why do the Rat rank in No.1 among all the 12 Zodiac animals?
It’s a question that cannot be figured out for human sages and Modern Day thinkers for the first time: In terms of size, the Rat is so tiny that it can even be held in the palm of a human hand, making it the smallest of all Chinese Zodiac animals.
Comparing to the OX‘s strength, the Tiger’s power, and Horse’s energy, the Rabbit’s kindness, the humility of the Goat and the Reality of the Pig, are all a dozen of times better than the Rat; Besides, as for wisdom, the ability of the Monkey and the intelligence of the Dog are both higher than the Rat. At the very least, if it were a race for the meanest Snake, the Snake would probably be in front of the Rat.
Some people believe that there is only one explanation for it: the person in charge of the ranking of the twelve Zodiac animals must be a corrupt official who embezzles money and gains excellent benefits from the Rat.
He trades in power and money and puts the gold crown of the first place on the head of a small Rat without virtue and talent.
This is, of course, a farfetched joke. But, indeed, human beings have never found a convincing explanation for this result. Many years after the Zodiac was established, people finally made up a folktale, which may be self-deception and self-justification to explain why the Rat ranked first in all the Zodiac animals.
The Story of"Big Rat"
When the Rat and Ox, Horse and Goat were elected as the twelve Zodiac,
The Rat said, “I should be your boss.”
The Ox, Horses, and Goat were unconvinced and said,” why do you rank first? “
The Rat said, ‘I’m big, so I’m going to be No.1. “
The Horse and others couldn’t help laughing:” Are you as big as us? “
The Judgement Mr.Pig said: “We’ve got a dispute. Let’s do a race for it.”
The Ox and Horse and Goat all agreed to let people judge this issue.
So they discussed the way: the Ox, Horses, Goat, Rat, one by one walk down the street, to see how would people react.
In the street, the Ox came up, and people said,
“Wow! This Ox is very strong. “
Here comes the Horse, and people say,
“This horse is so tall.”
when the Goat came over, people said,
“This Goat is very fat.”
At last, the Rat came over with a big and round belly.
People saw a big rat coming out of the street, and they all chased it and screaming,
“what a big Rat, what a big Rat!”
Upon hearing that , the Ox, Horse, and Goat have realized the Rat is the biggest among them, and then the Rat can be ranked No.1 successfully.
Thank you so much for reading to the end. How do you like this story? Please leave in the comment section below.
