Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 1-2 | Page 30

New Journey to the West Regents Primary School of Shenzhen, Robinson, Archie Joshua - 6 M any years ago in China a Buddhist monk, a monkey, a pig and Sandy (a river monster) set off on an arduous journey to India in search of a Buddhist scriptures. They all had very different characters: Monkey was naughty. Pigsy was lazy. Sandy was stupid. The monk (their leader) was kind. They travelled over mountains, through rivers, across deserts and faced many dangers. Finally, they reached India. They were surprised by the strange sights, sounds and smells there. Pigsy was hungry, and wanted to try some Indian food. There were no noodles or tofu. Suddenly, the travellers smelt something delicious. They asked the shopkeeper with sigh language as they couldn’t speak the language. ‘Ah Curry ,’ said the shopkeeper. “Ah Curry,” said Pigsy who stuck his nose straight inside the pot. The Monk, Pigsy and Sandy ate their food. Monkey was sitting on a tree eating an apple. “I am bored,” said Monkey. Suddenly, he heard singing. Monkey sped across the tree tops and dropped down into a garden. He realized he was in a temple. There in front of him was a statue of a monkey. He saw people praying and offering food. Suddenly, he realized the people thought that the monkey was a god. “I like India”, he thought to himself. “In China, I am just a king but in India I am a god!” He decided to introduce himself and said in his loudest and proudest voice, “You have been waiting and now I am here!” For a second, none of the people moved, they just stared. Then they screamed “a speaking monkey”, and ran towards the temple door. Meanwhile the Monk, Pigsy and Sandy were still under the tree waiting for Monkey to return. Sandy suddenly noticed that the men didn’t wear trousers but skirts. He crept behind an old Indian man and suddenly, snatched the skirt off the old man and ran away. The poor old naked man tried to chase Sandy but he was too old and too slow. When Sandy had lost the old man, he stopped and wrapped the cloth around his waist. He found the clothes so cool, comfortable and stylish. At this time Monkey, Pigsy and Sandy cried “we don’t like India”. The Monk sighed and told them to remember the real reason they came to India, for the Buddhist scriptures. An old beggar who spoke some Chinese asked them why they came to India. The monk answered for reason of books and knowledge. The Beggar looked deep in his bag and pulled out a damaged and dirty old book. “This is why you are coming here for, in India, knowledge is everywhere in books. But too few people use knowledge in their daily lives.”