The Ape King meets a wood chopper, who he drops down and worships immediately. The wood chopper questions this action, saying he is only a workman. The Ape King mentions the song that the man was singing was one of the gods. The wood chopper mentions that he was taught it by a saint. He wants to meet this so-called saint. The wood chopper says he's on the Mountain of Heart.
'The Discerner' as the saint is called, lives in a cave with many other disciples. If one keeps following the path south, they'll find him easily. The Ape King did this, having no issue. This is when he starts to have issues. He gets to the gate and jumps over it, not wanting to knock. He lands in a tree and starts devouring pine cones, causing quite the stir amongst the disciples who take notice of his noisiness. The disciple says that their master is ready for him. His not wanting to knock wasn't such a bad thing after all.
The Ape King is very excited to meet the saint and flings himself to the ground once they arrive. He offers thanks and is full of joy. He asks his name and he obviously has none. He is given the name 'Sun Wu Kung.' He's very happy about this. They dance and have a great time. They have him do chores for a few years, but he's still pretty wild in nature, which is where the chapter ends.
I chose this one because I liked how happy he was to get his name. I can imagine that it would be pretty meaningful to get named by someone so important as his master was. There's a lot of joy and humor in his heart. I enjoy it a lot. I think that it gets him into trouble, as evidenced by the ending, but he does his best. I think it would be interesting to rewrite something with a bit more of a grand journey. This was kind of simple, but then again, it was nice to read.
Sun Wu Kung and Jade Rabbit (Wikimedia Commons)
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