Long ago, in China, the Jade Emperor decided that there should be a way of measuring time.

On his birthday, he told the animals that he would be holding a swimming race. The first twelve animals across the fast flowing river would be winners and they would each have a year of the zodiac named after them.

On the day of the race, all the animals lined up along the river bank. The rat was worried because he was a poor swimmer. Being clever, he asked the strong ox if he would carry him across the river. The kind ox said, "Of course, climb on my back and I will take you across."

The rat jumped onto the ox. He was very excited when the ox took the lead. As they were nearing the other side of the bank, the rat leapt onto the ox is head and onto the bank to finish first. "Well done," said the Jade Emperor to the RAT, "the first year of the zodiac will be named after you." The OX came into second place and the second year of the zodiac was named after him.

Shortly after the ox, the tiger arrived next. Seeing the effort and struggle of the tiger, swimming across the strong currents of the river, the Jade Emperor was delighted as he named the third year of the zodiac after the TIGER.

Next to arrive was the RABBIT, who hadn't swum across at all. He hopped across on some stepping stones and found a floating log which carried him to shore. "I shall be very happy to call the fourth zodiac year after you," the Jade Emperor proclaimed.

After the rabbit, a dragon swooped down and landed on the bank. The Jade Emperor asked, "Why didn't you win first place when you can fly?" The dragon explained, "I needed to make some rain, because some people and animals needed water to drink. Then I saw a little rabbit on a log in the water, so I blew a puff of wind so the log would float to the river bank." "Well, DRAGON, that was very kind of you. You will have the fifth year of the zodiac named after you."

The Jade Emperor then heard the sound of the horse's hooves. Just as he was thinking the horse would be the next animal to arrive, a snake wriggled out from the horse's hooves. The horse was so surprised that he jumped backwards giving the SNAKE a chance to take the sixth place, leaving the HORSE in seventh place.

Not long afterwards, a raft arrived carrying the goat, monkey, and rooster. They explained to the Jade Emperor how they shared the raft that the rooster found. The goat and monkey had cleared weeds the pushed the raft to shore.

The Jade Emperor was very pleased that the three had worked together. He said that the GOAT will be the eighth zodiac animal, the MONKEY will be the ninth zodiac animal, and the ROOSTER will be the tenth zodiac animal.

The next animal to arrive to the bank was the dog. The Jade Emperor asked, "Why are you so late when you are one of the best swimmers?" The dog explained, "The river water was so clean that I had to have a bath along the way." The Jade Emperor said that the DOG will be the eleventh zodiac animal.

It was nearing the end of the day. Because there was only one spot left, the Jade Emperor wondered when the last winner would come.

Finally, he heard an oink from the pig. "You took a long time to cross the river," said the Jade Emperor to the pig. The pig explained, "I was hungry and stopped to eat. After the meal, I felt so tired that I fell asleep." "You have still done well," said the Jade Emperor. "The last year of the zodiac will be named after you, PIG."

The Jade Emperor then proclaimed the winners of the race and established the zodiac cycle with the animals in the following order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.