The River God

Journey to the West 54 The River God

Wukong stared at the river. “ I should have stopped Master from getting in that canoe. But whenever I warn him about someone, he doesn’t believe me. ” Wujing nodded. “ I’ll find out where that man took our friends. ” The purple spirit dived into the river. He soon came to a palace. A sign on the gate read “ Home of the Black River God. ”

Wujing tapped on the door with his spear. “ Open up! ” The door opened, and a lizard peeked out. “ What do you want?” asked the lizard. “ I’m looking for my companions, ” said Wujing. “ One is a monk, and the other is a pig. They were kidnapped by a man. ” “ They were kidnapped by me, ” said the lizard.

“ You?” said Wujing. “ Yes. ” The lizard smiled. “ I plan to eat the Tang Monk and live forever! ” Wujing struck at the lizard with his spear. The lizard spun around, blocking the spear with his tail. The force nearly knocked Wujing over. Right away the lizard was on top of him. “ Get off me! ” shouted Wujing. He shoved the lizard.

The lizard attacked again. Wujing swung his spear and then swam upward. He splashed out of the river and landed next to Wukong. “ There’s a lizard demon down there, ” said Wujing, breathing heavily. “ He’s very powerful. ”

Wukong was about to respond when he noticed someone nearby. The man from the canoe was walking toward them. The monkey pulled out his iron bar. “ How dare you kidnap our friends! ” The man fell to his knees, shaking. “ It wasn’t me! ” he cried. “ It was a lizard demon. I’m the Black River God, and this is my river. But that lizard pretended he was me! ”