The Dragon in the River

Journey to the West 17 The Dragon in the River

That dragon ate my horse! ” said the monk. He fell to his knees. “ How will I ever get to the Western Paradise? There are so many dangers along the way! ” Wukong laughed. “ Master, you worry too much. There will be many dangers on your journey. But you have me, the Monkey King, to protect you. All of Heaven’s soldiers couldn’t defeat me. So why worry about a dragon?”

The monkey stepped into the water and pulled out his iron bar. “ I’ll get the dragon to come out of the water. ” He looked down at the water. “ Dragon! Get up here right now! ” The dragon leaped from the water. “ How dare you yell at me! Who are you?” “ It doesn’t matter who I am! ” shouted Wukong. “ Give that horse back! ”

The monkey attacked the dragon with his iron bar. The dragon spun around, blocking the bar with his tail. Then with a splash, he dived back underwater. Wukong stomped his foot and yelled at the river. “ Coward! ” “ What will we do?” asked the Tang Monk. “ I have no horse. ” Wukong nodded. “ And we can’t cross the river with that dragon in there. I’ll try another plan. ”

The monkey swirled the water with his iron bar. The water became rough. Waves crashed and churned. The water dragged up dirt from the river bottom. Soon the river was brown and muddy. The dragon appeared again. “ What on earth are you doing now?” he cried. “ I’m trying to take a nap! ”

“ Give us back our horse! ” demanded Wukong. “ I can’t! ” cried the dragon. “ It’s in my stomach! ” The monkey attacked the dragon again. But once more the dragon disappeared under the water. For more than three hours, Wukong yelled at the river. He yelled all kinds of insults. But the dragon would not come back up.