Wu Ch'eng-en wrote Monkey in the middle of the 16th century, adding to an ancient Chinese legend his own touches of delicacy and humour. The result is a jumble of the absurd and the profound, of religion and history, of anti-bureaucratic satire and pure poetry.
Prince Tripitaka, a young Buddhist priest, has undertaken a dangerous quest to travel to India to retrieve sacred scriptures from a temple. On his way he finds three unruly companions who become his disciples: the greedy pig creature Pigsy, the river monster Sandy, and Monkey. The mischievous Monkey possesses certain skills that prove very handy.