Journey to the West

[incandescens]

Following liralen's good example, I've been rereading Journey to the West. Our heroes have just arrived at a strange city...

When they had travelled about 150 miles west they found themselves near a walled city. Raising his iron cudgel the Great Sage, who was only a third of a mile ahead of the carrying-chair, was so alarmed by the sight of the city that he fell over and was unable to rise to his feet. Do you know why someone of his great courage was so frightened by what he saw? It was because he saw a very evil atmosphere hanging over the town.

Crowds of evil demons and monsters,
Wolf spirits at all four gates.
Striped tigers are the commanders;
White-faced tiger-cats are senior officers.
Antlered stags carry documents around;
Cunning foxes walk along the streets.
Thousand-foot pythons slither round the walls;
Twenty-mile serpents occupy the roads.
At the base of high towers grey wolves shout commands;
Leopards speak in human voices by pavilions.
Standard-bearers and drummers -- all are monsters;
Mountain spirits patrol and stand sentry.
Crafty hares open shops to trade;
Wild boars carry their loads to do business.
What used to be the capital of a heavenly dynasty
Has now become a city of wolves and tigers.

Comments

[zamiel.livejournal.com]

So, they stumbled on my hometown, eh? Sounds like the beasts have picked the place up a bit.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Holy smokes! *RE-reading*!

*kow-tow* to the Master who had read the whole thing before!!

rereading

[incandescens]

It's my parents' fault for having an abridged version on the shelf when I was a lot younger. And the tv series. And, well, being lucky enough to run across a mostly-complete translation in a local secondhand bookshelf...