The Legend of the Animals
There are several versions of how the Chinese years came to named after
animals and the following is one of them…
A long time ago there were twelve animals - a dog, a pig, a rat, an ox, a
tiger, a hare, a dragon, a snake, a horse, a ram, a monkey and a cockerel! One
day these twelve animals were arguing as they wanted every year to have one of
their names and each one of them wanted to be first.
“This year should be called after me.” Said the dog.
“NO!” Snapped the monkey. “It should be called after me.”
“NO!” Shouted the dragon. “After me.”
And so it went on all day. The Gods were listening and ordered all the
animals to stop arguing. The dog stopped; the monkey stopped; the dragon
stopped and they all stood and listened.
“Can you see that river?” The Gods said to them. The animals nodded.
“Then you must race across and we will name the first year after the winner.”
When the animals had lined up on the river bank, the Gods called out
“Ready, Steady, GO!” They all jumped in and swam as fast as they could.
The ox was very strong leading the race, but the rat was clever and
grabbed hold of the ox‟s tail and climbed up onto his back. The ox did not even
know that the rat was there and felt sure that he was going to win. Just as the ox
reached the other side of the river the rat ran along his back, down his nose and
jumped off onto the land.
“Hoorah!” Shouted the rat. “I am the winner. I am first.”
The ox was very surprised and could not understand how the rat had
managed to swim faster than him. The Gods laughed and declared that the rat
really was the winner and should have the first year named after him. The ox
would have the second year. The other animals would get a year in the order
they came in the race. After all the animals had had a turn , the cycle would be
repeated. The animals did not argue anymore and they were all happy,
especially the rat because he had won.
Below is a table of how the animals fit into the twelve year cycle of the Chinese
Calendar.
Can you work out the missing years for yourself?
The Rat 1996 2008 ____
The Ox 1997 ____ ____
The Tiger 1998 ____ ____
The Hare 1999 2011 ____
The Dragon 2000 2012 ____
The Snake 2001 2013 ____
The Horse 2002 ____ ____
The Ram 2003 ____ 2027
The Monkey 2004 ____ 2028
The Cockerel 2005 ____ ____
The Dog 2006 ____ 2030
The Pig 2007 2019 ____
Can you find the names of the twelve animals in this
wordsearch?
K Q E R P T P S E M P E R O R J K
U Q L G F I A D F G H J J M K U I
N Z K P K A G E F Y T P O O X G J
G X V D B N B K V C J X Z N F J Z
H C C O C K E R E L Q I O K F G L
E S D G J F K N X E R U P E D H K
Y N D N H G L B C Z T Y A Y S J J
F A S E I R A T T P O T I U Y T R
A K N H A Q Z I E B E I J I N G D
T E V C H Z B G F F H B F D I F L
C L N T G H D E R G J E Z X R C A
H K J I N F D R Z R Z T Z S A F N
O S C K A X F V A S J R I O D P T
Y S V F H S B N S G R H L R N L E
Q I F Z S S U Y T R O E A S A F R
D F Z S D Y U A N T A N I D M R N
H O R S E C V B N K G R D S R R S
X Z A Z L K J H G F D H A R E S A
Q E M O Y E E F A R T Y U I O O P
If you have found all twelve animals why not try to find all of these words
associated with China:
YUAN TAN LANTERNS
KITCHEN GOD KUNG HEY FAT CHOY
(Chinese for „Happy New Year‟)
MOYEEFA
NIA EMPEROR
MANDARIN SHANGHAI
TIBET BEIJING
If you do not recognise some of these words, see if you can find them in an atlas.