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(summary and discussion over here)

The pilgrims arrive and Pilgrim Leaping Horn summons a horde of burrowing animals to dig into the behemoth and loosen the chains binding Falling Mountain. What Pilgrim Leaping Horn failed to grasp was that the behemoth was one of the legendary Hungry Children and as such ate its meals through its skin.

Pilgrim Angry Hiss enrages the villagers by challenging the leader of the foreigners to a fist fight. He was so terrified by the bold pilgrim that he ran away from the village and hid in the caves!

Pilgrim Flighty Stream calls forth warm rains to soothe the cold farms of Falling Mountain. Unfortunately, he blundered into the cave of Song-Bao, whose honeyed words lured him into inattention and he was taken hostage by the evil foreigner.

Pilgrim Leaping Horn springs after her mole friends, getting herself caught in the sticky digestive pores of the behemoth.

Luckily for her, her friend, the illustrious Pilgrim Angry Hiss, had brought his bottle of holy pepper which was inflamed by the holy light of the temple, and which caused the great behemoth to sneeze all the captured beings out of its digestive pores!

With the young men distracted by the aerobatic display of burrowing creatures, pepper, and a small pilgrim, Pilgrim Flighty Stream slips away out of the cave and heads back towards the village. He found some villagers attempting to turn the tables on this great beast of heaven by eating it, but the peppered flesh disagreed with him, and he was wracked with tummy pains!

Seeing Pilgrim Flighty Stream’s discomfort, Leaping Horn summons a mischievous rabbit, who steals soothing herbs from the failing crops and feeds them to the ailing pilgrim. Li Foon the Eldest was furious that someone would let their pet rabbit feed in his sparse garden, and he seized Pilgrim Leaping Horn by her ear and dragged her off to face justice!

The cloud of pepper was thick enough to provide cover for Song-Bao and the young men to return and knock pilgrim Angry Hiss on the head!

Li Foon, who knows the old ways, was able to grow extra-potent herbs, much stronger than young Pilgrim Flighty Stream was accustomed to, and so the pilgrim found himself wandering the village, examining everything he found for signs of beauty.

The presence of the great cat inflamed the glory of the hunt in the village, and taking up their spears and bows, the hunters pursued Leaping Horn and her feline friend into the deep woods.

Song-Bao attaches the unconscious Angry Hiss to the behemoth’s shackles of iron, setting him up as the beast’s next meal!

Pilgrim Flighty Stream wandered clear off Falling Mountain, onto the surface of the great behemoth, where he curled up inside a warm inviting feeding pore to try to sleep off his intoxication.

Pilgrim Leaping Horn lets the tiger lead her pursuers away, leaving her alone in the quiet forest. Between the sneezy fog of the pepper and the increasing darkness, she is lost and cannot find the village.

Unconscious, Pilgrim Angry Hiss is being drawn deeper into the beast, and is heading straight for one of Falling Mountain’s harpoons!

After creating a water pillow to rest his head, the noxious steam shakes Pilgrim Flighty Stream out of his stupor, sending him fleeing from the eating pore. Li Foon discovers Flighty Stream and wagging his gnarled finger, declares that the Temple will hear of this delinquent behavior!

Epilogue: The cold became unbearable, the light waned to black – and the Falling Mountain pierced the veil between temples. Angry Hiss dragged himself from his imprisonment, saw the orange-yellow light of the “Other Temple”, and sat cross-legged to compose the greeting he would give to his new-found peers. Flighty Stream covers the land in a soothing mist, calming Li Foon and the Behemoth as the world glides toward the new temple. Leaping Horn settles her furry friends into their new home – even negotiating peace between Li Foon and the Tiger.