Chapter 308: The Twelve Creatures Who Attended Buddha's Great Race

Here's a piece of bad luck I've seen happen:

A man hoards far more wealth than is

good for him

And then loses it all in a bad business deal.

He fathered a child but hasn't a cent

left to give him.

He arrived naked from the womb of his mother;

He'll leave in the same condition--with nothing.

This is bad luck, for sure--naked he came,

naked he went.

So what was the point of working for

the salary of smoke?

All for a miserable life spent in the dark?

Ecclesiastes 5:13-17

jJj

As in every mythology or folklore, the story of the Great Race has many variations, but this is the most common version that has caught the attention of children in general.

Once upon a time, Buddha decided to organize a race and invited all animals to compete. Although only twelve animals actually participated, Buddha was so elated by their presence and rewarded them to what they deserve accordingly. The reward was pretty fascinating, as he named every year of the Chinese zodiac calendar in honor of the participants.

The list of the gracious participants is enumerated as follows:

1. Tiger
2. Snake
3. Rat
4. Rabbit
5. Monkey
6. Dog
7. Pig
8. Rooster
9. Goat
10. Horse
11. Ox
12. Dragon

However, the cat was missing from this roster, and there is an apparent reason for it. Upon learning about the race and the invitation, the Cat called his best friend, the Rat, to join. As the Cat is a late riser, he told the Rat to wake him up early in the morning so they can join the race together.

However, the Rat, being too excited to run in the race, did not wake him up and left for the race all by himself. Finally, when the Cat woke up, the race was already finished!

This is why the Cat, a common symbol for good luck in the Oriental tradition, went missing in the order of the Chinese zodiac, which explains why the vendetta between the Cat and the Rat runs up to this day.

While the race was on, the Rat found himself behind the other animals as everyone was a lot faster than him. Luckily, before the finishing point, there was a big hurdle waiting for the racers. All of them must cross the river. As the Rat is already tired and not a great swimmer, he got an idea inside his tiny, cunning head.

Among the participants, it was the Ox who was the good swimmer. The Rat requested the Ox to let him sit on his head while crossing the river.

The kindhearted Ox allowed the Rat to ride on his head, and they both swam together. When they came near the river bank, the Rat quickly jumped off the back of the Ox and immediately ran to the finishing line. The Rat's deceptive demeanor terribly disappointed the Ox.

So, the one who arrived first was the clever Rat and followed by the kind Ox. Therefore, the first year of the Chinese zodiac is the Year of the Rat, and the second year is the Year of the Ox.

Then came the Tiger. Although he ran and swam pretty fast, the heavy currents of the river kept pushing him back. Therefore, he secured the third place in the race and secured his position in the zodiac signs.

Afterwards, the Rabbit quickly appeared out of the blue, all drenched and exhausted. This little creature jumped from one stone to another to cross the river. Unfortunately, he slipped and fell into the river, but he managed to float and hold on to a log as he made his way to the safety of the river bank. He arrived in fourth place.

The fifth position belomged to the Dragon. Even though he has the ability to fly, he decided to slow down upon seeing the Rabbit struggle through the river. It was him who managed to push the log of the wood that the Rabbit was holding on towards the shore.

Plus, the Dragon needed to make rain for the Earth. For this reason, he arrived fifth to the finishing line after his virtuous gesture. Sadly, the Rabbit never realized that it was the Dragon who saved him.

Then the mighty Horse came like a warrior, considering himself to be the sixth to arrive from the lot of twelve participants. Yet, the Horse did not realize that the Snake had attached himself to his leg in the meantime. And the latter quickly sprinted to the finish line (just like what the Rat has done so callously ahead of them) as soon as the Horse landed on the shore.

So it was the Snake who came sixth, and the Horse arrived in seventh place.

A few moments later, the Monkey, Goat, and the Rooster came more or less together as a group. When the Rooster was on the verge of crossing the river, he saw the Goat (also known as Ram or Sheep) and Monkey. The Rooster convinced them to work as a team in order to get to the other side safely, so they've made themselves a raft.

But the raft was too heavy witb the weight of three animals, although they've managed to successfully cross the river after some visible struggle. The Goat touched the finish line first, and then the Monkey and the Rooster followed him closely behind.

The cooperative trio secured for themselves the eighth, nineth, and tenth place in the order.

It was the Dog who finished in eleventh place. Dogs are good swimmers, too, but it only managed to arrive second to last despite this obvious advantage, notwithstanding the fact. While dogs can swim that far, they love to play, nonetheless, so the Dog came playing and splashing water through the river which delayed him further in traversing the river current.

After a very long time, the pig came with an oink. While running in the race, he became hungry and decided to eat somerhing first. However, he ate a lot and dozed off to sleep, making him the very last to arrive at the finishing line.

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This Chapter is sponsored by Nike.