The Bizzare Story Of The Twelve Chinese Zodiac Signs

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. In fact, the dragons weren't even existed till a mystical occurrence. They were an upgrade version from their crawling reptile family - the snake.

Now it's being crowned the king of all animals, even more powerful than the king of the jungle - the tiger.

In this part of the world, the dragon is perceived as a celestial creature that can fly high in the sky, and down swim in the river or in the deep sea. It's able to disguise itself to become as tiny as a silkworm or become as big as the universe, or be totally invisible. It is like the most successful magician in history David Copperfield!

The dragon is seen as a symbol of imperial power, good fortune, unrelenting spirit, and a bringer of good luck. It's often used in the palace of the kingdom as the decoration of the chair, walkway, stairs, or bed of the emperor. The dragon elements are deeply rooted in Chinese culture e.g. the Chinese zodiac, temples, festival celebrations such as dragon dance, dragon boat festival, art, Chinese Idiom, etc.

The snake is believed to be the forefather of the dragon.

On one stormy heavy downpour night, there were unusual loud thunders and flashes of lightning piercing the dark sky. It's as though an omen of something extraordinary was about to occur.

There was this little tiny snake was crawling in the bushes under the heavy rain. It was looking for shelter as its underground den home was flooded.

On one exceptional loud thunder and a bolt of lightning that turned the dark night into the daytime, the lightning struck this tiny snake in the bushes!

Its long and slim trunk was lifted in the sky due to the powerful forces! Poor little snake! Never in its wildest dream that this will change its destiny forever! To be much better, though.

The lightning struck it for about ten minutes like an electric shock, the scary thunder sound and the lightning lit up the earth! This little snake struggled vigorously but stopped and remained still after a minute.

Suddenly the thunderstorm stopped and over, and the quietness returned. There were a lot of smokes coming out from the spot where the tiny snake was lying motionlessly.

As the smoke was clearing out gradually, a huge splendor creature emerged! It has a trunk like a snake, scales like a carp, two rolling big eyes like a shrimp, two whiskers like a catfish, a lion's mane, two antlers like a deer, a big mouth like a bull, the sharp teeth like a tiger, a nose like a dog, four short but strong limbs with five talons like an eagle.

It's a composite of ten creatures!

This newly turned dragon slowly regained its consciousness, looking at its new body. It knew that something enormous has changed! It looked around and then roared loudly and flew up to the sky. It dived deep into the sea like a fish as though it was its home.

It breathes clouds, not fire, out of its mouth. It has no wing but can fly into the sky effortlessly and miraculously.

This little snake-turn-dragon can feel the superpower that it has never possessed before!

Just when it was wondering what had happened, there was a rumble of loud thunder and lightning lit up the sky, then a firm yet gentle voice broke out as though from the divine heaven.

"From now onwards you're no longer a snake. You're the chosen one from all the snakes on earth to be the superpower among all beings!"

"Your new name is DRAGON."

"You'll bring luck and fortune to the people."

"You can summon the rain during the drought for a bountiful harvest of crops. When there's a flood you can summon the water and retreat back to the river and the sea."

"You're the representation of the people who live in this region, they're being named 'The Ascendants Of The Dragon'.

Shortly after that mystical born of the dragon, as though it was created for a purpose, God decided to create the twelve zodiac signs for people to remember which year they are born. The registration was open to all animals for which they'll be named each year.

It was a rotation of twelve years as one cycle. Under this zodiac system, the people usually resemble some similar traits of the animal that was named for that year.

For example, those people that are born under the year of the dragon believe to be more lucky and prosperous than those born under other animals' signs, as the dragon is symbolic of luck and fortune. While for those born in the year of the rat are usually quick-witted, resourceful, and versatile, and the list goes on for other animal signs.

The ranking of the zodiac signs will be decided on a first come first serve basis - whoever reaches first on the venue until the twelve spots are filled.

All the animals were excited about this rare event. They were all eager to use this once of a lifetime opportunity to make their name and make their descendants proud.

There were thirteen animals that had submitted their registration, namely cat, rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.

As the big date drew closer, all these animals were getting excited about the outcome of the ranking and each wanted to make sure they were selected for the limited twelve spots. Even more so, they were eyeing the top spot hoping to be the leader of the team!

The rat was asking the cat, "Hey bro, are you going for that big event tomorrow morning?"

During that time the rat was very good friends with the cats, they were buddies! Unlike nowadays where they are enemies, all the cats would try to kill and eat the rats whenever they see them!

"Of course, I'm going!" the cat answered.

"That's great! Let's go together!" the rat was beaming with excitement.

"Sure! we can chat along the way" the cat replied all smiles.

The dragon was super confident that it will clinch the first spot being the most powerful among all these animals. "Who else can move around with the speed of lightning? Who else is able to fly up in the sky and also swim down in the river and the sea? Who can beat me that had gathered the strengths of ten creatures?!"

However, when we look at all the Chinese zodiac signs, the RAT ranks No. 1. while the dragon ranks N0. 5.

The tiniest animal among all becomes the leader of the team.

This event also marked the beginning of the cat seeing the rat as the enemy eternally.

What the hell has happened on that day?!

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