Week 9 Story

Long ago in the far off mountains of the east there lived a man and his daughter. The man loved his daughter very much. He wanted to give his daughter a gift for her birthday, but they were very poor. However, he had the ingenious idea to make a sock monkey for her. He used the nicest sock they had. The daughter loved her gift, but as she grew old she played with it less and less. One day the man and his daughter packed up their belongings and moved, and the daughter left the sock monkey behind.

As time passed and the monkey sat on the floor collecting dust he began to be able to move his limbs. Over time he became able to crawl, walk, and eventually leap and perform impressive acrobatic feats. The monkey’s button eyes, which had been old and faded now gleamed gold.

His golden eyes shined so bright that even the God of the Universe noticed them and he sent two of his servants to investigate. They reported back to their king that it was just a harmless sock monkey having fun by himself. He presented no danger at this time.

The monkey continued to play by himself until one day he came across a pack of real monkeys. The monkeys were hesitant to hang out with the sock monkey, but once they saw that he could do anything that they could they became friends.

It was a particularly hot summer and the sock monkey and his friends were all cooling off by a secluded pond. One of the monkeys felt adventurous and did a cannonball into the pool. Another monkey had an idea and said, “Whoever can make the biggest splash will be king of us all.”

The sock monkeys turn came, and he mustered all his strength. He prayed to the gods that gave him life. When he jumped, right before he hit the water his sock body became as hard as stone. He produced a splash so giant that all the other monkeys were completely soaked. And from that time on he was known as the King of the Apes.

 

Our fearless hero

Author's Note:
I took the story of how Sun Wu Kung got his name and made it more absurd. I changed a monkey made of stone into a sock monkey. In the original story Sun Wu Kung jumped off a cliff into a waterfall and finds a heavenly cave. In my version he just makes a big splash.

Bibliography:
The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

Reading Notes: The Monkey King Sun Wu Kung B

Hoping that a promotion and a rank amongst the gods will make him more manageable, the Jade Emperor invites the Monkey King to Heaven. The monkey believes he will receive an honorable place as one of the gods but is instead made the Protector of the Horses to watch over the stables, the lowest job in heaven. He rebels and proclaims himself The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal and sets the Cloud Horses free in vengeance.

The Heavens are forced to recognize his title; however, they again try to put him off as the guardian of the Heavenly Peach Garden. When he finds that he is excluded from a royal banquet that includes every other important god and goddess, his indignation turns to open defiance. He steals and consumes Xi Wangmu's Peaches of immortality, Laozi's pills of longevity, and the Jade Emperor's royal wine, then escapes back to his kingdom in preparation for his rebellion.

The Monkey King later single-handedly defeats the Army of Heaven's 100,000 celestial warriors, all 28 constellations, four heavenly kings, and Nezha, and proves himself equal to the best of Heaven's generals, Erlang Shen. Eventually, through the teamwork of Taoist and Buddhist forces, including the efforts from some of the greatest deities, and then finally by the Bodhisattva of mercy, Guanyin, Sun Wukong is captured.

After several failed attempts at execution, Sun Wukong is locked into Laozi's eight-way trigram Crucible to be distilled into an elixir (so that Laozi could regain his pills of longevity) by samadhi fires. After 49 days, however, when the cauldron is opened, the Monkey King jumps out, having survived by hiding in a corner in which there was no fire and is now able to recognize evil with huoyan-jīnjīng  (lit. "golden-gaze fiery-eyes"), an eye condition that also gives him a weakness to smoke, and proceeds to destroy the crucible, following Heaven's remaining forces.

A monkey king parade float

Bibliography:
The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

Week 9 Part A: The Monkey King Sun Wu Kung

On a mountain, a monkey befriends various animals, and joins a group of other monkeys. After playing, the monkeys regularly bathe in a stream.

One day, they decide to seek the stream's source, and climb the mountain to a waterfall. They declare that whoever goes through the waterfall, finds the stream's source, and comes out again will become their king. The stone monkey volunteers and jumps into the waterfall.

He finds a large iron bridge over rushing water, across which is a cave. He persuades the other monkeys to jump in also, and they make it into their home. Sun Wu Kung then reminds them of their prior declaration, so they declare him their king. He takes the throne and calls himself Handsome Monkey King.

The Monkey King establishes himself as a powerful and influential demon. In search of a weapon, he travels to the oceans and acquires the Golden-banded staff, the stabilizer of the Four Seas and a treasure of the dragon-king of the Eastern Seas. The Monkey King is the only creature strong enough to wield the staff-like weapon. It can change its size, elongate, fly and attack opponents according to its master's will. It is very heavy. When not wielding the weapon, the Monkey King shrinks it down to the size of a sewing needle and tucks it behind his ear.

In addition to taking the magical staff, the Monkey King defeats the Dragon King's henchmen and forces him to hand over a golden chain mail shirt, a phoenix-feather cap, and cloud-walking boots. The cap was one of the treasures of the dragon kings. Traditionally it is depicted as a metal circlet with two striped feathers attached to the front. Upon his return to the mountain, he demonstrates the new weapon to his followers and draws the attention of other beastly powers, who seek to ally with him.

A monkey king figurine

Bibliography:
The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).