Journey to the West

⋇⊰ Chapter 4 ⊱⋇

The faces of the officials went white with horror as they exclaimed, "What a savage monkey! He has the impudence to answer 'Me,' and without even prostrating himself first! He must die!" In reply to this, the Jade Emperor announced, "Sun Wukong is a demon Immortal of the lower world who has only just obtained a human form, so he is not acquainted with court procedure. We shall forgive him this time."

"We thank you for your mercy," said the immortal ministers. Only then did Sun Wukong express his respect by bowing low and chanting "na−a−aw" at the top of his voice. The Jade Emperor ordered his immortal civil and military officials to find a vacancy in some department for Sun Wukong.

The Star Lord Wuqu stepped forward from the side and reported, "There are no vacancies in any of the palaces, halls, and departments of Heaven except for a superintendent in the Imperial Stables."

"Then make him Protector of the Horses," ordered the Jade Emperor. All the ministers thanked him for his mercy, apart from Sun Wukong, who just expressed his respect with a loud "na−a−aw." The Jade Emperor then told the Wood Star to take him to the Imperial Stables.The Wood Star accompanied the delighted Monkey King to his post and then went back to the palace. The Monkey King then called together the deputy and the assistant superintendent, the bookkeeper, the grooms, and all the other officials, high and low, to find out about the duties of his department. He found that he had to look after 1,000 heavenly horses.

The Monkey King looked through the register and counted the horses. In the stables the bookkeeper was responsible for ordering the fodder, the head groom was in charge of currying the horses, chopping up and cooking the fodder, and giving them water; the deputy superintendent and his assistant helped to oversee the work. The Protector of the Horses looked after his charges, sleeping neither by day nor by night. It is true that he fooled around by day, but at night he looked after the animals with great diligence, waking them up and making them eat whenever they fell asleep and leading those still on their feet to the trough. At the sight of him, the heavenly horses would prick up their ears and paw the ground, and they became fat and plump. Thus, more than half a month slipped by.

On one morning that was a holiday, all the officials of the stables held a feast both to welcome and congratulate the Protector of the Horses.

In the middle of the party, the Monkey King suddenly put down his cup and asked, "What sort of office is this 'Protector of the Horses?'"

"What the name suggests, that's all."

"Which official rank does it carry?"

"Unclassified."

"What does 'unclassified' mean?"

"Bottom rank," the others replied, going on to explain, "It is a very low and unimportant office, and all you can do in it is look after the horses. Even someone who works as conscientiously as Your Honor and gets the horses so fat will get no more reward than someone saying 'good'; if anything goes at all wrong you will be held responsible, and if the losses are serious you will be fined and punished."

The Monkey King flared up on hearing this, gnashed his teeth, and said in a great rage, "How dare they treat me with such contempt? On the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, I am a king and a patriarch. How dare he trick me into coming here to feed his horses for him? It's a low job for youngsters, not for me. I won't do it, I won't. I'm going back." He pushed the table over with a crash, took his treasure out of his ear, and shook it. It became as thick as a rice bowl, and he brandished it as he charged out of the Imperial Stables to the Southern Gate of Heaven. As the celestial guards knew that his name was on the register of immortal officials they did not dare to block his path, but let him out through the gate.