The Story of

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The Story of
Chinese Zodiac
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Long, long time ago, people always forgot in
which year they were born and could not figure
out exactly how old they were.
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The Jade Emperor came up with an idea.
Its too difficult to remember a year. It would
be easier to remember an animal. Why dont we
choose twelve animals to represent the years?
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The Jade Emperor asked the Earth God to tell
every animal how to be chosen as one of the
animals for the twelve signs of the zodiac.
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The river- crossing race All animals are welcome
to compete. The first twelve animals across the
finish line will be chosen as the twelve animals
of the Chinese zodiac.
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After the announcement, all the animals got very
excited and everyone was talking about the race.
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At that time, the cat and the rat were very good
friends. They met to discuss the race.
Lets join the ox, We can point the way and he
can carry us across the river.
We cant swim. How are we gonna cross the river?
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The cat and the rat went to see the ox. The ox
said okay at once.
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The day of the race soon came. Early that
morning, before the rooster woke up, the ox, the
cat and the rat were already at the riverside.
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The cat and the rat climbed onto the back of the
ox. And then they started swimming across the
river.
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The cat became sleepy because he got up so early
that morning. He fell asleep as soon as he got
on top of the oxs back.
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How eager the rat wanted to win first place.
When the ox was a few second away from the
opposite bank of the river, the rat pushed the
cat into the water and went into one of the oxs
ears.
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The ox had no idea of what had just happened but
heard the rat saying Big Brother Ox, Go! Go!
Go! We are almost there! We can make it.
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The ox climbed up the shore and ran to the finish
line. The rat jumped out of the oxs ear and
rushed to the finish line to win first place.
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The ox was very angry. Ever since then, the ox
always looked at the rat with his enormous eyes.
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Then came the tiger. The tiger was roaring, I
am the first, right? No, you are the third,
said the Jade Emperor.
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A whirlwind came in the sky as the dragon
arrived.
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But the rabbit sprinted ahead and took the forth
place. The rabbit could not swim but jumped
across the river on the backs of the other
animals.
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I had gone to the South China Sea to host a
rainmaking ceremony and rushed back in a hurry
but was too late.
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You could fly. Why did you arrive so late?
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The sky was filled with flying dust. The horse
was dashing at full speed, but as he was about to
cross the finish line, the snake suddenly shot
through to come in sixth. Poor horse.
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Originally, the snake had legs, but he raced so
hard, he ran his legs off.
Originally, the horse was very bold and brave,
but after being scared by the snake, he became
very shy.
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Working together, the goat, the monkey and the
rooster rowed on a log.
As a result, they earned themselves eighth,
ninth, and tenth places respectively.
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Then came the dog. He was a playful fellow. As
he crossed the river, he had such a good time in
the water that he forgot the time.
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Only one opening was left. All the people wanted
to see who was in the lead. The pig arrived and
said
Im starving, Is there any food to eat here?
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The race was over. The Jade Emperor at once
announced the places of the twelve animals in the
zodiac.
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At that time, the cat arrived dripping wet.
What is my place?
You came in thirteenth.
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The cat was mad. You bad rat! He said. I
wont spare you! The cat slapped the rat across
the face and knocked out all of his teeth except
the two in front.
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Today when the rat sees the cats shadow, he runs
like crazy. Even in daytime he hides in a hole,
not daring to show his face.
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????????????
Shu niú hu tù lóng shé ma yáng hóu ji gou zhu
?
yáng
tù
?
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hu
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gou
hóu
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shé
niú
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zhu
lóng
ji
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The End
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