I believe that most people have watched Tom&Jerry, do you know Jerry as a rat but it can rank in the first of Chinese Zodiac, how about the cat Tom? Today, I would tell you a funny story about how people rank the Chinese Zodiac.
This Legend can be traced back to the Time of the Jade Emperor, who was the god of heaven in ancient China……
Let’s Recall the Chinese Zodiac Animals :
Rat, Ox, Tiger, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.
How did Chinese Zodiac Appear?
It is said that at the beginning of chaos of the world, the Jade Emperor who was also called as “God of Heaven”, ordered that all animals in the world should be summoned to attend 12 Zodiacs selection according to the twelve Earthly Branches of Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, you, Xu and Hai.
After the news came out, the Cat and the Rat were becoming good friends. Because the Cat asked the Rat for a help, “Tomorrow at five o’clock, I have a problem with getting up in time, then you need to call me! ” The Rat said in a continuous voice, “No problem, No problem!”
However, On the next morning the Rat who broke the words getting up secretly and just left without saying goodbye to the Cat.
On the same day, there were a large number of animals in different species gathered together in Lingxiao Palace waited to be selected by the Jade Emperor. According to the difference between Heaven and Earth branches, the Jade Emperor chose 12 kinds of land and water animals, namely Dragon, Tiger, Ox, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Dog, Pig, Rabbit, Snake and Rat to be members of the twelve zodiacs. At that time, the rooster had two beautiful horns, which were also put into the list.
Who Decide The Ranking Order Of Chinese Zodiac?
And just as the Jade Emperor was about to arrange rankings for them, the black beaver Pig came out. Although he was clumsy and silly, and was fond of making trouble, the Jade Emperor agreed with him as well.
There are a few competions begin...
As soon as the Jade Emperor left, the twelve zodiac animals became a pot of porridge. Eventually, the Pig organized this ranking activity through some kind of competition.
In the beginning, everyone unanimously selected the gentle and generous old yellow Ox as the first place, and even the powerful Tiger and Dragon respected it and agreed with it. But the Rat in the corner of the wall came out and protested: “In terms of numbers, my species are the most. If we don’t believe it, let’s go-to man’s world to have a competition and listen to people’s comments. ” So the old Ox and the Rat came to the street together.
No.1 & No.2: Rats, Ox
As the Ox passed through the crowd, there was no response. At this time, the Rat and his family suddenly climbed onto the back of the Ox and made a pile. People in the street yelled: “OMG, what a big Rat!” and coming out with sticks trying to beat the Rat, who had already run away quickly. When the Rat came back and made a big fuss, all the animals were defending for the Ox. Only the black Pig was secretly happy. It felt that only when the size was equal to the size and no matter it was good or bad, could he make a profit from it. So, with a stroke of a pen, he ranked the Rat first, and the old Ox second.
No.3, No.4 & No.5:Tigers,Rabbits ,Dragons
Tiger and Dragon were annoying on the side so they made a loud noise among the animals. So all the animals were busy worshipping the Dragon and Tiger and unanimously elected Tiger as the king of the mountain, but Dragon as the king of the fishing to govern the sea world.
The monkey wrote a gold plaque with the word “King” for the tiger and hung it on the Tiger’s forehead. The rooster gave two horns to Dragon.
From then on, Dragon put on the laurel crown. When Tiger and Dragon got power in the world, they were willing to rank behind Rat and Ox.
At this time, another troublesome Rabbit jumped out and said with a sneer: “Hey, hey! in terms of appearance, I’m almost the same size as a Rat, but I’m bigger than a Rat in terms of height. I’m the guard of the mountain king and also should be in front of the sea king.”
On hearing this, Dragon was a little mad, “don’t mess around. If you’re not convinced, Let’s have a competition.” The black Pig said, “Deal! You can have a race for the competition. And the Dog would be your referee. ”
The Dog and the Rooster had always been at loggerheads. Seeing that the Rooster are courting the Dragons, he wanted to play a trick on them. He chose a thorny track and secretly told the Rabbit, “your tail is too long, which will affect the competition. You should bear the pain and cut off half of it. ” And he cut off a large part of the Rabbit’s tail, leaving only a little bit of it.
When the competition started, Dragon flew to the front in the air. However, when he ran to the bush, the edge was caught by vines and could not be picked off. The Rabbit leaped eighteen ridges and ran to the end in a few seconds. The rabbit was the winner.
In spite of the opposition of the other animals, the black Pig ranked the Rabbit before the Dragon but after the Tiger.
No.10&No11:Rooster,Dog
When the Dog went to congratulate the Rabbit, he told the Rabbit, “if you don’t listen to me and don’t cut off your tail, how can you win today.” The Rabbit was holding that thick tail with regret.
He curls its mouth saying, ‘hum! I won because of my ability! And it’s all your fault, I lose my beautiful tail! ”The Dog’s eyes turned red with anger when he heard it. He said, “since you have the ability, let’s take a race! “The Rabbit said haughtily,” what’s the problem? I’ll be the first. If you can catch up with me, I’ll invite you to gnaw my bones. ”And he ran triumphantly.
The Dog ground its claws and ran after the Rabbit like an arrow. After a while, he chased up the Rabbit. He bit the Rabbits’ neck with his shark teeth and said, “Now, it’s time for me to gnaw your bone. ”
Because of The Dogs was too fierce so he could only rank at No 11.
Due to the rooster had lost its 2 beautiful horns, which the Dragon was not likely to return them back. He was ranked in No.10 but in front of the Dog.
No.6&No.7: Snakes, Horses
Later, only Monkey, Snake, Horse, Goat, and Pig were still waiting for. The Pig stirred up with ulterior motives saying: “brother Monkey is the king of juggling on land, and brother Snake is a master swimmer in the water. Who should be in front? After some discussion, they decided to go to the human world for another folk test of acrobatic show. The Horse was willing to help the Snake, and the Monkey invited the goat to help make the costume props.
At that time, the Snake had twelve legs under its belly, which made him walk slowly and stupidly. The horse was a doer who always helped others. He quietly made a dragon suit thru thin skin for the Snake. The dragon suit is decorated with a square pattern with Horse mane, which was very gorgeous. Horse scraped a layer of grease from under the abdomen and smeared it on the dragon suit, making it very greasy. Snake put on the dragon suit, covering its stupid legs and sliding instead of walking, looked both sensitive and beautiful.
On the day of the competition, the Snake was dressed in a dragon suit. For a while, it rolled like a vine on the branches and then glided like a shuttle on the water. It raised its head and neck, only the tip of its tail on the ground, performing a variety of acrobatics, people cheered.
when It’s monkey’s turn to perform. And then he climbed the bar and swung and won a lot of cheers. But about its second show, “Hanging the Bamboo Curtain Upside Down”, the Monkey rolled its tail tip on the branch and did all kinds of thrilling moves with its head down. Suddenly someone shouted, “Look! Monkey’s buttocks are on fire! ‘people were all laughing. Monkey disliked people seeing his shameful moment, its face turned red and flustered while trying to cover his buttocks with his tail in a sudden the Monkey fell head down to the waters.
After this competition, the Snake was at No.6, and the Horse with kind and helpful thought was at No.7.
No.8&No.9: Goats, Monkeys
The Monkey had always been jumped up and down made a big noise and destroyed the natural plants. So the Goat rejected to help the Monkey win in the competition between the Monkey and the Snake. As we can see the Goat has a strong sense of justice. So the Pig put the Goat in front of Monkey ina result. We all knew the Monkey was always tricky and enjoyed making troubles. Therefore, the Goat was No.8, the Monkey was No.9.
No.12: the Pig
The Pig is such a “helpful” animal that positively helping the Jade Emperor to rank the 12 Chinese zodiac animals. But why does it rank in the last?
In fact, the Pig wrote his name in the first one, which ranked in front of all the other animals. And it came to Ling Xiao Palace and passed the ranking book to the Jade Emperor with a highly joyful mood. But the Jade Emperor was furious about the Pig and put it to the last one without saying a word.
The Jade Emperor saw everything about how did the Pig rank these animals, he wrote down something to the Pig: “Useless and extremely stupid and good at compounding right and wrong! Will be Punished to live in the human world and be eaten as sacrifice food in every Chinese new year.”
And then, the Jade Emperor asked Lord Lao Zi to write down the twelve zodiac animals by 12 earth branches as Zi Rat, Chou Ox, Yin Tiger, Mao Rabbit, Chen Dragon, si Snake, Wu Horse, Wei Goat, ShenMonkey, You Rooster, Xu Dog, Hai Pig, as well as compiling into a book giving away to the human world.
The Pig was demoted and got angry. It was lazy in the thatched cottage all day long, and no longer being helpful dedicate. However, sometimes he felt itchy so that would arch things around with the mouth, fiddle with right and wrong to make troubles.
Since then, the Cat and the Rat became enemies
When the Rat came home, he happily stroked his beards and danced to wake up the sleeping Cat. The Cat asked: ‘isn’t it time yet? “The Rat said,” it’s too late. I have been ranked as the first zodiac animals! ‘the Rat boasted to the Cat vividly about his cleverness. “you promise to wake me up, why don’t you call me? “But the Rat said to the cat,” If I asked you to go, you must rob my position! “On hearing that, the Cat was so angry that her long whiskers and apricot eyes were wide open. She opened her sharp claws and jumped up with one lunge and ate the Rat.
Since then, the Cat and the Rat have been enemies for generations.Thank you for your reading.
