Being Great Sage left Wukong with nothing to do. The house was fine and there were attendants, so he spent every day wandering Heaven making friends.
The officers spoke to the Jade Emperor. “He does nothing but idle about, which will end badly. Better to give him some work.”
So he was put in charge of the peach orchard. It was the most precious ground in Heaven, and the trees there ripened once in three thousand years.
Eating Only the Ripe Ones
Wukong walked the orchard once. Every tree ripened on its own schedule, and the latest fruit, he was told, was the most precious of all.
He kept the orchard well. Only, every few days, he sent everyone away and climbed a tree by himself.
He picked out the ripe ones and ate them, hiding the stones carefully in case anyone looked. He considered this the orchard keeper’s share.
A Name Not on the List
One day fairy maidens came to the orchard with baskets and began picking. Wukong came down and asked.
“What are these peaches for?” “They are for the Peach Banquet.” The greatest feast in Heaven, they said.
Wukong asked again. “Who has been invited?” The maidens recited the names.
Buddhas and bodhisattvas, immortals, the gods of various stars. Wukong listened to the end, and his name was not among them.
“And the Great Sage was not invited?” The maidens glanced at one another. That was the answer.
Eating the Feast Before It Began
Wukong left the maidens frozen where they stood and went to where the banquet was being laid. Not a single guest had arrived yet.
The tables were loaded with the food of Heaven. He sat down and began to eat, and he drank as much as he wanted.
Wandering drunk, he went in the wrong door. It was the room with Laojun’s elixir furnace, and a gourd of finished pills caught his eye.
He swallowed them like beans. Only then did his head clear a little. “This is going to be trouble.”
Wukong left Heaven at once, went down to his mountain and barred the gate. Only then did Heaven discover the banquet was empty.
The Armies and Erlang
This time the Jade Emperor sent soldiers, and more than a hundred thousand surrounded the mountain. Wukong drove them off with the cudgel alone.
Nezha came forward and could not beat him. Then Erlang arrived, a general with a third eye on his brow.
They fought for a long time. Wukong became a sparrow and Erlang became a hawk, and he became a fish and Erlang became a fishing bird.
Neither could finish it. Then a ring thrown down from a cloud by Laojun struck the back of Wukong’s head and dropped him.
He had not lost the fight in front of him. It came from the side he could not see. That is how they carried him off.
The Fire That Failed to Kill Him
Heaven tried to execute him. Blades would not cut him and lightning did not touch him, for the elixir was in his body.
Laojun spoke up. “Put him in my furnace.” The fire of the Eight Trigrams cooked him for forty-nine days.
When the furnace opened, Wukong walked out. His eyes had turned red, the price of keeping them open in the smoke.
From that day he sees through any disguise. The punishment became an ability, and these eyes are what leave him most alone in chapter 20.
Wukong kicked the furnace over and started again. The palaces of Heaven shook, and in the end the Jade Emperor sent word to the west.
Today, a Title Given and a List Withheld
Heaven made exactly one mistake in this chapter. It gave him a large name and kept him off the list, calling him Great Sage and not calling him to the feast.
What detonated him was not the peaches. He was already eating the peaches, and what he could not bear was that his name went unsaid.
The same thing happens in organizations. The title goes up and the invitation does not come. The name is in the announcement and absent from the room where it is decided.
The gap surfaces on the day the list is read. And the person concerned is the last to know, exactly as before, which is why the drinking party in chapter 5 and the orchard here are the same scene.
Heaven can do nothing more with him now. Blades, lightning, and fire have all failed, and the one coming from the west is not coming to fight.