The Story of Chinese Zodiac Signs Story by Lu, Bing-Ren 盧炳仁

Once upon a time, the Jade Emperor wanted to choose twelve animals to oversee the hours of the day. He decided to hold a racing contest to select the twelve fastest animals.

All the animals were excited and well prepared to take part in this great event, including the cat and the rat.

Back then they were very good friends, so the cat asked the rat to wake him up before the contest. The rat promised, but he totally forgot the cat’s request when the race started.

“Set. Ready. Go!” The rat thought that the ox was the fastest, so he hitched a ride and eventually rushed across the finishing line for the first place.

The ox finished second, followed by the tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and the boar. That will be the sequence of the twelve animal signs.

After the arrangement, the cat was so angry that he regarded the rat as an enemy. Since then, the rat will run away whenever he sees the cat.

5W1H Diagram Who—Who made the decision? Who can play in the contest? What—A racing contest to select the twelve fastest animals to oversee the hours. When—Once upon a time, in the ancient times.

5W1H Diagram Where—In the animal’s kingdom. Why—The rat didn’t wake up the cat. How—Whenever the rat sees the cat, it will run away. Can you find a way to settle this problem?

Q & A Do you think it’s a good idea to choose the 12 fastest animals to oversee the hours of a day and a year？ If you were Rat, would you wake Cat up？ If you were Ox, would you give Rat a ride and let him win the race？ If you were Cat, how do you feel when Rat betrayed you？

Q & A If you were Cat, would you forgive Rat？ Can you apply 12 Taiwan’s aboriginal animals to represent the horoscopes？ Is there any different version of this story? How will you retell or rewrite this story？

The End Thank you for watching!