Chinese Zodiac
The next thing the Jade Emperor heard was the sound of the horse’s hooves. Just as
he was thinking the horse would be the next animal to arrive, a sneaky snake wriggled
out from around one of the horse’s hooves. The horse was so surprised that he jumped
backwards giving the snake a chance to take the sixth place in the race. The poor
horse had to be satisfied with seventh place.
Not long afterwards a raft arrived carrying the goat, the monkey and the rooster.
They explained to the Emperor how they had shared the raft that the rooster had
found. The goat and monkey had cleared weeds and pushed the raft to the shore.
The Emperor was very pleased that the animals had worked together. He said the
goat would be the eighth zodiac animal, the monkey the ninth and the rooster the tenth.
The next animal to finish was the dog.
'Why are you so late when you are one of the best swimmers?' asked the Jade Emperor.
'The water in the river was so clean that I had to have a bath on the way,' explained the dog.
His reward was to have the eleventh year named after him.
Continued...