One day， the Jade Emperor invited Monkey Sun， the GREat Sage Equalling Heaven， to Heaven， and asked him to administer the Peach Orchard. The Great Sage was overjoyed because anyone who ate the ripened peaches became eternal， living as long as Heaven and Earth. Everyday he picked the best peaches to enjoy， and after he had his fill， he shrunk himself to only two inches long and slept on the branch of a tree. One day the Queen Mother arranged a banquet of peaches by the Jade Pool. When the fairies sent by her were picking peaches in the Peach Orchard， the Great Sage awoke and was annoyed to discover he was not invited to the feast. He spoke a magic spell which immobilized fairies， then he went straight to the Jade Pool where he saw rare fruits and fine delicacies and smelt the fragrance of jade liquor. He performed a spell by bulling several hairs from his body and chewing them up， the hairs turned into sleep-inducing insects which then bit all the busy serants， causing them to fall asleep. Then the Great Sage ate rare delicacies and drank precious wines until he was completely full. He put the leftovers in a big bag for the small monkeys on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. After this， he went to the place where Lord Lao Zi kept the elixir. The Great Sage ate up all the golden pills of elixir in the precious gourd， then he rushed out of the Gate of Heaven and went straight down to the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit.

During the reign of Emperor Tai Zong （627-649） of the Tang Dynasty， at his request， esteemed Buddhist Monk Xuan Zang was sent to India， the birthplace of Buddhism， for scriptures. From Chang”an （present-day Xi”an）， the capital of the Tang Dynasty， the monk journeyed west. When he eventually fulfilled the mission and returned， seventeen years had passed. From that time forward， Buddhism spread across China. As this legendary trip was told and relold by later generations， many embellishments were zealously added. Wu Cheng”en， using popular versions of the story along with his own fictional details， created the intriguing classical novel Journey to the West. The Tang Priest， Monkey， Pig and Friar Sand characters from the book are popular images among Chinese people.
Note： Wu Cheng”en（1500-1582）， was a Ming Dynasty novelist

When Tang Priest and his three disciples come to Mount Pitfall there is a female mouse spirit there. As soon as she sees Tang Priest she falls in love with him. Since he is so handsome， she wants to marry him. The mouse spirit first changes herself into a pretty girl and then tied herself to a tree. Then she waits for the Tang Priest and his devotees to pass by. When they see her they save her. Then the evil mouse spirit asked then to take her with them by telling a fabricated story designed to win their sympathy. At night they stayed in a temple. The evil spirit took Tang Priest to her Bottomless Cave using an evil wind. When the three disciples couldn”t find their master they followed them to the Bottomless Cave. Mondey changed himself into an insect to go inside the cave. He saw that the evil spirit was urging his master to drink wine so he would get drunk and aGREe to marry her. Then Monkey changed himself into an eagle to turn the table upside down. The evil spirit trembled with fear. Then Monkey changed himself into a fly and flew into the ear of his master and said something. Tang Priest did what he said： He invited the evil spirit to take a walk with him in the garden. There he picked a big peach and offered it to her. She was very pleased and ate the fruit right away. After a moment， her stomach was in such pain that she couldn”t bear it. Just then， Monkey shouted in her stomach： “Let my master go， otherwise I”ll kill you.” It turned out that the peach was changed by Monkey. As soon as Tang Priest went out of the cave， Monkey. As soon as Tang Priest went out of the cave， Monkey jumped out from the stomach of the evil spirit. Monkey， Pig and Friar Sand had a fierce fight with the evil spirit and there wsa nobody to protect the Master. Tang Priest was again taken into the cave by the evil spirit. Monkey entered the cave and did not find his master but he saw the memorial tablets for Heavenly King Li and Nezha. Monkey went to the Jade Emperor with the tablets in his hands. The Jade Emperor ordered Heavenly King Li and Nezha to subdue the mouse spirit and get Tang Priest out of the cave. Then the master and three disciples went on their way to the West to find Buddhist scriptures.

Tang Priest and his three disciples traveled westward. One night， they arrived at the Tongtian River， which was 800kilometers wide with torrential waters. They had to put up for the night in a nearby village because they had no way to cross the river. They came to a house in which lived a man named Chen Cheng and his family. The whole family was crying. The group soon learned that in the Tongtian River there was a spirit who asked the village to send him a virgin girl and a virgin boy every year as a sacrifice. And this year was Chen Cheng‘s turn. Learning this， Monkey King consoled the Chens， and promised them that he and Pig would act as the boy and girl to wait for the spirit in the temple. At midnight， the spirit came to the temple to reach for the girl. Pig， the pretended girl， in a hurry swirled his rake at the spirit. The spirit fled into the river. The next morning， Tang Priest and his disciples woke up and found the 800-kilometer-wide river frozen. San Zang urged his disciples to cross the river over the ice. When they reached the middle of the river， the ice cracked and the river swallowed Tang Priest who was then captured by the spirit. The three disciples ran after the spirit who knew he was no match for them and did not come out. Monkey King had to seek help from Guanyin （a Bodhis-attva）。 It turned out that the spirit was a big goldfish in the South Sea lotus pond. The fish escaped from the Buddha to hurt people. So the Buddha was asked to retrieve the fish spirit. Later， the four were worrying about how to cross the river. Suddenly， there came an old turtle， who said， “Iused to live in the river. Now that you have chased away the spirit， I am back. Let me help you get across the river.” So the four jumped over the turtle’s back and the turtle took them to the other side of the river.