Sanzang was so horrified by what he had heard that his bones turned soft and his muscles went numb. He could not help the tears that streamed down his face as he started sobbing aloud. “Foolish king,” he exclaimed, “foolish king. Your lechery has ruined your health, and now you are planning to destroy all those young lives. How could you? What misery! The pain of it all is killing me.” There is a poem about it that goes:

The wicked monarch's folly makes him forget the truth;

His health is ruined by his unbridled lusts.

Pursuing eternal life by killing little children,

He slaughters his subjects to avoid Heaven's punishment.

This is all more than the merciful monk can bear:

He cannot accept the official's worldly wisdom.

Long are his sighs as he weeps in the lamplight;

Stricken with grief is the Buddha worshipper.

“Master,” said Pig, going up to him, “what's the matter with you? What you're doing is like taking a stranger's coffin to your own home and weeping over it. Don't upset yourself like that. As the rhyme goes,

When a monarch insists that his subjects will die

None that are loyal to live will aspire;

When a father commands his own offspring to perish

Any dutiful son will most surely expire.

The people he's going to kill are his own subjects. What are they to you? Take off your clothes, get some sleep and 'don't worry about the ancients.'”

“Disciple,” said Sanzang, his tears still flowing, “you haven't a shred of compassion. The most important thing for us monks as we accumulate good deeds is to help others. How could this deluded king be so set in his wickedness? Never have I ever heard that eating human hearts could prolong life. How could something so terrible not grieve me?”

“Don't grieve so, Master,” said Friar Sand. “When you present our passport tomorrow and seethe king you can talk to him about it. Even if he doesn't accept your advice you'll be able to see what the Elder of the Nation looks like. Probably he's an evil spirit who's thought all this up because he wants to eat human hearts.”

“Wujing is right,” said Brother Monkey. “Go to bed now, Master, and tomorrow morning I'll go to court with you to see what this Elder of the Nation is like. If he's human he's probably a heretic who doesn't follow orthodox ways but believes in drugs, and I'll convert him with the essential teachings of intrinsic nature. If he's an evil spirit I'll catch him, show the king what he is, and urge the king to control his desires and build up his strength. Whatever happens I won't let him kill those children.”

As soon as he heard this Sanzang bowed to Monkey with great courtesy and said, “What an excellent suggestion! But when we see the deluded king we must say nothing about this in case he thinks we are guilty of not knowing our place and spreading slander. What could we do if that happened?”

“I've got my magic powers,” Monkey replied. “First of all I'm going to get the little boys in the coops away from the city so that he'll have nobody to take the hearts out of tomorrow. The local officials will of course report this and the king will be bound either to order a discussion with the Elder of the Nation or else to demand more information. This will give us a chance to submit our memorial without getting ourselves into trouble.” Sanzang was very pleased.

“How are you going to get the children out of the town now?” he asked. “If you really can rescue them you will be doing the greatest of good deeds, worthy disciple. But do it quick, because if you lose any time you may be too late.”

Summoning up his might Monkey stood up and gave Pig and Friar Sand their parting instructions: “Sit here with the master while I do my stuff. If you notice a magical wind blowing that'll be the boys leaving the city.”

Sanzang and the other two disciples said, “We invoke the Saviour Bhaisajya-guru Buddha. We invoke the Saviour Bhaisajya-guru Buddha.”

Once outside the doors the Great Sage whistled, rose into mid-air, made a spell with his hands and said the magic words, called out “Om pure dharma world,” and summoned the city god, the local deities, the officiating immortals, the Protectors of the Faith of the four quarters and the center, the Four Duty Gods, the Six Dings and the Six Jias and the Guardians of the Teaching.

They all came to him where he was in midair, bowed and said, “Great Sage, what is the urgent business on which you have summoned us in the middle of the night?”

“My journey has brought me to Bhiksuland,” Monkey replied, “where the king is a bad one who believes in evil doctrines. He wants to take the hearts out of little boys to make the adjuvant to a medicine that he hopes will make him live for ever. My master finds this utterly horrible and has asked me to rescue the boys and destroy the demon. That is why I've asked all you gentlemen here. I want you to use your magical powers to lift all the little boys, coops and all, over the city wall into a mountain hollow or somewhere deep in a forest. Keep them there for a day or two. Give them fruit to eat and don't let them go hungry. Keep watch over them in secret and don't frighten them or make them cry. When I've eliminated the evil, brought the country back to good government and persuaded the king to mend his ways and am about to leave, you must bring them back to me.”

The gods all listened to their orders then brought their clouds down to land so that they could use their magical powers. The city was filled with a blustering negative wind that brought with it an all-pervasive and sinister fog.

All the stars in the sky were obscured by the negative wind;

The moon was blacked out by the magical fog for many a mile.

At first the wind was gusty,

And then it blew like a hurricane.

When it was gusting

All ran to the gateways to rescue their children;

Then in the hurricane

They wanted to save their own flesh and blood in the coops.

The air turned so chilly that none dared show their heads;

The cold was so piercing that clothes froze like iron.

Vainly did parents look all around;

The families all were stricken with grief.

The sinister wind blew right across the land

As the boys in their baskets were carried off by the gods.

Although that was a night of bereavement and grief

Joy was coming to all the next day.

There is another poem about it that goes:

Compassion has always been strong in the Sakyamuni faith;

The achievement of goodness explains the Great Vehicle.

A multitude of holy ones all accumulate goodness;

For the Three Refuges and Five Precepts harmony is needed.

The land of Bhiksu was not to be ruined by its monarch

When a thousand little boys were to forfeit their lives.

Monkey and his master had brought them to safety,

Which conferred more merit than the Great Wisdom.

By the third watch of the night the gods had carried all the coops off and hidden them in all the safe places. Monkey then landed his auspicious light and went straight back to the government hostel, where to his secret delight he could hear the other three still chanting, “We invoke the Saviour Bhaisajya-guru Buddha.”

“Master,” he said, going up to them, “I'm back. What was the negative wind like?”

“Terrific,” said Pig.

“How did the rescue of the children go?” Sanzang asked.

“Every single one of them has been saved,” Monkey replied. “They'll all be brought back when we set out again.” The master thanked him over and over again before finally going to sleep.