Reading Notes: The Monkey King Sun Wu Kung, Part B
For this week's reading, I chose the story of The Monkey King Sun Wu Kung, as told in The Chinese Fairy Book, edited by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).
In one part of the readings, Sun is put in charge of the Queen-Mother of the West's peach orchard. One of the three rows of peaches grants people immortality--thus these peaches are very valuable and must be well-protected. As expected, Sun proves to be a less-than-dedicated peach watcher and is discovered by some fairies lounging near a peach, transformed into a worm. From these fairies, he learns about a great feast the Queen-Mother is hosting, one to which Sun is not invited. After enchanting the fairies and forcing them to stay put, Sun tricks the Bare-Foot God into going to the wrong location for the feast while Sun slips into the feast after transforming himself into the deceived god. At the feast, he puts the servers in charge of the wine asleep and drinks a ton of it. He then wanders off, finds the abode of the founder of Taoism, Laotzse, and eats his pills of life. Sun then returns to his apes and is convinced by them to bring several barrels of the nectar at the Queen-Mother's feast to them. Meanwhile, the Queen-Mother and Laotzse complain about Sun to the Lord of the Heavens and Li Dsing attempts to catch Sun in his sky and earth nets. He fails and so Yang Oerlang is called in to hunt down the ape king. After a lengthy chase and fight scene, with a lot of transforming into various animals and buildings and people, Laotzse helps Yang Oerlang capture Sun, who is then punished by Buddha himself after Laotzse and the others fail to destroy Sun in an oven. Buddha challenges Sun to get out of his hand. Sun, thinking this will be easier, soars out of Buddha's hand and marks up a pillar in the sky so as to prove he has left Buddha's hand. However, he finds out that he never truly left Buddha's hand and actually marked Buddha's middle finger! So Buddha punishes Sun by placing him under a mountain of the five elements for hundreds of years until Sun learns to be good.
If I were to retell this story, I would tell it from Sun's perspective. He would justify his actions and try to paint himself in the best light, making himself out to be a victim of the Queen-Mother's rejection, of Laotzse's selfishness, of Li Dsing and Yang Oerlang's wrath, and of Buddha's deceit. He would be telling the story to one of his fellow apes while trapped under the mountain. Sun would bash all of the other characters mentioned and would blame his fellow apes for getting him to go get more nectar (Sun would believe that his was what pushed the others over the edge and led to his downfall).
In one part of the readings, Sun is put in charge of the Queen-Mother of the West's peach orchard. One of the three rows of peaches grants people immortality--thus these peaches are very valuable and must be well-protected. As expected, Sun proves to be a less-than-dedicated peach watcher and is discovered by some fairies lounging near a peach, transformed into a worm. From these fairies, he learns about a great feast the Queen-Mother is hosting, one to which Sun is not invited. After enchanting the fairies and forcing them to stay put, Sun tricks the Bare-Foot God into going to the wrong location for the feast while Sun slips into the feast after transforming himself into the deceived god. At the feast, he puts the servers in charge of the wine asleep and drinks a ton of it. He then wanders off, finds the abode of the founder of Taoism, Laotzse, and eats his pills of life. Sun then returns to his apes and is convinced by them to bring several barrels of the nectar at the Queen-Mother's feast to them. Meanwhile, the Queen-Mother and Laotzse complain about Sun to the Lord of the Heavens and Li Dsing attempts to catch Sun in his sky and earth nets. He fails and so Yang Oerlang is called in to hunt down the ape king. After a lengthy chase and fight scene, with a lot of transforming into various animals and buildings and people, Laotzse helps Yang Oerlang capture Sun, who is then punished by Buddha himself after Laotzse and the others fail to destroy Sun in an oven. Buddha challenges Sun to get out of his hand. Sun, thinking this will be easier, soars out of Buddha's hand and marks up a pillar in the sky so as to prove he has left Buddha's hand. However, he finds out that he never truly left Buddha's hand and actually marked Buddha's middle finger! So Buddha punishes Sun by placing him under a mountain of the five elements for hundreds of years until Sun learns to be good.
If I were to retell this story, I would tell it from Sun's perspective. He would justify his actions and try to paint himself in the best light, making himself out to be a victim of the Queen-Mother's rejection, of Laotzse's selfishness, of Li Dsing and Yang Oerlang's wrath, and of Buddha's deceit. He would be telling the story to one of his fellow apes while trapped under the mountain. Sun would bash all of the other characters mentioned and would blame his fellow apes for getting him to go get more nectar (Sun would believe that his was what pushed the others over the edge and led to his downfall).
Photo of a young Tibetan macaque (found in China), taken by Jmhullot. Source: Wiki Commons
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