Mythology & Folklore

(The Monkey King by Yoshitoshi: Wikipedia )   The Lord of the Heavens The Lord of the Heaven sat in his castle and a saint presented the complaint of the Dragon-King and the Princes of the Dead. They told him about the wild nature of Sun Wu Kung and the Lord ordered a god to go down and take him as a prisoner. The Evening Star shared how this ape was of pure power and had gained the knowledge of eternal life. The Evening Star went to find Sun Wu Kung and told him to come with him to heaven. This made the ape feel joyful and the two mounted a cloud and went up to heaven. The ape didn't even bow before the Lord and this angered his servants. The Lord forgave him and he made the ape a stablemaster of the heavenly steeds Sun Wu Kung did his duties with great zeal. The Great Saint At the table, Sun Wu Kung began to question the level of his title and found he was serving a low position. This angered him and claimed he would do this job no longer. He drew the golden bar from his ear and ...

 This reading is from the Chinese folklore unit and I chose to read this story from the attention-grabbing title. I thought it could be a fun and lighthearted read about a crazy monkey. The story is about a monkey who wants to gain eternal life and rebel against heaven. Overall, it was a great start to this unit.  (19th-century illustration of Sun Wu Kung: Wikipedia ) The Handsome King of the Apes Away in the East there was an island with a high rock. This was a special rock for it had absorbed all the seed power of heaven and earth, and sun and moon. One day the rock burst and an egg came out and from the egg came an ape. The ape learned how to live and  grew older. One day, the ape went to a waterfall to cool off and plunged off a high cliff. The stone ape jumped off the cliff to challenge the bet of being king and he landed on a hidden iron bridge below. He came back and told the other apes the news and they all journeyed back down with him. The apes named the stone ap...