A dragon bet a fortune teller that he was a fake
The teller told of rain which the dragon sent away
The rain sent by the heavens, a crime punishable by death
And though he won the bet, he sure had lost the rest
From deep within his prison
He reached in dreams for help
The Tang emperor agreed to save him
But that morning his sentence dealt
At the broken promise the dragon was enraged
In hell he raised a claim against
The man who said he’d be saved
The emperor died and they agreed
That he was not at fault
The kings apologized for the whole ordeal
And escorted him out
Before he left the emperor offered
To bring them something back
The kings had asked for pumpkins
Something that grew poorly in the black
When he returned the emperor called
For someone to bring them there
A man who’d lost his wife
Agreed to take them in his care
When he arrived at the gates of hell
The kings asked him of his story
As they listened they could not help
But give the man their pity
As the princess had recently died
They traded her soul for his wife’s
They sent him back and waved farewell
As his body refilled with life
Reunited once more, the man and wife
Left the gates together at last
The emperor was moved by the sight of them
And so he organized a grand mass
A group of unlikely heroes travel to India as they battle countless demons and face untold trials. A monk, a pig, a river spirit, a monkey, a dragon, a child, and a king, face mountains of fire, summer snowstorms, cursed lands and the dreaded travel restrictions on a long journey to The Buddha himself.
(Based on Wu Chang’en’s Journey to the West)
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