The Story of
Chinese Zodiac
Long, long time ago, people always forgot in
which year they were born and could
not figure out exactly how old they were.
The Jade Emperor came up with an idea.
It’s too difficult to
remember a year.
It would be easier to
remember an animal.
Why don’t we choose
twelve animals to
represent the years?
福德宮
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.
玉皇大帝公告
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.
After the announcement, all
the animals got very
excited and everyone was
talking about the race.
At that time, the cat and the rat were very
good friends. They met to discuss the race.
Let’s join the ox,
We can point the We can’t swim.
way and he can How are we
carry us across gonna cross the
the river. river?
The cat and the rat went to
see the ox.
The ox said okay at once.
The day of the race soon came.
十 十
二 Early that morning, before the rooster 二
woke up, the ox, the cat and the rat were
生 already at the riverside.
生
肖
肖
渡
渡
河 河
比 比
賽 賽
The cat and the rat climbed onto the
back of the ox.
And then they started swimming
across the river.
The cat became sleepy
because he got up so early
that morning.
He fell asleep as soon as
he got on top of the ox’s
back.
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 ox’s ears.
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.”
The ox climbed up the shore and
ran to the finish line.
The rat jumped out of the ox’s ear
and rushed to the finish line to
win first place.
The ox was very angry.
Ever since then, the ox
always looked at the rat
with his enormous eyes.
Then came the tiger.
The tiger was roaring,” I
am the first, right?””
No, you are the third,”
said the Jade Emperor.
A whirlwind
came in the sky
as the dragon
arrived.
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.
I had gone to the
South China Sea to
host a rainmaking
ceremony and rushed
back in a hurry but
was too late.
降雨大典
You could fly.
Why did you
arrive so late?
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.
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.
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.
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.
十一
Only one opening
was left. All the
people wanted to I’m starving,
see who was in the Is there any
lead. food to eat
here?
The pig arrived and
said
五
二 三
一 四 六 九
七
十
The race was over. 八
一
十
The Jade Emperor at once
announced the places of the 十
twelve animals in the zodiac. 二
At that time, the cat arrived dripping wet.
What is
my place?
You came
in
thirteenth.
The cat was mad. “ You bad rat!”
He said. “ I won’t spare you!”
The cat slapped the rat across the face
and knocked out all of his teeth except the two in front.
Today when the rat sees the cat’s
shadow, he runs like crazy.
Even in daytime he hides in a
hole, not daring to show his face.
The End
Jade Emperor
玉皇大帝
Earth God
土地公
福德宮
Rat
鼠
ox 牛
tiger
老虎
Rabbit
兔子
dragon
龍
snake
蛇
馬
horse
goat 羊
monkey
猴子
rooster
雞
狗 dog
Pig
豬
Animal
動物
五
二 三
一 四 六 九
七
八 十
中國生肖
一 十
十 二
Chinese zodiac
finish line
終點
river
河川
玉皇大帝公告
announcement
公 告
riverside
河邊
whirlwind
旋風
shadow
影 子
hole
洞
Difficult
困難
across
越 過
excited
興奮的
eager
渴望的
enormous
巨大的
starving
飢 餓
Remember
記得
represent
表示;象徵
compete
競爭;比賽
discuss
討 論
roar
吼叫;
怒吼
spare
饒恕
slap
掌擊;摑
hide
藏;躲
log
原木
respectively
分別地
Knock out
壓倒;使屈服
Rush 匆促
back
返回
dare
敢;膽敢
sprint
全力衝刺
ceremony
典禮
bold
大膽的
brave
勇敢的
playful 喜遊玩的
opening
空缺
place
次序
suddenly
突然地