“Teach me,” the Monkey said, “to cheat the Reaper.”
The Dragon King offered sword after sword. The Monkey broke them. He offered halberds. The Monkey bent them into pretzels. monkey king : the one and only
The stone-born monkey grinned. He tucked his tail, coiled his legs, and leaped . “Teach me,” the Monkey said, “to cheat the Reaper
He built a raft, loaded it with dried fruit, and sailed across the Eastern Sea. He wandered through human cities, spoke to ancient tortoises, begged alms from Taoist hermits. Finally, in a cave veiled by mist, he found Subodhi, the Patriarch of Heaven’s Way. The Monkey bent them into pretzels
And one day, after eighty-one tribulations, he stood before the Buddha once more. The circlet was gone. His fur was streaked with white.
He fought the Four Heavenly Kings, the Thunder Lords, and the entire host of Heaven. And he won.
The Monkey King felt the talisman peel away. The mountain cracked. He burst forth like a comet, roaring his freedom to the sky.