Monkey King's Party

Debjani Chatterjee Illustrated by Simon Walmesley & James Walmesley This ebook belongs to: Published by Poggle Press, an imprint of Indigo Timmins Ltd • Pure Offices • Leamington Spa • Warwickshire CV34 6WE

ISBN: 978-0-9573501-2-0

Text © Debjani Chatterjee 2013 Illustration © Simon Walmesley & James Walmesley 2013

All rights reserved. Debjani Chatterjee and Simon Walmesley & James Walmesley have asserted their moral right to be identified as the author and artists respectively of the work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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www.springboardstories.co.uk Monkey King's Party Debjani Chatterjee An adaptation of a story from The Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en

Illustrated by Simon Walmesley & James Walmesley

A Poggle Press publication For Rishi – Munnu Dida Monkey King lived on the beautiful Fruit ‘n’ Flower Mountain. All the monkeys loved him because he was funny, friendly and brave. However, he was also very cheeky. Monkey King loved his mountain. He loved its flowers and he loved its fruits. But most of all, he loved to party.

One day a traveller called Lao Tzu passed by. Monkey King saw that he was tired and hungry, so offered him some fruits.

‘These are almost as delicious as the fruits in the Heavenly Land,’ said Lao Tzu.

‘Well, I need to taste those fruits then,’ Monkey King said. ‘But how can I get to the Heavenly Land?’

‘Perhaps Dragon King will lend you his magic cloud?’ Lao Tzu laughed, thinking that Dragon King would never do this.

‘Ha! Good idea,’ thought Monkey King. ‘I will go to Dragon King and ask him if I can borrow his magic cloud.’ Monkey King picked a bunch of flowers for Dragon King and set off to find him. ‘Dragon King,’ shouted Monkey King, holding out his beautiful flowers. ‘Please can I borrow your magic cloud?’

‘Borrow? Borrow, you say?’ exclaimed Dragon King, snatching the flowers, throwing them to the floor and stamping all over them. ‘I’m sure Your Monkey Highness would like to own my magic cloud. You think that would make you more powerful than me. Well, just you try to take it from me!’

Dragon King doubled up with laughter at the thought. And as he did so, Monkey King jumped onto his magic cloud and flew off, waving at Dragon King raging in the distance. Monkey King flew the cloud back to Fruit ‘n’ Flower Mountain, picked yet another huge bunch of flowers and set off for the Heavenly Land. Once there, he made his way to the palace, home of the Jade Emperor and his wife the Jade Empress.

‘Greetings!’ said Monkey King, holding out his bunch of flowers to the Emperor.‘I’ve come to pay you a visit. After all, you are my, er… brother. Oh, and I would like to taste the fruits of the Heavenly Land,’ he added. The Jade Emperor scowled.

‘Monkey, Dragon King tells me that you stole his magic cloud! How dare you visit me, call me your brother and come to steal my fruits!’

‘I did not steal Dragon King’s cloud!’ Monkey King protested. ‘Dragon King said I should try to take it. So I did! And I’m asking to eat your fruits – that’s not stealing.’ ‘Anyway,’ he shrugged, ‘we’re both rulers – you are an emperor and I am a king – so doesn’t that make us brothers?’

The Jade Emperor grew purple with rage. A monkey as a brother? The very thought! He was about to call for his soldiers to take Monkey King away. But then his wife the Jade Empress leaned forward and whispered into his ear. The Jade Emperor always followed her advice.

‘Brother King of, er… Fruity Mountain, excuse my rudeness,’ he smiled. ‘I was only teasing. You are just the person we need to guard my Heavenly Orchard from thieves who want to steal its fruits. So please stay!’

‘But I don’t want a job!’ said Monkey King.

The Jade Emperor smiled and said, ‘But this is not any job. You would be Keeper of the Heavenly Orchard.’

Monkey King scratched his head. ‘What will you pay?’ ‘A grand title is pay enough!’ snapped the Jade Emperor.

The Jade Empress quickly interrupted. ‘Of course, you would get to eat the fruits in the Heavenly Orchard,’ she said.

‘I’ll take it!’ exclaimed Monkey King, jumping with joy. ‘Wait!’ warned the Jade Empress. ‘You may try any of the fruits but not the peaches. The peaches are ALL mine. Do you understand?’

Monkey King, thinking of the other fruits he could try, nodded and agreed.

He was so excited when he saw the Heavenly Orchard. He leapt from tree to tree. He tasted every type of fruit – apples, bananas, jackfruit, kiwis, lychees, mangoes, nectarines, oranges, pears, pineapples, strawberries and blueberries.

Then he spied the peach tree. It was full of ripe, juicy, beautiful peaches. His mouth started to water. ‘I’ll take just a tiny bite,’ he thought, looking round to see no-one was watching.‘Surely there’s no harm in that!’

He took a small bite from one of the peaches still hanging from a branch. It was delicious. ‘Wow! Lao Tzu was right. This is the best peach I have ever tasted! I will finish just this one – the Jade Empress won’t miss one peach when there are so many.’

But the peach juice tickled his taste buds and he found that one peach was just not enough. So he ate another, and another, and yet another, and soon, he had gobbled up every single peach!

He sat on a branch to rest, feeling just a little sick. At that moment, a group of gods and goddesses entered the orchard. They looked at the peach tree. ‘Where are the peaches?’ they asked, puzzled. ‘The Jade Empress is giving a party at the palace this evening and her peaches are the best part of the feast.’ ‘Oh excellent! I love parties!’ said Monkey King. ‘What time do we have to be there?’

‘Don’t be silly! The party is for important people, gods and goddesses. Not monkeys!’ said a snooty goddess.

‘There’s some mistake!’ exclaimed Monkey King.‘I am Monkey King! I guard this orchard – a most important job. I have a grand title – Keeper of the Heavenly Orchard!’

The gods and goddesses laughed. ‘You fool!’ said one god. ‘The Jade Emperor tricked you into working for nothing. You are just his unpaid servant.’

Monkey King looked cross. The gods peered at the peach tree. ‘So where are the peaches? Have the cooks picked them already?’ Monkey King shrugged his shoulders. ‘Ha! No-one’s been. I ate the peaches!’

The gods and goddesses looked shocked. Some screamed. Others fled. They did not want to be around when the Jade Emperor found out. Monkey King was angry with the Jade Emperor and Jade Empress. He was glad that he had eaten all the peaches! (But, as his tummy gurgled, he wondered if he’d eaten one too many.)

Just then a group of soldiers charged into the orchard. ‘Arrest the monkey!’ ordered a soldier. ‘He’s eaten all the peaches!’ Monkey King rudely stuck out his tongue. The soldiers tried to catch him. But Monkey King simply pushed away anyone who came near him. ‘He can’t be touched,’ said one soldier. ‘He’s eaten the magic peaches and is now super strong. Nobody can catch him!’

The soldiers looked at one another then fled, as swift as shadows. Alone in the orchard, Monkey King had an idea. ‘I’ll have a party with my friends,’ he thought.

He picked as many fruits as he could and stuffed them into a huge sack. Then he jumped onto the magic cloud and flew home. Monkey King’s friends were waiting for him. They couldn’t believe their luck when they saw the sack bursting with heavenly fruits.

‘What a party we’ll have!’ they shouted. They all knew just how much Monkey King liked to party.

And that night they had a huge party, with a fruity feast fit for a king. Sadly, Monkey King couldn’t join in. Why? He’d eaten far too many peaches!

Monkey King is funny, clever and brave. When traveller Lao Tzu tells him of the exquisite fruits that grow in the Heavenly Orchard, Monkey King decides he must try them. But the Heavenly Land is not easy to get to and, once he’s there, how will he convince the Jade Emperor to part with his prized fruit?

Join Monkey King on his adventure to the Heavenly Land in this modern adaptation of a story from Wu Cheng’en’s Journey to the West by Debjani Chatterjee. Debjani has lived in , , , , , and , before coming to Britain in 1972. She has won numerous prizes for her work including the Peterloo Poets Prize.

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