Comparing: The Monkey King

In the beginning, there was a magical rock on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, nourished by the essence of heaven and earth since the dawn of creation. One day, the rock split open and produced a stone egg. When the wind blew over it, the egg hatched into a stone monkey with eyes that flashed like golden lightning. The monkey was extraordinary from the start. He soon befriended the other monkeys on the mountain and, when they discovered a waterfall concealing a hidden paradise called the Water Curtain Cave, he boldly leaped through it. The other monkeys declared him their king, and he took the title Handsome Monkey King. But the Monkey King grew restless. He realized that despite his power and joy, he would one day grow old and die like any mortal creature. Determined to overcome death itself, he sailed across the ocean on a raft and sought out the Taoist sage Subhuti. The sage recognized his potential and taught him the seventy-two transformations, the cloud-somersault that could carry him thirty-six thousand miles in a single bound, and the secrets of immortality. The Monkey King returned to his mountain more powerful than ever. His next conquest was the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea. He dove into the ocean palace and demanded a worthy weapon. Nothing suited him until he found a massive iron pillar used to measure the ocean depths. The pillar responded to his touch, shrinking to the size of a needle at his command. This was the Ruyi Jingu Bang, the As-You-Will Gold-Banded Cudgel, weighing seventeen thousand five hundred and fifty pounds. With this weapon, the Monkey King was nearly unstoppable. He then traveled to the underworld and crossed out his name and those of all monkeys from the Registry of Life and Death, making himself and his subjects truly immortal. When the Dragon King and the judges of the dead complained to the Jade Emperor in heaven, the emperor tried to placate the Monkey King by offering him a title: Keeper of the Heavenly Horses. But when the Monkey King learned this was the lowest position in heaven, he flew into a rage, declared himself the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, and wreaked havoc in the celestial palaces. He defeated the armies of heaven, ate the sacred Peaches of Immortality reserved for the Queen Mother of the West, drank the Jade Emperor's celestial wine, and swallowed Laozi's pills of longevity. In a single rampage, he made himself many times over immortal. The gods were powerless to stop him. Only the Buddha himself could subdue the Monkey King. The Buddha challenged him to jump off the palm of his hand, promising him heaven's rule if he succeeded. The Monkey King somersaulted to the very edge of the universe, where he saw five great pillars. He marked them with his signature to prove he had traveled beyond the world's end. But when he returned, the Buddha showed him that the pillars were merely his five fingers. The Monkey King had never left the Buddha's palm. With a single motion, the Buddha turned his hand into a mountain, sealing the Monkey King beneath it for five hundred years, until the monk Xuanzang would come to free him for the great journey west.

Au commencement, il y avait un rocher magique sur la Montagne des Fleurs et des Fruits, nourri par l'essence du ciel et de la terre depuis l'aube de la creation. Un jour, le rocher se fendit et produisit un oeuf de pierre. Lorsque le vent souffla dessus, l'oeuf eclos en un singe de pierre aux yeux qui brillent comme l'eclair dor. Le singe etait extraordinaire des le debut. Il se fit bientot des amis avec les autres singes sur la montagne et, lorsqu'ils decouvrirent une cascade dissimulant un paradis cache appele la Grotte du Rideau d'Eau, il osa s'y elancer. Les autres singes le declarerent leur roi, et il prit le titre de Roi Singe Magnifique. Mais le Roi Singe devint agite. Il realisa que malgre sa puissance et sa joie, il vieillirait et mourrait un jour comme toute creature mortelle. Determine a vaincre la mort elle-meme, il traversa l'ocean sur un radeau et rechercha le sage taoiste Subhuti. Le sage reconnut son potentiel et lui enseigna les soixante-douze transformations, le saut périlleux sur nuage qui pouvait le porter trente-six mille miles en un seul bond, et les secrets de l'immortalite. Le Roi Singe retourna sur sa montagne plus puissant que jamais. Sa prochaine conquete fut le Roi Dragon de la Mer de l'Est. Il plongea dans le palais de l'ocean et exigea une arme digne de lui. Rien ne lui convenait jusqu'a ce qu'il trouve un pilier de fer massif utilise pour mesurer les profondeurs de l'ocean. Le pilier reagit a son toucher, retrécissant a la taille d'une aiguille sur son ordre. C'etait le Ruyi Jingu Bang, le Baton Cerclé d'Or a Volonte, pesant dix-sept mille cinq cent cinquante livres. Avec cette arme, le Roi Singe etait presque invincible. Il voyagea ensuite dans le monde souterrain et raya son nom et ceux de tous les singes du Registre de la Vie et de la Mort, se rendant lui-meme et ses sujets veritablement immortels. Lorsque le Roi Dragon et les juges des morts se plaindirent a l'Empereur de Jade au ciel, l'empereur essaya d'apaiser le Roi Singe en lui offrant un titre: Gardien des Chevaux Celestes. Mais lorsque le Roi Singe apprit que c'etait le poste le plus bas du ciel, il se mit en colere, se declara le Grand Sage Egal au Ciel, et sema le chaos dans les palais celestes. Il vainquit les armees du ciel, mangea les Peches Sacrees de l'Immortalite reservees a la Reine Mere de l'Ouest, but le vin celeste de l'Empereur de Jade, et avala les pilules de longevite de Laozi. En une seule frappee, il se rendit plusieurs fois immortel. Les dieux etaient impuissants a l'arreter. Seul le Bouddha lui-meme pouvait subjuguer le Roi Singe. Le Bouddha le defia de sauter du creux de sa main, lui promettant le regne du ciel s'il reussissait. Le Roi Singe fit un saut périlleux jusqu'a la limite de l'univers, ou il vit cinq grands pilliers. Il les marqua de sa signature pour prouver qu'il avait voyage au-dela de la fin du monde. Mais lorsqu'il revint, le Bouddha lui montra que les pilliers n'etaient que ses cinq doigts. Le Roi Singe n'avait jamais quitte la paume du Bouddha. D'un seul geste, le Bouddha transforma sa main en montagne, scellant le Roi Singe dessous pendant cinq cents ans, jusqu'a ce que le moine Xuanzang vienne le liberer pour le grand voyage vers l'ouest.