of the stone screen. Let me go in and conduct some recon to see if this is the right place or not, and then we can take action.”
The other two disciples agreed and headed off with the horse. Wukong, meanwhile, turned into a bee and flew through a crease in the doors. After going through a second set of doors, he saw a gazebo, and seated inside was a female demon, attended to by several young maid servants dressed in colorful embroidered clothes and with their hair in twin topknots.
Wukong saw that they were engaged in some cheerful banter, but couldn’t make out what they were saying. He flew closer and perched on the beams of the gazebo to have a listen. Two of the maid servants brought two trays of steaming hot baked good and told the demon, “Mistress, one of these trays holds steamed buns filled with human flesh. The other holds steams buns filled with bean paste.”
The demon laughed and said, “Little ones, bring out the imperial brother.”
Several maid servants went to the back and returned shortly with San Zang. His face was yellow, and his lips pale white. His eyes were red and dripping with tears.
“Master has been poisoned,” Wukong lamented to himself.
The demon walked out from the gazebo, took hold of San Zang with her slender fingers, and told him, “Imperial brother, don’t worry. Even though this is not the palace of the Kingdom of Women and not as plush, it’s a really quiet, carefree place, perfect for reciting and reading scriptures. I’ll keep you company. We can live together in harmony forever.”
Oh great. Another woman just dying to throw herself at this old stick in the mud. San Zang did not respond to her, so the demon now said, “Don’t worry. I know you didn’t get to eat or drink when you were at the feast in the kingdom. I have a tray of meat buns and a tray of vegetarian buns here. You can have some to put your mind at ease.”
San Zang thought to himself, “I shouldn’t say anything or eat anything. This demon is not like the queen. The queen was a human being, after all, and acted with proper decorum and courtesy. This is a demon; she might try to harm me. But what then? My disciples don’t know that I’m trapped here. If she tries to do me harm, wouldn’t I have thrown away my life for nothing?”
After considering his options for a minute, he had no choice but to collect himself and ask, “What kind of meat and vegetarian buns do you have?”
“The meat ones are filled with human flesh. The vegetarian ones are filled with bean paste,” she said.
“I am a vegetarian,” he told her.
The demon smiled and told her maids, “Bring hot tea, so that your master can eat the vegetarian buns.”
As a maid servant put a cup of fragrant tea in front of San Zang, the demon pulled open one of the bean paste buns and handed it to San Zang. In return, he handed her an unbroken meat bun.”
“Imperial brother, why didn’t you open the bun for me?” she asked with a laugh.
“I’m a monk and dare not touch meat,” he said as he pressed his palms together.
“But you sure did drink that water from the River of Motherhood with gusto a few days ago,” she teased him. “And you’re eating the bean paste bun today.”
“When the water is deep, the boat moves swiftly,” he replied. “And when the sand is soft, the horse travels slowly.”
Seeing and hearing the two of them conversing, Sun Wukong was starting to worry that San Zang might actually fall for this demon. He couldn’t take it anymore, so he quickly turned back into himself, pulled out his golden rod, and shouted, “Damn fiend! How dare you?!”
As soon as she saw him, the demon sprayed smoke from her mouth that enveloped the gazebo. Amid the smoke, she told her maids to stash San Zang somewhere out of reach, while she grabbed a steel trident, leaped outside the gazebo, and cursed, “Damn monkey! How dare you intrude on my home and peep at my visage?! Don’t run, take this!”
As she attacked, Wukong fended her off with his rod and slowly retreated toward the cave entrance. When their fight shifted outdoors, Zhu Bajie and Sha Zeng saw them. Bajie hurriedly told Sha Zeng, “You watch the luggage and horse. Let me go help.”
So dum-dum grabbed his rake, charged forward, and shouted to Wukong, “Brother, rest for a minute. Let me beat that scoundrel!”
When the demon saw Bajie joining the fight, she started breathing fire from her nostrils and smoke from her mouth as she shook her body and twirled her trident to take him on. It seemed as though she had countless hands as she swirled and took on both Wukong and Bajie.
“Sun Wukong, you really don’t know any better!” the demon cursed as they fought. “I recognize you, but you don’t recognize me. Even that Buddha of yours is afraid of me, much less you two nobodies. C’mon! You’ll both get a beating!”
The three of them dueled for a long time without either side gaining the upper hand. Suddenly, the demon unleashed a poisonous stinger and stung Wukong on the head. Wukong let out a cry and fell back in immense pain. Seeing that the fight is taking a turn for the worse, Zhu Bajie quickly ran as well, dragging his rake behind him.
While the demon returned to her lair, Sun Wukong ran, clutching his head, grimacing in pain, and moaning all the while. Bajie caught up and asked him why he ran in the middle of the fight. Wukong, however, could only clutch his head and keep shouting, “It hurts! It hurts!”
Sha Zeng asked, “Brother, did your old headache flare up again?”
“No, no!”
“Brother, I’ve never seen you get injured,” Bajie said. “So how can you be having a headache?”
“It’s too much, too much!” Wukong whimpered. “I was fighting her. She saw that I was getting the upper hand, so she shook her body and stung me on the head with something. My head started hurting intolerably. That’s why I had to retreat.”
Bajie chuckled, “You’re always bragging about how your head had been hardened through cultivation, so how come you couldn’t withstand this?”
“Exactly!” Wukong replied. “I had hardened my head through cultivation, and I ate immortal peaches, celestial wine, and Lao Zi’s golden pills. When I caused a ruckus in heaven, the Jade Emperor wanted to execute me. Those gods struck me with all sorts of weapons, thunderbolts, and fire, and Laozi even put me in his cauldron for 49 days, but none of it could hurt me. I don’t know what weapon that woman used today to injure me!”
“Move your hand away and let me take a look to make sure your head isn’t broken,” Sha Zeng said.
“It’s not broken,” Wukong told him.
“Let me go back to the Kingdom of Women to get some ointment for you,” Bajie suggested.
“It’s not swollen or broken, so where would we apply ointment?” Wukong lamented.
“Brother, I didn’t get any illnesses from my pregnancy, but you ended up with a head ailment,” Bajie laughed.
“Brother Zhu, don’t make fun,” Sha Zeng said. “It’s getting late. Big brother’s head is injured, and we don’t know master’s fate. What should we do?”
“Master is ok,” Wukong whimpered. He then told his fellow disciples what he witnessed. Sha Zeng was enraged and fumed, “When did that demon start following us? How could she know everything that happened before?”
Bajie cut in, “Based on what Brother Sun told us, how can we rest easy? Who cares if it’s dusk or the middle of the night? Let’s go to her lair and cause a ruckus so she can’t sleep. Otherwise, she might make moves on master.”
“But my head hurts; I can’t go!” Wukong lamented.
“We don’t need to rush into battle yet,” Sha Zeng said. “Brother Sun’s head is hurting. Besides, our master is a real sage monk. He would never give in. Let’s find some shelter at the foot of this slope and spend the night to rest up, and then deal with it tomorrow.”
So the three disciples took the horse and the luggage to a quiet spot at the foot of the slope to pass the night.
Meanwhile, after returning to her lair in victory, the demon put aside her vicious streak and turned her mind back to more pleasant things. She told her maids to shut the front and back doors and posted two guards to watch out for Sun Wukong, with instructions to report if they heard anything at the door.
Next, she told her maids, “Tidy up my bed chamber. Light candles and incense, and invite the imperial brother there. I’m going to enjoy myself with him.”
When San Zang was brought to her, the demon started working her feminine wiles. She took him gently by the hand and said, “As the saying goes, ‘Gold isn’t the greatest treasure; a life of ease is worth far more.’ Let’s be husband and wife for a while and enjoy ourselves.”
San Zang clenched his teeth and said nothing. He feared for his life if he didn’t follow the seductress, so, trembling, he followed her into the fragrant bed chamber. But once there, he just sat as if he were dumb and deaf. He paid no attention to the bed or draperies, nor did he take note of the chests or dressing table. No matter what words of love and seduction the demon whispered in his ears, he acted as though he heard nothing.
When the demon loosened her robes to flaunt her smooth and fragrant skin, San Zang pulled his own robes tighter around his own coarse flesh and rough skin.
When the demon compared herself to famous beauties of yore, San Zang shut her down.
When she said, Don’t you remember the saying, ‘Better to die beneath the blossoms — because then even as a ghost, one is still romantic?”, San Zang replied, “My pure male essence is my greatest treasure. How can I squander it on a painted skeleton like you?”
And so went the verbal sparring, deep into the night. San Zang remained resolute in his chastity no matter how much the demon was throwing herself at him. Eventually, she got irritated and shouted for her maids to bring rope. It looked like it was about to get kinky, but instead, she just tied up San Zang and had him dragged to another room for now, while she blew out her lights and went to bed, alone.
The next morning, as soon as the cock had crowed, Sun Wukong hopped to his feet at the foot of the hill and said, “My head doesn’t hurt anymore. It’s just a little itchy.”
“Then maybe you should let her sting you again,” Bajie joked.
Wukong spat and said, “No, no, no!”
“Yeah well, master might’ve been saying yes yes yes last night,” Bajie joked again.
“Enough arguing,” Sha Zeng cut in. “It’s light out now. Let’s hurry up and go capture that demon.”
Wukong told Bajie to go with him while Sha Zeng stayed to watch the horse, who, again, is actually a dragon prince and probably doesn’t need babysitting. Anyway, when they arrived at the stone screen again, Wukong told Bajie, “Stay here. I worry that demon might’ve done some work on master last night. Let me go in and check it out first. If master was indeed moved by her and lost his purity and virtue, then we should just disband. But if he remained resolute, then we should work together, kill the demon, save master, and continue West.”
“You’re such a fool,” Bajie said. “As the saying goes, ‘How can dried fish make a good pillow for a cat?’ Even if nothing else happened, she would’ve at least pawed at him a few times.”
“Stop your speculations; let me go have a look,” Wukong chided him and then turned into a bee and flew into the cave again.
Inside the lair, he saw two maid servants snoozing by the door. When he flew to the gazebo, he saw that everyone else in the cave was asleep too. Turns out, between the demon’s relentless advances on San Zang and her servants having to stay up to tend to her last night, they were all exhausted and still sound asleep.
Wukong now flew to the back of the cave and heard San Zang’s faint moans. He looked around and found San Zang hogtied and lying in a corridor. Wukong gently landed on San Zang’s head and called out to him. San Zang recognized his voice and said, “Wukong, is that you? Hurry up and save me!”
“Did you have fun last night?” Wukong asked.
San Zang clenched his teeth and said, “I would rather die than give in to her.”
“But yesterday I saw that she was quite fond of you. How come you’re suffering like this today?”
“She pestered me for half the night. But my robe never even came loose, and I never touched her bed. Seeing that I refused to give in to her, she tied me up and put me here. You have to save me so I can go get scriptures!”
But just then, the demon woke up from the sound of San Zang’s voice. She caught the last line about going to get scriptures, and she rolled off the bed and shouted, “Why do you spurn this golden opportunity to be a couple and insist on going to get scriptures instead?”
Wukong hurriedly flew off of San Zang, slipped back outside, turned back into himself, and called for Bajie. Dum-dum came around the stone screen and asked, “Is the deed done?”
“No, no,” Wukong laughed. “Master wouldn’t cave in to her advances, so she got angry and tied him up. I was talking to him but then that demon woke up, so I rushed out here.”
“What did master say?”
“He said his robes never loosened, and he never touched her bed.”
“Good, good!” Bajie laughed. “What a monk! Let’s go save him.”
Dum-dum now raised his rake and swung it at the doors. This time, Wukong did not stop him. With a loud crash, the door crumbled. The two maid servants sleeping by the door startled awake, ran to the second set of doors, and shouted, “Open up! The two ugly men from yesterday just smashed the front door!”
The demon had just walked out of her room when four or five of her maids ran over to tell her the bad news. She told them, “Little ones, hurry up and warm up water so I can wash my face and brush my hair! Take the monk and put him in the back room. I’ll go face them.”
Hmm, ok. A monkey and a pig just kicked down your door, and you’re like, I’ll go take care of them, right after I put on my face. Anyway, some indeterminate amount of time later, the demon came out with her trident and cursed, “Damn monkey! Wild pig! How dare you break my door?!”
Bajie cursed back, “You tramp! You’ve got my master trapped in your lair, and you dare to run your mouth? How dare you think that my master would be your husband? Send him out at once, and we’ll spare you! If you utter so much as half a no, I’ll knock over your mountain with my rake!”
The demon came at Bajie with trident raised, and fire and smoke coming out of her nose and mouth. Bajie countered with his rake, and Wukong joined in with his golden rod. But the demon again used her powers and fended them off. After a few exchanges, Zhu Bajie suddenly felt a sting on his snout, and it was so painful that he turned and ran, holding his snout and dragging his rake behind him. Sun Wukong was also wary of the demon’s stinger, so he also retreated. The demon returned to her lair victorious and told her maids to block the front entrance with boulders for the time being.
Meanwhile, on the front side of the slope, Sha Zeng was watch the horse graze when suddenly he heard pig noises. He looked up and saw Bajie running toward him, clutching his snout and whimpering.
“What happened?” Sha Zeng asked.
“It hurts, it hurts!” dum-dum moaned.
Wukong caught up and laughed at him, “You dum-dum. Yesterday I got a headache, and now you’ve got a swollen mouth!”
“It’s intolerable! It hurts so bad!”
Just as the three of them were trying to figure out what to do, an old woman approached from the South along a mountain path. She carried a green bamboo basket in her left hand and looked like she was foraging wild vegetables. Sha Zeng saw her and said to Wukong, “Brother, that woman is coming toward us. Let’s ask her and see if she knows what weapon that demon is using.”
“You all stay here, and I’ll go ask her,” Wukong said.
Wukong then trained his eyes on the woman. He saw colorful clouds hovering above her head, and a fragrant mist enveloping her figure.
“Hey brothers, hurry up and kowtow to her!” he shouted. “It’s the Bodhisattva!”
The three disciples immediately fell to their knees and called out the name Guanyin. Seeing that they had recognized her, she dropped the disguise and flew into the air, revealing her true form. Wukong followed her up, bowed, and said, “Bodhisattva, pardon me for not welcoming you earlier! We’ve been trying to save our master and didn’t know you were coming. We’ve run into a difficult demon. Please help us!”
“This demon is extremely powerful,” Guanyin said. “Her trident was formed from two claws, and the thing she used to sting you is a stinger on her tail, it’s called ‘horse-killing poison.’ She is a scorpion demon. She used to hang out at the Thunderclap Temple and listen to the Buddha give lectures. The Buddha saw her and tried to sweep her aside with his hand, but she used her tail to sting him on his left thumb. The Buddha was in great pain, so he ordered his Vajra Guardians to capture her. Turns out she’s here. If you want to rescue your master, you must get someone else. Even I can’t get near her.”
“Please point me in the right direction,” Wukong said. “Whom should I get? I’ll go invite them here.”
“Go to the Eastern Gate of Heaven and ask the Star Lord Pleiades for help. Only then can you tame this demon.”
And with that, Guanyin turned into a beam of golden light and returned to her abode in the South Sea. Wukong flew back down and told his fellow disciples what she said about asking the Star Lord Pleiades for help.
Bajie, still clutching his snout, said, “Brother, ask him for some pain-killer too!”
“You don’t need medicine; it’ll be fine after one night,” Wukong laughed. He then somersaulted into the air and headed for the Eastern Gate of Heaven.
Upon arrival, he was greeted by one of the four Heavenly Kings and the usual gaggle of celestial commanders. He told them he was looking for the Star Lord Pleiades, but they told him that the Jade Emperor had sent Pleiades to inspect the Celestial Observatory, but that he should be back soon. They asked Wukong to go to Pleiades’s Palace of Radiant Light and see if he’s home yet. Wukong went with them but found the palace empty. As he was coming out, however, he saw a phalanx of celestial soldiers approaching, followed by none other than Pleiades himself.
On his head he wore a crown with ornaments that shone with the golden splendor of the Five Sacred Peaks. In his hand he held a jade ceremonial tablet, luminous as mountains and rivers. His robe was embroidered with the Seven Stars amid drifting clouds, while a jeweled girdle encircled his waist, gleaming with the brilliance of the Eight Extremities. His ornaments chimed with a clear, rhythmic tinkling, and as he moved, the wind whistled like the ringing of little bells. As he approached, he spread his emerald-feather fan, while heavenly fragrance drifted throughout the courtyard.
The celestial soldiers saw Wukong standing outside the palace and immediately informed Pleiades. He hurriedly tidied up his clothes, parted his men, and paid his respects to Wukong. Wukong brought him up to speed about the scorpion demon and told him that Guanyin had name-dropped him.
Pleiades said, “I was going to report back to the Jade Emperor, but since you have come here, and Guanyin had recommended me, then I must not delay. I dare not keep you here for tea. Let me go with you to tame this demon, and then come report back to the Jade Emperor.”
So the two of them left heaven and flew toward Poison Foe Mountain. They descended on the slope near the lair. Sha Zeng saw them and told Zhu Bajie to get up and greet them. Dum-dum, still clutching his snout, said to Pleiades, “Pardon me. I’m not feeling well and can’t greet you properly.”
“You’re someone who pursues cultivation; what illness do you have?” Pleiades asked.
“I was fighting that demon this morning, but she stung me on my lips. It still hurts.”
“Come over here and I’ll treat you.”
Dum-dum removed his hand from his snout, and Pleiades blew a breath on it, and immediately the pain stopped. Dum-dum joyously kneeled and praised Pleiades.
Looking on, Wukong laughed and said to Pleiades, “Can I trouble you to touch my head, too? I got stung yesterday. Even though it doesn’t hurt anymore, it still feels a little numb and itchy.”
So Pleiades touched his head and blew on it, and just like that, Wukong was feeling fine, too.
Now back at full strength, Bajie seethed and said to Wukong, “Brother let’s go beat that scoundrel!”
“Quite right,” Pleiades said. “You two go lure her out, and I’ll tame her.”
So Wukong and Bajie leaped up the hillside and went around the stone screen. Bajie started cursing and smashed the temporary boulder door to smithereens with his rake. And then he did likewise with the second set of doors. The demon’s maid servants hurriedly told her that both sets of doors were now destroyed. She was just about to untie San Zang and give him some food when she got this news. So she rushed out with her trident to fight Wukong and Bajie. The two of them were well aware of her dirty tricks by now, so they turned and ran.
The scorpion demon pursued them behind the stone screen, and Wukong shouted, “Pleiades, where are you?!”
Standing on the hillside, Pleiades now showed his true form, that of a big double-crowned rooster, about 7 feet tall. He crowed once in the direction of the demon, and she was immediately forced to revert to HER true form, that of a scorpion the size of a lute. Pleiades crowed once more, and the scorpion demon went limp and died right there on the hillside.
Bajie now stepped on the dead scorpion’s chest and cursed, “Damn beast! You can’t use your poison now, can you?!”
The demon didn’t even move, but Bajie still gave her corpse the business with his rake, turning her into a pile of goo. Pleiades now reverted to his human form and flew back up to heaven. The three disciples bowed toward heaven to thank him. They then got their luggage and horse and prepared to enter the lair.
Upon entering the cave, they saw all the maid servants kneeling and telling them, “Sirs, we are not demons. We’re all from the Kingdom of Women and were abducted by that demon. Your master is crying in the incense room in the back.”
Wukong took a close look at them and saw that they indeed did not possess any demonic auras. So he let them be and went to the back to look for San Zang, who was ecstatic to see them. He asked about the demon, and Bajie told him, “Turns out she was a huge female scorpion. Fortunately, Guanyin gave us guidance, and big brother went and invited the Star Lord Pleiades to tame her. Just now, I turned her into mud. Only then did we dare to enter her lair and see you.”
San Zang thanked his disciples nonstop. The disciples found some vegetarian food items in the cave and prepared a meal. After they ate, they chased all the maid servants off the mountain and pointed them in the direction of home. After that, they started a fire and burned the whole cave down.
All this done, the disciples asked San Zang to get back on his horse, and they got back on the main road heading West. To see what awaits them around the next turn, tune in to the next episode of the Chinese Lore Podcast. Thanks for listening!
Music in This Episode
- “Luỹ Tre Xanh Ngát Đầu Làng (Guzheng) – Vietnam BGM” by VPRODMUSIC_Asia_BGM