Reading Notes: Wilhelm's The Monkey King Part A

The title of the story, "The Monkey King," caught my eye immediately. I love animals and I enjoy reading stories about them, specifically when they take on human characteristics. The first sentence of the story begins with, "FAR, far away to the East..." This sentence in particular reminds me of the beginning of a fairytale. When I first started reading this, I was not sure if this was an actual fairytale or just a child's story. Then I realized that the title of the book was "The Chinese Fairy Book." I am excited to read the rest of this story and I am glad I chose this one because I do enjoy reading fairytales.
The main character, Sun Wu Kung, was named "Handsome King of the Apes" by the other apes; and I think I could do a spin on this in the story that I write this week. I have been incorporating modernization into most of the stories I have been writing and I could continue that trend in this week's storytelling assignment. The original story was written over a century ago, so the author's meaning of "handsome" might not be the same as the meaning that we would use today. "Handsome" used to resemble strong rather than good-looking, like how we use it today. I am thinking that I might write a story about a "handsome" leader who is attractive and is loved by all of his peers. He could be a football player or an important politician.
The character of the stone ape is the bravest of all the other apes so i want to incorporate that also into my version of the story. He is a tough guy who isn't afraid to step up and be a leader, but it might not work out as well as he thinks it will in the end. It depends on whether he uses his intelligence or his pride when trying to get through a situation.
It can be difficult to write a story about animals that have taken on human characteristics, but I think that I am going to give it a try this week. The monkeys in the original story are basically like humans, negotiating, wearing clothes and learning new things. I plan to keep the main characters as monkeys, but also possibly make them modern day high schoolers or young adult monkeys who have to overcome something that has happened.


The Monkey King or Sun Wu Kung; monkey picture.

"The Monkey King" by Richard Wilhelm; link to reading online.