ven of the women went out to bathe in a pool. There Sun, in
search of his Master, found them and would have killed them, only he
thought it was not right to kill women. So he changed himself into an
eagle and carried away their clothes to his nest. This so frightened
the women that they crouched in the pool and did not dare to come out.

But Pa-chieh, also in search of his Master, found the women bathing. He
changed himself into a fish, which the women tried to catch, chasing
him hither and thither round the pool. After a while Pa-chieh leapt
out of the pool and, appearing in his true form, threatened the
women for having bound his Master. In their fright the women fled to
a pavilion, round which they spun spiders' threads so thickly that
Pa-chieh became entangled and fell. They then escaped to their cave
and put on some clothes.

How the Master was Rescued

When Pa-chieh at length had disentangled himself from the webs, he saw
Sun and Sha Ho-shang approaching. Having learnt what had happened,
they feared the women might do some injury to the Master, so they
ran to the cave to rescue him. On the way they were beset by the
seven dwarf sons of the seven women, who transformed themselves into
a swarm of dragon-flies, bees, and other insects. But Sun pulled out
some hairs and, changing them into seven different swarms of flying
insects, destroyed the hostile swarm, and the ground was covered a
foot deep with the dead bodies. On reaching the cave, the pilgrims
found it had been deserted by the women. They released the Master,
and made him promise never to beg for food again. Having given the
promise, he mounted his horse, and they proceeded on their journey.

The Spiders and the Extinguisher

When they had gone a short distance they perceived a great building of
fine architecture ahead of them. It proved to be a Taoist temple. Sha
Ho-shang said: "Let us enter, for Buddhism and Taoism teach the
same things. They differ only in their vestments." The Taoist abbot
received them with civility and ordered five cups of tea. Now he was
in league with the seven women, and when the servant had made the tea
they put poison in each cup. Sun, however, suspected a conspiracy,
and did not drink his tea. Seeing that the rest had been poisoned, he
went and attacked the sisters, who transformed themselves into huge
spiders. They were able to spin ropes instead of webs with which to
bind their enemies. But Sun attacked and killed them