Monkey King

The next day the Jade Emperor called his ministers to a meeting.The groom supervisor reported,"The monkey has returned to his mountain because he disliked the post."The Jade Emperor ordered King Li and his son,Third Prince Nuocha,to go down from heaven to vanquish the Monkey King.

King Li led thousands of troops to the Mountain with the God Chu ling as his scout.Wu-k'ung gathered all of the monkeys to prepare for the coming fight.When King Li arrived,Wu-k'ung cried,"I have infinite powers.Why does the Jade Emperor ask me to groom horses for him?I will turn the Heavenly Palace upside down if he doesn't grant me the title of 'the Greatest Sage'."

Both sides began to fight,Wu-k'ung brandished his magic staff and God Chu ling wielded his hatchet.By the end of the first round of fighting,the hatchet of the God was cut in two.The God Chu ling fled.

King Li was in such a fury he ordered Third Prince Nuocha to launch an attack.Nuocha cried,"Change!" and immediately he changed into a man with three heads and six arms.He violently attacked Wu-k'ung with six kinds of weapons.Wu-k'ung also cried out,"Change!" and he too was at once provided with three heads,six arms and six kinds of weapons--a sword,a knife,a rope,a strick,a ball and a fire wheel--and fought fiecely for thirty more rounds.

The Third Prince quickly turned the six kinds of weapons into millions of weapons and Wu-k'ung did the same.In ad***ion,Wu-k'ung pulled out a hair from his body and changed it into another Wu-k'ung.Overpowered,Nuocha was defeated and fled.

King Li returned to heaven to ask for reinforcements.The Spirit of Venus offered,"As it appears that we can't defeat the Monkey at this time,I suggest it would be better to grant him the empty title of 'The Greatest Sage'."The Jade Emperor nodded his agreement and requested an audience with the Monkey King.

Wu-k'ung followed the spirit back to the Heavenly Palace.The Jade Emperor proclaimed to Wu-k'ung,"Today,I grant you the title of 'The Greatest Sage.'This position should be high enough to satisfy you.Don't make trouble again."In ad***ion,the Jade Emperor ordered a palace built for Wu-k'ung beside the peach grove of the Queen.Wu-k'ung would be allowed to care for the grove.

One day when the "Sage" was inspecting the grove,the God of Earth pointed to the first row of peach trees and said,"It takes 3000 years for these trees to blossom and bear fruit.One will gain health if one eats of their fruit."Then he pointed to the second row of trees saying,"It takes 6000 years for these to blossom and bear fruit.One will never age if one eats the fruit of these trees.""The third row of trees takes 9000 years to blossom and bring forth fruit.One will become a celestial being after eating of their fruit."Wu-k'ung was very pleased to hear what the God said.

The peaches of 9000 years were soon ripe.Wu-k'ung was eager to taste them and managed to fool the God of Earth into leaving the grove.He took off his official clothes,climbed up a tree and ate his fill.From that time on,he often went to the grove and enjoyed the celestial peaches.

One day,the Queen was to give a peach banquet.She commanded her seven fairies to pick peaches from the grove.The fairies picked two baskets of peaches from the first stand of trees and three baskets from the second stand.