黑熊精黑風山黑風洞 · 23
Leaf 23 of the pilgrimage · 黑风大王 Black Wind Demon King
Black Bear Spirit 黑熊精
In Journey to the West 西遊記 (c. 1592) · a demon on the road west · nicknamed 黑风大王 “Black Wind Demon King”
He steals the cassock out of love for it, holds a literary banquet to show it off, and is the one demon the book lets hire itself.
The great deeds 大事記
- ch. 16
The Fire at the Temple Gate
金池謀僧The two-hundred-and-seventy-year-old abbot of the Guanyin Temple fires the pilgrims' lodging to possess the monk's cassock; the fire is what brings the bear to the gate.
- ch. 16
Theft of the Brocade Robe
夜竊袈裟He came out of the dark at the sight of the treasure's light and went home with the 錦襴袈裟 under his arm, and no one had yet drawn a weapon.
- ch. 17
The Buddhist Robe Banquet
佛衣會He invited his neighbours to a Buddhist-Robe banquet to admire what he had taken — a demon who wrote his own invitations and talked doctrine with monks.
- ch. 17
A Duel Broken for Dinner
洞口交鋒He and Wukong fought from the morning to the noon and back again with no advantage to either side, then he went in, shut the door, and ordered dinner.
- ch. 17
The Pill Turns in His Belly
腹裡翻身Guanyin put on the shape of the bear's wolf-guest and Wukong became an elixir in the tea; the pill went down with the cup and began walking about inside him.
- ch. 17
The Fillet Settled on the Bear
箍定熊羆The fillet went on his head, the spell was read once, and the bear asked for his life in the words of somebody who intends to make use of it.
- ch. 17
Set to Watch the Island Shore
守山大神He was carried off to the Southern Sea in the same cave's shape and set to guard the approach to Guanyin's island.
結局 The ending
He is not killed. Guanyin takes him to Putuo and installs him as the Mountain-Guarding Spirit, still a bear, still armed with a spear, and the cassock goes back into the monk's box. The abbot who burned the lodge for it dashes his own head against a pillar. It is the novel's first demonstration that a demon with taste, a library and good manners can expect to be recruited rather than beaten.
The book itself: why the monkey was pinned, which translation — The 500 years · The translations · The 81 trials