In the Chinese horoscope, we have the  twelve animals namely the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram/Sheep, Monkey, Rooster/Cock, Dog and the Pig . But where is the beautiful Cat and wasn’t it being chosen?

 

There are few versions to this legend:

 

• The Buddha invited all animals in creation to come to him, promising them recompense appropriate to his all powerful and miraculous kindness and generosity however almost all of them ignored the call of the Divine sage. Only the aforesaid twelve animals heeded the invitation hence Buddha offered each animal a year which would be dedicated to him alone through the ages.This year would carry the animal’s name, and express  his symbolic character and his specific psychological traits, marking the personality and behavior of people born during that year.

 

 

However, there is this interesting story about how these twelve animals are formed in the Chinese horoscope

 

Once upon a time, there is the Jade Emperor who wonder what the creatures of the earth looked like. He summoned his assistant to go down to the earth and order him to invite only  very interesting creatures to see him in the palace.

 

The assistant traveled to earth and gave his first invitation to a rat. He told the rat that when he sees his friend, the cat, to invite same to the palace as the assistant is confident that the Jade Emperor will be fascinated by the cat’s coat.

 

Along his journey, the assistant invited the ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster and the dog telling them to be at the palace at seven o’clock the next morning.

 

So all the invited animals prepared themselves and the rat dutifully went in search of his friend the cat. The cat was delighted to hear the news but since he was a deep sleeper, he made the rat promise to wake him up early the next morning. The rat gave his promise and return to his nest to sleep. But the rat couldn’t sleep and the more he thought about the cat the more jealous he become as he thinks that “ the cat is far too beautiful and will outshine him”. And he decided not to wake up the cat.

 

The next morning, all twelve animals were lined up for inspection in the palace courtyard. The rat was anxious to be noticed and so he sat on the ox’s back and played a flute. The Jade King was fascinated by this unusual creature and gave him first place. The ox was placed second since he had been generous enough to allow the rat to sit on his back. The courageous looking tiger was placed fourth, dragon resembled a strong snake on legs and so he was given fifth place,snake-6^th, horse-7^th, ram-8^th,monkey-9^th, rooster-10^th and the dog-11^th . As the king considered the pig as the ugliest he gave it the last position- 12^th.

 

As soon as the award was given, the cat ran into the palace pleading to the king that he has overslept and beg for another chance. But it was too late as the king had already made the decision on the twelve animals of the horoscope and their corresponding twelve earthly branches.

 

The cat accepted his fate but he could never forgive the rat hence to this day, you can see that whenever a cat see a rat it will chase and eat it.