Fish Spirit Makes Trouble

Tang Priest and his three disciples traveled westward. One night, they arrived at the Tongtian River, which was 800kilometers wide with torrential waters. They had to put up for the night in a nearby village because they had no way to cross the river. They came to a house in which lived a man named Chen Cheng and his family. The whole family was crying. The group soon learned that in the Tongtian River there was a spirit who asked the village to send him a virgin girl and a virgin boy every year as a sacrifice. And this year was Chen Cheng’s turn. Learning this, Monkey King consoled the Chens, and promised them that he and Pig would act as the boy and girl to wait for the spirit in the temple. At midnight, the spirit came to the temple to reach for the girl. Pig, the pretended girl, in a hurry swirled his rake at the spirit. The spirit fled into the river. The next morning, Tang Priest and his disciples woke up and found the 800-kilometer-wide river frozen. San Zang urged his disciples to cross the river over the ice. When they reached the middle of the river, the ice cracked and the river swallowed Tang Priest who was then captured by the spirit. The three disciples ran after the spirit who knew he was no match for them and did not come out. Monkey King had to seek help from Guanyin (a Bodhis-attva). It turned out that the spirit was a big goldfish in the South Sea lotus pond. The fish escaped from the Buddha to hurt people. So the Buddha was asked to retrieve the fish spirit. Later, the four were worrying about how to cross the river. Suddenly, there came an old turtle, who said, “Iused to live in the river. Now that you have chased away the spirit, I am back. Let me help you get across the river.” So the four jumped over the turtle’s back and the turtle took them to the other side of the river.

鱼精作怪

唐僧师徒四人，一路往西行，傍晚来到了通天河。只见河宽八百里，水势汹猛，无法渡过，只好在附近村子借宿一夜。他们来到一户叫陈澄的家中，见全家人正痛哭流涕。经询问才知道通天河有一妖怪，要村里人每年送一对童男童女给它吃，今年正好轮到陈澄家送人。悟空听了，安慰陈家人不要怕，他和八戒扮作童男童女到庙中等妖怪。关夜妖怪闯进庙来，刚伸手抓女孩，扮女孩的八戒心慌，轮起钉钯就打，妖怪一溜烟跑回河中。第二天清晨，唐僧师醒来，见八百里河面冻得明镜一般，唐僧急催徒弟们踏冰过河。走到河中心，只听“咔嚓“一声，河面裂开一个大口，唐僧落到河里被妖怪捉去。三个徒弟追到河底，妖怪自知不是对手，闭门不出。悟空没办法，只好去求观音菩萨。原来这妖怪正是南海莲池中一条大金鱼，乘菩萨不备，跑出害人，于是菩萨收回这条鱼精。师徒四人正愁无法过河时，游过来一只老龟，老龟说：‘我原住在河中，你们打走妖怪，我又回来了，我送你们过河吧！”于是师徒四人跳上龟背向河对岸漂去。