The start of this book does a basic intro into the Monkey King story. You start off with the birth of Wukong from a rock high atop the Mountain of Fruit and Flowers. Then you are told how he became king of the monkeys by being the only one willing to jump through the waterfall. After being king of the monkeys for a while Wukong becomes afraid of death so he leaves his Kingdom to find either an immortal or a sage to teach him how to escape death and become immortal.
After setting sail for the closest continent Wukong makes landing and travels for years looking for someone to teach him the ways of immortality. He eventually finds a sage that will teach him not only the ways of immortality but also teaches him the 72 transformations that allow him to take hairs off of his body to become clones of himself. Wukong eventually leaves his master because he is too much like a monkey so that his master sends him away. However he sends him away with the warning that he must not tell anyone who taught him his immortality and 72 transformations.
When Wukong returns home he discovers that some of his monkeys have been kidnapped by a demon king close to his mountain. He goes to gather his children back and defeats the demon with his bare hands. Eventually he leave his mountain again to get a weapon and armor to better suit him.
The first three
chapters of this book setup a good introduction into who is the
monkey king and his background. They show the reader how he came to
be and how he learned to become an immortal and how he learned his 72
transformations. They also show how he attained the Ruyi Bang as well
his armor.
Bibliography: The main source for this story would be Monkey by Wu Ch’eng-en translated into English by Arthur Waley published in 1942.
Bibliography: The main source for this story would be Monkey by Wu Ch’eng-en translated into English by Arthur Waley published in 1942.
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