Why isn't the cat one of the zodiac animals?

There are no cats closely related to people's lives in the Chinese zodiac with a long history. What happened? Most people think that cats (today's domestic cats) had not really settled in China when the Chinese Zodiac came into being. Because today's domestic cats in China originated from desert cats in India, Indian cats entered China after Emperor Han Ming, because at that time, exchanges between China and became frequent through Buddhism. The zodiac first appeared in the Spring and Autumn Period of the Western Zhou Dynasty, and it was already circulated in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

By comparison, we found that the zodiac had existed as early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, but there were dogs and mice in the zodiac, but there were no cats. This shows that before the Western Zhou Dynasty, people usually saw wild cats that were large, fierce and difficult to domesticate, rather than the beloved domestic cats that people usually see now. So it seems understandable that cats are not in the zodiac.

But because of this, there are many legends and stories about cats and the zodiac in China, and there are too many to mention. These are two of them.

The first is a story of a cat-and-mouse struggle. It is said that at the beginning of the chaos, the emperor ordered the gathering of animals from all over the world and selected twelve genera according to twelve branches. The news alarmed the two good friends, the cat and the mouse, and they decided to choose together. The cat said to the mouse, "I have a problem with sleepiness." Please call me when I go to the election in heaven tomorrow morning! " The mouse replied, "No problem, just watch." . "But the next morning, the mouse broke his promise, got up secretly and left without saying goodbye.

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Many animals gathered in the soul hall, ready to be selected. According to the difference between heaven and earth, Jade Emperor

Author: look submitted on April 28th, 2007 at 02: 12: 1 1

Many animals gathered in the soul hall, ready to be selected. According to the difference between heaven and earth, the Jade Emperor selected twelve kinds of animals, including dragons, tigers, cows, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs, pigs, rabbits, snakes and rats, and the Jade Emperor would arrange seats. At this time, the pig cheated the jade emperor with sweet words, and the jade emperor handed over the task of ranking to the old pig to complete.

As soon as the Jade Emperor left, the zodiac began to argue about the order, especially when the scheming rats competed with the scalpers, tricking them into "listening to people's comments". As a result, the bull and mouse came to the busy street. When the bull passed through the crowd, people noticed them. At this time, the mouse suddenly climbed on the back of the cow and stood on the corner of the cow, which aroused people's amazement: "What a big mouse!" " " ……

When the mouse came back to boast, the relatives were not convinced, only the old pig was secretly happy. It believes that only in this way, the big and the small, the good and the bad are difficult to distinguish, and the fish can be mixed and the profits can be made. As a result, the old pig ranked the mouse first and the yellow steak second.

When the mouse came home, he was so happy that he woke up the sleeping cat. The flower cat asked, "Is it time?" The mouse proudly said, "It's too early, we won the first prize!" " "And boasted to the flower cat. The flower cat said angrily, "I told you again and again, why didn't you call me?" The mouse said brazenly, "Do your own thing. If I ask you to go, you can go instead of me!" " ! Hearing this, the flower cat bristled with anger, her eyes widened, her claws opened, and she pounced on the mouse and ate it.

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

Another story is about the feud between cats and dogs. Once upon a time, many animals got together to arrange the zodiac, and there was an argument in order to occupy a position and get ahead. Cats and dogs are no exception, and they are all fighting for whose contribution is great.

The cat said to the dog, "You eat so much all day and do nothing." The dog retorted, "Don't you eat all day?" In order to make the endless argument come to a conclusion, they went to the Jade Emperor to judge. The Jade Emperor asked the dog, "How much is a meal?" The dog said, "I look after people every day." I have a lot of work and I have to eat a big plate. " The Jade Emperor turned to the cat and asked, "How much do you want for a meal?" The cat replied, "I can catch mice, so eating a lamp for a meal is enough."

In fact, it is not enough for a cat to eat a lamp every meal. This cat can steal food. When it answered the jade emperor, it wanted to say that it would catch mice to satisfy hunger, so its contribution was greater than that of dogs. According to the answers of cats and dogs, the Jade Emperor came to the conclusion that cats contributed more than dogs.

The dog was very angry when he saw the cat bragging in front of the jade emperor, and he chased and scolded on the way back. "Cat, you cheat! I am at odds with you. " The cat is small and afraid of dogs, so it has to escape to the roof beam. He was too hungry to do anything, so he hid on it to catch mice to eat. Since then, cats have been catching mice for food.

The dog took advantage of the opportunity of the cat to avoid and hurried to arrange the zodiac. Because I came late, I only ranked eleventh. Besides, cats have been avoiding dogs, so they can't queue up. Since then, dogs and cats have forged a feud. Dogs drive cats away when they see them, and cats run away when they see them.