g badly Monkey pulled out a handful of hairs, scattered them in the air, and with a shout of “Change!” turned them into three or four dozen little monkeys who rushed forward and held the demon still.

They put their arms round his legs, grabbed him by the waist, jabbed at his eyes, and pulled his hair. The demon in his alarm pulled out his ring. When Monkey arid the Heavenly King saw him doing this they turned their clouds away and fled back to the top of the mountain to keep out of the way of the fight. As soon as the demon threw the ring into the air it came whistling down, caught the three or four dozen little monkeys who were hairs transformed and turned them back into their original form. The demon took them into the cave when he led his troops back in triumph, shut the doors and celebrated.

“Great Sage,” said Prince Nezha, “you really are a tough guy. That was a superb display of boxing, as skilful as putting embroidery on brocade. And by magically dividing yourself up you showed him how good you are.”

“You gentlemen were all watching from here,” said Monkey with a smile. “How did the demon’s technique compare with mine?”

“His boxing was slack and his footwork slow,” said Heavenly King Li, “where you were neat and quick. When he saw us going he was worried, and when you used your self-dividing magic he was panicked, which was why he had to use his ring magic.”

“The demon king would be easy enough to deal with,” said Monkey, “if it weren’t for his ring. That’s hard one to beat.”

“If we’re to beat him,” said the Star Lord of Fire to the Earl of the Yellow River, “we have to get that treasure. We’ll be able to capture him then.”

“But how else are we to get it apart from by stealing it?” Monkey asked.

The two thunder gods laughed at this and said, “If we’re going to do him the honour of stealing it there’s nobody to compare with the Great Sage. When he made havoc in Heaven he stole imperial wine, magic peaches, dragon liver, phoenix bone-marrow and even Lord Lao Zi’s elixir. That was some skill! Now he ought to be using it to get that ring.”

“You are flattering me,” said Monkey, “you are flattering me. You’d better sit here while I go and spy things out.”

The splendid Great Sage sprang down from the peak and made his way stealthily to the mouth of the cave where he shook himself and turned into a most elegant fly. Look at him:

He had wings just as fine as membranes of bamboo,

A body as small as a plum blossom’s heart,

His hands and his feet barely thicker than hairs,

And eyes full of lights that both sparkle and dart:

He follows his nose when he smells something good,

And rides on the wind as he flies at great speed.

The scales would not move if he come to be weighed,

And yet he’s a lovable true friend in need.

He flew quietly to the doors and crawled in through the narrow gap between them to see all the devils young and old dancing or singing in ranks on either side while the demon king sat on a high dais. Before him were set snakemeat, deer jerky, bears’ paws, camels’ humps, wild vegetables from the mountain and fruit. He had a celadon jug of wine as well as some delicious-smelling koumiss and coconut toddy, all of which he was drinking freely by the large bowlful. Monkey landed among the little devils and turned himself into a badger spirit. He inched his way nearer to the throne, but even after taking a long look he could not make out at all where the treasure was hidden. He quickly withdrew and went round behind the throne, where he saw hanging high from the ceiling in the rear hall the fire dragons groaning and the fire horses whinnying. He looked up to spy his gold-banded cudgel leaning against the Eastern wall. This made him so happy that his heart had an itch he could not scratch, and forgetting his disguise he went over, picked the cudgel up, resumed his own appearance, tried out some movements with it, and started to fight his way straight out of the cave. All the devils shook with terror, and there was nothing the demon king could do about it as Monkey opened up a trail of blood, pushing three over here and pulling a couple down there as he went straight out through the front doors. Indeed:

The demon was unready in his pride;

The cudgel went back to its owner’s side.

If you don’t know whether all turned out for good or for ill, listen to the explanation in the next installment.