Tuesday, January 24, 2006

The Nature of Monkey is irrepresible!


THE LEGEND OF THE MONKEY KING LIVES (in my room)!!!!

In the pic in the previous post you'll find a wooden staff propped in the corner of my office. It is not just any wooden staff, but a Monkey King Staff!

I wish I had some great story about traveling to China and being given the staff by some small Kung Fu monk who can break a stack of bricks with his genitals, but alas I don't. I ordered the staff online- not quite an amazing cultural experience.

While in college I studied Kung Fu and I bought the staff when I began learning a staff form. The staffs I used in class were light-weight and capable of flexing. While practicing with them I had a tendency to hit myself in the head and shins- not quite a Kung Fu Expert. When I received the MKS it was heavier, harder, and capable of afflicting nasty bruises. It scared the bejesus out of me to whip it around so I propped it in the corner and it has remained there ever since looking cool.

The original legend of the Monkey King may date back to 600 AD. Make sure you follow the link to the history I found online. It is very entertaining full of passages like, "he was crowned the Monkey King after he proved to be the only monkey on the Mountain of Fruit and Flowers to dare go through the Water Curtain and set up a kingdom on Earth."

His staff, which expanded and contracted on demand, was his weapon of choice. He stored it in his earlobe.

I think mine looks just fine in the corner.

No comments: