Week 7 Reading: The Monkey King

This week I am reading The Monkey King from The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens. This post will cover Part A.

The Monkey King, from Wikipedia

• I'm not sure what this story is intended to be, I have never heard of it before. I don't know if it is a morality tale for children, a serious drama, or some sort of religious text. 
• I wonder what they mean by "stone" monkey. Is he strong and tough, actually made of stone, or does it refer to his birth? 
• Speaking of his birth, it seems somewhat like the Virgin birth some of us may be familiar with from the bible. It strikes me as a very common trait among heroes in old stories. 
• Ahhhh, it is a story about Buddhism. This is starting to make more since to me now. 
• The fact that he is having trouble focusing really humanizes him. His training ending due to his own faults is interesting. 
• He has been gone for a while, I wonder what the state of his Kingdom will be when he gets back. 

Thanks for reading with me.