Reading Notes: The Monkey King, Part A

Handsome King of the Apes

Bibliography: "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

Handsome King of the Apes immediately reminded me of Disney's Tangled with its introduction of "FAR, far away to the East... and on this mountain, there is a high rock."  The introductions are really similar, which I thought was pretty cool.

This "high rock" is also pretty magical, like the golden flower, as it absorbs all the powers of heaven, earth, the sun, and the moon.  With all this power hidden inside it, the rock has gained some pretty awesome supernatural gifts.  It hatches a stone egg, which hatches a stone ape.

The ape, once freed of its stone, is pretty wicked.  "Two streams of golden radiance" come beaming out of his eyes.  It initially scares the Lord of the Heavens, but the two gods - Thousandmile-Eye and Fine-Ear - reassure him that it is only the stone ape who was born of the high rock.  Satisfied by their explanation, the Lord of the Heavens allows the stone ape to grow up.  And he does.

The ape learns how to do all sorts of things, though he is much more powerful than the other apes he had found.  One day, at a waterfall, one of the apes challenges that whoever can leap into the waterfall without harming themselves can be king of the apes.  Of course, the stone ape is able, but he also discovers a bridge on the other side of the waterfall.

There was a stone tablet which stated:  “This is the heavenly cave behind the water-curtain on the Blessed Island of Flowers and Fruits.”

So the stone ape brought all the other apes to the bridge, where they found all sorts of pots and such.  It was all, however, made of stone.  The apes then paid the Stone ape as their king.  He appointed monkeys as his counselors and officials.  They all lived happily on the Mountain where the stone ape had once been inside the high rock.

Image from Eggabase

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