Once upon a time in high heavens, Hanuman and Sun Wukong was enjoying each other's company. Their peaceful tea time was interrupted by the arrival of the Gautama Buddha. Buddha requested Hanuman and Sun Wukong to deliver a special message to a temple that is located in the far far east. Sun Wukong challenged Hanuman to a race. First one to deliver the message to the temple is the victor. Hanuman took the offer and as he was about to start the race, Sun Wukong cast a powerful spell that made Hanuman unconscious. "Good night!" Sun said to Hanuman as he jumped far away and got a head start.

As Sun was heading towards the temple, he ran into demon brothers named Golden Horned King and Silver Horned King. They possessed a powerful artifact called Purple Gold Red Gourd, which can trap anyone who speaks their own name. Since Sun Wukong was aware of the gourd's power, he reminded himself not to say his name in front of the demon brothers. Golden Horned King and Silver Horned King challenged Sun to a duel and told him that powerful warriors always present themselves before the fighting starts. Being a prideful monkey king, Sun Wukong loudly announced, " My name is Sun Wukong! The Monkey King of the far east!" As Sun shouted his name, he realized his mistake but it was too late. Sun Wukong got sucked into the gourd and the demon brothers celebrated their victory over the monkey king.

Hanuman woke up from his nap and realized that he had fallen under Sun Wukong's spell. He quickly ran after Sun Wukong realizing that he was far behind him. As Hanuman was running towards the temple, Hanuman also ran into the Gold and Silver Horned King brothers. They told Hanuman that they had captured Sun Wukong and Hanuman would be their next trophy. The Horned Kings asked Hanuman to a duel and Hanuman also accepted their challenge. The Horned Kings told Hanuman to present himself before the fight began. Seeing through their tricks, Hanuman told the Horned King brothers that he could not dare to introduce himself first in the presence of the greater power. Being conceited, the Horned King brothers took the Hanuman offer and announced, "My name is Golden Horned King!" and his brother said "My name is Silver Horned King!" As they finished their introduction, they got sucked into the gourd and screamed realizing that it was too late to fix their mistakes.

Hanuman freed Sun Wukong and told Sun Wukong not to be too prideful or conceited. Sun learned a valuable lesson and thanked Hanuman for freeing him from the gourd. Sun Wukong also accepted his defeat in this race and traveled to the temple in the far far east with Hanuman, as they both enjoyed each other's company.

Author's Note: This story is based on The Wise and The Foolish Merchant from the Jataka Tales. The original story is about two merchants traveling the desert and shows each of the merchants reaction towards the demon they meet. Foolish merchant, as the name indicates, gets caught up in the demon's scheme and ends up getting killed by the demon. The wise merchant manages to avoid the demon's trap with his wits and gets away with the goods that the foolish merchant left behind. In the original story, demon does not have a name nor specific method to haunt the merchants. I added the Horned King brothers form the Journey to the West novel to add more spice when it came to tricking the main protagonists. I added Hanuman and Sun Wukong in this story since my portfolio is mainly about Hanuman. It has been very fun mixing Indian mythology with the Chinese mythology. Hanuman and Sun Wukong share a lot of similarities and lots of researchers suggested that Sun Wukong was actually based on Hanuman. With one more project left, I hope I can create more stories that mix Sun Wukong's mythology and Hanuman's mythology.

Bibliography: The Wise and The Foolish Merchant, Sun Wukong Wikipedia, Characters of Journey to the West

Image of Two Monkeys : Wikimedia