Friday, April 27, 2012

X is for Xi Wangmu and her Peaches

Mainly the peaches.

Xi Wangmu is the Mother of the West, the goddess who resides on Mount Kunlun in western China, ruling over her magical garden where the Peaches of Immortality ripen every three thousand years. She serves the peaches to her guests and holds magical feasts in celebration of the special occasion. Three thousand years of waiting, that has to be one special party...

... unless the Monkey King crashes it, of course.
Why? Because he was not invited, that's why. And Xi Wangmu in her eternal life and wisdom should have known that not inviting the Trickster with the capital T and the magical bo staff is not going to do anyone any good. Because the only thing worse than Sun Wukong crashing your party is... a drunk Sun Wokung crashing your party. No, seriously, trust me on this one.

The result? Monkey is immortal. Also, one epic story from beginning to end, usually known as Journey to the West (Xi Jou Ji... oh look, another X! I coulda started with this one). You can read the original, read the BetterMyths version, or go watch Saiyuki.

Hmm. Now I want to eat some peaches.

3 comments:

  1. Intriguing! This makes me want to investigate the tale further.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now I want peach cobbler ala mode.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great story...thanks for sharing with us...visiting via A to Z Challenge...blessings, and I love peaches...

    ReplyDelete