Wednesday was the first assembly after the lunar new year, that’s how Michael opened his section. Together with Filippo they co-directed a small but great play about the history of how the Chinese zodiac signs came about. In the play we could see other boys from the house involved representing the different animals of the zodiac and the Jade Emperor.

The legend

The Jade Emperor, ruler of heaven, called all the animals of the world to a race and said that the first twelve would enter the zodiac. To reach them, they had to cross a river.

In those days, the rat and the cat were great friends. But, although they were very intelligent, they were the worst swimmers in the animal kingdom. So they decided that the best and fastest way to cross the river was to cross on the back of an Ox.

The Ox agreed to carry them across the river. However, as there was a prize involved, the rat decided that to win, he had to do something, so he threw the cat into the water: from then on the cat became a natural enemy of the rat and the water. After this, the rat reached the shore and claimed first place in the race, closely followed by the strong Ox, who was named second animal of the zodiac.

Behind the Ox came the tiger, who explained, panting, how he had had to fight the currents and how, thanks to his great strength, he was able to reach the shore and become the third animal.

The fourth place in the zodiac went to the rabbit, who thanks to his jumping ability was able to hop from one bank to the other, although he also explained to the emperor that he would have fallen into the river had it not been for a piece of log floating in the water.

Later, the dragon flew up and told the emperor that he could not get there first because he had to stop to create rain in order to help the people and creatures of the land. In addition, on the final stretch he had come across a rabbit clinging to a log, which he helped by nudging it with his breath so that it could reach the shore. The emperor, surprised by his kindness, awarded him fifth place in the zodiac.

Shortly afterwards the gallop of a horse was heard, but a snake frightened him and made him fall. Thus, the snake finally took sixth place while the horse took seventh place.

A short distance away were the goat, the monkey and the rooster, who were approaching the river bank. The three creatures helped each other to cross: the rooster built a wooden raft for the three of them, while the goat and the monkey cleared the undergrowth and so, rowing and rowing, they managed to reach the opposite bank. The emperor, very pleased with the teamwork of the animals, named the goat the eighth animal, while the monkey and the rooster were given the ninth and tenth places respectively.

Although the dog should have got a good place because he was the best swimmer of all the animals, he was delayed because he needed a bath after the long race, and when he saw the cool water of the river he could not resist. So he was assigned the eleventh place.

Just as the emperor was about to close the race he heard the grunting of a small pig that had started the race when it was very hungry, so soon after the start he feasted and took a nap. When he woke up, he continued the race and arrived just in time to be named the twelfth animal of the zodiac.

Finally, the cat arrived too late, occupying the thirteenth place and unable to gain any place in the calendar, so that his hatred of rats made him forever their bitterest enemy.

This is how the Chinese horoscope would have been created.