in the great vastness, and
reached the confines of Heaven, opposite the five great red pillars
which are the boundaries of the created universe. On one of them
he wrote his name, as irrefutable evidence that he could reach this
extreme limit; this done, he returned triumphant to demand of Buddha
the coveted inheritance.

"But, wretch," said Buddha, "you never went out of my hand!"

"How is that?" rejoined Sun. "I went as far as the pillars of Heaven,
and even took the precaution of writing my name on one of them as
proof in case of need."

"Look then at the words you have written," said Buddha, lifting
a finger on which Sun read with stupefaction his name as he had
inscribed it.

Buddha then seized Sun, transported him out of Heaven, and changed
his five fingers into the five elements, metal, wood, water, fire,
and earth, which instantly formed five high mountains contiguous to
each other. The mountains were called Wu Hsing Shan, and Buddha shut
Sun up in them.

Conditions of Release

Thus subdued, Sun would not have been able to get out of his stone
prison but for the intercession of Kuan Yin P'u-sa, who obtained
his release on his solemn promise that he would serve as guide,
philosopher, and friend to Hsuean Chuang, the priest who was to
undertake the difficult journey of 108,000 _li_ to the Western
Heaven. This promise, on the whole, he fulfilled in the service
of Hsuean Chuang during the fourteen years of the long journey. Now
faithful, now restive and undisciplined, he was always the one to
triumph in the end over the eighty-one fantastical tribulations which
beset them as they journeyed.

Sha Ho-shang

One of the principal of Sun's fellow-servants of the Master was
Sha Ho-shang.

He is depicted wearing a necklace of skulls, the heads of the nine
Chinese deputies sent in former centuries to find the Buddhist canon,
but whom Sha Ho-shang had devoured on the banks of Liu-sha River when
they had attempted to cross it.

He is also known by the name of Sha Wu-ching, and was originally
Grand Superintendent of the Manufactory of Stores for Yue Huang's
palace. During a great banquet given on the Peach Festival to all
the gods and Immortals of the Chinese Olympus he let fall a crystal
bowl, which was smashed to atoms. Yue Huang caused him to be beaten
with eight hundred blows, drove him out of Heaven, and exiled him to
earth. He lived on the banks of the Liu-sha Ho, where every seventh
day a mysteriou