On the summit of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit, there stood a great stone that had measured ten feet in circumference and twenty-four feet in height. Since the creation of the world, this stone had been nurtured by the purity of Heaven and the essence of Earth.

One day, the stone split open with a thunderous crack.

From within emerged a stone egg, which the wind shaped into a living creature—a monkey! After bowing to the four corners of the world, two beams of golden light shot from his eyes, piercing the very heavens.

The Jade Emperor, seated upon his celestial throne in the Heavenly Palace, looked down and saw the disturbance. "What manner of creature dares to shine light into my domain?" he demanded.

"Your Majesty," replied the Thousand-Mile Eye and the Wind-Following Ear, "it is merely a monkey born from a stone on the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit."

"Very well," said the Jade Emperor with a dismissive wave. "The creatures of the lower world need not concern us."

Thus did Sun Wukong—soon to be known throughout the universe as the Monkey King—enter the world unnoticed and unremarked upon by the powers that would one day tremble before him.