“You monkey. You don't obey the commands of the faith, and you won't accept the true reward, so if you weren't under control like this you might rebel against Heaven again or get up to any kind of evil. If you got yourself into trouble as you did before, who would look after you? Without this monstrous head, you'd never be willing to enter our Yogacatin faith.”

“Very well then,” Monkey replied, “let's call this object my monstrous head. But why did you send that criminal and evil dragon to become a monster here and eat my master's horse? Letting evil creatures out to run amuck like that is a bad deed.”

“I personally asked the Jade Emperor to put the dragon here as a mount for the pilgrim,” said the Bodhisattva. “Do you think an ordinary horse would be able to cross the thousands of mountains and rivers to reach the Buddha-land on the Vulture Peak? Only a dragon horse will be able to do it.”

“But he's so afraid of me that he's skulking down there and won't come out, so what's to be done?” Monkey asked.

The Bodhisattva told the Revealer to go to the edge of the ravine and shout, “Come out, Prince Jade Dragon, son of the Dragon King Ao Run, to see the Bodhisattva of the Southern Sea,” after which the offspring would emerge. The Revealer went to the edge of the gorge and shouted this twice, immediately the young dragon leapt up through the waves, took human form, stepped on a cloud, and greeted the Bodhisattva in mid-air.

“In my gratitude to you, Bodhisattva, for saving my life, I have been waiting here for a long time, but I have had no news yet of the pilgrim who is going to fetch the scriptures.” The Bodhisattva pointed to Brother Monkey and said, “Isn't he the pilgrim's great disciple?”

“He's my enemy,” the young dragon replied when he looked at him. “I ate his horse yesterday because I was starving, so he used some powers of his to fight me till I returned exhausted and terrified, then swore at me so that I had to shut myself in, too frightened to come out. He never said a word about anyone fetching scriptures.”

“You never asked me my name, so how could I have told you?” Monkey retorted.

“I asked you 'Where are you from, you bloody devil?' and you yelled, 'Never mind where I'm from, and give me back that horse.' You never so much as breathed the word 'Tang.'”

“You monkey, you are so proud of your own strength that you never have a good word for anyone else,” said the Bodhisattva.

“There will be others who join you later on your journey, and when they ask you any questions, the first thing you must mention is fetching the scriptures. If you do that, you'll have their help without any trouble at all.”

Monkey was happy to accept instruction from her. The Bodhisattva then went forward, broke off some of the pearls from the dragon's head, soaked the end of her willow twig in the sweet dew in her bottle, sprinkled it on the dragon's body, and breathed on it with magic breath, shouted, and the dragon turned into the exact likeness of the original horse.

“You must concentrate on wiping out your past sins,” she told him, “and when you have succeeded, you will rise above ordinary dragons and be given back your golden body as a reward.” The young dragon took the bit between his teeth, and her words to heart. The Bodhisattva told Sun Wukong to take him to see Sanzang as she was returning to the Southern Sea. Monkey clung to her, refusing to let her go.

“I'm not going,” he said, “I'm not going. If the journey to the West is as tough as this, I can't possibly keep this mortal priest safe, and if there are many such more trials and tribulations, I'll have enough trouble keeping alive myself. How can I ever achieve any reward? I'm not going, I'm not going.”

“In the old days, before you had learned to be a human being,” the Bodhisattva replied, “you were prepared to work for your awakening with all your power. But now that you have been delivered from a Heaven-sent calamity, you have grown lazy. What's the matter with you? In our faith, to achieve nirvana you must believe in good rewards. If you meet with injury or suffering in future, you have only to call on Heaven and Earth for them to respond; and if you get into a really hopeless situation I shall come to rescue you myself. Come over here as I have another power to give you.”

The Bodhisattva plucked three leaves from her willow twig, put them on the back of Brother Monkey's head, and shouted “Change,” on which they turned into three life-saving hairs. “When the time comes and nobody else will help you,” she said, “they will turn into whatever is needed to save you from disaster.”

After hearing all these fine words, Monkey finally took his leave of the All-merciful Bodhisattva, who went back to Potaraka amidst scented breezes and coloured mists.

Monkey brought his cloud down to land, and led the dragon horse by the mane to see Sanzang. “Master,” he said, “we've got our horse.” Sanzang cheered up the moment he saw it.

“Why is it sturdier than it was before?” he asked. “Where did you find it?”

“Master, you must have been dreaming. The Golden-headed Revealer asked the Bodhisattva to come here, and she turned the dragon in the gorge into our white horse. The coloring is the same, but it hasn't got a saddle or a bridle, which is why I had to drag it here.” Sanzang was astounded.

“Where's the Bodhisattva? I must go and worship her,” he said.

“She's back in the Southern Sea by now, so don't bother,” Monkey replied. Sanzang took a pinch of earth as if he were burning incense, knelt down, and bowed to the South. When he had finished he got up and helped Monkey put their things together for the journey. Monkey dismissed the mountain god and the local deity, gave orders to the Revealer and the Duty Gods, and invited his master to mount the horse.

“I couldn't possibly ride it-it's got no saddle or bridle,” his master replied, “but we can sort this out when we've found a boat to ferry us across the stream.”

“Master, you seem to have no common sense at all. Where will a boat be found in these wild mountains? This horse has lived here for a long time and is bound to know about the currents, so you can ride him and use him as your boat.” Sanzang had no choice but to do as Monkey suggested and ride the horse bareback to the edge of the stream while Monkey carried the luggage.

An aged fisherman appeared upstream, punting a raft along with the current. As soon as he saw him, Monkey waved his hand and shouted, “Come here, fisherman, come here. We're from the East, and we're going to fetch the scriptures. My master is having some trouble crossing the river, so come and ferry him over.”

The fisherman punted towards them with all speed, while Monkey asked Sanzang to dismount and helped him on board the raft. Then he led the horse on and loaded the luggage, after which the fisherman pushed off and started punting with the speed of an arrow. Before they realized it they had crossed the Eagle's Sorrow Gorge and were on the Western bank.

When Sanzang told Brother Monkey to open the bundle and find a few Great Tang coins and notes to give the fisherman, the old man pushed his raft off from the shore with the words, “I don't want your money, I don't want your money,” and drifted off into mid-stream. Sanzang was most upset, but could do nothing except put his hands together and thank him.

“There's no need to thank him, master,” Monkey said. “Can't you see who he is? He's the water god of this stream, and I should be giving him a beating for not coming to welcome me. He should consider himself lucky to get off the beating-how could he possibly expect money too?” His master, who was only half-convinced, mounted the saddleless horse once more and followed Monkey to join the main path, and then they hurried on towards the West. Indeed:

The great truth landed on the opposite bank,