12 Chinese New Year Animals

This is a story from China.  It is about twelve animals of the zodiac: 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 the twelve animals were having an argument.  They wanted every year to have a name.  'I think that this year should be named after me,' barked the dog.  'It should be called the year of the Dog.'

'No.' gibbered the monkey, 'I think this year should be named after me.' said the monkey.  'It should be called the Year of the Monkey.'

'No, no,' breathed the dragon.  'This year should be named after me.  It should be called the Year of the Dragon.'

The gods were listening. They heard the animals arguing.  'Stop arguing,' demanded one of the gods. The dog stopped arguing. The monkey stopped arguing. The dragon stopped arguing.  They all stopped arguing and listened. The gods boomed, 'Can you see the big river? You must have a race across the big river. We will name this year after the winner of the race.'

So, all the animals lined up on the bank of the river ready for the race.  They're off!  The animals jumped into the water and swam as fast as they could towards the other side.

The ox was very strong and he could swim very fast.  Soon he was in front of all the other animals; but the rat was very clever. He grabbed the ox's tail and climbed onto his back.  The ox didn't know he was there.

The ox thought he was going to win the race. Just before the ox got to the other side, the rat jumped off the ox's back onto the grass and won the race.

'Yippee! Hoorah!' shouted the rat, 'I'm first.'

The ox was very surprised.  'How did you do that?' he asked, but the rat only laughed.

The gods laughed too and said, 'The rat is the winner. We will call this year the Year of the Rat.  The ox was second, so next year will be called the year of the Ox.

All the other animals finished the race. The tiger was third, the hare was fourth, the dragon was fifth, the snake was sixth, the horse was seventh, the ram was eighth, the monkey was ninth, the cockerel was tenth, the dog was eleventh and the pig was last.

The gods decided that each year would be named after one of the animals in the race.  The animals didn't argue any more. They were very happy, especially the rat because he had won the race.