Jade Emperor invited the entire animal kingdom to partake in a tremendous race! The first 12 animals able to cross the river, would be assigned to a year of the Chinese zodiac system in order of appearance and have a year named after them.
All the animals were very excited
and the news spread rapidly. On the day of the race all the animals gathered at the bank of the river
Cat and Rat where
the best of friends, the kind of friends that spends almost every waking hour together. Both were very excited about the news of the great race and immediately started to make plans to cross the river.
Cat and Rat were both
very good at sleeping, and were afraid they would oversleep and miss the start of the race. They asked their friend Ox to make sure they woke up on time, and Ox agreed.
The day of the race arrived, and Ox
got to Cat and Rats house bright and early. He pounded on the door with his mighty hoof, but no one answered. He bellowed in the window, but no one answered.
Finally he pushed the
door open with his strong shoulders and went to the bedroom to find Cat and Rat.
The two lazy animals were so deeply asleep that
nothing Ox did would wake them up! It was getting late, and he was afraid that he would miss the start of the race so he picked up Cat and Rat and put them on his back.
The race began and Ox ran as fast as he
could, carrying Cat and Rat on his back. If he could get to the finish line first, all three of them could be part of the Zodiac!
Well all the bouncing
around finally woke up Rat. He looked over at Cat, still fast asleep, and got an idea. If Cat was awake, there was no way he could beat her in a race. She was way too big and fast! Instead, he gave Cat a shove and pushed her right off Oxs back!
Cat sure woke
up then, having rolled right into the river! She splashed her way out and watched as the racing animals sped past her.
As Ox neared the finish
line, Rat climbed up onto his head. Just before Ox crossed the line to become the very first animal in the Zodiac, Rat jumped as far as he could jump and managed to beat Ox across the line! This is why the Rat is the first sign in the Chinese Zodiac and Ox is the second.
So the 12-year cycle of the Chinese Zodiac
begins with the rat. After him comes the ox who is followed by the tiger. After them come the rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig, in that order.