When Old Gao and all his friends and relations saw Monkey coming, tugging the bound monster by his ear, they all came into the courtyard and said happily, “Venerable sir, this is the son-in-law all right.” The monster went forward, fell to his knees, and kowtowed to Sanzang with his hands behind his back.

“Master,” he shouted, “Your disciple failed to welcome you. Had I known, master, that you were staying in my father-in-law's house, I'd have come to greet you and do homage, and I'd have been saved all this agony.”

“How did you make him submit and come to pay homage?” Sanzang asked Monkey.

Monkey then let the monster go, hit him with the handle of the rake, and yelled, “Tell him, fool.” The monster then told Sanzang all about how he had been converted by the Bodhisattva.

Sanzang was so pleased that he asked Squire Gao for an incense table to be brought, which was done at once. Sanzang then washed his hands, burnt incense, bowed low to the South, and said, “Thanks be to the Bodhisattva for her divine grace.” The elders also burnt incense and bowed low in worship. When this was done, Sanzang took the seat of honour in the hall and told Monkey to untie the monster. Monkey shook himself to take his hairs back, and the ropes untied themselves. The monster bowed to Sanzang once more and vowed to go to the West with him. Then he bowed to Monkey as his elder brother because he had joined first, addressing him as “elder brother” from then on. “If you wish to earn a good reward by going with me as my disciple, I'll give you a Buddhist name to call you by.”

“Master,” he replied, “When the Bodhisattva laid her hands upon my head and told me to obey the prohibitions, she gave me a Buddhist name-Zhu Wuneng, Pig Awakened to Power.”

“Wonderful, wonderful,” said Brother Monkey with a smile, “I'm called Wukong, Awakened to Emptiness, and you're called Awakened to Power. That makes us members of the same sect in the Buddhist faith.”

“Master,” said Pig, “I have been instructed by the Bodhisattva and I never eat the five stinking foods and the three forbidden meats-wild goose, dog, and snakehead. I've eaten vegetarian food in my father-in-law's house and never touched the stinking foods; but now that I have met you, master, I'm freed from these restrictions.”

“You are not,” Sanzang replied. “You are not to eat the five stinking foods and the three forbidden meats, and I'm giving you another name: Eight Prohibitions, or Bajie.”

“I shall obey my master's command,” the moron happily replied, and from then on he was known as Zhu Bajie, or Eight Prohibitions Pig.

Squire Gao was happier than ever to see that he had turned from evil to good, and he ordered his servants to set out banquet with which to thank the Tang Priest. Pig went over to Squire Gao, tugged at his coat, and said, “Sir, may my wife come out and pay her respects to these two gentlemen?”

“Brother,” said Monkey with a laugh. “You've entered the church now and become a monk. Don't ever talk about a wife again. Only Taoist priests can have families-we Buddhist monks never marry. Let's all sit down and eat a vegetarian meal, then we can set off early tomorrow morning on our journey to the West.” Squire Gao had the table and chairs set out and asked Sanzang take the seat of honour. Monkey and Pig sat on his left and right, and all the relations sat below them. Squire Gao opened a pot of wine, from which he filled a cup and poured a libation to Heaven and Earth before handing it to Sanzang.

“Frankly, sir,” Sanzang said, “I have been a vegetarian from the womb, and have not consumed strong-flavoured food since my earliest childhood.”

“Venerable master, I know that you are a vegetarian,” Squire Gao replied, “which is why I haven't pressed any meat or strong-flavoured food upon you. But this wine is made from vegetable matter, so a cup of it will do no harm.”

“I don't drink either,” Sanzang explained, “as alcohol is the first of the prohibitions of the priesthood.”

“Master,” pig hastily interjected, “I may be a vegetarian, but I haven't given up liquor.”

“And although I haven't strong head for the stuff and can't finish a whole jar of it, I haven't given it up either,” Monkey added.

“In that case you two had better drink some; but don't get drunk and ruin everything,” said Sanzang. The pair of them then took the first cup, after which everyone sat down again as the vegetarian dishes were brought in. Words could not describe the flowing cups, the well-filled dishes, and the splendid food.

When master and disciples had eaten, Squire Gao brought pieces of gold and silver to the weight of two hundred ounces on a red lacquer tray and offered them to the three pilgrims to help with the expenses of their journey. Then he produced three brocade-collared gowns that could serve as overcoats. “We are mendicant monks,” said Sanzang, “Who beg for our food in the villages and other places through which we pass, so we could not possibly accept gold, silver, or cloth.”

Monkey then marched up and grabbed a handful of the money. Then he addressed the young man Gao Cai. “Yesterday,” he said, “I troubled you to lead my master here, and today he has recruited another disciple, but we have been unable to show our gratitude. So take these pieces of gold and silver as your fee for guiding us, and buy yourself a pair of straw sandals. If you have any more evil spirits in future, and you help us again, we'll be able to show even more appreciation.” The young man Gao Cai took the gold and silver, then kowtowed to express his thanks.

“If you won't take gold or silver,” Squire Gao said, “please be good enough to accept these rough clothes as a mark of our gratitude.”

“If we monks accepted a single thread, we would have to atone for it for a thousand ages,” replied Sanzang. “It will suffice if we take the pancakes and fruit that we haven't eaten with us as provisions for the journey.”

“Master, elder brother,” said Pig, who was standing beside them, “it's all right for you two to refuse them, but I was a son-in-law in this family for several years, and I deserves three bushels of grain to take with me. On yes, father-in-law, my tunic was torn by elder brother yesterday and my shoes have split, so please give me a black brocade cassock and a good pair of new shoes.” Old Squire Gao, who could scarcely refuse this request, gave him the new shoes and a tunic in exchange for his old ones.

Pig swaggered over to Old Gao, chanted a “na-a-aw” of respect, and said, “Please inform my mother-in-law, my sisters-in-law, my brothers-in-law, and my uncles that I have become a monk today, and ask them to excuse me for not saying good-bye to them in person. Father-in-law, look after my wife well. If we don't get the scriptures, I'll go back to lay life and work for you as a son-in-law again.”

“Moron,” shouted Monkey, “stop talking nonsense.”

“I'm doing nothing of the sort,” Pig replied, “I am thinking that if things go wrong I'd be wasting my time as a monk, and my wife's marriage would have been ruined, both for nothing.”

“Enough of your idle chatter,” said Sanzang, “let's be on our way at once.” Their luggage was hung from a carrying-pole on pig's shoulders. When the white horse was saddled, Sanzang mounted it, and Monkey led the way with his iron cudgel over his shoulder. Thus the three of them left Squire Gao, his relations, and his friends, and headed West. There is a pome to prove it that goes:

The trees tower above the misty earth

As the Tang disciples of Buddha toil and suffer.

When hungry, they beg their food from a thousand homes;

When cold they wear cloaks with a thousand patches.

Do not allow the Thought-horse to run wild,

And don't let the stubborn Mind-ape howl at will.

With passions stilled and one's nature firm, all destinies are in harmony;