The Mythical Story of The Chinese Zodiac
There was a time when the Jade Emperor of ancient China created a method to measure time.
He told the animals they were to compete in a race. The first twelve animals would be honored by having a year named after each of them as a reward.
On the day of the race, the rat and the cat were worried as they were not good at swimming, but they both were quite intelligent. They asked the ox if he would carry them across on his back.
The ox agreed, and they jumped on his back. When the race began, the rat and the cat were happy that the ox was leading.
Just when they were about to reach the riverbank, the rat pushed the cat into the water!
It jumped off the ox and landed on the other side — finishing first.
The Jade Emperor congratulated the rat for winning the race and named the first year after the rat. Ox, on the other hand, had to settle into second place, and the second year was the ox.
Shortly after, the exhausted tiger arrived at the riverbank. Swimming the river had been difficult as it had to fight strong currents.
The next to arrive was the rabbit who had not swum across but hopped across on some stepping stones and then onto a floating log that carried him to the riverbank. The Jade Emperor named the fourth year after the rabbit.
In fifth place was the flying dragon. The Jade Emperor wondered why such a swift airborne creature did not come in first. The dragon explained that it had to stop by a village and bring rain for the people, and therefore arrived late. Then, on its way to the finish, it saw the helpless rabbit clinging onto a log, so it did a good deed and gave a puff of breath to the poor creature so it could land on the shore. The Jade Emperor was astonished by the dragon’s good nature, and it was named the fifth year.
Next, traveling quickly towards the finish line, was the horse. Just as the Jade Emperor thought the horse would cross, the snake wriggled around one of the horse’s hooves. The horse was so surprised that they jumped back, giving the snake a chance to slither forward and take sixth place. The horse made it to seventh place.
Not long after, a well-constructed raft found its way to the riverbank carrying the monkey, the rooster, and the goat. They explained how they had worked as a team to get across. The Emperor was impressed. He announced goat the eighth year, monkey the ninth, and rooster the tenth.
The eleventh animal placed in the zodiac cycle was the dog. Although it should have been the best swimmer and runner, his explanation for being late was that it needed a nice bath after a long spell. For that, it almost did not make it to the finish line.
There was one place left in Zodiac. The sun was setting, and the Emperor wondered who the last winner would be. All the animals and the Emperor had their eyes on the horizon, waiting for the final animal to appear.
Suddenly, everyone heard a scuffle, a squeak, and an oink.
The pig turned up!
During the race, it felt hungry, so it stopped, ate something, and then fell asleep. After waking up, it completed the race, and the twelfth year was the pig.
As for the poor cat, he finally crawled out of the river, soaking wet and tired. He was too late to have a year named after him. That is why, since then, cats have disliked water and have never been friends with rats!
Although I do not believe in astrology, I found myself thoroughly entertained while reading this captivating story about the Chinese Zodiac. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.
Thank you for reading this story.
I wish you all the best, Take care.
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