Why do rats rank first in the zodiac? What are the allusions?

Yes, the story about the zodiac is a very interesting topic. The stories mentioned here include myths, legends and allusions.

In the ranking of the zodiac, why do mice rank first with their younger generation? First of all, this question puzzles the sages of mankind and the wise men of today: in terms of size, the mouse is so small that people can hold it in the palm of their hands and play with it. It is the smallest of the 12 zodiac signs. ; On brute force, it can hardly be compared with the strength of cattle, the fierceness of tigers, the divine power of dragons and the prancing of horses. In terms of quality, the steadfastness of cattle, the kindness of rabbits, the diligence of horses, the meekness of sheep and the reality of pigs are all many times better than those of mice. On wisdom again, the cleverness of monkeys and the cleverness of dogs are above that of mice. To say the least, even if snakes are the most vicious, I'm afraid they have to be in front of mice. But the fact is that the little mouse is the first in the zodiac!

This problem is still an unsolved case. Some people say that the legal newspaper probably has only one explanation: the guy who ranks the zodiac is a corrupt official, taking bribes and bending the law. He accepted the huge interests of the mouse, made a power and money transaction, and put the first gold crown on the head of a little mouse without virtue and talent. This is of course just a far-fetched joke. But it is true that human beings have never found a convincing explanation for this. However, human beings are, after all, the smartest advanced animals among animals. Many years after the zodiac was confirmed, people finally made up a folk story that may be self-deceiving and self-explanatory, so as to explain why rats rank first in the zodiac. This story, called "The Rat is the Biggest", is spread in Hunan and Hubei in the Central Plains:

After the mouse, cow, horse and sheep were elected as the zodiac, the mouse said, "I should be in the first place." Cattle, horses and sheep were unconvinced and said, "Why do you rank first?" The mouse said, "I am old, so I want to be the first." Niu Ma and others couldn't help laughing: "Are you as old as us?" The mouse said, "We don't count when we argue, so let others say." Cattle, horses, sheep, etc. Everyone agrees to let people comment. So they discussed ways: led by cows, horses, sheep and mice, they walked through the streets one by one to see what people said.

In the street, a cow came and people said, "This cow is very strong." When the horse came, people said, "This horse is really tall." When the sheep came, people said, "This sheep is very fat." Finally, the mouse swaggered towards me. When people saw a big mouse suddenly coming out of the street, they all chased it and shouted, "What a big mouse! What a big mouse! " In this way, cows, horses and sheep have nothing to say, and mice rank first.

In addition, there is a similar story about the ranking of the twelve genera among the people.

There is an interesting story about how the zodiac is arranged:

At the beginning of chaos, just after heavenly stems and earthly branches timed it, the Jade Emperor ordered the gathering of all the animals in the world, and selected the twelve zodiac signs according to the twelve branches: Zi, Ugly, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu and Hai.

After the news came out, it alarmed two good friends, Flower Cat and Mouse. The flower cat said to the mouse, "I will be elected in heaven at five tomorrow." I have a problem with sleepiness. Please call me then! " The mouse repeatedly said, "OK, OK!" "

But the next morning, the dishonest mouse got up secretly and left without saying goodbye.

On this day, Yunnan, the beast in Lingxiao Hall, began to be selected. According to the difference between heaven and earth, the Jade Emperor selected twelve kinds of land and water animals, including dragon, tiger, ox, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig, rabbit, snake and mouse, as the zodiac. The rooster had two beautiful horns at that time and was also included in the beast.

The Jade Emperor was about to give up his seat for them when he saw the black raccoon pig coming out. Although it is stupid, it likes to make trouble. It said, "Since the Jade Emperor has chosen a leader, I am willing to share your worries, be a just person and arrange my brothers in turn." The Jade Emperor was overjoyed. He told the pig to break off diplomatic relations rightfully, so he retired from the DPRK.

As soon as the Jade Emperor left, the zodiac became a pot of porridge.

At the beginning, everyone unanimously elected a gentle and generous workhorse to sit in the first place. Even the mighty tiger and black dragon respected it and agreed. However, the mouse curled up in the corner appeared and protested. It says, "I have a large number. If you don't believe me, let's race on the earth and listen to the opinions of the people. " So, the cow and the mouse came to the street in the city center.

When the cow passed through the crowd, people didn't respond. At this time, the mouse "whistled" and climbed onto the cow's back to make a standing pile. People in the street shouted, "What a big mouse!" By the time people took out sticks to hit them, the mouse had run away.

When the mouse came back to brag, all the animals were keen on cows. Only the black pig is secretly happy. It feels that only in this way, no matter how big or small, it is difficult to distinguish between good and bad, so it may be an impostor and it also benefits from it. So, with a stroke of a pen, it picked the mouse first and put the old cow behind.

This annoyed the tiger and the black dragon. They shouted loudly and made all the animals tremble. All the animals are busy worshipping dragons and tigers, unanimously electing tigers as mountain kings and black dragons as fish kings to rule the world. The monkey wrote a gold plaque with the word "Wang" for the tiger and hung it on the tiger's forehead. The rooster gave the black dragon two horns. Since then, the black dragon has been crowned. Tigers and black dragons have power in the world, so they are only behind rats and bulls. At this moment, another rabbit in trouble jumped out. It sneered and said, "Hey, hey! I am almost like a mouse in appearance, but I am bigger than a mouse in size. I am the guardian of the mountain king and should be in front of the sea king. "

Hearing this, the black dragon was furious and said, "Don't force it. If you are not convinced, let's have a competition. " Hearing this, the black pig said, "It's a deal. Let's race and let the hounds be your judges. "

Dogs and chickens have always been at odds. Seeing the chicken please the dragon, I wanted to take the opportunity to make fun of it. They chose a thorny runway and secretly said to the rabbit, "Your tail is too long, which will hinder the race.". You should be reluctant to give up what you love. " It cut off a big tail for the rabbit, leaving only a small tail.

The game has started. The black dragon wandered in the clouds and soon flew to the front. However, when he ran into the bushes, his horns were entangled in vines and he couldn't get them off. The rabbit jumped eighteen times and ran to the finish line in one breath.

Black pig ignored the opposition of all animals and put the rabbit behind the tiger in front of the black dragon.

The dog went to congratulate the rabbit. It sold to the rabbit and said, "If you don't choose this runway and cut off your tail, how can you win today?" The rabbit grabbed its thick tail and regretted it. After listening to this, the dog left three mouths and said, "Hum! I won by skill. I can't lose this beautiful tail without you! " When the dog heard this, his eyes were red with anger. He said, "Since you are capable, let's take a walk!" The hare said proudly, "What's so difficult? I'll run first. If you can catch up with me, I'll invite you to chew bones. " With that, he ran away triumphantly. The hounds ground their paws and chased them like arrows. After a while, the hare was driven out. It bit the rabbit's neck with its mouth and said, "Well, it's my turn to chew the bone."

For this matter, the dog was also punished, ranking last.

After the black dragon lost the game, he often secretly complained that the chicken horns exhausted him. When the rooster heard this, he regretted it and was sad. He came to the seaside and said to the dragon, "Brother Long, since these two horns are of no benefit to you, please give them back to me." The dragon said slyly, "Although these horns hurt me, they can decorate my musical instrument. It is not difficult for you to return the goods. You have to wait until the sun rises in the western hills and the moon sets in the East China Sea. " Say that finish, then a dive to the bottom of the sea. The naive rooster believes it. It gets up before dawn every day, hoping that the sun will come out of the western hills. It also craned its neck from time to time and shouted at the sea, "Brother Long-Brother Long! Angel-also-I ... "

Since then, the rooster has lost two horns and has been ranked behind.

Only the ranking of monkeys, snakes, horses, sheep and pigs is uncertain. You Zhu incited with ulterior motives: "Brother Monkey is the king of juggling on land, and Brother Snake is a master of swimming in the water. Which of you will come first? " After some discussion, they decided to conduct another folk experiment and perform acrobatics on the earth. The green snake invited the red horse, and the monkey invited the goat to help them make costume props.

At that time, snakes had twelve legs under their stomachs, and they were stupid and slow to walk. Red Horse is a doer who helps others. It quietly made a thin dragon coat for the snake. The dragon coat is made of horse hair, which is really beautiful. The red horse and the double horse scraped a layer of grease from under the abdomen and coated it on the dragon clothes, making the dragon clothes very greasy. The green snake wears a dragon suit to cover its stupid legs, and it is sensitive and beautiful to slide instead of walking.

Goats usually hate monkeys, because they jump up and down all day and step on the grass, so they are not so enthusiastic about helping monkeys. The monkeys want to make up for the smooth fur, and the goat asks for help: "Brother Yang, please cut me some fluff so that I can mend my fur." The goat said unhappily, "It's going to be cold. You know I depend on this precious coat! " "The monkey has no choice but to stay naked.

On the day of the competition, the green snake was dressed in dragon clothes, coiled around the branches like vines for a while, and slid on the water for a while. It held its head and neck high, landed only with its tail pointed, and performed various acrobatics, and people cheered again and again. It was the monkey's turn to perform, only to see it climb the barbell and swing, which also won a lot of applause. When performing "hanging bamboo curtain upside down", the monkey rolled the tip of its tail on the branch and lowered its head to make various thrilling moves. Suddenly, someone shouted, "Look! The monkey's ass is on fire! " People all laughed loudly. Monkeys always defend their mistakes. He blushed and panicked. He covered his ass with his tail and fell down with a thud.

In this way, the green snake and the red horse came first, and the goats and monkeys came last.

After arranging seats for all the animals, Black Pig wrote himself down in front and said to himself, "This time it's time for me to be promoted and rich, with both fame and fortune! It came to Lingxiao Hall and met the Jade Emperor. The Jade Emperor took the seating chart, glanced at it, and without saying anything, ticked the name of the black pig in front and filled it in at the end. Therefore, the Jade Emperor asked Taibai Venus to write down the twelve birthdays of rats, ugly cows, silver tigers, hairy rabbits, dragons, snakes, afternoon horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs, and made a decree to let the duty servants release them to the world.

After the arrangement, the jade emperor was still angry and gave the black pig a few words:

Useless fool, reverse black and white.

If you eat repeatedly, you will be killed for one year.

Black pig was demoted and suddenly became angry. It lies in the thatched nest all day, and it's too lazy to mind its own business any more. However, sometimes I still feel itchy, so I can't help it. I arch this arch with my mouth and stir up trouble.

When the mouse came home, it danced three and a half beards happily and woke the sleeping cat. The flower cat asked, "Is it not time yet?" The mouse said, "It's too early, but we still won the first prize!" " "The mouse vividly boasted to the cat about his cleverness." I told you again and again, why didn't you call me? "Flower cat said with chagrin and regret. The mouse grabbed the white cat and said, "You have no ears? I told you to leave, but you took my place! Hearing this, the cat was so angry that its beard stood up and its almond eyes were round. It opened its sharp claws, jumped on it and ate the mouse.

Since then, cats and mice have become enemies for generations.

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