Reading Notes: Part A- Handsome King of the Apes

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

In a far away land in the east, there is a big giant sea. In this sea is an island, with a huge mountain right in the center. The island is called "Mountain of Flowers and Fruits", and in the middle of the mountain lies a giant rock. This was no ordinary rock- but was special from the beginning of time. It had absorbed all of the powers from heaven, earth, the sun and the moon. One day, the rock burst because of all of it's supernatural powers, and an egg of stone exploded out of it. From the stone hatched an ape, who had absorbed all of the magical powers from the rock. 

The ape learned to do basic tasks slowly, but then outshone his magical powers! Two beams of gold shot out from his eyes and shone all the way up to the heavens, and was so alarming that even the Lord of Heavens was scared of this supernatural ape, and his golden eye beams. The Lord of Heavens sent two gods down to get the scoop on the strange creature. The gods came back to report where the ape had came from, and that the Lord of Heavens should not be worried. 

The ape continued on, growing and learning new things. He spent his time unbothered, playing around and eating the flowers and fruits and drinking from the streams of the island he lived on. One day, he went bathing with some of his ape friends. While they were looking for a stream to cool off in, they came across a huge waterfall. They challenged each other to force their way through the waterfall, and whoever did so without injuring themselves would be the ape king. 

Of course, the stone ape made it through the waterfall with ease. On the other side of the waterfall was a stone wall, keeping him from the rest of the outside world. Etched into the stone wall was “This is the heavenly cave behind the water-curtain on the Blessed Island of Flowers and Fruits.” The stone ape went back through the waterfall to share the good news with the other apes. The other apes wanted to see for themselves, so they went back through the waterfall with the stone ape. On the other side of the wall was pots, cups and platters, all made of stone. 

As agreed in the beginning, the other apes crowned the stone ape king, calling him "Handsome King of the Apes." As any royalty would do, he appointed his subjects right after being crowned. The apes lived happily with the ape king, and continued with their untroubled happiness.

(the waterfall)