<strong>The Tale of the Monkey's Daughter</strong><br/><br/><br/>Chapter One<br/><br/><br/>Ask the Monkey's Daughter about her mother three times, and you shall hear four tales, each taller than the last.  Ask after her father and she will spin a story about the man who married her mother and raised her.  Ask about her real father, and she will recite the first seven chapters of Journey to the West in a singsong voice while picking your pocket and stealing your watch.<br/><br/>What is known is this:<br/><br/>There was a man named Chou in San Francisco who made his coin selling the dishes of his native province to the homesick Celestials in the Land of the New Moon.  He was a widower, and without an heir.  One morning, on the anniversary of his beloved wife's death, he received a visit from a priest from the local temple.  After blessing the kitchen and exchanging small talk, the priest took him aside and spoke thusly.<br/><br/>"Know this, Chou, I have received a vision from the Benevolent Goddess Herself.  She wishes you to go, now, to the docks. There you will find a ship from China with a hold full of daughters bound for the fancy houses of the big-nosed barbarians."<br/><br/>"I cannot!  Who will mind my restaurant?"<br/><br/>The priest ignored him and continued.  "There you will find among the cargo a woman for the People of She, slight of build but with big feet.  Buy her.  Pay whatever the barbarians ask and bring her back here."<br/><br/>Again, Chou complained: "What need have I of a woman with big feet?  I cannot go..."<br/><br/>"The Boddhisatva will provide.  Would you flout the will of the Benevolent Goddess?"<br/><br/>Grumbling, Chou went forth and found that all was as the priest said: a ship, arrived that very hour from China, had a hold full of Celestial daughters!  For hours he tried in vain to find a woman as described, all the while lamenting the fate of his restaurant.  Finally, he found a barbarian in a fine suit who was arguing with one of the sailors over a slight woman with unbound feet.  The sailor insisted that the other man had not paid for the woman, and the barbarian insisted that she was not what he intended, as she was both mute and with child.<br/><br/>Seizing the chance, Chou haggled with the sailor for only a few minutes before the man handed him the woman for a mere four bits!  The other barbarian tore at his beard and cursed good-naturedly, and then went on his way.  Leading his new property back to his restaurant, Chou found that the priest was as good as his word...better, for the place was prepared for a wedding feast.<br/><br/>"What is this?  Who has come to my restaurant to be wed?"<br/><br/>"You and your new wife," the priest smiled.  "Do you doubt the will of the Benevolent Goddess?"<br/><br/>"I cannot marry!  I am too old!"<br/><br/>"There are sages older than you who become fathers."<br/><br/>"She bears another man's child!"<br/><br/>"A child who will know only your kindly guidance, and will surely give you all due respect."<br/><br/>"What of her family?"<br/><br/>"They sent her here, a punishment for her sins, to a land where she might never find a good and virtuous husband of Chinese blood.  Yet here you are, and it is the will of the Benevolent Goddess that you take her to wife."<br/><br/>Chou sighed heavily, nodding his resignation.  "Very well!"<br/><br/>Thus Chou took the silent young woman to wife, and for many months he was very happy: she repaid his kindness with dutiful and obedient care, and he found that his lonely heart was not grown stone cold even after so long.  Then came the time for her confinement, and the priest returned, uneasy and troubled.<br/><br/>"Chou, I have received another visit from the Benevolent Goddess."<br/><br/>"Yes, what is it?  I have done as she asked, and my life is good.  What may I do to serve?"<br/><br/>"You must...the child she bears...No matter what happens, Chou, you must never admit that the child is not yours.  Do you understand?"<br/><br/>Chou frowned.<br/><br/>"That will not be easy!  My neighbors all know that my wife was with child when I married her..."<br/><br/>"They may talk.  But the child must never learn the truth from your lips, no matter what.  No matter what!"<br/><br/>Solemnly, Chou vowed that he would never speak of the matter to his child.  Satisified with this answer, the priest departed in some haste.<br/><br/>Within the week, Chou beheld his new daughter for the first time, and he marveled at what he saw: she had a full head of flame-red hair and eyes the color of molten gold!  Remembering the priest's admonition, he looked upon his shame-faced wife and forced himself to smile.<br/><br/>They named her Sulan, after Chou's venerable grandmother.<br/><br/><br/>Chapter Two<br/><br/><br/>For some years, Chou was a content man.  His wife was attentive, obedient, and dutiful.  The daughter she bore was likewise attentive and dutiful, but also curious and prone to mischief.  Whenever she was not helping her parents run the restaurant, she was found running about like a boy, listening to the storytellers and playing rough and tumble games.<br/><br/>After seven years, his silent wife took sick during a bad winter and died in spite of all that could be done for her.  Heartbroken with loss, Chou left more and more of his business in the hands of employees and took to the bottle in search of solace.  His daughter, unable to comfort him, swallowed her tears and ran even wilder for a time.  Eventually she was caught at the temple, sneaking in for the sake of mischief, and there she was brought before the old priest who had guided Chou's steps.<br/><br/>"You are Mister Chou's girl, are you not?  From the restaurant?"<br/><br/>"Yes," she said, taking a proud stance as if prepared to fight the holy man off.<br/><br/>"I have something for you," he smiled.  "It used to belong to your mother, and she left it here for safekeeping."  He clapped his hands and an acolyte brought out a set of prayer beads.  "It was her wish that you have them when you were old enough."  And so saying, he placed them around her neck and chanted a sutra before dismissing her.<br/><br/>That night, at home, she fell into a listless sleep.  And the following morning, she was much quieter than before.  Old Chou did not complain about the change: she was easier to live with, and his heart was heavy with grief.<br/><br/>Thus she grew to womanhood, quiet and obedient, the perfect daughter for an aging widower.  Every so often the priest would visit and bless the prayer beads for her, and then the kitchen.  The restaurant flourished, and Chou was happy.<br/><br/>But the day before she was to turn fifteen, a coarse and unkept vagabond came to the restaurant.  He roared with laughter and called for drink, chasing other customers away with his horrible manners.  Finally, Chou came out to accost the man, only to find himself invited to join a drinking contest.<br/><br/>"So," the vagabond belched.  "I understand you have a daughter.  Bring her out!"<br/><br/>"Oh, I couldn't..."<br/><br/>"Bring her out, I say!  She can serve us."<br/><br/>Reluctantly Chou called his daughter forth, and the scruffy stranger started at the sight of her hair like fire and her eyes like molten gold.<br/><br/>"Ah!  Most exotic!  Her mother must have been quite the woman!  Here, girl, pour the wine for us."<br/><br/>Chou frowned at the man's tone, but made no objection as the girl knelt beside their table and filled their cups again and again.  They drank and sang as heroes of old...until the stranger's eye fell upon the prayer beads around the girl's neck.<br/><br/>Slamming his cup down on the table hard enough to shatter both, he leapt to his feet and grabbed Chou by the tunic, pinning the old man against the wall and shouting.<br/><br/>"Who has done this to your child?  Who has bound her with this rosary?  Did you do it?"<br/><br/>Chou fumbled for the words, but before he could defend himself his daughter rose and bowed to the ruffian, her lip trembling as she spoke softly.<br/><br/>"If you please, sir, it was the kindly old priest at the temple.  He said they belonged to my venerable mother.  Please release my father and go."<br/><br/>"Your father?"  The vagabond laughed and dropped Chou.  "If he is your father, I am the Dragon King's favorite concubine!  And unless your mother is the Benevolent Goddess Herself, those beads never belonged to her, either!"<br/><br/>The drunk capered about the restaurant, while outside a sudden storm let loose peals of thunder and heavy rain.<br/><br/>"Tell her the truth, Chou," the drunk crowed, so startling the old man that he cried out even as the ruffian dashed the doors to pieces and raced out into the street, into the pouring rain and the growing dark.<br/><br/>Sulan knelt by Chou, helping him to his feet.<br/><br/>"What did he mean, Father?"<br/><br/>Drunk and dazed, Chou turned to smile sadly at her.<br/><br/>"Your mother was already carrying you in her womb when I married her," he confessed.  "You are not the daughter of my body...but you have been the child of my heart..."<br/><br/>The girl cried out in astonishment, and the rosary around her neck broke at that moment, spilling beads across the floor.  Grabbing Chou by the collar and shaking him, she tearfully begged him to take back those words, to tell her that he was only joking.  Yet the old man had already sunk into a deep slumber from the wine.<br/><br/>Instead, she tore herself away from his side and went tearing after the villain who had thus slandered the man who had raised her!<br/><br/>Great was the sorrow of Chou, for he never saw his beloved stepdaughter again after that night.  Instead he sold his shop and moved far away, eventually finding yet another wife and passing his dotage with a third family, this time as a surrogate patriarch for a widow and her many children.<br/><br/>Of Sulan and the stranger, there is still more to tell.  It is said that theirs was a mighty duel, with the girl seeking to avenge her weeping heart with bold action.  Here is a poem that describes the fight:<br/><br/>Chasing him through rain and storm,<br/>she tore her skirts the better to run,<br/>a broom handle taken as her sword!<br/>A dozen passes made she, yet none struck home.<br/>From her rage the old drunk danced away<br/>Leaping to rooftops he jeered and beckoned.<br/>She, tearing free of sleeves, scrambled after.<br/>Another dozen passes they fought,<br/>leaping from roof to roof.<br/>Through saloon and brothel they fought,<br/>fierce pole versus bare hand,<br/>filial devotion against emptiness.<br/>Yet never could she strike him!<br/>Through the night they battled until<br/>at dawn's first light they met again<br/>upon the temple roof.<br/>Her strength spent, her breath gave out,<br/>Yet so strong her spirit!<br/>She gave one last mighty blow<br/>and broke her broom across his head.<br/>A son's heart in a daughter's body.<br/>Filial devotion personified!<br/><br/>There, as the sun's first light colored the temple, the old drunk looked as the splinters that lay around his feet and laughed!  Then he reached out and clapped Sulan on the shoulder.<br/><br/>"Well done, daughter!  Well done!"<br/><br/>"Who are you," she gasped, barely on her feet after their long battle.<br/><br/>"I am your true father," he said, producing a flask of rice wine and drinking her health.  "And my name is Sun Wukong."<br/><br/>As she gasped in disbelieving awe, the old priest rushed out of the temple and shook his fist at the ruffian.<br/><br/>"You, there!  Come away from that child!  She is under the protection of the Benevolent Goddess!"<br/><br/>The Monkey King, for it was indeed he, laughed and laughed.<br/><br/>"And what has my child done to Kwanyin, to be coddled by her whims and her power sealed by your accursed rosary?"<br/><br/>Then he swept the exhausted girl up into his arms and bounded away across the city, bearing his child elsewhere.<br/><br/><br/>Chapter Three<br/><br/><br/>Sun Wukong, the Monkey Opened to Emptiness, the Handsome Monkey King, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven leapt into the sky, carrying his daughter to a distant mountaintop far from the city of her birth.  There he set her down on a high plateau far from human presence.<br/><br/>"This is not the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit," he said, "but it will do.  I have not much time, and you must be trained..."<br/><br/>"I do not understand!  Why have you taken me?"<br/><br/>Here he struck at her as a teacher might as student, his hand slapping the back of her head.<br/><br/>"I talk, you listen!  Something is coming, young one.  Something big.  I can smell it in the morning breeze and hear it on the night wind, like a brewing storm in the distance."<br/><br/>Seeing that she now regarded him with her utmost attention, he nodded and continued.<br/><br/>"When that day dawns, the sons and daughters of All-Under-Heaven will need help when Hundun rises to swallow the world.  And they sense this: prayers rise hourly to the Most August.  Pleas for help, sacrifices for atonement and supplication multiply.  But they are too late: the Jade Emperor hides behind reports and endless meetings with his counselors.  The offices of Heaven shuffle their reports and pretend that nothing is amiss.  That means it is up to me...again."  He clapped her on the shoulders.  "But as I must be elsewhere, my children must take up the burden.  Now come, and I shall instruct you."<br/><br/>"This is not the Middle Kingdom," she said.  "This is the Land of the New Moon.  Am I to return to the lands of my ancestors?"<br/><br/>"Don't be silly," he laughed.  "While the scroll-peddlers may care, my interests know no borders.  All monkeys are my children, whether they are in China or not.  And besides, I like this world!"<br/><br/>Hearing this, Sulan consented to be trained by her true father.  For a year and a day she followed his instructions without question, training hard.  He showed her the One Hundred and Forty Four Excellent Techniques and the Sixty-Four Methods.  In the evening while they supped, he taught her the Thirty-six Stratagems and the Ten Thousand Ways.  He showed her the way of sword and staff, bow and blade, open palm and closed fist.  Never did he utter praise where she had not earned it, nor scorn her failings improperly.  Many are those in Heaven who would have been amazed, so serious was the Monkey King!<br/><br/>One day, as they were at rest, Sun Wukong sat bolt upright and looked to the west.<br/><br/>"The dragons are very angry," he said, just before she felt the ground shake beneath them.  "I will have to go soon."<br/><br/>"Father," she cried out, throwing herself at his feet until he knelt to help her back to her feet.<br/><br/>"Oh, come now!  You are my finest student, and I have stayed overlong as it is for the pure joy of teaching you!  Now I must return to the Heavens to help the others.  Surely by now even the Jade Emperor must see the peril and act!  If he waits until his ministries are burning, it will be too late."<br/><br/>He embraced her fondly, as an indulgent father might a very small child.<br/><br/>"Soon you, too, shall have to go forth and walk again among mortal men.  As I have not stinted on your training, so I do not leave you empty-handed.  Let me show you these gifts."<br/><br/>He brought forth a sack and gifted her with many things: new slippers for her forthcoming journey, jade bangles for her wrists and a pendant for her throat, and a fine sash of deep green silk with the characters 'Beautiful Monkey Princess' embroidered in imperial yellow.  Finally he gifted her with a scholarly sword of exquisite craftsmanship.<br/><br/>"Bear this with you when you return to the mortal plane.  For now it is but a finely made blade, but someday it may yet become a thing of legend."<br/><br/>He embraced her again, this time as teacher to beloved student.<br/><br/>"Remain here and train a while longer, Chou SuLan.  When it is time to leave, you shall receive omens of portent.  And now I must be away."<br/><br/>Saying this, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven leapt upon a passing cloud and quickly rode it out of sight, leaving her upon the high mountain to grieve anew for a father's parting.  For three days she stayed forlornly by the campfire and mourned, fumbling through what rituals she knew to honor her mother and both her fathers.<br/><br/>On the morning of the fourth day, she found herself kicked awake by a tiny monkey clad in the tunic and trousers of a Chinese peasant.<br/><br/>"Get up, sad one," the Monkey instructed her gruffly.  "No time to weep!  Only time to train!  One more thing--fix breakfast!  You cannot train on an empty stomach!"<br/><br/>Through the day, the tiny monkey guided her through her training, striking her with his tiny staff whenever she let her attention wander, scolding her like a proper<em>sifu</em>.  In the evening, he took up her father's task of lecturing her on the Stratagems: this, he explained at long last, was his role.  Knowing he might have to depart before she was ready, her father had tasked one of his court with her further improvement.  Having trained his finest Baboon Guards, the monkey declared, a mere slip of a girl was no great trouble.  Learning this, she called the monkey 'Uncle', which seemed to please him as much as anything else she did.<br/><br/>Many more months passed on the mountaintop, and SuLan grew to womanhood as she trained under Uncle's gruff mercies.  Then one morning she awoke from a dread nightmare of a vast cloaked skeleton, a great beast striding across the world, bearing a terrible blade before it and sweeping all that lived and breathed and loved before it as a wildfire consumes a prairie.  When she spoke of her nightmare to Uncle, he nodded sagely and declared that now was the moment for them to go forth.  Heeding his wisdom as though he brought her instructions from her father's own mouth, the Beautiful Monkey Princess gathered her things and descended from the mountains to seek her destiny among mortals.<br/><br/>What did she find?  Read on and find out!