by Richard Davies
I’ve been told
that the only way to learn a new language is to be immersed in it. I am sure there
is some truth in that, but here I’ve been in Taiwan for one month and can speak
virtually no Chinese, but I will keep trying. I have however learned a lot
about the Chinese people, their country, and their culture, and am fascinated
by it.
I was just told that I am a dog, and by such a lovely young lady. Seeing my dumbstruck face she tried to explain in her English, which wasn’t much better than my Chinese, that she meant I was born in the year of the dog. She was getting flustered trying to explain it to me so I decided not to pursue the subject further. This was a job for Paul Wang. Paul was our Far East marketing manager, a Chinese Air Force pilot, retired, who speaks near perfect
English, and is
the best source I knew for explaining anything “Chinese”.
Paul advised that
the story began long, long ago when the Jade Emperor ordered a race for the animals
in his kingdom. The race was across plains, thru the forest, and across a river
to the final destination. The purpose of this race was to assign names to the
twelve years in the Chinese Zodiac. The years would be named after the animals
in the order in which they finished the race. The Jade Emperor knew that
certain animals such as the Cat and the Rat were poor swimmers but should compensate
with their intellect. This seemed to be true from the very start of the race
when the Cat and the Rat jumped onto the back of the powerful Ox. The Ox, being
naïve and good-natured, did not object to his passengers.
As the race
progressed the Ox took a commanding lead as they entered the river. Before they
reached the shore of the river the Rat sneaked up behind the Cat and pushed it
into the river. After crossing the river the Rat leaped from the Ox’s shoulder
and hopped over the finish line and was proclaimed the winner of the race and named
the first year of the Zodiac. The Ox plodded along right behind the Rat to take
the second place.
The Tiger
followed, panting, and explained to the Jade emperor how the strong currents and
cold water hindered him, but with his great strength and cunning he made it in
to take third place and his place in the Zodiac. From the distance came a thump-thump
sound as the Rabbit approached. He explained how he had crossed the river by
cleverly hopping from rock to rock but almost lost the race when he slipped off
a rock into the water. He was Lucky enough to grab on to a floating log until
he reached the shore taking fourth place in the race and the Zodiac. Coming in
fifth place was the flying Dragon.
The Jade Emperor
was curious as to why this powerful flying creature was unable to attain first place.
The mighty Dragon explained that he had to stop along the way to make rain to help
all the people and creatures of the earth which slowed him down. Then as he approached
the finish line he saw a little Rabbit
clinging to a floating log and stopped to do a good deed and with a puff of his
Dragon breath blew the little creature to the shore.
The Jade Emperor
was very pleased with the good actions of the Dragon and he was added as the
fifth year of the zodiac cycle. Suddenly, from a distance there came a galloping
sound as the Horse appeared. Wrapped around the Horses front leg was the
Snake who’s sudden
appearance startled the Horse causing it to rear up as the Snake slithered
across the finish line in sixth place. The Horse followed in seventh place.
Not long after
that, a little ways back, the Goat, Monkey and Rooster came to the shore. The three
creatures had helped each other to get where they were. The Rooster spotted a
raft, and took the other animals aboard. Together the Goat and the Monkey cleared the
weeds, and tugged and pulled until they got the raft to the shore. The emperor
was pleased with their spirit of cooperation and promptly named the Goat to the
eighth, the Monkey to the ninth, and the
Rooster to the tenth year. The
eleventh animal to arrive was the Dog.
Although he was
known to be one of the best swimmer the Emperor asked why he was so late to
finish. In truth he could not resist the temptation to play a little longer in
the river.
His explanation
to the Emperor however was that he needed a good bath after such long spell and
almost didn’t make it to the finish line in 11th place. Just as the Jade
Emperor was about to call it a day, an oink, oink and a squeal was heard from a
little Pig approaching the finish line. The Pig had gotten hungry during the
race and stopped for a bite to eat, and then promptly fell asleep. After that the
pig continued the race and just made it in time to finish in the twelfth place
and take his place as the final year in the Zodiac cycle.
The Emperor was always ready to applaud
the good deeds and cooperation and fair play, but not to castigate or punish
the naughty guys. He had made few rules and abided by them. My kind of guy!
The
Cat drowned after the Rat pushed it off the shoulder of the Ox, and it has been
said that this is the reason why cats always chase rats, to get back at them
for this dastardly deed. There are several other versions of this tale from
Chinese folk lore, but they all have one thing in common, the Rat did the Cat a
nasty, and to this day the Cat hates the Rat, always chasing him, and most of
the times catching him, bye- bye Rat.
This tale also tends to suggest where we got some of our Western expressions, such as “eating like a Pig”, “Lucky Rabbit’s foot”, and “you dirty Rat”.
I
knew there was a logical explanation for all of this, and there it is!
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