The cunning and playful Monkey is a thorn in the side of the gods and a most useful companion on the journey to India. Monkey is an abridged translation of the popular Chinese folk novel A Journey to the West, attributed to a scholar and poet of the Ming dynasty, Wú Chéng’en. Based on traditional folktales, with its background in Chinese popular religion, mythology, and philosophy—in particular Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism—A Journey to the West became one of the four classical novels of Chinese literature. The novel is based on the story of a famous Chinese Buddhist monk, Xuánzàng, who undertook a pilgrimage to India during the Tang Dynasty (618–907) in order to obtain Sanskrit texts called Sutras. Xuánzàng is accompanied by three disciples—Monkey, Pig, and Friar Sand—who help the monk to defeat various monsters and demons before they finally bring the Sutras back to the Chinese capital. Monkey himself reflects many traditional values in his quest for immortality, enlightment, atonement, and spiritual rebirth. The book is unique in its combination of adventure, comedy, poetry, and spiritual insight. Working on many levels, it is thought to be at once an allegory for a spiritual journey toward enlightenment and a satire on inefficient and absurd bureaucracy, ancient or modern. JK