The Rat Race (the bunny finished 4th)

The 12 Zodiac animal signs (—?? shengxiao) are, in order, the rat, ox (or cow), tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig (or boar). There are many legends to explain the beginning of the zodiac. One of the most popular reads, in summarised form, as follows:

The rat was given the task of inviting the animals to report to the Jade Emperor for a banquet to be selected for the zodiac signs. The cat was a good friend of the rat, but the rat tricked him into believing that the banquet was the next day. The cat slept through the banquet, thinking that it was the next day. When he found out, the cat vowed to be the rat's natural enemy for ages to come.

A variation tells that the cat had asked the rat to wake him up the day of the Race. The rat agreed, but on the said day, he did not wake the cat in his greed to win. When the cat finally woke up and got to the racing ground, he found the race to be over. The cat then swore revenge upon the rat.

Another popular legend has it that a race was used to decide the animals to report to the Jade Emperor.

The cat and the rat were the worst swimmers in the animal kingdom. Although bad swimmers, they were both intelligent. They decided that the best and fastest way to cross the river was to hop on the back of the ox. The ox, being a na??ve and good-natured animal, agreed to carry them across. However, overcome with a fierce competitiveness, the rat decided that in order to win, it must do something and promptly pushed the cat into the river. Because of this, the cat has never forgiven the rat, and hates the water as well. After the ox had crossed the river, the rat jumped ahead and reached the shore first, and it claimed first place in the competition.

Following closely behind was the strong ox, and it was named the 2nd animal in the zodiac. After the ox, came the tiger, panting, while explaining to the Jade Emperor just how difficult it was to cross the river with the heavy currents pushing it downstream all the time. But with powerful strength, it 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. Coming

Coming in 5th place was the dragon, flying. Of course, the Jade Emperor was deeply curious as to why a strong and flying creature such as the dragon should fail to reach first. The mighty dragon explained that he had to stop and make rain to help all the people and creatures of the earth, and therefore he was held back a little. Then, on his way to the finish line, 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 is 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 sheep, 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 is the dog. His explanation for being late—although he was supposed to be the best swimmer amongst the rest—was that he needed a good bath after a long spell, and the fresh water from the river was too big a temptation. For that, he almost didn't make it to finish line. Just as the Jade Emperor was about to call it a day, an oink and squeal was heard from a little pig. The pig got hungry during the race, promptly stopped for a feast and then fell asleep. After the nap, the pig continued the race and was named the 12th and last animal of the zodiac cycle. The cat finished too late (thirteenth) to win any place in the calendar, and vowed to be the enemy of the rat forevermore.

I hate the pig & I'm a pig according to Chinese astrology. So stupid.

What year were you born? What day?

1984, January 25th

You are my ally then. 🙂

rats ftw.

Sneaky rats. LOL.

Posted by firebunny
Sneaky rats. LOL.

Haha yeah I remember when dad told me that story I was like "bastard rat" until he told me I was a rat. DEVASTATED!

Posted by firebunny
You are my ally then. 🙂

What do you mean?

Posted by WaterCup

Posted by firebunny
You are my ally then. 🙂

What do you mean?

click to expand

Refer to this:

WATER ALLIANCE: rat - dragon - monkey
METAL ALLIANCE: ox - snake - rooster
FIRE ALLIANCE: tiger - horse - dog
WOOD ALLIANCE: rabbit - sheep - pig

We are both part of the wood alliance. Pig is a special sign because it's the last sign and completes the cycle. It's even more special if it's a Water Pig for it completes the full 60-year cycle that begins with Wood Rat. 🙂

^^Tiz, you're '85? You're secret friends with Aquasnoz and Ands! 🙂

SECRET FRIENDS:

rat - ox
ox - rat
tiger - pig
rabbit - dog
dragon - rooster
snake - monkey
horse - sheep
sheep - horse
monkey - snake
rooster - dragon
dog - rabbit
pig - tiger

Posted by tiziani
I enjoyed that story.

I enjoyed the story too. LOL. I wish, somebody creates a cartoon movie for this. It'll be awesome! 🙂

^^You are Rooster I bet! If that's the case, you are compatible with:

Dragon, Ox and Snake! Dragon and Rooster are very very compatible like Romeo-Juliet love story. 🙂

^^I meant month animals. LOL.

I WAS BORN JANUARY 15 1967 SO AM I THE ZIPPER SNAKE?

Posted by tiziani

Posted by firebunny
^^You are Rooster I bet! If that's the case, you are compatible with:

Dragon, Ox and Snake! Dragon and Rooster are very very compatible like Romeo-Juliet love story. 🙂

yeah that's right actually. I was half thinking rooster in the back of my head, I couldn't remember. But I remember those three signs coming up for monthly compatibility. Damn you really know your chinese astrology!

click to expand

I'm on the Rooster Month too, Tiz. When I compute for "love match" whatever, my compatibility scores with those born in the Dragon month ranges from 8-10, 10 being the highest. LOL.

You can also use that calculator to find out about your relationships with other people, not necessarily about love. My mum was born May 3, that's a Dragon, our score is 8. My best friend in college is also Dragon, born April 9 and our score is 10. 😛

I am actually more interested in Chinese Astro before I came to these boards. Thus, the name. 😛

Posted by james tate
I WAS BORN JANUARY 15 1967 SO AM I THE ZIPPER SNAKE?

YOU WERE BORN IN THE YEAR OF HINOUEMA, THE YEAR OF THE FIRE HORSE, THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL CHINESE ZODIAC SIGN OUT OF THE 60 ZODIAC ANIMALS!

Your Monthly sign is Ox though...

Posted by firebunny

Posted by WaterCup

Posted by firebunny
You are my ally then. 🙂

What do you mean?

Refer to this:

WATER ALLIANCE: rat - dragon - monkey
METAL ALLIANCE: ox - snake - rooster
FIRE ALLIANCE: tiger - horse - dog
WOOD ALLIANCE: rabbit - sheep - pig

We are both part of the wood alliance. Pig is a special sign because it's the last sign and completes the cycle. It's even more special if it's a Water Pig for it completes the full 60-year cycle that begins with Wood Rat. 🙂

click to expand

I'm a water pig lol & I like 'special' 🙂

THE OX THE FUCKING OX
GOOD THING IM NOT CHINESE
IN WELSH IM THE MONKEE