李靖天庭大元帥 · 11
Leaf 11 of the pilgrimage · 托塔天王 Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King
Li Jing 李靖
In Journey to the West 西遊記 (c. 1592) · a heaven-sent power who ends the fight · nicknamed 托塔天王 “Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King”
Heaven's general, who has to come down personally to collect a debt raised at the Buddha's assembly — from a rat he once agreed to call his daughter.
The great deeds 大事記
- ch. 4
The First Fruit Mountain Campaign
伐花果He leads the first expedition against the monkey and loses the vanguard to Nezha.
- ch. 6
Holding the Demon Mirror
照妖鏡He holds the mirror during the capture so that no transformation can pass for anything but itself.
- ch. 80
The Tablets That Stayed His Blade
認義女The rat demon has his and his son's tablets in her cave; he cannot simply kill her, which the novel treats as a real embarrassment.
- ch. 83
The Mirror and the Son Descend
下界擒鼠He comes with the mirror and his son, folds the Bottomless Pit, and takes her up to the court to answer for the monk.
結局 The ending
He keeps the pagoda, the command, and the daughter he did not want. The novel's verdict is that mercy once shown has to be collected on somebody's schedule, and it is usually his.
The book itself: why the monkey was pinned, which translation — The 500 years · The translations · The 81 trials