Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, the self-proclaimed Great Sage Equal to Heaven, the Earthbound rabble-rouser born of stone, had at long last been accepted into Heaven, though Jade Emperor had primarily done so to make him easier to maintain. Ultimately, he was given the charge of maintaining the Heavenly Gardens. Still, the gods found him intolerable, and he found most of the gods insufferable. When he found himself excluded from a well-attended heavenly banquet, he rebelled. He devoured Xi Wangmu's Peaches of Immortality which he had been tasked with protecting, became immortal, and returned to Earth where he would defeat the forces of Heaven.

If you're unfamiliar with Sun Wukong, one of the great comic characters of world literature, you owe it to yourself to read Wu Cheng'En's 16th century novel Journey to the West. I recommend Arthur Waley's lively translation, Monkey. For an interesting new twist on the character, read Gene Yang's American Born Chinese. And I can never recommend Jeff Lau and Stephen Chow's loose adaptation A Chinese Odyssey enough.

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This post is the first in a series of coordinated content posts with William C. Stewart of Chide, Chode, Chidden. Each Friday we will determine a them that will be featured in our updates. The updates may take any form we choose, be it essay, drawing, or scientific experiment. This week's theme is "peaches."

Labels: coordinated content, drawings