Whenever the Chinese New Year comes, due to the traditional habits of the Chinese nation, people love to say that this year is the year of the Dragon, is the Dragon's birth year. Next year is the Year of the Snake, and the year after that is the Year of the Horse ....... Trace its historical origin and cultural heritage, naturally led to some of the following topics.
Canonical Records of the Chinese Zodiac
China since the time of Emperor Shun began to use the ten symbols of the celestial stem and the twelve symbols of the earth's branches to match the "stem and branch chronology". The animal-based dating method first originated among the nomadic minorities in the western and northern parts of China in ancient times. The book of the Tang Dynasty: "Craftsmen country to twelve things chronicle, such as the year in the Yin, is said to be the year of the tiger." The famous Qing dynasty scholar Zhao Yi in the "new series of exams" in the test cloud: "Yi North Dixie common no matter what the child, ugly, c, d of the twelve eons, but with the rat, cow, tiger, rabbit and so on sub-division of the year, to the Han Dynasty Hohanxie (mono) paragraph Sai Habitat five plains, mixed with the Qi people, soak seeking to pass on in China, and then along with the ear is not abrogated."
The twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac were first seen in the world's first poetry collection, the Classic of Poetry. The book of poems, Xiao Ya - Che Tapping, says: "On the auspicious day of Geng Wu, both send my horse." It is also found in the Book of Rituals - Monthly Orders - Seasonal Winter: "Out of the earth oxen, in order to send the cold air." Twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, when did it actually arise? Some historical data: it should be formed in the Han Dynasty at the latest. Its basis is the Eastern Han Dynasty Wang Chong "on the balance - the potential of the article" cloud: "Yin, wood, its birds, the tiger. Hundred and eleventh, earth, its birds, dogs." Another cloud: "Wu, horse. Zi, the rat. You, chicken. ...... Shen, monkey also." *** Proposed eleven zodiac names. Together with the Eastern Han Zhao Ye "Wu Yue Spring and Autumn Annals" in the "Wu in the Chen, the position of the dragon." Happen to make up for the "Dragon", and complete the twelve zodiac signs. Visible in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac have been formed. As for the use of the twelve signs of the zodiac, at least in the era of the North and South Dynasties has appeared. The Northern History "Yu Wen Gu Biography" recorded Yu Wen Gu's mother wrote him a letter, the content is: "In the past in the town of Wu Chuan born your brothers, the eldest is a rat, the second is a rabbit, your body is a snake." This shows that at that time the folk have commonly used the twelve signs of the zodiac to record the birth year of people.
But in the mid-1970s, that is, during December 1975, thousands of bamboo slips were found in the unearthed artifacts of the 11th Qin Tomb in Sleeping Tiger Land, Yunmeng, Hubei. One of them, "Sunrise-The Thief," clearly recorded the text of divining the appearance and characteristics of thieves using the Chinese zodiac. The appearance of this miracle proves that the zodiac was used in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods. For the 11th Qin Tomb, it is proved that it was buried in the 30th year of Shih Huangdi, i.e. 217 BC. Some people say: our ancestors used the Chinese Zodiac to chronicle their lives long before Qin Shi Huang became emperor, and it is specifically pointed out that "it began in the Xia Dynasty, and was passed down in the Shang Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty." But how to cite, I'm afraid to wait for history and cultural relics scholars to further explore.
China's ancient North and South Dynasties not only use the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, and the emergence of Shen Jiong created the "twelve genus poem":
Rat traces of dust, cattle and sheep twilight down.
The tiger sits in the empty valley, and the rabbit moon opens to the window.
The dragon's shade is far away, the snake's willow is near.
Malan is far away, and the sheep is planted in spring.
The monkey's chestnut is a shame, and the chicken's anvil leads to a clear mind.
The dog is out of the house, and the pig is out of the window.
This poem embeds the names of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs in the first character in order, and highlights the characteristics of each animal's nature, which serves as a finishing touch to the poem.
Hu Yan, a great scholar of the Ming Dynasty, wrote a poem on the twelve Chinese zodiac signs, which not only embeds the names of the zodiac signs in order, but also a dictionary, which is quite interesting. Poem:
chevrotains drinking river river is not dry, cattle and women see each other for many years is difficult.
The red-handed tiger is tied up in the south mountain, and the rabbit is taken in the middle of the moon, and the sky is full of rabbits.
The LIXIL dragon always stays awake when it has a pearl, and the snake is tired of adding feet to the snake.
The old horse had horns, the billy goat was in a dilemma.
Don't laugh at the Ch'u people who are crowned with monkeys, and wish that the chickens will grow old in the forest.
Maoyang slaughtered the dogs in the city of Peizhong, and Pingjin let the rags go to the east of the sea.
The chevrotains in the first sentence are water rats. In the second line, the "cow maiden" is the folk legend of the cowherd and the weaving maiden. In the fifth line, the "black dragon" is a type of dragon with a pearl under its chin, so it is called the black dragon. In the eighth line, "billy goat" means a ram, and "touching the fence" means that the ram's horn touches the fence. In the eleventh sentence, "Maoyang" refers to the fact that Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, appointed Fan Kuai, a famous general, as the Marquis of Maoyang, who used to make a living by slaughtering dogs in Pei County, Jiangsu Province. The last sentence refers to Gong Sun Hong, the prime minister of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who used to slaughter pigs in the East China Sea.
The Origin and Legend of the Twelve Chinese Zodiac Signs
From the documentary records, there were twelve Earthly Branches in the era of the Yellow Emperor, which were related to the twelve constellations of the zodiac, such as the Aries, the Taurus, the Gemini, and the Cancer, and the earliest twelve Earthly Branches and twelve constellations all represented the twelve different months and festivals of the year. During the Yin and Shang Dynasties, ten characters were invented to calculate and record numbers, such as A, B, C and D. Later, people who studied numerology called it the Heavenly Stem and combined it with the Earthly Branches, such as A Zi, B Chou, etc., which were used to count the year, month, day and hour.
It is rumored that replacing the twelve Earthly Branches with twelve animals to represent the twelve lunar seasons was the work of Dongfang Shuo of the Han Dynasty. It is clearly documented in the "Words of Poison" in the "Lun Heng" by Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty, where he mentions the names of the twelve animals. The use of the twelve zodiac signs to count the year also started in the Eastern Han Dynasty. This historical fact was also pointed out in the "New Yu from Kao" written by Zhao Yi of the Qing Dynasty. As to why twelve animals were chosen as symbols, the earliest may be related to totems. In ancient times, all tribes chose an animal that they particularly feared or loved, and used its pattern as the symbol of their tribe. This is explained in the Yanggu Manquan of Hong Xun of the Song Dynasty, and the Qixiu Class Draft of Lang Ying of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, the Buddhist scripture "The Great Collection of Sutras" recorded the story of the twelve zodiac signs parade in turn, but there is a lion instead of a tiger, so some people believe that the twelve zodiac signs were imported into China from ancient India, and the replacement of the lion with a tiger may be related to the Central Plains do not produce lions.
It is also believed that the twelve signs of the zodiac first appeared in timekeeping. A day and night is twenty-four hours, ancient astronomers divided day and night into twelve hours. At the same time they were watching the sky, in accordance with the habits of the twelve animals and activities of the hour, to determine the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac. Eleven o'clock at night to one o'clock in the morning of the next day, is the son of time, it is the rats to take advantage of the dead of night, frequent activities, called "son of the rat". One o'clock in the morning to three o'clock in the morning, is the ugly time. Cattle are used to eating grass at night, farmers often get up late at night to pick a lamp to feed the cattle, so it is called "ugly cattle". From 3:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m., it is the c time. At this time, the tiger that walks by day and by night is the most ferocious, and the ancients would often hear the sound of the tiger whistling at this time, so it is called "Yin Tiger". From 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m., it is the dawning of the year. At dawn, rabbits come out of their nests and like to eat grass with morning dew, so they are called "d-rabbits". Between seven and nine in the morning, it is the hour of the eons. This time is generally prone to fog, legend has it that dragons like clouds and fog, but also at the time of the rising sun, steam, so it is called "Dragon". Nine o'clock in the morning to eleven o'clock, is the sixth hour. Fog dispersed, the sun shines brightly, snakes out of their holes to feed, so the "Snake". Eleven to one at noon, is the noon. In ancient times, wild horses were not tamed by humans, when the noon, running around neighing, so called "noon horse". One to three o'clock in the afternoon, is not time. Some places tube at this time for the "sheep out of the slope", meaning a good time to let go of sheep, so it is called "not sheep". Three to five o'clock in the afternoon, belongs to the Shen time. The sun is in the west, and monkeys like to crow at this time, so it is called "Shen Monkey". From 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., it is the time of the year "You". When the sun goes down, the chickens are circling in front of their nests, so it is called "You Ji". From 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in the evening, it is the 11th hour. People are ready to rest after a long day's labor and bolt the door. The dog lying in front of the door to guard, a movement, barking, so "Hundred Days". At night from nine to eleven o'clock, belongs to the Ohio time. Late at night, you can hear the sound of the pig arching trough, so called "Ohio pig". In this way, the hours of the day and animal collocation is arranged down: sub-mouse, ugly cattle, c tiger, rabbit, chenlong, snakes, afternoon horse, ungoat, Shen monkey, you chicken, Hundred Days Dog, Ohio pig. Later people used this chronology for the year, the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac.
The twelve animals with twelve hours, there is a similar argument. It is said that heaven and earth generated in the son of time, the birth of the beginning, there is no gap, the gas can not run out, the material can not be utilized, by the mouse a bite, out of the gap, only to make the gas to run out, the material can be utilized. The rat has opened the heavenly body of the Avatar, ZiShi belongs to the rat. The rat opened the gap between heaven and earth, and the ox came out to plow the ground, so the ugly time was the ox. Legend has it that people were born in the year Yin, and the word "Yin" means "fear". In ancient times, people were most afraid of tigers, so Yin time belonged to the tiger. The dawn was already in the morning, but the sun had not yet come out, and it was the moon that illuminated the earth, and the only animal in the moon palace was the "Jade Rabbit", so the dawn was the rabbit. Legend has it that the hour of the Dragon is the time when dragons walk in the rain, so naturally this time belongs to the Dragon. Snakes are good at using grass to hide their tracks, it is said that the snake is not walking on the road at six o'clock, can not hurt people, so six o'clock belongs to the snake. At noon, Yang Qi reached the limit, Yin just want to produce, the horse can not run away from the ground, is a Yin class animals, so the afternoon is a horse. Legend has it that the sheep ate the grass before the time, and does not affect the regeneration of grass, before the time of the sheep. Shen has the meaning of "stretch", and monkeys are best at stretching and climbing, so the Shen time is a monkey. At this time, chickens begin to return to their nests, so this time is a chicken. Hundred and eleventh day gradually dark, the dog began to "work", watch the house looking at the door to protect the yard, this time belongs to the dog. Ohio has entered the night, everything is silent, heaven and earth chaos, and the pig and heaven and earth chaos, in addition to "eat" nothing to know, Ohio naturally belongs to the pig.
"Dharma Garden Pearl Forest" quoted "The Great Collection of Sutras" said the origin of the twelve zodiac signs, said: "Outside of Yama Butte, the four directions of the sea, there are twelve beasts, and is the bodhisattva guide. Humanity was born, when the bodhisattva lived in the grotto, that is, belonging to this beast to protect, benefit, so the twelve stars of the Han Dynasty according to this line." Another cloud: "The meaning of the distribution, the Yanggu Manlu is quite detailed. According to this, Zi, Yin, Chen, Wu, Shen, Hundred Days Club Yang, so take the odd number of belonging to the name of the rat, tiger, dragon, monkey, dog are five fingers, and the horse single hoof; ugly, Mao, Si, Wei, You, Ohio Yin, so take the even number of belonging to the name of the cattle, sheep, chickens, pigs are four-clawed, rabbit two claws, snakes, two tongues also." Accordingly, the twelve kinds of animals according to the toes of odd and even arranged as follows: cattle four toes, for even; tiger five toes, for odd; rabbit four toes, for even; dragon five toes, for odd; snake no toes but two tongues, for even; horse a toe (single hooves), for odd; sheep four toes, for even; monkey five toes, for odd; chicken four toes, for even; dog five toes, for odd; pig four toes, for even; twelve kinds of animals, only the rat is the most special, the forefoot for the four toes, for even; rear foot five toes, for odd. is even; the hind foot has five toes, which is odd. In this way, the original is odd and even all, so it is in the first place of the twelve kinds of animals.
In the northwest of the Temple of the Ancestors of Man in Lintong Mountain, Shaanxi Province, there is a huge monument, which is carved with the images of twelve animals: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, chicken, dog, and pig, which is known as "Twelve Images of Stone". This "twelve like stone" there is an interesting legend: in ancient times, the first heavenly stems and earthly branches with the "stem and branch chronology". In practice, our ancestors felt that the stem and branch chronology is more complicated, not easy to popularize in the folk. So, some people suggested to twelve zodiac signs to chronicle the year, this proposal was approved by the Yellow Emperor and ordered the Cangjie specific undertakings in this matter. On the first day of the first month of this year, all the animals in the world were summoned to the Yellow Emperor's palace in front of the candidates. Animals were informed of this news, all cheering, have scrambled to prepare for the meeting. One of the cattle know that their legs are slow, they left home on the night of the New Year's Eve to move, the results rushed to a first place. The second to catch is the tiger, the third is the rabbit, the fourth is the dragon, after the row is snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig, rat. The dragon was born a formidable, scaly armor, glittering bright; eyes round, like a bright light; silver beard and golden beard, fluttering with the wind; tiger hooves and eagle claws, driving fog and clouds. The shortcoming is that the top of the head is bare, seems to be missing something. When the dragon just leapt out of the water from the pool, a glance found the big rooster. Seeing the big rooster not only beautiful feathers, but also a pair of beautiful horns on the head, can not help but slammed the heart, went up to the big rooster to borrow the horns on the head. The rooster shook his head and said, "No, I have to participate in the Zodiac election tomorrow!" The dragon said, "Your horns on the head is also redundant, with your colorful colorful clothes, will be able to be selected." The rooster loved to listen to flattery and listen to good words, and had the intention of lending his horns to the dragon, but still could not give up. At this moment, a big centipede crawled in and said, "Big Brother Rooster, you can lend your horn to Big Brother Dragon, if you are not sure, how about I be the guarantor?" Seeing the centipede as a guarantor, the rooster agreed. The dragon was overjoyed and promised to return the horn to the rooster immediately after the Zodiac election. The mouse and the cat were originally good friends. The cat was sleepy, and before going to the meeting, the cat said to the mouse, "Will you call me in the morning?" The mouse nodded and said, "Yes, I will call you." With that, the cat went off to sleep at ease. The mouse woke up with a start, and it was already late. It rushed to call the cat, saw the cat sleeping soundly, and thought: why bother with one more competitor? So he left the cat alone, and ended up being the last to arrive.
The Zodiac election was a very lively event! The flying ones, the running ones, the swimming ones and the tree dwellers all gathered together. It was a bustling, lively event. Huangdi from the beasts and birds in the selection of twelve animals, to give them the order. Yellow Emperor thought: although the cow is clumsy, but the body is strong, strong, and came to the earliest, decided to steak first. Mouse looks inconspicuous, also came the latest, should be ranked last. Yellow Emperor's words have just been exported, the mouse had a bright idea, rushed to jump to the front of the Yellow Emperor, said: "To say big, but also count me. Do not believe please let the people appraisal." Yellow Emperor heard the words of the mouse, feel funny: this do not know the sky is thick guy, then said: "Since we are for the people to choose the Chinese zodiac, nature by the people to identify the better:" so passed down the decree, so that the twelve kinds of animals to the street to go to walk. The ox went to the street, people are very friendly to it, some touch the head, some praise a few words, but no one said the ox big. At that moment, the rat suddenly scurried up the cow's back and startled the people. Only to hear someone in the crowd exclaimed: "Oops! From where popped up such a big rat!" This shout let the rat got away with it, the Yellow Emperor is not good to disobey, but the rat in the first of the twelve zodiac signs.
At the Zodiac election, the mouse was not only selected, but also ranked first, naturally very pleased. When he came home, he saw the cat just waking up, and said, "Brother Cat, the Zodiac convention is over, and I was chosen as the first." The cat was anxious and roared, "What? Why didn't you wake me up? You bad thing with a bad heart." With that, he pounced on the mouse. The mouse saw that the cat had really flipped out and fled back to the mouse hole in a panic. From then on, the cat and the mouse became rivals and continue to this day.
Again, the rooster was lined up behind the dragon, and was very upset, regretting that he should not have lent his horn to the dragon. After the meeting was adjourned, the rooster rushed to the dragon to ask for his horn. The dragon saw the big rooster knows that it is wrong, but do not want to give it back such a beautiful horn, jumped into the deep pool around, hiding. The big rooster didn't know how to use water, so he had to go to the centipede who was the guarantor. The centipede said, "You still have to go to the dragon to ask for your horn, he is hard not to give it back, what can I do?" After that, the centipede also hid. From then on, the big rooster had no more horns on his head, leaving only the reddish crown. Every morning, he climbed up to a high place and shouted, "Brother Dragon, give me back my horn!" Normally, it went around pawing for centipedes and pecking at them whenever it saw them.
After the twelve Chinese zodiac signs were selected and arranged in order, the Yellow Emperor ordered Cangjie, who created the writing, to carve the names of the twelve animals on stone tablets, which have been handed down to this day.
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The origin of the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac
China's ancient according to the time of the animals and the characteristics of the life of twelve animals as the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, that is, each kind of animal for an hour. The rat ranked first (with the "Zi" time with), the following order: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig.
Rats: 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. the next day (i.e., "Zi Hour"). This is the time when rats are most bold and active, so Zi Hour is paired with Rat.
The ox: 1-3 a.m. (i.e., the "ugly hour"). This is the time when the ox eats enough grass and "chews" the finest, slowest and most comfortably, so it is paired with the ox at the ugly hour.
Tiger: 3-5 a.m. (i.e. "Yin"). According to ancient books, this is the time when tigers are the most active, ferocious and injurious, so Yin is paired with Tiger.
Rabbit: 5-7 a.m. (dusk). At this time, the sun has not yet shown its face and the moon's light has not yet faded completely. The Jade Rabbit is the name of the moon, the only animal in the myth of the Moon Palace, which makes Dao Hour compatible with the Rabbit.
Dragon: 7-9 a.m. (the "hour of the hour"). Legend has it that this is the time when dragons make rain, and dragons are mythical creatures, thus the hour of the hour is Dragon.
Snake: 9-11 a.m. (i.e., "sixth hour"). It is said that this time of the snake will not hurt people, and not in the people walking on the road to roam, more hidden in the bushes, so the 巳时 belongs to the snake.
Horse: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (i.e., "noon"). According to the Taoist saying, the sun at noon when the top of the Yang Qi reached the extreme point, the Yin Qi gradually increased, in the yin and Yang for the column, the general animals are lying down to rest, only the horse is still accustomed to stand, and even sleep also stood, never lying down. In this way, the hour of noon belongs to the horse.
Sheep: 1-3 p.m. (i.e., the "ungodly hour"). Sheep are said to urinate the most at this time, and the urine they spill can cure themselves of a form of madness, thus making the hour of noon-sheep.
Monkey: 3-5 p.m. (Shen Hour). This is the time when monkeys love to crow, and their voices are the longest and loudest. Therefore, Shen Hour is the time of the monkey.
Chicken: 5-7 p.m. (i.e., "You time"). At this time, the sun sets over the mountains, and the chickens begin to return to their cages and nests for the night, so You Time belongs to the chicken.
Dog: 7-9 pm (i.e. "11th hour"). When darkness comes, the dog is the most vigilant watchman and night watchman, and produces a special kind of eyesight and hearing, seeing the furthest and hearing the most clearly. Therefore, the eleventh hour is the time of the dog.
Pigs: 9-11 p.m. (i.e., "Ohio time"). At this time, the pig sleeps the soundest, snores the loudest, and the muscles of the whole body shake the most and grow meat the fastest, so Ohio time is a pig.
The story about the Chinese zodiac is a very interesting topic, and the stories mentioned here include myths, legends, and allusions.
In the ranking of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs, why is the rat small and in the first place? This problem first let the human philosophers and today's wise man puzzled: on the physical shape, the mouse is small, let a person can play in the palm of a hand to open in the twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac, it is the smallest one. ; On the brute force, it is strong with the bull, the tiger's might, the dragon's power, the horse's leap, simply can not be the same day; On the quality of the bull's down-to-earth, the rabbit's goodness, the horse's diligence, the sheep's meekness, the pig's real, also appear to be many times better than the mouse; On the wisdom, the monkey's dexterity, the dog's intelligence, are also in the mouse above. Back a thousand steps, even if than who is the most vicious, I'm afraid that the snake should be ranked in front of the rat. But the fact is that the little mouse is the ranking of the twelve zodiac signs!
This issue is still an open question, some people say, today's law, there is probably only one explanation: the guy in charge of the twelve Chinese zodiac row, is a corrupt corrupt officials, he received the rat's huge benefits and do the color of the power and money transactions, the first place in the golden crown added to the head of the virtuoso talent of the little rat. This is, of course, just a far-fetched joke. But what is true is that human beings have never found a convincing explanation for this. However, mankind is after all the most intelligent animals in the senior animals, in the twelve signs of the Chinese Zodiac to determine many years later, people finally made up a perhaps self-defeating self-justifying folk tale to illustrate why the rat in the twelve signs of the Chinese Zodiac ranked first. This is called "the rat first big" story circulated in the central plains of Hunan and Hubei:
The rat and the ox, horse and sheep were elected after the twelve phases of the genus, the rat said: "I should be in the first place." Cow, horse, sheep they are not convinced, said: "What makes you in the first place?" The rat said, "I'm big, so I'll be first." The cow, horse and others couldn't help but laugh, "Are you as big as we are?" The rat said, "It doesn't count if we argue, let someone else say it." The cow, the horse, the sheep and so on all agreed to let someone to comment. So they discussed a way: the cow led the way, and the horse, the sheep, and the mouse walked through the street one after another to see how people would comment.
On the street, the cow came by, and people said, "This cow is very strong." When the horse came by, people said, "This horse is tall." When the sheep came by, people said, "This sheep is fat." Finally, the rat came strutting along with its belly, and when people saw a big rat suddenly come out on the street, they all chased after it and shouted, "What a big rat, what a big rat!" In this way the cows, horses and sheep had nothing to say, and let the rat come in first place.
Also, there are similar folk stories about the ranking of the twelve genera.
On how the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac is arranged in order, said there is an interesting story:
Chaos is divided, the heavenly stems and earthly branches have just been fixed time, the Jade Emperor ordered the universal call to the world of animals, according to the son, ugly, c, d, c, chen, six, afternoon, not yet, shen, you, huxu, ohio twelve branches of the twelve earthly branches to choose the twelve phases.
The news spread, alarmed the flower cat and the mouse this two good friends. The flower cat said to the mouse: "tomorrow five night to heaven should be selected, I have a sleepy problem, when you can shout me ah!" The mouse said, "Yes, yes!" But early the next morning, the untrustworthy mouse secretly got up and left without saying goodbye.
On this day, the beasts in the Temple of the Spirit Heavenly Palace Yunan set and began to answer the election, and the Jade Emperor singled out dragons, tigers, cows, horses, goats, monkeys, roosters, dogs, pigs, rabbits, snakes, and rats for the twelve genera of the twelve beasts of land and water. The rooster, with its two beautiful horns, was also included in the category of beasts.
The Jade Emperor was just about to rank them, only to see the black civet pig flashed out, do not look at it was born clumsy, but love to cause trouble, it played: "The Jade Emperor has already chosen a good leader, I would like to help the king to share the worry, as a fair person, for the brothers in order to rank." The Jade Emperor was overjoyed at this, and instructing the pig to be impartial, he retired from the court.
As soon as the Jade Emperor left, the twelve zodiac signs became a pot of porridge. At the beginning, everyone unanimously elected the gentle, generous old bull in the first place, even the mighty tiger, the dragon also respect it a few points, agreed. However, the mouse, which was cowering in the corner, came out and protested. It said, "I'm the biggest in terms of number, if not, let's go to the earth to compete and listen to the people's comments." So, the old bull and the mouse came to the street market.
When the ox walked through the crowd, people did not react. At this time, the mouse "giggle" climbed to the back of the cow to play a stake, the people on the street have yelled: "What a big mouse!" When people took out their sticks and rushed to fight, the rat had already run away.
The rat came back to brag, all the animals are for the bull, only the black pig secretly happy, it feels that only this size is not divided, good and bad difficult to distinguish, in order to be able to fish eyes, they are also from the fish, so it is the brush first picked the rat, after the row of the old bull.
This can annoy the tiger and the dragon in the side, it two loud clamor, shocked the crowd of animals trembling. The animals made a pilgrimage to the dragon and the tiger and unanimously chose the tiger as the king of the mountains and the dragon as the king of the fishermen, who ruled the world. The monkey wrote the word "king" for the tiger and hung it on the tiger's forehead, and the rooster gave two horns to the dragon. From then on, the dragon wore a crown. Tiger and Canglong had the power on earth, and they were willing to take the place of mice and old cows. At this time, another nosy hare jumped out, it sneered and said: "Hey, hey! In terms of looks I'm about the same as a mouse, in terms of size I'm bigger than a mouse, and I'm the Mountain King's guard, so I should be in front of the Sea King."
Canglong was furious, said: "You don't have to mess around, don't want to be angry, let's try to compete." The black pig heard just what he wanted, and said, "It's a deal, you'll have a race, and let the hound be your referee."
The dog and the chicken were never at odds, and when it saw that the chicken was pleasing to the dragon, it wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to tease them a little, and it chose a thorny runway, and secretly said to the rabbit, "Your tail is too long, and it will get in the way of the race, so bear with it." He cut off a large portion of the rabbit's tail, leaving only a bit of the tail root.
The race began, Canglong pranced and flew ahead in a few moments, but when running into the bushes the horns were hung up by the vines, and could not be taken off. The hare leaped eighteen ridges, a breath of air to the end of the run.
The black pig ignored the objections of the animals and ranked the hare after the tiger before the dragon.
The dog went to congratulate the hare, and he sold it to the hare, saying, "If you hadn't chosen such a track, and if you hadn't cut off your tail, you wouldn't have won today." The hare is holding the thick tail regret, heard the dog's words, skimming the three-valve mouth, said: "Humph! I am based on the ability to win, without you, I can not lose this beautiful tail it!" When the dog heard that, his eyes were red with anger, and he said, "Since you have the ability, let's also walk around!" The hare said arrogantly, "What's so hard about that? I'll run first, and if you can catch up with me, I'll treat you to a bone." Said the hare and ran up proudly. The hound dog sharpened his claws and chased after him like an arrow. In a short time, it caught up with the hare, and it bit the hare's neck with its mouth, and ate it while saying, "Well, now it's my turn to gnaw on the bone." For this, too, the dog was disciplined and relegated to the end of the line.
After Canglong lost the race, he often complained behind his back that the pair of chicken horns were hanging up on him. The rooster, hearing this and regretting and saddened, came to the sea and said to the dragon, "Brother Dragon, since these two horns are of no use to you, please give them back to me." The dragon said cunningly, "Though these two horns have harmed me, they can adorn my instrument, and it is not difficult to give them back to you, until the sun goes out of the western mountains and the moon goes down to the eastern sea." After saying this, he went down to the bottom of the sea with a jerk. Naive rooster believe it, it every day before dawn to get up, looking forward to the sun out of the western mountains, but also from time to time to stretch his neck, to the sea call: "Dragon brother - brother! Horns - still - I ......" From then on, the rooster lost two horns and was also ranked in the back.
Only the ranking of Monkey, Snake, Horse, Sheep and Pig remained undecided. The pig incited again with ulterior motives, "Monkey brother is the king of juggling on land, Snake brother is the swimmer in the water, which one of you will be first and which one will be last?" After much discussion, they decided to take another folk test on earth and perform acrobatics. Green Snake invited Red Horse, and Monkey invited Goat, and asked both of them to help with the costume props.
At that time, the snake had twelve legs under its belly, and walked clumsily and slowly. The red horse is a helpful doer, it does not say a word to the snake with a thin skin to do a go tube dragon clothes, dragon clothes above the horsehair braided chevron pattern, it is very beautiful. The red horse double from the underbelly scraped a layer of grease painted on the dragon coat, so that the dragon coat is very slippery. Green Snake put on the Dragon Clothes, covering his clumsy legs, and slithering instead of walking, which was both sensitive and beautiful.
The goat usually hated the monkey, smacked it all day jumping up and down, giving it trampled grass, so the monkey's help was not so enthusiastic, the monkey wanted to make up for the defects of the bare buttocks, the body of the goat to ask for help: "Goat big brother, please shear me a bit of fluffy hair, so that I can make up for the back buttocks it." Goat unhappy said: "the day to be cold, you know I all rely on this body of precious clothes it!" The monkey had no choice but to remain butt-naked.
On the day of the competition, the green snake, clad in its dragon's clothes, coiled like a vine on the branches of a tree for a while, and glided like a shuttle on the water for a while. It raised its head and neck, only with the tip of the tail on the ground, performing a variety of acrobatics, people applauded. The turn of the monkey show, only to see it climbing bar, swinging, also won a lot of applause, when the show to "hanging upside down bamboo curtain", the monkey with the tail tip rolled on the branch, head down to do a variety of thrilling action, suddenly heard someone shout: "Look ah! Monkey butt eye on fire!" People laughed loudly. Monkey has always been protective of shortcomings, it blushed and panicked, busy with the tail to cover the buttocks, only to hear the "thud", head down a face full of flowers. The green snake and the red horse are in the front, and the goat and the monkey are in the back.
After the animals were ranked, the black pig put himself in the forefront, and said in his heart: "This time it is the time for me to be promoted and get rich, fame and fortune! It came to the Spirit Temple, see the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor took the seating plan, took a look at it, and without saying a word, ticked off the name of the black pig in the front and filled in the last. So, the Jade Emperor let Tai Bai Jin Xing according to the earth's branches row written: Zi Mouse, ugly cattle, c tiger, rabbit, chenlong, Si Snake, afternoon horse, ungoat, Shen Monkey, You chicken, Hundred Days Dog, Ohio Pig twelve births of the table, and descended an oracle, so that the duty of the day Cao Gongcao to the earth to release. Selection has been determined, the Jade Emperor's anger has not disappeared, and to the black pig approved a few words:
Useless fools, inverting black and white.
Punished to eat repeatedly, a year a slaughter.
The black pig was depreciated, all of a sudden angry a big belly. It lies in the nest all day, no longer lazy meddling. However, sometimes the heart is still itchy, can not hold back, with the mouth of the arch this and that, to make right and wrong.
The mouse returned home, happily stroking three and a half whiskers dancing, the sleeping cat woke up. The cat asked, "Is it time yet?" Mouse said: "Early over, we also competed for the first it!" The mouse bragged to the cat about how well behaved he was. The cat was annoyed and said, "I've told you again and again, why don't you call me?" The mouse, however, snubbed the cat and said, "You don't have ears? I told you to go, you still Xing took my place!" The cat heard, angry long whiskers upside down, almond eyes round, it opened its sharp claws, an arrow pounced on, the mouse ate. From then on, the cat and the mouse became generations of enemies.