The Story of Chinese New Year, The Great Race
Many, many years ago in China there lived an important man known as the Jade Emperor.
It was his birthday and he wanted to know how old he was.
He decided that there needed to be a way to measure time.
He called all of the animals and told them that there was to be a great race.
It would be a swimming race.
The first twelve animals to complete the race would be the winners and they would each get
a year of the zodiac named after them.
All of the animals got into position along the river bank.
The rat and the cat were not good swimmers and were very worried about the race.
Then they noticed the big, strong ox standing nearby and, as they were very clever, asked,
“Ox, would you be so kind as to take us across the river with you?”
“Of course,” answered the good-hearted ox.
“Just climb onto my back and I will take you safely across.”
The rat and the cat jumped up onto the ox’s back and they began to make their way across
the river.
They were quite excited to see that the ox was leading the race.
Just as they were about to reach the other side the cheeky rat pushed the cat into the
water, then jumped from the ox’s back onto his head and leapt from his head onto the
river bank.
“Well done!”
cried the Jade Emperor to the brazen rodent.
“You are the first to cross the river.
I shall name the first year of the zodiac after you, rat.”
The poor, kind ox had been cheated out of first place, so the second year of the zodiac
was named after him.
Shortly after, the tiger arrived, panting, at the river bank.
He took third place.
Next to arrive was the rabbit.
Now, the rabbit couldn’t actually swim, but he was very clever and had managed to
make it across the river by hopping on some stepping stones.
When he could no longer find any stones to jump from, he leapt onto a passing log and
let the log carry him the rest of the way.
The Jade Emperor was so impressed with the rabbit’s quick thinking that he named the
fourth year of the zodiac after him.
Just then, a dragon swooped in.
“Why are you late dragon, when you can fly?” asked the Jade Emperor, puzzled.
“Well,” answered the kind dragon, “I could see that some of my competitors were
thirsty, so I had to stop to make some rain for them to drink.
Then I noticed the rabbit perched on a log in the water, so I blew a big puff of wind
to help him along his way to the shore.”
“That was certainly very kind of you,” said the Jade Emperor, clearly impressed.
“I will name the fifth year of the zodiac after you.”
The Jade Emperor then lifted his head.
He could hear a noise.
It was the sound of a horse’s whinny.
Just as he was about to name the sixth zodiac year after the horse, a sly snake wrapped
itself around the horse’s hooves.
This caused the horse to stop and struggle, allowing for the snake to slither ahead and
claim sixth place.
The poor horse took seventh place.
Promptly a raft drew up, carrying a goat, a monkey and a rooster.
They explained to the Emperor that they had sailed together.
The rooster had found the raft and the goat and monkey had cleared the tangled weeds from
it so that they could sail the raft to shore.
The Emperor was impressed with their teamwork.
“I shall name the eighth year of the zodiac after the goat,” he proclaimed, “ the
ninth will be named after the monkey and the tenth will be the year of the rooster,”
he said.
The next animal to come along was the dog.
The Jade Emperor was surprised at his late arrival.
“Why are you here so late, when you are such a good swimmer?”
he asked the dog.
“The water in the river was so fresh and clean, that I stopped to enjoy a bath,”
answered the dog, honestly.
“Well, you take eleventh place,” said the Jade Emperor, “so the eleventh year
of the zodiac will be named after you.”
Now there was just one place left in the zodiac calendar and the Jade Emperor was extremely
curious as to which animal would arrive next.
Finally he heard a snort from the pig.
“You took a long time,” said the Jade Emperor.
“I had to stop to eat because I felt hungry,” answered the pig.
“I also had a little sleep because my tummy was so full after the meal that I felt tired.”
“You have still managed to do well,” said the Emperor.
“You have come in twelfth, so the twelfth year of the zodiac will be named after you,
pig.”
The poor cat, who had been pushed into the water by the cheeky rat, finally managed to
make it to dry land and claw his way out.
Sadly he was too late to have a year of the zodiac named after him.
He was extremely cross with the rat, and to this day, cats and rats have never been friends.
From that day until now, the Chinese Zodiac has followed the cycle of years named after
the twelve winners of the great race.