On the way west, it was said that the little demon | Chen Dakang

The number of little demons that are easy to ignore is the largest in "Journey to the West", the lion, elephant, and Peng three monsters are "calculated to have a total of 47,800", and the evil spirit formed by the small demons in the lion camel city is soaring, and Goku is also "frightened and frustrated" when he sees it. The lion and elephant were the mounts of Manjushri and Puxian, and Dapeng and Rulai were a little friendly, and the three of them were enough to ambush the three monsters, but Rulai's lineup was "five hundred arhats in front of them, and three thousand revealing gods in the back of their heads", as if to overwhelm the forty-seven or eight thousand little demons in momentum. When Sun Wukong became king at Huaguoshan, his subordinates "counted more than 47,000 mouths" in total. Those little demons either prepared with the shift or collected grain with the festival, "making a mountain of flowers and fruits like an iron bucket golden city." Later, when Goku was driven back to Huaguo Mountain by the Tang monks, he asked with concern, "I had a group of 47,000 demons at that time, where are they now?" He also led the "Little Demon of Bendong" to smash more than a thousand hunters "one by one by one, and the corpses were "pushed into the deep pool of ten thousand feet", and those monkeys were indeed veritable little demons.

Most of the yokai are surrounded by far fewer goblins. The King of the Golden Horn and the King of the Silver Horn are relatively shabby, patrolling the mountains only to "light up thirty mobs", the total number of "but there are four or five hundred soldiers" at the bottom of the family, and when fighting with Goku, they can only "light up the big and small group of demons, there are more than three hundred". The Yellow Wind Monster had a little more men, "In addition to the big and small leaders, there were five or seven hundred small colonels", the jade-faced princess of Jilei Mountain poured out of the cave to help the Bull Demon King fight, "before and after the seven long and eight short, there are more than one hundred mouths", and there are only "more than two hundred demon soldiers" under the Dragon Mountain Fox Monster. The Yellow Brow Monster was considered to be divine, "There are four or five thousand large and small demons, and each one of them is mighty and powerful." The python spirit of the Seven Absolute Mountains was the most pitiful, its cultivation had not yet arrived home, it could not speak yet, and there was not a single little demon around it. The author seems to have considered factors such as the nature, mana and size of the sphere of influence of the youkai, and arranged the number of small demons for it.

If there is a little demon to call, the monster will have a lot of peace of mind. Guarding the cave and patrolling the mountains, sitting at night and beating, and even grabbing the Tang monks to tie the ropes are all the work of the little demon. There are often similar scenes in the works: Goku breaks the cave door to save the Tang monk, and the little demon who guards the door quickly reports: "Disaster! If it is a weaker eight-precept or sand monk, then the report says "The sale is coming", and then the monster is given a batch of hanging weapons. As for the inside, the cleanliness of the cave house, the fire delivery of tea and the service of wine feasts, are all run by the little demons, and the monsters sleep peacefully, and there are also a few mountain spirit tree ghosts with powder and rouge, who spread the covers and waitresses, "the feet that take off the feet, the undresses that undress." The little demons have a clear division of labor, each performing their duties, "those who burn the fire only manage to burn the fire, and those who patrol the mountains only patrol the mountains", with them surrounding them left and right, the life of the monsters is considered to have a look.

When the youkai fight with their opponents, a group of small demons behind them wave their flags and shout, and their voices are strong. The lion, the elephant, and the peng three monsters fought against Wukong, "before and after, there were more than 30,000 spirits, all clinging to elite instruments, out of the hole to swing a three-talent formation"; when the Golden Horn King and Wukong faced off, although there were only more than three hundred little demons around them, "one by one, they picked up guns and sticks, and rationalized the wheel knife", and the murderous atmosphere surrounded the opponent. There are fewer demons around the red children, but they do technical work, and before fighting Goku, only ten demons "push out five small cars" and then "settle the cars according to gold, wood, water, fire, and earth". The red child could not beat Goku, and the five cars gushed out a fire of red flames, "The fireworks are confused, it is really a blazing fire", Goku had to retreat, the eight precepts escaped faster, "Make the old pig a cooked, add spices, and use it as much as he can!" ”

There were not many little demons, but there were all kinds of jobs in the cave house that had to be done, and the red child had his own way. As soon as Goku arrived at the horn mountain, he heard a cry: "Often take our mountain god land, burn the fire to the door, and raise the bell and drink the number with him in the night." The land of the mountain gods "all wore a piece, hung a piece, had no crotch, and had no pants", and there was no solemn appearance of the gods, and the reason was that "the little demons asked for ordinary money", each fierce god was evil, some "had a body of one and two feet", where the mountain god land was their opponent, "only to catch a few mountain roe deer, morning and evening to beat some spirits", "if there is nothing to send, they will come to demolish the temple and strip their clothes." The mountain gods and land villains are also officials stationed in the heavens and on earth, but they are all dressed up by the little demons, and they can't eat enough." The little demon to get "regular money" is not all for his own enjoyment, Goku became the "total drill wind" mixed into the small demon team, the opening of the mouth to those small drill wind each pay five or two silver "meeting money", the above deception is the norm in the small demon team, and the small drill wind saw the new boss, "that is, busy singing" Knot, take the initiative to take him to find a companion can collect more "meeting money".

Little Drill Wind does not suspect that Goku claims to be the chief Drill Wind because the yokai have indeed promoted some little goblins to assist. There were "a hundred and ten leaders of all sizes, all dressed in full costume, neatly dressed, majestic, and murderous." The reason why so many can be discharged is because of the huge base of the little demon. Some of the demons had a total of one hundred and ten little demons under their command, and the selected leader was only one, at this time its status and role were even more important, and two of the demons on the way to the west were instigated by the leader to capture The Tang monk. The Tiger Pioneer of Huang Fengling arrested Tang Monk without authorization, and Huang Fengwei exclaimed, "I taught you to patrol the mountains, you should only take some mountain cattle, wild deer, fat deer, and bearded sheep, how can you take that Tang monk?" The pioneer only cared about the merits, and also urged the immediate consumption: "Great King, when you see food, you will not eat, and you will be called inferior." The Yellow Wind Monster is motivated to "worship you as a brother" and asks him to capture Goku as well. A similar scene also occurred in the Tongtian River, the King of Inspiration was defeated by Wukong, did not dare and did not have a strategy to capture tang monks, at this time, the mandarin fish essence offered the strategy of melting the ice of the frozen river, and the inspiration king was overjoyed, promising to "catch the Tang monks, worship with you as brothers and sisters, and enjoy it together."

Some of the little demons were also very energetic about capturing Tang Monk, and even wanted to use this as a way to promote. The leopard spirit of the Hidden Mist Mountain could not even beat the Eight Precepts, and seeing that there was no hope of arresting Tang Monk, he had to sit in the cave "silently". The wolf monster under his command offered the "split-petal plum blossom plan", the leopard acted according to the plan, and sure enough, it was successful, and immediately promoted it to the vanguard, and the other demons also cheered and offered suggestions. Some proposed that the Tang monks be "chopped and chopped, fried with some large ingredients, and eaten together by everyone with fragrant flavor"; some thought that "it was still steamed and eaten with taste"; some advocated "boiling and eating, and saving firewood"; some wanted to eat bacon, "pickle with some salt, and eat for a long time". However, when Goku entered the hole, the little demons "scattered one by one, and they all complained that the pioneer was not." There was also the Silver Horned King, who was originally afraid of Goku's divine powers, but was criticized by the little demon: "Great King, how to grow the ambition of others and destroy your own prestige?" Who are you praising? The goblins also said that everyone "joined forces, afraid that he would go there."

The little demon wanted to eat Tang monk meat, but he was skeptical about whether he could get it. In Shi Huoling, Goku incarnated as a small drill wind, frightening the little demon in front of the cave, saying that he saw Sun Wukong grinding bars in the mountain stream, "grinding clearly, first kill ten thousand essences in front of your door", scaring the little demons "one by one frightened, the soul is scattered", and then Goku took the opportunity to do ideological work: "That Tang Monk's flesh is not more than a few pounds, and it can't be divided into my place, so we will hold this cylinder for him!" Let's just scatter. The demons were deeply impressed, and ten thousand little demons "whimpered and went away." However, there are also youkai who explicitly let the little demon share, and the lion monster announces: "Scatter and eat with the small ones, and teach him to live forever"; another green bull monster also told the little demon that when the Tang monk is killed, "everyone will scatter and be used." To pose for the blessings and sharing is to make them share the difficulties. Those little demons were indeed willing to fight bravely, and the little demons on the Qilin Mountain swung up their positions, "Sensen rowded the gang and reflected the light of the sun; densely lined up with flags, flying in the wind", so that "the walkers saw it, did not dare to advance"; in the battle on the Pingding Mountain, the little demons "fought more and more, like a sponge, wrapped around their waists and legs, and Mo Ken retreated", making Goku helpless.

Lu Xun once said that "although the Journey to the West" "describes the things that change and trance, it also makes every miscellaneous interpretation of the words, so that the gods and demons are humane, the essence is also sophisticated, and the cynicism is allegorical", and the description of the little demon is like this. Goku tied the lion monster's heart and liver with a rope, and when he fought, he jerked the rope violently. At this time, the author was not busy writing about the painful lion monster, but with a pen on the little demon who was helping the battle: "The little demons saw it from a distance and shouted in unison: 'Great king, don't mess with him!'" Let him go! This monkey is not in time, qingming has not yet arrived, but he is flying kites there too! Another example is that in Pingding Mountain, the Golden Horn King is fighting with Goku, and he can't help but hear the little demon who was beaten by Goku's body shouting in unison: "Great King, things are not harmonious!" It's hard! All over the mountain is Sun Xing! "The little demon's gag suddenly turns the fierce battle between you and me into a game for readers to enjoy."

"Journey to the West" is adapted from works such as "Tang Sanzang Sutra Poetry", although there are also monsters such as white tiger spirits and dragons in those works, but they are all fighting alone, and there is no help from small demons, and many of the small demons in "Journey to the West" only appear on the paper when they are adapted. Some of them play an important role in the progress of the plot, Goku coaxed the delicate ghosts and clever insects of Pingding Mountain, the author actually wrote more than 4,000 words, and the small drill wind around Shituo Mountain also wrote nearly 3,000 words, about the tricky and strange trick of Leopard Head Mountain, the rushing erba and Baboer Ben of Bibotan, and the comings and goings of Qilin Mountain, which also have a considerable description. The little demon on the westbound road appears repeatedly, or treacherous, or stupid, or fierce, or charming, and its words and deeds are easy to remind the reader of the people in the society at that time, such as Xu officials, family members, horses, and broken houses, the author did not write out of thin air, and the world of the little demon is actually also a refraction of the images of the world.

Author: Chen Dakang

Editor: Wu Dongkun