Joe was interested in why the animals were chosen to represent the 12 positions of the zodiac. His story is paraphrased from the following website which contains a wealth of education resources for use at home or in the classroom. http://www.topmarks.co.uk

Joe's Story

This is about the Chinese zodiac. The link to the story is on http://www.topmarks.co.uk/chinesenewyear/ZodiacStory.aspx  You can also find out your Chinese zodiac sign on this site.
 
The story takes place in olden day China where the jade emperor wanted to make the animals compete against each other so he set up a race and said that the animal who wins will be named the first zodiac. There were thirteen competitors but there was only room for twelve zodiacs.
 
They all raced in an epic battle to win first prize. The Rat came first (by tricking the ox) and by pushing the cat over into the river. The second place went to the ox then the tiger came third. Rabbit came fourth. Then the humble dragon came fifth. The snake came sixth. Then the horse came seventh. After him came the goat, the monkey and the rooster. Then the dog came eleventh and after quite a while the fat pig came last.
 
A short time after the cat came to shore he asked  what place he came but the jade emperor said that there was no more places and from that day cats and rats have hated each other ever since.
 

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