The Story of the

Chinese Zodiac Animals

1 Who wins the big race? Read and put the pictures in order.

The Jade Emperor wants to organise a big race

for his birthday, and he invites twelve animals!
The winners of the race win a special place in the
Chinese calendar!
Today is the big day! The animals must cross the
river to win the race. Ready, set, go! The clever
rat climbs onto the ox’s back, crosses the river,
then jumps ahead and finishes the race first!
The ox is sad because it’s second. The tiger swims
fast and comes third. Next comes the rabbit! It
hops on some rocks and gets across! But where’s
the dragon, the strongest of all the animals? On
the way, it helps some people who are in trouble,
and so it finishes fifth. The snake crawls up the
horse’s leg, but, at the last minute, the horse sees
the snake and jumps back, scared! So, the snake is
sixth and the horse is right behind it. The monkey,
the sheep and the rooster help each other and
build a boat. The Emperor is very happy with
them, and he puts the sheep eighth, the monkey
ninth and the rooster tenth. The dog finishes next,
because he stops and plays in the water. Last in the
race is the pig. Poor little pig is hungry, and so it
stops to eat, sleeps for a bit, and then it remembers
to finish the race!

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