The legend of the Chinese Zodiac

Happy Chinese New Year Folks! Its the year of the Earth Pig! I haven't checked my horoscope for the whole year but, I got a pretty decent idea.

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Here is the story on how the twelve chinese zodiac animals came to be. This is the version I listened to as a child.

I honestly do not want to tell the story because we, Rat people seems to gain a bad rep from the legend. I am not so comfortable knowing that Rat committed murder and deceived Ox in order to be the first but, it happened and well, I hope you guys enjoy the story.

Legend has it that the Jade Emperor decided to host a banquet and invited the animals to join him. Unfortunately, before reaching the banquet hall, they needed to cross a river. So most animals either refused because of the difficulty in the journey or simply ignored the summons.

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That's when clever RAT came into play. He convinced the Ox to give him a lift on his back across the river while he sang on his ear. Sharing the ride is the Cat who got pushed off Ox's back (courtesy of Rat!) and was drowned.

Upon reaching the other side of the river, Rat immediately ran off Ox's back and, he became the first animal to reach the banquet hall.

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Next came Ox followed by Tiger who was pushed downstream by the strong current.

Rabbit came in hopping nimbly from one rock to the other but unfortunately before reaching the other side of the river, it nearly drowned and was barely able to grab on a piece of log.

Dragon helped Rabbit reach the other side and then he proceeded to help a village by bringing rain before going to the banquet.

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Next came Horse but was assigned the seventh animal to arrive because it got startled by Snake who was hiding in his hooves.

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Goat, Monkey and Rooster made a team up with Rooster finding the raft to cross the river. Monkey and Goat did the hard work by pulling and tagging the grass.

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Then, Dog arrived who decided to take a much needed bath in the river and finally by Pig who ate, got tired and slept and was the last animal to arrive.

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So, what is the moral lesson of the story folks? That, each of us have a good and bad rep depending on what year you were born? Or, we could start getting our fortunes and horoscopes told just in case?

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Well, for me, every year is a good year. While its entertaining to listen to good predictions each year, without work, perseverance and determination, it would just be another bad year.

See you later folks! I have a ton of cooking and fanfare ahead of me.

Happy Chinese New Year !

@wolfhart