This week on MYTH, we’ll continue Monkey’s epic journey to the west to retrieve Indian magic. This is the fourth episode on the epic tale of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. If you haven’t heard the first three parts, I’d recommend going back and listening. The first episode provides a lot of back story on the Monkey King and on the chinese cosmology, the second tells how this whole quest thing got started, and the third tells why Monkey is currently sulking. To summarize, Monkey was trapped by Buddha and could only be released if he served the monk Sanzang on his journey to the west to retrieve the magic sutras from India. Along the way, getting into a stupid amount of trouble and getting out mostly through literal deus ex machina, they acquire two more disciples: Ogre and Piggy. Monkey managed to become even more immortal, but it didn’t help him against a scheming demon that convinced the kind of dumb monk that Monkey had killed a few people for shits and giggles. Given how many demons have shown up already, you’d think he’d be more open to the idea. In this episode, you’ll learn that constellations can’t be trusted, that the it’s totally possible for a man to get pregnant, and that if a pretty woman tries to seduce you, she’s definitely a demon in disguise. Then, in Gods and Monsters, it’s a banana ghost who can give you the winning lottery numbers, but might just kill you for it.
