King of the Apes

I know what you're thinking. Not just anyone can handle being the Monkey King. And I know that he earned it. All I'm saying is that I could have done it too! I understand he was born from a stone egg. Sure, that's different. But when did he actually prove himself? What's different about this ape? I grew up in the same environments with all of the same privileges.

Actually, we were best friends. Growing up with the Monkey King was such a sweet time. I loved getting to know him. We did everything together. We learned how to walk and leap together. But then he decided that he was better than me! That weird beam shot out of his eyes towards the heavens and you would have thought that he created world peace. People should be scared of him, not worship him.

When it came time to choose who would rule us apes, all we had to do was walk through a waterfall without being hurt. And I won't lie, I was a little afraid, but I was willing and ready to do it. I wanted to be the one to prove myself but before I said anything, he yelled out that he would do it. He interrupted me, but I bet you didn't hear that part did you?

And on top of all of this, he didn't even pass through! He cheated by finding a bridge that helped him stay safe. We all walked on the bridge without getting hurt. He didn't do anything special.

I couldn't stand by and watch him be worshipped like this anymore. I decided I had to bring down the monkey king so I can claim my righteous role as the King of the Apes.

One night, I gathered up my other ape friends, all of the ones that were there that day we decided who would be King of the Apes. I wanted to see if I was alone in the thought that this ape was not worthy of our praise! I asked each of them if they thought that we declared the right king. "Of course! We have served this king for over three hundred years," said Lan, the most loyal of the friends. "If we chose the wrong one, don't you think we would have known by now?"

They all agreed with Lan, but I still wasn't convinced. "You guys!" I exclaimed. "We all walked through that waterfall. He didn't prove himself to us in the least bit. He is no more powerful than each of you. If he was truly meant to be the King of the Apes, don't you think he should really prove himself?"

There was a rustle from the group. They couldn't argue with this. He hadn't done anything that we hadn't done, except for the weird beams shooting to heaven but none of us were there to attest to that.

"I say we test him," I said. "We put him through a series of challenges to see if he can prove himself."

Unfortunately, the conversation with the King of the Apes did not go as well as I originally expected. He told me he believed he, as king, should never be challenged. That I was simply one of his servants and I should not dare talk to him as if he has to prove anything to me. He immediately expelled me from his kingdom, to live alone in the wilderness for the rest of my days.

After years and years of isolation, however, I caught word of Sun Wu King's humiliation by the Buddha. Apparently he tried to show off for Buddha and but he was not impressed. Oh how much glee this brought me. Now that this fake king has been imprisoned, I finally had the ability to get out of this wilderness and come back home.

Author's Note:

I read the Monkey King story this week. The story is about an ape that becomes the king of the monkeys by passing through a waterfall. I thought it was interesting that there was a large group of apes that could have done exactly what he did to be deemed king so I decided to write a story from the point of view of one of his friends that is jealous of what he has done. The original story only briefly talked about the moment that the Monkey King became the king of the apes, but I thought it was an interesting way to begin a story. In the Monkey King, the story is really about this king of the apes and how he realized he was getting older and wasn't going to live forever. The story goes through him meeting many different people along the way in order to find immortality. He realizes that gods and goddesses are both immortal so they decide to look there. He meets many people who give him advice, wisdom and even a new name, Sun Wu Kung. Towards the end of the story, Sun Wu Kung tried to convince the Buddha to allow him to be King of the Heavens but the Buddha embarrassed him and imprisoned him instead.

Bibliography: "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

Sun Wu Kung. Source.