“The Duty God of the Day told me that there were five treasures altogether,” he thought. “These are two of them. I wonder what the other three are.”

“Gentlemen,” he said aloud, “would you let me have a look at your treasures?” Not realizing that this was a trick the two little devils produced them from their sleeves and offered them respectfully with both hands to Money. He was delighted, though he did now show it. “Splendid things,” he thought, “splendid. I just have to flick my tail in the air and go whizzing off with a jump. They've given them to me.” Then he had second thoughts: “No, that's no good. Stealing them would be easy enough, but it would destroy my reputation. It'd be daylight robbery.” So he handed them back with the words, “But you haven't seen my treasure yet.”

“What is it?” the devils asked. “Would you let us common mortals see it? It'd bring us luck.”

The splendid Monkey put his hand down, pulled a hair from his tail, made a spell, and called “Change!” It turned into a big gold and red gourd one foot seven inches long that he produced from his waist. “Would you like to see my gourd?” he asked.

Skillful Beast took it, looked at it, and said, “It's a very big gourd, Master, shapely, and very fine to look at, but it's useless.”

“What do you mean, useless?” asked Monkey.

“Each of our treasures can contain a thousand people,” the devils replied.

“What's so special about being able to contain people?” said Monkey. “Mine can hold the sky itself.”

“The sky?” asked the devils.

“Yes, it really can,” Monkey replied.

“You must be lying,” said the little devils. “We could only believe that if we saw you do it. There's no way we're going to believe you otherwise.”

“If the sky annoys me,” said Monkey, “I pack it in here seven or eight times a month; but if it doesn't annoy me I might leave it alone for half a year.”

“Let's see if he'll swap his sky-holding treasure with us,” said Skilful Beast to the other demon.

“But he'd never swap his sky-holder for our one that can only hold people,” replied Dexterous Ghost. “If he won't swap we can throw our vase in too,” said Skilful Beast.

Concealing his delight, Monkey thought, “A gourd for a gourd and the vase too is two for one: I'll certainly agree to that.” So he went up to Skilful Beast, clutched him, and asked, “Will you swap them if it can hold the sky?”

“Yes, we'll swap them as long as it can hold the sky,” said the devil, “and I'll be your son if we don't.”

“Very well then,” said Monkey, “I'll put the sky in it to show you.”

The splendid Great Sage bowed his head to make the spell and say the words of it. He called on the Patroller of the Day, the Patroller of the Night together with the Protector of the Four Quarters and the Centre: “Report on my behalf to the Jade Emperor that I have now found the true faith and am escorting the Tang Priest to the Western Heaven to fetch the Scriptures. We are now hold up on a high mountain and my master is in dire distress. I want to trick the devils into swapping their treasures with me, so I most humbly beg that I be lent the sky to put away for an hour. This will enable me to succeed. If there's so much as a hint of a refusal then I'll be coming up to the Hall of Miraculous Mist to give battle.”

The Patroller of the Day went straight in through the Southern Gate of Heaven to the Hall of Miraculous Mist, where he reported everything to the Jade Emperor.

“Outrageous ape,” said the Jade Emperor. “This is insolence. Previously it was Bodhisattva Guanyin who persuaded us to release him to escort the Tang Priest. We sent the Protectors of the Four Quarters and the Centre and the Four Duty Gods to take it in turns to protect him. Now he wants to put the sky away. It can't be done.”

As soon as he had said that the sky could not be put away Prince Nezha stepped forward from the officials at court and submitted a memorial: “Your Majesty, it is possible to contain the sky.”

“How?” the Jade Emperor asked.

“When the primal chaos was first differentiated,” Prince Nezha replied, “the light and pure became the sky, and the heavy and dirty became the earth. The sky is a ball of pure vapor that holds up the palaces of Heaven, and by rights it should be impossible to contain it. But now that Sun the Novice is escorting the Tang Priest to fetch the Scriptures from the Western Heaven this will be a source of blessings as great as Mount Tai, a good deed as profound as the ocean. Today we ought to help him succeed.”

“How would you help him?” the Jade Emperor asked.

“I beg for the issue of an Imperial Edict to the Northern Gate of Heaven asking the True Martial God to lend us his Black Vulture Banner to spread outside the Southern Gate and block out the sun, moon and starts. Down there they will be unable to see each other and not even able to tell back from white. That will fool the devils into thinking that the sky has been packed into the gourd, and enable Sun the Novice to succeed.” The Jade Emperor ordered that this suggestion be implemented. Bearing the imperial command Prince Nezha went to see the True Martial God at the Northern Gate of Heaven and tell him what had happened. The True Martial God handed the prince the banner.

By now a patroller had hurried down to whisper in the Great Sage's ear, “Prince Nezha is coming to help you.” Monkey looked up to see swirling clouds of good omen, a sure sign of the presence of a god, then turned to the little devils and said, “We'll put the sky away then.”

“Put it away if you like,” said the little devils, “but why all this playing for time?”

“I was just saying the spell and calling up the magic powers,” said Monkey. The little devils gazed wide-eyed, wondering how he was going to put the sky away. Monkey threw his imitation gourd up into the air. It was only a hair really, so you can imagine how light it was. As the winds round the mountain peak caught it, it floated in the air for an hour before landing. Meanwhile Prince Nezha was noisily spreading the Black Vulture Banner out at the Southern Gate of Heaven, obscuring the sun, the moon and the stars. Indeed:

Heaven and earth were dyed as black as ink;

The cosmos into darkness then did sink.

The two little devils were terrified. “When we were talking a moment ago,” they said, “it was midday. How could it be dusk now?”

“When the sky is put away,” said Monkey, “distinctions of time disappear. Of course it's murky.”

“But why's it so dark now?”

“The sun and the moon and the stars have all been put inside, so there's no light outside. It's bound to be dark.”

“Master,” said the little devils, “where is your voice coming from?”

“I'm just in front of you, aren't I?” said Monkey. The little devils stretched their hands out and felt him.

“We can hear you but we still can't see you. Where are we, Master?”

“Don't fidget,” said Monkey, hoodwinking them, “you're on the coast of the Bohai Sea. One slip and you'd fall for seven or eight days before hitting the bottom.”

The little devils were panic-struck. “Enough, enough. Let the sky out again. Now we know how it's put away. If you go on a moment too long and we fall into the sea we'll never get home.”

Splendid Monkey. As they were both convinced he said another spell that had an impact on Prince Nezha, who rolled the banner up again, revealing the noonday sun once more. “Fantastic,” exclaimed the little devils in delight, “fantastic. If we don't do a swap for this treasure we won't be looking after our family's interest.”

Dexterous Ghost handed over the gourd and Skilful Beast produced the vase. When they gave them both to Monkey he gave them his imitation gourd. The exchange had now been made, but Monkey wanted it to be final, so he plucked a hair from under his navel, blew a magic breath on it, and turned it into a copper coin. “Boys,” he said, “take this coin and buy a sheet of paper.”