Tang Seng (The Monk of Tang dy nasty) and his three dis ciples were on their way to the Bud -dhist holy land in the West to seek the true Bud dhist scrip tures. They had just said good bye to a hot sum mer and were about to en joy a cool fall when suddenly they felt wave after wave of hot air blow -ing in their faces as they ap proached a vil lage. When asked about the strange heat wave, a vil lager told them that the hot air came from what they called the Moun tain of Flames, to their west. It cov -ered an area of 800 square miles.

“No one, not even a bird, can cross it alive,” added the vil lager.

“What can we do?” Tang Seng asked hopelessly.

“There’s a way, but . . . ,” the vil lager stopped short.

“What is it? Tell us, please,” the im pa tient Mon key King, Tang Seng’s pri mary dis ci ple, asked po litely.

“A magic palm fan can put out the fire on the moun tain, but it is in the hands of a fe male spirit. No body has ever been able to get it from her.”

“Who is she?” Tang Seng asked.

“No one knows her real name. We all call her Prin cess Iron Fan.”

Mon key King wanted to get to the bot tom of this. He poked the ground sev eral times with his thousand-pound iron rod, his ver sa tile weapon, and called up the lo cal god of land. Aware of the power of Mon key King, the god of land told him all he knew about Prin cess Iron Fan: “She is the wife of Prince Buf falo and lives in the Palm Cave on the Em erald Green Moun tain. How ever, two years ago, the prince took a sec ond wife called Princess Jade Face, a fox spirit. He is now liv ing with the foxy concu bine miles away in the Magic Cave on the Thun der-accumulating Moun tain and sel -dom comes to visit Prin cess Iron Fan. For that rea son, she is in a very bad mood.”

“I would be the last that she wants to help,” thought Mon key King, re gret ting the sheer co in ci -dence and his poor luck. It turned out that in a pre vi ous adven ture, Mon key King had con quered a young demon named Red Kid with the help of Guanyin, God dess of Mercy. To pre vent Red Kid from do ing harm to humans, Guanyin took him away to serve as her dis ci ple. Red Kid was none other than the son of Prince Buf falo and Prin cess Iron Fan, and they hated Monkey King for the loss of their son.

“To bor row the magic palm fan from the princess would be a mis sion im pos si ble,” Mon key King thought. Look ing at the eyes of his mas ter and fel low dis ci ples, which seemed to beg him for an answer, Mon key King gave his head a few scratches and said, “I’ll give it a try no mat ter what.” With that, he leapt on to a cloud and, with a somer sault, ar rived at the Em er ald Green Moun tain, miles away.

With great civil ity and hum ble ness, Mon key King asked Prin cess Iron Fan to lend him the magic ob ject. The prin cess, however, greeted him with her dou ble swords. She wanted to avenge her son on the mon key. Mon key King had to fend off her swords with his iron rod. Af ter a few bouts, the princess could not fight on. As she re treated, the princess took a lit tle ob ject from her sleeve pocket and said a few words of in can ta tion to it, and it sud denly turned into a huge fan. A sin gle swipe of the fan stirred up a wind that car ried Monkey King to a great distance, so far that he did not land until the next morn ing. When he did, he set foot on the Lit tle Xumi Moun tain, where Lingji Pusa lived. Mon -key King asked him for help, and Lingji Pusa gave him a pill that could help him stand firm even in a hur ri cane.

With the pill in his mouth, Monkey King re turned to the Emer ald Green Moun tain to chal lenge Prin cess Iron Fan again. No mat ter how hard the prin cess tried her magic fan, the monkey would not budge an inch. Frightened at his newly gained power, the prin cess turned and sped toward her cave. How ever, be fore the gate com pletely shut, Mon key King had trans formed into a mos quito and sneaked in. When the prin cess asked one of her attendants to serve her a cup of tea to quench her thirst, the mosquito plunged into the cup without anybody noticing. As the prin cess drank from the cup, the mon key rolled into her throat and then her stomach. There he stretched his arms and kicked his legs. Prin cess Iron Fan threw her self on the ground, writh ing in anguish. Ev eryone around was won der ing what was hap pen ing, when they heard some one call ing from within the prin cess, “Hey, Prin cess Iron Fan!”

“Who’s there? Where are you?” asked the prin cess.

“Hah, hah, I am Mon key King. I am in your belly. If you don’t lend me your magic fan, I will show you all my ac ro batic tal ents here and make a mess of your in sides!” Alarmed, Prin cess Iron Palm begged for mercy. She said she would give him any thing in the world if he came out of her.

As soon as Monkey King leapt out of her widely opened mouth, she handed him a huge fan. Mon key King took it and rushed to the Mountain of Flames. He jumped into the air and be gan to swing the fan. To ev ery one’s sur prise, the flames did not go out but, in stead, became more vi o lent. Mon key King did not know what had gone wrong. He asked Tang Seng and his fel low dis ci ples to run as fast as they could while he was bring ing up the rear. As he was run ning, the fan on his shoul der heaved up and down, fur ther fuel ing the in ten si fy ing flames, which burnt the Mon key King’s but -tocks. Ever since, all the mon keys, believed to be the de scen dants of Mon key King, have had red, hair less buttocks.

Af ter flee ing twenty miles from the fi ery zone, Mon key King stopped. He called up the lo cal god of land again and asked why the magic fan had failed to work. The god of land told Monkey King that Prin cess Iron Fan must have lent him a fake one. “To get the real thing,” the god of land took a deep breath and con tin ued, “you may have to deal with her husband, Prince Buffalo.”

“Well, another mis sion im pos si ble that I have to ac com plish,” thought the monkey. With a som er sault, he ar rived at the Magic Cave on the Thun der-accumulating Moun tain. There he en coun -tered Prince Buf falo’s sec ond wife, Prin cess Jade Face. She tried to stop him from en ter ing the cave. Seeing that she was no match for the mon key, she rushed to her hus band, crying for help. When Prince Buf falo saw Mon key King, his re sent ment over whelmed his senses. With out listening to the mon key’s ex pla na tion and apol ogy, the buf falo en gaged him in a fight.

They fought a hun dred bouts, but nei ther got the up per hand. Sud denly the buf falo called off the bat tle, say ing that he had an in vi ta tion to a party. He left on the back of his Wa ter-evad ing Golden-eyed Beast. Monkey King fol lowed him closely and stealth ily. See ing that Prince Buf falo and his beast sub merged in a deep pool, the mon key trans formed him self into a crab and tagged along. While the buf falo was feast ing with his friends, the mon key stole his beast, changed to Prince Buf falo’s ap pear ance, and gal loped to the Palm Cave at the Em er ald Green Moun tain to see Prin cess

Iron Fan. Prin cess Iron Fan was sur prised and yet very happy to see her hus band. At din ner, the buffalo asked Princess Iron Fan where she had hid den the magic palm fan. She told him that she had it in her mouth.

“I heard that you have lent it to the mon key,” Mon key King used his trick of re verse psy chol -ogy.

“I thought the mon key was smart, but he proved a com plete fool.” Spit ting the real fan into her palm, she showed it to the buf falo and con tin ued, “The one I lent him was a fake. Here is the real one.”

Holding the tiny fan, Mon key King pressed her for the in can ta tion. He asked, “But how can I make the lit tle thing big ger?”

“Why, have you for gotten the magic word?” asked the prin cess.

“Well, I have n’t been with you for the last two years, and I don’t re member it any more.”

The over joyed and cred u lous prin cess revealed the in can ta tion to Mon key King, who tried it and ex panded the fan to its origi nal size. He then disclosed his mon key identity to the stunned and mor ti fied prin cess and dashed out of the cave with out delay. In a hurry, he did not think to ask for the incantation to shrink the fan, so he had to carry the jumbo fan on his shoul der as he ran.

In the mean time, Prince Buf falo had dis cov ered that his Wa ter-evad ing Golden-eyed Beast was miss ing. He knew that the mon key must have taken it. He also knew where he had gone. With out hes -i ta tion, Prince Buf falo set off to ward his first wife’s cave. Be fore long he saw the mon key approach -ing in the distance, car ry ing the big magic fan. Prince Buf falo im me diately transformed into Piggy, one of Mon key King’s fel low dis ci ples, and went up to meet him.

“Why are you here?” asked the sur prised mon key. In his haste, he failed to rec og nize the buf -falo.

“Our mas ter asked me to meet you and of fer you some help,” an swered the Piggy-look ing buf -falo. “Here, let me help you carry the fan.”

With out a trace of sus pi cion, Mon key King gave the fan to Prince Buf falo, who shrank the fan, stowed it in his mouth, and re vealed his iden tity. Like Mon key King, the buf falo knew how to trans -form into many forms. After a hun dred bouts of fight ing, the buf falo’s strength began to dwin dle. He at tempted to flee in the form of a swan. Mon key King saw through his trick and changed into a hawk, trying to gouge out the swan’s eyes. Ter ri fied, the buf falo quickly changed into a white crane. The mon key then turned into a red phoe nix, hot on the crane’s heels. The buf falo had to land in the form of a musk deer and tried to hide in the woods. Mon key King trans formed into a big ti ger and started pounc ing on it. The deer rolled on the ground and changed into a gigan tic white buf falo, as tall as a moun tain. The mon key matched the size of the buf falo and fought him with his iron rod, which had grown in propor tion. Mon key King had an tic ipated the buf falo’s ef forts to flee and had summoned up all the heavenly and earthly gods and god desses to help en trap him. The buf falo had to sur ren der, and he agreed to per suade Prin cess Iron Fan to lend the magic palm fan to Mon key King.

With the gen u ine fan, Mon key King and the rest of his group came close to the Moun tain of Flames. The first swing of the fan put out the flames on the moun tain and the ground surround ing it, the sec ond swing stirred up gusts of wind to cool the air, and the third brought tor ren tial rain, which the re gion had missed for de cades. Mon key King then re turned the fan to Prince Buf falo and Prin cess Iron Fan, said thanks and good-bye to the gods and god desses, and led his master and his fel low dis -ci ples across the moun tain.