Chinese_Zodiac = Another folk story tells that the Jade Emperor had decreed that the years on the calendar would be named for each animal in the order they arrived to the meeting . Rat decided that the best and fastest way to cross the river was to hop on the back of Ox . Ox , being good-natured , agreed to carry across . Then as Ox neared the other side of the river , Rat jumped ahead and reached the shore first . So he claimed first place in the competition and the zodiac .
Following closely behind was strong Ox who was named the 2nd animal in the zodiac . After Ox , came Tiger , panting , while explaining to the Jade Emperor how difficult it was to cross the river with the heavy currents pushing it downstream all the time . But with its powerful strength , Tiger made to shore and was named the 3rd animal in the cycle .
Suddenly , from a distance came a thumping sound , and the Rabbit arrived . It explained how it crossed the river : by jumping from one stone to another in a nimble fashion . Halfway through , it almost lost the race , but the Rabbit was lucky enough to grab hold of a floating log that later washed him to shore . For that , it became the 4th animal in the Zodiac cycle . In 5th place was the Flying Dragon . Of course , the Jade Emperor was deeply curious as to why a swift flying creature such as the Dragon should fail to reach first place . The mighty Dragon explained that he had to stop to help all the people and creatures of the earth , and therefore he was held back . Then , on his way to the finish , he saw a little helpless Rabbit clinging onto a log so he did a good deed and gave a puff of breath to the poor creature so that it could land on the shore . The Jade Emperor was very pleased with the actions of the Dragon , and he was added into the zodiac cycle . As soon as he had done so , a galloping sound was heard , and the Horse appeared . Hidden on the Horse's hoof was the Snake , whose sudden appearance gave the Horse a fright , thus making it fall back and giving the Snake the 6th spot , while the Horse placed 7th . Not long after that , a little distance away , the Goat , Monkey , and Rooster came to the shore . These three creatures helped each other to get to where they are . The Rooster spotted a raft , and took the other two animals with it . Together , the Goat and the Monkey cleared the weeds , tugged and pulled and finally got the raft to the shore . Because of their combined efforts , the Emperor was very pleased and promptly named the Goat as the 8th creature , the Monkey as the 9th , and the Rooster the 10th .
The 11th animal was the Dog . Although he was supposed to
be the best swimmer , he could not resist the temptation to play a
little longer in the river . Though his explanation for being late was
because he needed a good bath . Then squeal was heard from a little Pig .
The Pig got hungry during the race , promptly stopped for a feast . The Jade Emperor finally named the Pig as the 12th creature .
The
12 animals for the Chinese zodiac must have been developed in the early
stage of Chinese civilization for hundreds of years until it become the
current edition ; and it’s very hard to investigate the real origin .
Most historians agree that Cat is not in the list since the 12 animals
of the Chinese Zodiac were formed before Cats were introduced to China
from India with Buddhism .
Quite surprises , found the photo taken - the cat is lighting . Decide to take one more photo , found still same .
