The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac

When chaos first separated and the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches were fixed, the Jade Emperor ordered a summons for all animals in the world. He intended to select twelve zodiac signs according to the twelve Earthly Branches: Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai.

News of this spread, alarming the cat and the mouse, two close friends. The cat said to the mouse, "Tomorrow at the fifth watch, we should go to the Heavenly Court for the selection. I have a bad habit of sleeping in—make sure to wake me up!" The mouse replied repeatedly, "Of course, of course!"

But the next morning, the untrustworthy mouse secretly got up and left without a word.

On that day, the Hall of Miraculous Mist was filled with birds and beasts gathering for the selection. The Jade Emperor, distinguishing between heaven and earth, chose twelve aquatic and terrestrial animals: the dragon, tiger, ox, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, pig, rabbit, snake, and mouse. At the time, the rooster had two beautiful horns and was also included among the beasts.

Just as the Jade Emperor was about to rank them, the black badger pig stepped forward. Despite its clumsy appearance, it loved to stir up trouble. It speak，"Your Majesty, since you have chosen the leaders, I wish to share your worries and serve as a fair judge to rank the brothers in order." Delighted, the Jade Emperor instructed the pig to judge impartially, then retired.

As soon as the Jade Emperor left, the twelve zodiac animals became a chaotic mess.

At first, everyone unanimously elect the gentle and kind old ox as the first, and even the mighty tiger and dragon respected it, agreeing to this. But then the mouse, cowering in the corner, emerged to protest. "In terms of size, I'm bigger," it said. "If you don't believe me, let's go to the human world and see what the people say." So the old ox and the mouse went to the bustling streets.

When the ox walked through the crowd, people paid no attention. Then the mouse "scurried" up onto the ox's back and stood upright. The people in the street cried out, "What a huge mouse!" By the time they grabbed sticks to chase it, the mouse had already run far away.

The mouse returned and boasted loudly. All the animals felt indignant for the ox, but the black pig was secretly pleased. It thought that only by confusing sizes and right-wrong could it muddle through and profit. So it wrote down the mouse first, followed by the ox.

This enraged the tiger and the dragon beside them. Their loud roars shook all the animals. The animals quickly bowed to the dragon and the tiger, unanimously electing the tiger as the King of the Mountains and the dragon as the King of the Seas to rule the world. The monkey wrote a golden plaque with the character "Wang" (King) and hung it on the tiger's forehead. The rooster gave its two horns to the dragon. From then on, the dragon wore a crown. With their earthly power, the tiger and dragon were content to rank after the mouse and the ox.

Just then, the meddlesome rabbit hopped out, sneering, "Heh! In appearance, I'm no different from the mouse, and I'm bigger in size. As the mountain king's guard, I should rank before the sea king."

The dragon flew into a rage, saying, "Don't be unreasonable! If you refuse to accept，let's have a contest!" The black pig saw this as an opportunity and quickly said, "It's a deal! You can race, and let the hunting dog be your referee."

The dog and the rooster had always been at odds. Seeing the rooster curry favor with the dragon, the dog wanted to play a trick on them. It chose a thorny track and secretly said to the rabbit, "Your tail is too long—it will hinder the race. You have to part with it." So it cut off most of the rabbit's tail, leaving only a small stump.

The race began. The dragon soared through the clouds and quickly flew to the front. But when it reached the thicket, its horns got caught in the vines and couldn't be freed. The rabbit leaped over eighteen ridges in one go and reached the finish line first.

Despite the other animals' objections, the black pig ranked the rabbit before the dragon and after the tiger.

The dog went to congratulate the rabbit, flattering it: "If I hadn't chosen this track and helped you cut your tail, how could you have won today?" The rabbit was holding its thick tail stump and feeling regret，so it twitched its three-lobed mouth and said, "Hmph! I won by my own ability. Without you, I wouldn't have lost this beautiful tail!" The dog was so angry its eyes turned red. "Since you're so capable, let's race too!" The rabbit said arrogantly, "No problem. I'll run first, and if you can catch me, I'll treat you to bones." Then it ran proudly. The hunting dog sharpened its claws and chased after like an arrow. Soon, it caught up with the rabbit, bit its neck, and said while eating, "Well, now it's my turn to chew on a bone." For this, the dog was also punished and ranked last.

After losing the race, the dragon often complained in private that the rooster's horns had hindered it. When the rooster heard this, it regretted and was sad. It went to the seaside and said to the dragon, "Brother Dragon, since these horns are useless to you, please return them to me." The dragon said cunningly, "Although these horns harmed me, they adorn my appearance. It's not hard to return them, but you must wait until the sun rises from the west and the moon sets in the east." With that, it plunged into the sea. The naive rooster took this seriously. Every day before dawn, it got up, hoping the sun would rise from the west, and often stretched its neck to call towards the sea: "Brother Dragon—return my horns—!"

From then on, the rooster lost its two horns and was also ranked last.

Only the rankings of the monkey, snake, horse, sheep, and pig remained undecided. The pig again instigated cunningly, "Brother Monkey is the land acrobat, and Brother Snake is the water swimmer. Which should come first?" After discussion, they decided to hold another folk test on earth with an acrobatic performance. The green snake invited the red horse, and the monkey invited the goat to help with costumes and props.

At that time, the snake had twelve legs under its belly, making it slow and clumsy to walk. The red horse, a helpful doer, silently made a tube-shaped dragon suit for the snake from thin leather, weaving checkered patterns with horse mane, which looked very beautiful. The red horse also scraped some oil from its belly and applied it to the dragon suit, making it slippery. The green snake put on the dragon suit, hiding its clumsy legs, and slid instead of walking, the 既 sensitive and beautiful.

The goat usually disliked the monkey, annoyed that it jumped around and trampled the grass. So when the monkey asked for help, saying, "Big Brother Goat, please cut some fluff for me to patch my butt," the goat said unhappily, "It's getting cold, and you know I rely on this coat!" The monkey had no choice but to remain bare-bottomed.

On the day of the competition, the green snake wore the dragon suit, coiling like a vine on branches one moment and sliding like a shuttle on water the next. It raised its head and stood on its tail tip, performing various acrobatics, drawing continuous applause. When it was the monkey's turn, it climbed bars and swung on ropes, also winning much applause. But when performing the "Upside-Down Bamboo Curtain," the monkey curled its tail tip around a branch and did dangerous moves head-down. Suddenly someone shouted, "Look! The monkey's butt is on fire!" The crowd burst into laughter. The monkey, always sensitive about its flaws, blushed and panicked, trying to cover its butt with its tail. With a "plop," it fell headfirst and landed on its face.

Thus, the green snake and red horse ranked first, with the goat and monkey after them.

After ranking all the animals, the black pig wrote its name at the top, thinking, "This is my time to rise to power and fame!" It went to the Hall of Miraculous Mist to see the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor took the ranking list, glanced at it, and without a word, crossed out the black pig's name at the front and wrote it at the end. Then the Jade Emperor ordered the Great White Star to write the Earthly Branches as: Zi Rat, Chou Ox, Yin Tiger, Mao Rabbit, Chen Dragon, Si Snake, Wu Horse, Wei Sheep, Shen Monkey, You Rooster, Xu Dog, Hai Pig, and sent an edict through the Duty Deity to the human world.

After the ranking was set, the Jade Emperor was still angry and wrote several words of criticism for the black pig:

Useless fool, reversing black and white.

Sent to eat filth, slaughtered once a year.

The black pig was demoted, so angry that its belly swelled. It lay in the thatched nest all day, too lazy to meddle anymore. But sometimes it still felt itchy and couldn't help but stir up trouble with its snout.

When the mouse returned home, it happily stroked its three-and-a-half whiskers and danced, waking the sleeping cat. The cat asked, "Isn't it time yet?" The mouse said, "It's long past, and I even got first place!" The mouse boasted to the cat about its cunning. The cat regretted, "I told you again and again—why didn't you wake me?" The mouse retorted, "Don't you have ears? If I called you, would you have let me keep my position?" The cat was so angry that its whiskers stood on end, its almond eyes wide open. It sprang forward with sharp claws and ate the mouse.

From then on, cats and mice became eternal enemies.