A long ago humans had difficulty in knowing which year it was. They decided to approach the Jade Emperor for help. The Jade Emperor decided to name every year after the animals that the humans knew.
The Jade Emperor decided to host a race in which the twelve animals to cross the river first would become the name of the year.
The cat and the mouse were both very eager to win the race. Unfortunately neither could swim so they asked the ox for help. The ox was very kind and he agreed.
The ox carried the cat and the mouse on its back and tried to swim across the river. However the cat fell into the river as it was sitting on the back of the ox.
So the ox and the mouse arrived at the other side first.
Even as the two animals had reached the bank the mouse jumped up ahead of the ox and reached the Jade Emperor first. That was why the first zodiac sign was named after the rat. Naturally the ox came second.
The powerful tiger found it difficult to swim across the river with the strong currents. However the tiger did not give up and came after the ox.
That was why it was the third animal after the ox.
The rabbit jumped across the tiny stones on the river and nimbly reached halfway through the river. The rabbit did not know how to proceed from there because there were no stones available. At that time there was a huge log in the water. The rabbit jumped on it and the log carried it to the other side as it came as the fourth animal after the tiger.
The dragon flew in to take the fifth place.
However the Jade Emperor was very confused about how a flying creature could come so late. The dragon explained that it had to do some good deeds before coming here. The dragon had to make rain to help the people and creatures on earth and that was when it saw the helpless rabbit on the log of the river. The dragon decided to do another good deed and huffed, sending a strong wind pushing the log towards the other side of the bank.
The Jade Emperor was very happy and because of this the fifth month was named after the dragon.
The horse came galloping and the Jade Emperor heard the galloping noises.
However a snake was hidden in the hoof of the horse.
When the horse saw this it was frightened and jumped away.
So it was the snake who crossed the other side and reached the Jade Emperor before the horse. So the snake got a sixth position and the horse caught the seventh.
The goat, the monkey and the rooster all crossed the river using a raft.
The rooster had found the raft while the goat and the monkey had fixed it so that it could sail. They worked together to cross the river and the Jade Emperor gave the goat the eighth place, the monkey the ninth place and the rooster the tenth.
The dog was the best swimmer. However he explained that he was dirty and needed a good bath before meeting the Jade Emperor. Listening to the reasons for the dog being late he decided to name the eleventh month after the dog. Just before the emperor was about to look around for the last animal he heard an oink.
The pig entered the place. The pig explained that it had got hungry and stayed for a feast and fell asleep. After the nap the pig continued with the race and reached the Jade Emperor.
So the pig became the twelfth animal of the zodiac cycle.
The cat finally decided to come out of the river and came to the Jade Emperor.
However all the twelve Zodiac Cycles had been named and the cat did not have any year of its own.
The cat was very angry with the rat for this. Since then cats and rats have always been enemies and the cats chase the rats.
Adapted from Chinese Folktales
No comments:
Post a Comment