The Great Race
Buddha had lived a long life on Earth. Soon, he was going to leave Earth. Before he left, he said goodbye to all his friends. He stopped to stay goodbye to all the trees, as well. After this, Buddha was tired. He wanted to say goodbye to the animals, but he did not want to go to them. So he called the animals to come to him and say goodbye.
However, animals are generally quite lazy, and they are busy looking for food and running away from other animals. So in the end, only thirteen animals came to say goodbye to him. First came the dragon, who was fast and beautiful. Next came the horse and the rabbit, who were good animals, but not very clever. The tiger and the ox came next, two very strong animals. The goat, the monkey, and the chicken all came together, because they were good friends. The dog came with the pig, as they were both lazy. Finally, the cat, the rat and the snake all came, the worst animals of the group.
Buddha had wanted to see the giraffe one last time, but he did not say this.
‘Oh great animals of the world!’ he said. ‘Soon I will leave Earth. Because you have come to say goodbye to me, I want to give you something. We will have a Great Race. I will name a year after each of you. The first year will be named after the first animal, the second year will be named after the second animal, and so on.’
The animals liked this. They all wanted to be famous, so they did what Buddha said. He told them to stand in a line by a river, and he stood on the other side.
‘You must cross this river and come to me. Go!’ he shouted, and the race.
The rat turned to the cat and said, ‘Let’s work together. We both hate the water, but the ox is a good swimmer.’
So they went and asked the ox if they could ride on his back. The ox was very kind, so he said yes, and they jumped on. He moved quickly through the water. However, just before they got to the other side, the rat pushed the cat off the ox.
‘Have fun, stupid!’ he said.
The cat fell into the river, and the strong water pulled her away. The rat jumped off the ox’s back and ran to Buddha.
‘The first year will be named after the rat, and the second year will be named after the ox.’
Although the rat had cheated the ox, the ox didn’t care, because he was so kind.
Next, the tiger swam up to the Buddha. He was a strong swimmer, but the water was very strong as well, so the ox was faster than him.
‘The third year will be named after the tiger.’
The rabbit came next. The Buddha was surprised.
‘You are a fast animal.’
‘Yes. I jumped on rocks to get here. But at one point I fell in the water. Luckily, I found a piece of wood, and it took me here.’
‘The fourth year will be named after the rabbit.’
The dragon came next, and the Buddha was amazed. The dragon was such a fast animal, and he could fly!
‘Why did you take so long?’ he asked.
‘On my way here I saw a village,’ said the dragon, ‘and the people were praying for rain. So I stopped to make it rain for them. Then, when I was flying over the water, I saw the rabbit holding on to a piece of wood. He was in danger, so I blew some air at him to help him.’
The Buddha was amazed at his kindness. ‘The fifth year will be named after the dragon.’
Next came the horse. He was also a fast animal, but he was not very clever. As the horse came near, the snake jumped off him. The snake had been hiding under the horse’s foot. When the horse saw the snake, he jumped because he was so afraid, and the snake got to Buddha first.
‘The sixth year will be named after the snake, and the seventh year will be named after the horse.’
As I said before, the goat, the monkey and the chicken were good friends. They were not good swimmers, so they needed to find another way across the river. The chicken found a long piece of wood in the grass, and some rope. They put the rope on the wood and used it to ride across the river. The chicken sat on the boat, and the goat and the monkey pulled it.
‘Very good work,’ said the Buddha. ‘The eighth year will be named after the goat, the ninth year will be named after the monkey, and the tenth year will be named after the chicken.’
The next animal was the dog.
‘Why did you take so long?’ asked the Buddha.
‘I needed a bath,’ said the dog, ‘and this river is too dangerous. So I went and took a bath in another river. Sorry!’
The Buddha just laughed. ‘The eleventh year will be named after the dog.’
Finally, the Buddha heard an oink oink, and the pig came walking up to him.
‘I got hungry during the race,’ said the pig. ‘So I stopped and ate some apples, and then I felt very tired, so I went to sleep.’
The Buddha was not surprised by this.
‘Well, I think that’s everyone,’ said the Buddha. ‘Well done, all of you.’
But then a sound came from the river. A very wet, very angry cat climbed out of the water onto the grass.
‘Oh, the cat,’ said the Buddha. ‘I forgot about you. There were only twelve years. I’m sorry.’
‘That isn’t fair!’ said the cat. ‘I fell into the water because the rat pushed me.’
‘It’s not my problem,’ said the rat. He was very happy that he had the first year, and he didn’t care about the cat at all.
So the cat ran and jumped on the rat, and the rat ran away. Even now, the cat still hates the rat more than every other animal.
‘Well then,’ said the Buddha. ‘My work here is done.’
And so Buddha left Earth. The twelve animals now make the Chinese Zodiac, and help us all remember the years.
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