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Now Legend has it, that many centuries ago, the Chinese had no way to measure time. So
the Jade Emperor of Heaven decided to arrange a contest. He invited all the animals to
race on his birthday, with the first 12 animals to swim across the swift current river
and reach the opposite shore, would be assigned to the 12 Zodiac Years. The cat and the rat, who were once good friends and poor swimmers, convinced the ox to carry them across the river. Being naive anf good natured, the powerful ox agreed. As they were crossing the river, the rat got worried that the cat might win the race, so he pushed the cat into the river and the cat was swept away, never finishing the race at all. This might explain why cats hate rats, because they never forgot the rat for the incident. Right before the ox and the rat reached the shore, the rat jumped off the oz's back and took first place in the race. As the Jade Emperor named the Ox as the 2nd Zodiac Animal, the Tiger reached the finish line. Panting his way towards the jade Emperor, the Tiger explained that he had difficulty crossing the river because the current kept pushing him down stream. With his powerful strength, he was able to reach the shore safely. The Emperor recorded the Tiger as the 3rd Zodiac Animal. From a distance, the crowd heard a thumping noise. Twitching its pinkish nose, the rabbit told the crowd that he had to hop from one stone to another in order to cross the river. Luckily, he was able to get hold of a floating log that finally washed him to shore. The Emperor named the Rabbit the 4th Zodiac Animal. In 5th place came the Dragon flying and belching fire in the air. Jade Emperor was very curious as to why the Dragon came in late for he can fly and swim. Because the mighty Dragon could not bare to see his people and all the creatures on earth suffer a drought, he had stopped to make rain. When he reached the river, he spotted a helpless little Rabbit clutching tightly to a log, so he gave a little puff and blew the log with the Rabbit on it to shore. Just as the Jade Emperor complimented the Dragon for his consideration, he heard the Horse whining and galloping. Out from the Horse's hoof sneaked out the Snake. The sudden appearance and the hissing of the snake startled the Horse and made him jump backwards, forcing the Horse to fall into 7th place and the Snake to take 6th place in the race. From a distance, approadhed the Ram, the Monkey and the Rooster. The Rooster proudly described how he had spotted a raft from high ground, picked up the Ram and the Monkey. Along the way, the Monkey and the Ram helped clear the weeds, pulled and pushed the raft to shore. The Emperor complimented the trio for their combined efforts and named the ram the 8th of the Zodiac animals, the Monkey 9th, and the rooster 10th. Just as the Emperor was making the record official, next came the Dog. The Dog was trying to justify to the Emperor why, being one of the best swimmers, he was late. It turned out that the Dog hadn't had a bath for a long time. The River water was so clean and fresh that he had to stop. The Dog was recorded as the 11th Zodiac Animal Jade Emperor was about to dismiss the crowd and retire from the long day when he heard an oink and a squeal from the little pig that was waddling down the path. Needless to explain, the Pig was hungry during the race and he stopped for a feast. After the feast, he felt tired and took a little nap. THe little pig made it as last of the 12 Zodiac Animals. |
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