After hearing the story in all this detail the king started to weep aloud. This soon alarmed the queens and consorts of the three palaces and six compounds, who all came out to ask why. Everybody began to weep bitterly, and it was a long time before the king asked, “How far is the Spread Gold Monastery from the city?”

“Only twenty miles,” Sanzang replied.

The king then issued these commands: “Let the Queens of the Eastern and Western Palaces look after the court while the High Minister takes charge of the nation's business. We are going to the monastery with our Senior Queen, our officials and the four holy monks to fetch the princess.”

Carriages were at once prepared and a line of them left the palace. Watch as Brother Monkey sprang up into the air and with a bend of his back was the first to reach the monastery. The monks all hastily knelt to greet him.

“When you left, sir,” they said, “you walked with the others, so why did you come down from the sky today?”

To this Monkey replied with a smile, “Where is your ancient teacher? Ask him to come out straight away, and set out incense tables to welcome His Majesty. The king and queen of India, the officials and my master are all coming.” The monks could not understand what he meant, so they asked the ancient monk to come out.

When the ancient monk saw Monkey he prostrated himself before him with the words, “What has happened about the princess, sir?” Monkey told him all about how the imitation princess had thrown the embroidered ball, wanted to mate with the Tang Priest, been chased, fought, and been recaptured by the Moon Lord as the Jade Hare. The ancient monk kowtowed to him again in thanks.

“Please stop kowtowing,” said Monkey, helping him up, “please stop. Hurry up and get ready to receive His Majesty.” Only then did the monks realize that it was a girl locked up in the garden at the back. Surprised and delighted, they all set out a row of incense tables outside the monastery gates, put on their cassocks and started striking the bell and the drum. Soon after this the king's carriage arrived. Indeed:

The sky is filled with clouds of holy incense;

Sudden blessing comes to the monastery.

The rainbow flows for a thousand years; rivers and seas are pure.

The eternal spring round which lightning flickers is finer than those of Yu and Tang.

Thanks to the royal grace the plants' colours are finer than ever;

The wild flowers have extra fragrance because of this generosity.

Men of distinction have always left their mark behind them;

Today all rejoice at an enlightened king's arrival.

When the king arrived outside the monastery gates the monks were all lined up on their knees in orderly ranks, bowing low in greeting. Monkey stood in the middle. “How did you arrive first, holy monk?” the king asked.

“It just took a little bend of my waist for me to get here,” Monkey replied.

“Why were you such a long time coming?” After this the Tang Priest and the others all arrived. He led the royal carriage to the building at the back where the princess was still raving and pretending to be crazy.

The ancient monk knelt down, pointed towards her and said, “This is Her Royal Highness the princess who was blown here by a wind the other year.” The king ordered the cell opened. When the iron locks were undone and the door opened the king and queen saw and recognized the princess.

Not caring about the filth, they went up to her and threw their arms round her. “Our poor child,” they said, “how did you come to suffer these torments and have so terrible a time here?” How true it is that the meeting of parents and child is not like that of other people. The three of them sobbed aloud, their arms round each other's heads. When they had cried for a while and told each other what had happened since they were parted, scented hot water was sent for. The princess bathed and changed her clothes before they all climbed into carriages to go back to the capital.

Monkey then put his hands together in greeting to the king and said, “I have something else to put to you, Your Majesty.”

“Say it, whatever it is, holy monk,” the king said, returning his greeting, “and we will do as you ask.”

“This mountain of theirs,” Monkey replied, “is called Mount Hundredfoot. They tell me that centipedes have been turning into spirits here recently and injuring people by night. This is very awkward for travelling merchants. As I see it, only chickens can deal with centipedes, so a thousand extra-large cockerels should be chosen and then scattered across the mountainside to get rid of these venomous insects. The mountain could be renamed and you could make a land grant to these monks to thank them for looking after the princess.”

This suggestion pleased the king greatly, and he accepted it. Officials were then sent back to the city to fetch cocks, while the mountain was renamed Mount Splendor. The Department of Works was instructed to provide the materials for the monastery to be rebuilt, a deed of enfeoffment was written describing the mountain as “Mount Splendor, granted to the Almsgiver's Spread Gold Monastery,” and the ancient monk was given the title National Benefactor Hierarch, a title that was to be handed on to his successors in perpetuity, together with a stipend of thirty-six bushels of grain. The monks all thanked the king for his kindness and saw him off on his way back to the capital. Here the princess returned to the inner palace and was greeted by all the ladies in turn. A banquet was then laid on to cheer the princess up and congratulate her on her deliverance. The queen and her daughter were reunited; king and ministers were together. We will not describe the night's feasting.

Early the next morning the king ordered that painters make portraits of the countenances of the four holy monks to be kept in the Sino-Barbarian Hall. The princess was also invited to come out from the throne hall in her new finery to thank the Tang Priest and the other three for saving her from her suffering. When she had thanked them the Tang Priest took his leave of the king to continue his journey West. The king refused to let them go, but ordered great banquets at which they feasted for five or six days. The idiot really was given a good time, and he enjoyed putting as much food in his stomach as he possibly could. When the king saw how determined they were to visit the Buddha he realized that no matter how hard he tried he would not be able to keep them. He had two hundred ingots of gold and silver brought out, as well as a tray of jewels for each of them as an expression of thanks. Master and disciples refused to accept anything. The king then ordered the royal carriage prepared, invited the master to enter it, and instructed officials to escort them a long way. The queens, consorts, officials and common people all kowtowed endlessly in thanks. As they went along the way their monks all came out to kowtow to them in farewell; none of them could bear to be parted from the travelers. Seeing that the people seeing them off were unwilling to turn back. Monkey had no option but to make a spell with his hands and blow a magic breath in the direction of the trigram of the wind, Xun, so that a dark wind stopped all the escorts from seeing them. Only then did the travelers get away. This was indeed a case of

Washing away the waves of gratitude their natures returned to the end;

Leaving the sea of gold they were aware of true emptiness.

If you do not know what happened on the journey ahead, listen to the explanation in the next chapter.