for he thought: "This Buddha is a
crazy fellow! His hand is not a foot long; how could I help but leap
out of it?" So he opened his mouth wide and said: "Agreed!"

Buddha then stretched out his right hand. It resembled a small
lotus-leaf. Sun Wu Kung leaped up into it with one bound. Then he
said: "Go!" And with that he turned one somersault after another, so
that he flew along like a whirlwind. And while he was flying along he
saw five tall, reddish columns towering to the skies. Then he thought:
"That is the end of the world! Now I will turn back and become Lord of
the Heavens. But first I will write down my name to prove that I was
there." He pulled out a hair, turned it into a brush, and wrote with
great letters on the middle column: "The Great Saint Who Is Heaven's
Equal." Then he turned his somersaults again until he had reached the
place whence he had come. He leaped down from the Buddha's hand
laughing and cried: "Now hurry, and see to it that the Lord of the
Heavens clears his heavenly castle for me! I have been at the end of
the world and have left a sign there!"

Buddha scolded: "Infamous ape! How dare you claim that you have left
my hand? Take a look and see whether or not 'The Great Saint Who Is
Heaven's Equal,' is written on my middle finger!"

Sun Wu Kung was terribly frightened, for at the first glance he saw
that this was the truth. Yet outwardly he pretended that he was not
convinced, said he would take another look, and tried to make use of
the opportunity to escape. But Buddha covered him with his hand,
shoved him out of the gate of Heaven, and formed a mountain of water,
fire, wood, earth and metal, which he softly set down on him to hold
him fast. A magic incantation pasted on the mountain prevented his
escape.

Here he was obliged to lie for hundreds of years, until he finally
reformed and was released, in order to help the Monk of the
Yangtze-kiang fetch the holy writings from out of the West. He honored
the Monk as his master, and thenceforward was known as the Wanderer.
Guan Yin, who had released him, gave the Monk a golden circlet. Sun Wu
Kung was induced to put it on, and it at once grew into his flesh so
that he could not remove it. And Guan Yin gave the Monk a magic
formula by means of which the ring could be tightened, should the ape
grow disobedient. But from that time on he was always polite and
well-mannered.

Note: This tale, like "The Pilgrim's Progress," is an
allegory