Classic · Journey to the West · Wu Cheng’en (original) · VoiceSmiths adaptation · 1592 · 5:03

The Monkey King Is Born

A stone splits open on a mountaintop and out comes a monkey. Whoever dares leap through the waterfall will be king. Same cast as the Chinese episode.

StorytellerThe Stone Monkey (the Handsome Monkey King)The MonkeysThe Old GibbonThousand-Mile Eye & Wind-Following EarThe Jade Emperor

StorytellerFar out in the Eastern Sea stands the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, and on its very top sat a magic stone. Since the world began it had soaked up the light of the sun and the moon. One day it burst open, and out rolled a stone egg. The wind blew on it, and it turned into a monkey, with eyes and ears, hands and feet, all complete. He learned to crawl, then to walk, and he bowed to the four directions. And from his eyes shot two beams of golden light, straight up into Heaven.StorytellerThe Jade Emperor saw the light, and sent his two lookouts, Thousand-Mile Eye and Wind-Following Ear, to the South Gate to see what it was.Thousand-Mile Eye & Wind-Following EarYour Majesty, on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit a stone has hatched an egg, and the egg has turned into a monkey. The light shines from his eyes. But now he is eating and drinking, and the light is already fading.The Jade EmperorcalmlyCreatures down below are born from the spirit of Heaven and Earth. It is nothing strange.StorytellerSo the monkey lived on the mountain. He ate wild fruit, drank from the streams, ran with the tigers and played with the apes. Nobody up there counted the years.StorytellerOne hot day, the monkeys went down to bathe in the stream, which came rushing and tumbling down the mountain.The MonkeysWhere does all this water come from? We’ve got nothing to do today. Let’s follow it up and find out!StorytellerWith a shout they were off, climbing up beside the stream until they reached the place where it began: a great waterfall, hanging down like a white curtain.The MonkeysGreat water! Great water! Listen, everyone! Whoever is brave enough to go through that waterfall, and comes back without a scratch, we’ll make him our king!StorytellerThey called it out three times. Then, out of the crowd, jumped the stone monkey.The Stone Monkey (the Handsome Monkey King)I’ll go! I’ll go!StorytellerHe shut his eyes, crouched, and leapt straight into the waterfall. When he opened his eyes, there was no water at all, only a bright, dry bridge of iron, with the falls pouring down in front of it like a curtain over a door. Beyond the bridge he found a home, as if someone had lived there long ago: stone beds and stone bowls, bamboo and plum blossoms. In the middle stood a stone tablet carved with big words: Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, Water Curtain Cave.StorytellerHe was so happy he could hardly stand it. Back out through the water he jumped.The Stone Monkey (the Handsome Monkey King)laughingWhat luck! What luck!The MonkeysWhat’s in there? How deep is the water?The Stone Monkey (the Handsome Monkey King)No water! None at all! There’s an iron bridge, and past it a house that Heaven and Earth built just for us, with room for hundreds! Let’s move in. No more wind, no more rain, and we’ll never hear the thunder again!The MonkeysThen you go first! Take us in, take us in!The Stone Monkey (the Handsome Monkey King)Everybody, follow me!StorytellerThe brave ones jumped straight in. The timid ones scratched their ears and squealed, and then jumped in too. Inside, they grabbed the bowls and fought over the beds, the way monkeys do, until they were all worn out. Then the stone monkey sat himself down at the top of the cave.The Stone Monkey (the Handsome Monkey King)Friends, a monkey who breaks his word is worth nothing. You said whoever went in and came out without a scratch would be your king. Well, I went in and came out, and came out and went in, and I found you a home. So why not bow to me as your king?StorytellerNobody argued. The monkeys lined up, oldest to youngest, bowed down before him, and cried:The MonkeysexcitedLong live the Great King!StorytellerFrom that day on, the stone monkey sat on the throne. He dropped the word stone from his name, and called himself the Handsome Monkey King.StorytellerFor three or four hundred years the Monkey King lived happily. Then one day, in the middle of a feast, tears ran down his face.The MonkeysGreat King, what’s wrong? We feast every day, no one rules us, we are free! What is there to worry about?The Stone Monkey (the Handsome Monkey King)sighsToday, yes. But one day we will grow old and weak, and the King of the Dead is watching us in the dark. When we die, what was it all for?StorytellerThe monkeys covered their faces and wept, every one afraid of death. Then an old gibbon jumped up and cried out:The Old GibbonGreat King, if you think like this, your heart is already opening to the Way. Three kinds of beings are beyond the King of the Dead: Buddhas, Immortals and Sages. They live as long as Heaven and Earth.The Stone Monkey (the Handsome Monkey King)And where do they live?The Old GibbonHere in the world of men, in old caves on magic mountains.StorytellerThe Monkey King was filled with joy.The Stone Monkey (the Handsome Monkey King)Then tomorrow I will say goodbye and go down the mountain. I will travel to the corners of the sea and the ends of the sky, and I will find these three, and learn how never to grow old!StorytellerAnd with those words, he set out on the road that would one day make him the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven.

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