They found themselves standing before the curtain of a great waterfall.Īll the monkeys clapped their hands and cried aloud, “Lovely water, lovely water! To think that it starts far off in some cavern below the base of the mountain, and flows all the way to the great sea! If any of us were bold enough to pierce that curtain, get to where the water comes from and return unharmed, we would make him our king!” Three times the call went out, when suddenly one of them leapt from among the throng and answered the challenge in a loud voice. As we have nothing to do this morning, wouldn’t it be fun to follow it up to its source?” With a whoop of joy, dragging their sons and carrying their daughters, calling out to younger brother and to elder brother, the whole troupe rushed along the streamside and scrambled up the steep places, till they reached the source of the stream. There is an old saying, “Birds have their bird language, beasts have their beast talk.” The monkey said, “We none of us know where this stream comes from. See how those waters bounce and tumble like rolling melons! One very hot morning, after playing in the shade of some pine-trees, he and the other monkeys went to bathe in a mountain stream.
At night he lodged under cliffs of rock, by day he wandered among the peaks and caves.
Wolf, panther and tiger were his companions, the deer and civet were his friends, gibbons and baboons his kindred. “These creatures in the world below,” he said, “were compounded of the essence of heaven and earth, and nothing that goes on there should surprise us.” That monkey walked, ran, leapt, and bounded over hills, feeding on grasses and shrubs, drinking from streams and springs, gathering the mountain flowers, looking for fruits. The Jade Emperor condescended to take an indulgent view.
But now he is taking a drink, and the light is growing dim.” This egg changed into a stone monkey, and when he made his bow to the four quarters a steely light flashed from his eyes with a beam that reached the Palace of the Polar Star. On this mountain is a magic rock, which gave birth to an egg. At his bidding these two captains went out to the gate and looked so sharply and listened so well that presently they were able to report, “This steely light comes from the borders of the small country of Ao-lai, that lies to the east of the Holy Continent, from the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. Seeing this strange light flashing, he ordered Thousand-league Eye and Down-the-wind Ears to open the gate of the Southern Heaven and look out. This shaft of light astonished the Jade Emperor as he sat in the Cloud Palace of the Golden Gates, in the Treasure Hall of Holy Mists, surrounded by his fairy Ministers. As it did so, a steely light darted from this monkey’s eyes and flashed as far as the Palace of the Polar Star. At once this monkey learned to climb and run but its first act was to make a bow towards each of the four quarters.
0 kommentar(er)
