The queen was not a demon.
This is the whole difference, and the book knows it, and it makes this the most quietly painful chapter in the journey precisely because there is no monster in it. Every other temptation on the road has a trick inside it — the widow's manor was four Bodhisattvas testing them, the beautiful girls were disguises, the easy boat was an alligator. This is a real woman, ruling a real kingdom, who has fallen honestly in love with a man at first sight, and who offers him, with complete sincerity and an open hand, everything she has.
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Chapters 13–78 are for readers
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