Skip to main content

Extra Credit Reading "Sun Wu Kung Gets His Name"

One day the Ape King was moving along when he stumbled upon a woodcarver who was singing a melody so divine and so spiritual the Ape King had to go give his praises to the holy person singing.
The ape went to the man and started worshiping him. The woodcarver was surprised by this and asked why the ape was acting in such a way. The ape said "The song you sing is so divine you must be of holy descent. The man laughed and said, "I am just a woodcarver, the song I sing was taught to me by a saint." The Ape then asked where he could find such a saint and the woodcarver gave him directions and sent him on his way. The ape went on a journey to find the great saint and when he arrived at the cave the woodcarver described he saw that it was locked. He thought it best not to knock so he hopped in a tree and started eating pinecones.
One of the disciples of the priest then came out and asked what was making all of this noise.
The Ape then jumped down and said I have come to seek the truth. The disciple then said, "how funny, the saint just said that there would be someone visiting soon who saught truth. The Ape then spoke to the saint and the saint back to the ape and they exchanged knowledge.
The saint asked the Ape, "What is your name," to which the ape replied, "I do not have a name, I am the ape from the stone." The saint then told the ape that he would give him a name. From then on the saint declared the ape Sun Wu Kung, and that was the Apes name from then on.

Bibliography: This story is part of The Monkey King unit. Story source: "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

"Why the Bat Flies By Night" Reading Notes

The Bush Rat Bibliography: This story is part of the Nigeria unit. Story source: Folk Stories From Southern Nigeria by Elphinstone Dayrell (1910). One day the Bush Rat and the Bat and the bat were feeding together. They always fed together, just like they did everything else together. But, one day the bat decided to turn on the Bush Rat. They were both eating soup when the Bush Rat asked the Bat why his soup was always so good. The bat usually prepared his soup beforehand and just took some extra care while making it, but he decided to tell a lie. The bat told the Rat that before he starts cooking the soup he boils himself in the broth. The Bat said that his flesh is so sweet that it flavors the broth. The Rat was convinced that that is how the soup was so good so later that night he went home and told his wife that he would make soup for the family that night. He started making the soup and as soon as his wife turned away he jumped into the pot of boiling water to "fl...

Week 2 Reading Overview

The Storyteller; Eugene, Oregon Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4. Week 3:  Homer's Odyssey Week 4: Bible Women Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6. Week 5:  Ancient Egypt Week 6:  Folklore of the Holy Land Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.] Week 7:  The Monkey King Week 9:  Brer Rabbit Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11. Week 10:  Great Plains Week 11:  Cherokee Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13. Week 12:  Alice in Wonderland Week 13:  Looking-Glass Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15. Week 14:  Inferno Week 15: Hans Christian Andersen Here are the Blog topics that I have planned on reading this semester. I am very excited to get into the brer rabbit tales along with the Alice in Wonderland tales. I think once I get into this class and figure out how to work throu...

Reading Notes "The Stone Ape"

The Stone Ape and the Waterfall Once there was a large stone at the top of a massive mountain. This stone was special and it could absorb all of the energy from the heavens and the earth. This supernatural stone was magnificent and everyone who viewed it was in awe. One day, the stone had finally taken in so much energy that it couldn't take any more. The stone burst into pieces and out of the explosion of rock came an egg. This egg was made of stone as well and once the egg was ready it hatched just like the stone before it had. But this time a special creature came out of it, an ape made completely of stone came from the egg. This ape grew and learned like any other ape of its kind. He learned to stumble then walk just like any other ape. One day, something peculiar happened. Two golden streams of light burst from his eyes and then shot to the heavens, it startled the gods at the time and they went to investigate. They found the stone ape and even though they were surpris...