Monday, October 3, 2016

Reading Notes: The Monkey King, Part B

The Lord of the Heavens

The gods are very forgiving in these stories, unlike the stories from Greek mythology. Although the servants in heaven (I'm not sure if this meant gods or just people who worked in heaven) were quick to condemn Sun Wu Kung, the North Wind god and the Lord were very forgiving of his behavior and gave him a position in heaven.

The Great Saint

Unfortunately, Sun Wu Kung didn't really know that he was doing servant work so the work that he did is kind of invalidated. His outrage is unfortunate because it shows he hasn't really learned the ways of the heavens.

Notscha, Son of Li Dsing


The power of the Monkey King is much greater than  I thought. I wonder why the gods are not more powerful than him?

The Queen-Mother of the West

Saint seems like a real punk. Also, the forbidden fruit is a common theme in stories like these. (Like Adam and Eve).

Laotzse

I really like how clever Saint is, even though he is using his cunning to deceive people. I hope he doesn't end up dying, but he is acting much like a "lovable scamp" character in this narrative.

Yang Oerlang

What an exciting chase between the two shape shifters. It would be cool to do a scene like this in a story where there are even more species, like across a galaxy or something. Maybe like a bounty hunter sort of deal?

The Destiny of Sun Wu Kung

I wonder what Buddha would have done if Sun Wu Kung would not have written his name in his hand. The logic doesn't exactly make sense to me anyway, but I guess having a great, strong arrogant being taken down this way makes us humble.


Xi Wangmu, the Queen-Mother of the West via the UnTextbook



Bibliography: Stories from "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhems, translated by Frederick H. Martens. Source.

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