e to the castle of the Lord of the Heavens,
he stood upright before it, without bowing his head.

The Lord of the Heavens asked: "Then this hairy face with the pointed
lips is Sun Wu Kung?"

He replied: "Yes, I am the Venerable Sun!"

All the servants of the Lord of the Heavens were shocked and said:
"This wild ape does not even bow, and goes so far as to call himself
the Venerable Sun. His crime deserves a thousand deaths!"

But the Lord said: "He has come up from the earth below, and is not as
yet used to our rules. We will forgive him."

Then he gave orders that a charge be found for him. The marshal of the
heavenly court reported: "There is no charge vacant anywhere, but an
official is needed in the heavenly stables." Thereupon the Lord made
him stablemaster of the heavenly steeds. Then the servants of the Lord
of the Heavens told him he should give thanks for the grace bestowed
on him. Sun Wu Kung called out aloud: "Thanks to command!" took
possession of his certificate of appointment, and went to the stables
in order to enter upon his new office.

Sun Wu Kung attended to his duties with great zeal. The heavenly
steeds grew sleek and fat, and the stables were filled with young
foals. Before he knew it half a month had gone by. Then his heavenly
friends prepared a banquet for him.

While they were at table Sun Wu Kung asked accidentally:
"Stablemaster? What sort of a title is that?"

"Why, that is an official title," was the reply.

"What rank has this office?"

"It has no rank at all," was the answer.

"Ah," said the ape, "is it so high that it outranks all other
dignities?"

"No, it is not high, it is not high at all," answered his friends.
"It is not even set down in the official roster, but is quite a
subordinate position. All you have to do is to attend to the steeds.
If you see to it that they grow fat, you get a good mark; but if they
grow thin or ill, or fall down, your punishment will be right at
hand."

Then the Ape King grew angry: "What, they treat me, the Venerable Sun,
in such a shameful way!" and he started up. "On my Mountain I was a
king, I was a father! What need was there for him to lure me into his
heaven to feed horses? I'll do it no longer! I'll do it no longer!"

Hola, and he had already overturned the table, drawn the rod with the
golden clamps from his ear, let it grow large and beat a way out for
himself to the Southern gate of Heaven. And no one dared stop him.

Already