In tonight’s bedtime story for kids, we're celebrating Chinese New Year! Join Rou the Rabbit and the other animals of the zodiac as they have a party and retell the story of how the Chinese Zodiac first began. Relax, get sleepy, and let’s begin!
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Narrator 🎙 Abbe Opher
Author ✍️ Elisha Ainsley
Edited By ✏️ Xiaoyu Wei
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome back to Coco Sleep, a podcast of
00:00:14
Speaker 1: original children's bedtime stories and meditations designed to make bedtime
00:00:20
Speaker 1: a dream. I know it's not been long since we
00:00:25
Speaker 1: took down the twinkly fairy lights from Thanksgiving and Christmas,
00:00:29
Speaker 1: but we're putting them back up tonight. You know that
00:00:32
Speaker 1: we love a celebration here at sleep HQ, and we
00:00:35
Speaker 1: couldn't let the magnificence of Chinese New Year pass us by,
00:00:41
Speaker 1: so into Night's delightful tale. We are heading off to
00:00:45
Speaker 1: a party where we'll meet twelve very special guests. Yes,
00:00:50
Speaker 1: roll out the red carpet. The twelve animals of the
00:00:53
Speaker 1: Chinese zodiac are coming. As you hop into bed and
00:00:58
Speaker 1: get comfy. See if you can think of twelve different animals.
00:01:03
Speaker 1: Close your eyes and imagine twelve furry, scaly or hairy faces,
00:01:11
Speaker 1: faces with long eyelashes or big eyes or maybe a snout. Okay,
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Speaker 1: now let's imagine two buck teeth, long ears, and a
00:01:26
Speaker 1: little pink nose and whiskers. Say hi to our little
00:01:32
Speaker 1: friend Rue the rabbit. We're meeting her on a day
00:01:36
Speaker 1: when she is especially excited to welcome in the new
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Speaker 1: year with her friends. Let's see what they get up to.
00:01:44
Speaker 1: This is Chinese New Year in Sleepy Forest by Alicia
00:01:48
Speaker 1: Ainslie and edited by Wi Shaou. Tonight was a very
00:02:01
Speaker 1: special day for Rue the Rabbit. She was so very excited.
00:02:07
Speaker 1: She had waited eleven years for her turn to come
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Speaker 1: around again, and it was finally here. It was finally
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Speaker 1: time for the Year of the Rabbit to begin. Every
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Speaker 1: year when Chinese New Year came round, it was a
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Speaker 1: different animal's turn to celebrate and throw a party, and
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Speaker 1: Ru had big plans for her New Year's party. This time.
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Speaker 1: She was going to invite all of her friends in
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Speaker 1: Sleepy Forest and have a big celebration full of food,
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Speaker 1: games and fireworks. She wanted to celebrate the new year
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Speaker 1: in style. You see. In Chinese culture, each year is
00:02:52
Speaker 1: dedicated to a different animal of the Chinese zodiac. There
00:02:56
Speaker 1: are twelve animals in total, and they are all very different.
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Speaker 1: It all begins with the year of the Rat, then
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Speaker 1: the year of the Ox, followed by the tiger, the rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog,
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Speaker 1: and pig. After twelve years, the cycle begins all over again.
00:03:28
Speaker 1: It had been eleven years since the last Year of
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Speaker 1: the Rabbit, and Ru had spent that time planning the
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Speaker 1: perfect party for the occasion. As the Chinese New Year approached,
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Speaker 1: she sent out invitations to all of her friends in
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Speaker 1: Sleepy Forest. She designed them herself. The invitations were all
00:03:49
Speaker 1: decorated in her lucky colors of red, pink, purple, and blue.
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Speaker 1: They looked very beautiful and colorful, and Ru had lots
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Speaker 1: of fund designing them. She used her best ink pens
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Speaker 1: to draw elaborate swirling designs on the borders of each invitation,
00:04:11
Speaker 1: and she wrote the details of the party in her
00:04:15
Speaker 1: smartest handwriting. The party was to be held at her
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Speaker 1: warren in Sleepy Forest. The celebrations would begin at seven
00:04:25
Speaker 1: o'clock and continue until midnight, when the firework show would
00:04:31
Speaker 1: mark the end of the night. It was important to
00:04:35
Speaker 1: Rue the Rabbit that everything ran smoothly on the night.
00:04:41
Speaker 1: She wanted the Year of the Rabbit to be the
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Speaker 1: luckiest and most prosperous year yet, so she had to
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Speaker 1: get everything just right. She had bought a brand new
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Speaker 1: red dress for the party, and she had sent everybody's
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Speaker 1: invitations in bright red envelopes to spread good luck near
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Speaker 1: and far. As the day of Rue's party approached, she
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Speaker 1: cleaned her warren and made sure it was spick and
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Speaker 1: spanned for when her guests arrived. She wanted to sweep
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Speaker 1: away all the bad luck that had built up over
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Speaker 1: the past year so that she could welcome in lots
00:05:24
Speaker 1: of good luck in the new year. She decorated her
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Speaker 1: home with plenty of red lanterns and pictures until her
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Speaker 1: warren was absolutely brimming with color. On the day of
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Speaker 1: the party, as Rue hung up the last red lantern
00:05:45
Speaker 1: outside her home, one of her neighbors, Tilly the Tucan,
00:05:50
Speaker 1: flew by and landed by her side. Tilly gazed at
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Speaker 1: all of the red decorations around Rue's home and asked,
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Speaker 1: why do you have so much red everywhere? Rue explained
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Speaker 1: that red is the luckiest color, and she wanted everyone
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Speaker 1: at her party to be surrounded by good luck so
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Speaker 1: that they could have the best year ever. It meant
00:06:20
Speaker 1: a lot to Rue that the Year of the Rabbit
00:06:23
Speaker 1: was great for everyone. Tillie the Tucan was impressed. She
00:06:29
Speaker 1: didn't realize that it was such a special color, and
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Speaker 1: she vowed to wear something red for Rue's party that evening.
00:06:39
Speaker 1: Rue added, you could also wear the colors pink, purple,
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Speaker 1: or blue. They are lucky colors too. Tilly the Tucan
00:06:51
Speaker 1: flew off to get ready for the party. Once Ru's
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Speaker 1: warren was decorated accordingly, she set to work preparing the
00:07:02
Speaker 1: meal that she would share with all her friends. She
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Speaker 1: prepared seven lucky foods for them all to eat to
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Speaker 1: welcome in the Chinese New Year. She prepared dumplings, spring rolls, noodles,
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Speaker 1: and sweet rice balls called tangyuan. Plus, she made a
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Speaker 1: rice cake named Niangoo, and picked lots of good fortune
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Speaker 1: fruit for everyone to enjoy for dessert. Then she laid
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Speaker 1: everything out in quantities of three and nine her lucky
00:07:42
Speaker 1: numbers with the table, laid the fireworks on stand by,
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Speaker 1: and her home looking beautiful. Rue was ready to don
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Speaker 1: her red dress and welcome her guests. At seven o'clock,
00:08:00
Speaker 1: her guests started to arrive. As expected, her neighbors all
00:08:05
Speaker 1: turned up to join in the celebrations, including Tilli the tukan.
00:08:11
Speaker 1: Following closely behind were her fellow friendly animals of the zodiac,
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Speaker 1: the rat, dog, ox, monkey, rooster, pig, dragon, snake, goat,
00:08:24
Speaker 1: and horse. The last to arrive was Tang the tiger.
00:08:29
Speaker 1: Tang slunk into the room without saying hello to Rue
00:08:33
Speaker 1: the Rabbit, and settled herself by the food table. Quietly.
00:08:40
Speaker 1: Tang observed the other guests at the party and watched
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Speaker 1: them enjoying themselves. Tang was not particularly happy that the
00:08:50
Speaker 1: new year was here. The past year had been the
00:08:55
Speaker 1: Year of the Tiger, and Tang had enjoyed being the
00:08:59
Speaker 1: center of attention for a whole year. Now that her
00:09:04
Speaker 1: time was up and the lunar calendar was moving on
00:09:08
Speaker 1: to the new year of the Rabbit, Tang was a
00:09:11
Speaker 1: bit disappointed. After a while of mingling with the other guests,
00:09:18
Speaker 1: Rue noticed Tang shying away in the far corner of
00:09:22
Speaker 1: the party. She hopped towards Tang to welcome her. Tang
00:09:29
Speaker 1: smiled a weak smile as she said hello to Rue
00:09:34
Speaker 1: before slumping down on the sofa. Do you want to dance?
00:09:40
Speaker 1: Ru asked Tang. The Tiger was a fantastic dancer, and
00:09:46
Speaker 1: usually she was the first one twirling around on the
00:09:49
Speaker 1: dance floor. Tang sighed, oh, no, thank you. I don't
00:09:58
Speaker 1: feel in the mood a party right now. Rue patted
00:10:04
Speaker 1: Tang on the arm, saying they're there, and beckoned over
00:10:10
Speaker 1: the other animals of the zodiac. The ten other animals
00:10:15
Speaker 1: hurried to Rue and Tang side, noticing their friend in need.
00:10:23
Speaker 1: Are you a little bit sad that your year is over,
00:10:27
Speaker 1: ru asked, and Tang nodded her head. We all feel
00:10:33
Speaker 1: that way when our turn comes around. Moacho, the monkey
00:10:37
Speaker 1: piped up. Twelve years is a long time to wait,
00:10:42
Speaker 1: after all, Tang. The animals of the zodiac all nodded
00:10:48
Speaker 1: their heads. Understanding the Gang. The goat smiled kindly and said,
00:10:57
Speaker 1: but don't worry, Tang. It is such a treat when
00:11:02
Speaker 1: our year comes around, but it doesn't make any other
00:11:08
Speaker 1: year less brilliant or joyful. Ping the pig grinned and added, humph,
00:11:17
Speaker 1: I think you may have the best year ever if
00:11:22
Speaker 1: you started off dancing. Don't you want to dance, he
00:11:27
Speaker 1: asked Tang. Tang smiled a little smile back of Ping
00:11:34
Speaker 1: the happy Pig's grin was infectious. I do want to dance,
00:11:42
Speaker 1: she admitted. You're all right. Every year can be lucky
00:11:49
Speaker 1: for all of us, no matter which animal it belongs to.
00:11:55
Speaker 1: And you, you have waited twelve years for this route.
00:12:00
Speaker 1: It's time to celebrate you. Thank you for reminding me.
00:12:08
Speaker 1: The animals of the zodiac all smiled at Tang reassuringly,
00:12:13
Speaker 1: before Rue offered her hand pulled Tang up off the
00:12:17
Speaker 1: sofa and towards the dance floor. Rue's neighbors in Sleepy
00:12:24
Speaker 1: Forest had been watching this all unfold, and they were perplexed.
00:12:32
Speaker 1: They didn't understand why Tang had become upset or what
00:12:37
Speaker 1: the animals of the zodiac had been talking about. Tillie
00:12:42
Speaker 1: the Tucan decided to ask the question they were all thinking,
00:12:49
Speaker 1: What do you mean? Rue waited twelve years. Tilly asked,
00:12:55
Speaker 1: looking from each animal of the zodiac to the other,
00:13:01
Speaker 1: why is the new year so important to you? Why
00:13:06
Speaker 1: is it so important whose year it is? Ru looked
00:13:11
Speaker 1: up at all of her zodiac friends who were trying
00:13:15
Speaker 1: to help Tang. The tiger appeared very sheepish now, and
00:13:21
Speaker 1: all of their Sleepy Forest neighbors looked to Rue expectantly.
00:13:27
Speaker 1: They didn't understand why it was so important to Rue,
00:13:32
Speaker 1: so she decided to explain. There's a reason why there
00:13:38
Speaker 1: is an order for the twelve Chinese zodiac animals. Rue began.
00:13:45
Speaker 1: It all started many many years ago, long ago before
00:13:53
Speaker 1: any of us can remember. There was no calendar, and
00:13:57
Speaker 1: people didn't have a way of measuring time in the
00:14:00
Speaker 1: way we do now. There was no Chinese zodiac, and
00:14:05
Speaker 1: all animals were merely that normal animals. One day, the
00:14:14
Speaker 1: Jade Emperor of China, ruler of heaven and Earth, decided
00:14:19
Speaker 1: that it would be easier for everyone if he created
00:14:24
Speaker 1: a proper calendar. This zodiac calendar would consist of a
00:14:31
Speaker 1: twelve year cycle, and he decided that he would name
00:14:36
Speaker 1: each year after twelve different animals, But he wasn't sure
00:14:42
Speaker 1: how to choose which animal to name each year. After
00:14:48
Speaker 1: after much deliberation, the Jade Emperor announced that he would
00:14:54
Speaker 1: host a race all the animals of the world could enter.
00:15:01
Speaker 1: Whoever the first twelve animals were to arrive for the
00:15:05
Speaker 1: race would receive the great honor of having a year
00:15:09
Speaker 1: of the zodiac named after them, and whoever crossed the
00:15:15
Speaker 1: finish line first would have the first turn. Understandably, this
00:15:23
Speaker 1: news created quite the buzz around the animal kingdom, and
00:15:28
Speaker 1: many animals were eager to take part in the Jade
00:15:32
Speaker 1: Emperor's race. Despite their disagreements nowadays, at that time, the
00:15:40
Speaker 1: rat and the cat were best friends. They were both
00:15:45
Speaker 1: so excited to enter the Jade Emperor's race together that
00:15:50
Speaker 1: they stayed up all night chatting and preparing for the
00:15:55
Speaker 1: race the next day. The cat was notorious for sleeping
00:16:01
Speaker 1: in late. He always got too comfortable in his cozy
00:16:05
Speaker 1: bed and struggled to wake up in the morning. The
00:16:10
Speaker 1: cat asked his friend, the rat, to remember to wake
00:16:15
Speaker 1: him up when he rose for the race. Then they
00:16:19
Speaker 1: could approach the starting line together and both become animals
00:16:25
Speaker 1: of the Zodiac. The plan was set between the two friends,
00:16:32
Speaker 1: and they both went to sleep that night eager for
00:16:36
Speaker 1: the following day. On the morning of the race, animals
00:16:42
Speaker 1: all over the world headed for the starting line of
00:16:46
Speaker 1: the Jade Emperor's Race. The rat woke up and was
00:16:53
Speaker 1: so excited to enter that he ran out of the
00:16:56
Speaker 1: house without waking up his friend, the cat. The lazy
00:17:02
Speaker 1: cat remained in his comfy bed, sleeping deeply, blissfully, unaware
00:17:10
Speaker 1: that his friend had forgotten to wake him for the race.
00:17:16
Speaker 1: That is why there is no cat amongst the animals
00:17:21
Speaker 1: of the Zodiac. The cat was too busy snoozing to
00:17:26
Speaker 1: turn up for the race. This is also a reason
00:17:31
Speaker 1: why the rat and the cat are not friends anymore. Meanwhile,
00:17:38
Speaker 1: the rest of the world's animals headed to the start line.
00:17:43
Speaker 1: The first twelve animals to arrive were the ox, the dragon,
00:17:49
Speaker 1: the goat, the rabbit, the monkey, the pig, the snake,
00:17:56
Speaker 1: the tiger, the horse, the rooster, the dog, and of course,
00:18:04
Speaker 1: the rat. The Jade Emperor announced that those twelve animals
00:18:10
Speaker 1: would all become animals of the Zodiac. However, they still
00:18:17
Speaker 1: needed to compete in the race to cement their status
00:18:21
Speaker 1: in the running order. Whoever crossed the finish line and
00:18:26
Speaker 1: reach the Jade Empress's palace on the riverbank first would
00:18:31
Speaker 1: earn the greatest honor of all to become the first
00:18:38
Speaker 1: animal of the Zodiac. The animals would need to run
00:18:44
Speaker 1: far and cross a rushing river to reach the Jade
00:18:48
Speaker 1: empress palace. It was a tricky journey and the animals
00:18:53
Speaker 1: would have to have their wits about them to complete.
00:18:57
Speaker 1: The race began and the twelve animals set off for
00:19:04
Speaker 1: the Jade Emperor's palace. The rat picked up a great
00:19:09
Speaker 1: pace and was hurtling straight towards the palace, and he
00:19:15
Speaker 1: noticed how deep and why the river was. The rat
00:19:20
Speaker 1: could not swim and he wasn't sure how he was
00:19:23
Speaker 1: going to cross. Then the rat looked to his side
00:19:28
Speaker 1: and noticed the great ox approaching the river bank, The
00:19:34
Speaker 1: ox looked very strong, and the rat had no doubt
00:19:39
Speaker 1: that the ox would successfully make its way across the
00:19:43
Speaker 1: river safely. So the rat approached the ox and politely
00:19:50
Speaker 1: asked if he could help him cross the river. The
00:19:55
Speaker 1: kind ox was happy to help and allowed the rat
00:19:59
Speaker 1: to hop aboard his back. The powerful ox waded out
00:20:06
Speaker 1: into the water and swam against the strong current of
00:20:10
Speaker 1: the river. As the rat and the ox got closer
00:20:17
Speaker 1: to the shore, they could see the Jade Emperor waiting
00:20:22
Speaker 1: on the steps of the palace for their arrival. Once
00:20:27
Speaker 1: safely on land, the ox began to bound toward the
00:20:33
Speaker 1: Jade Emperor. The rat desperately wanted to win the race
00:20:39
Speaker 1: and become the first animal of the Zodiac, so he
00:20:44
Speaker 1: seized his opportunity and jumped down from the ox's back.
00:20:50
Speaker 1: Scuttling towards the emperor as fast as he could. The
00:20:56
Speaker 1: rat reached the emperor just before the ox, beating him.
00:21:02
Speaker 1: At the very last moment, the Jade Emperor declared that
00:21:09
Speaker 1: the rat would be the first animal of the Zodiac,
00:21:14
Speaker 1: and the ox came a close second. The ox didn't
00:21:19
Speaker 1: mind being beaten to first place. Second place still proved
00:21:24
Speaker 1: how strong he was. Following closely behind the rat and
00:21:32
Speaker 1: the ox, came the tiger. The tiger powerfully swam upstream,
00:21:39
Speaker 1: pushing against the strong waters to achieve third place. Next
00:21:46
Speaker 1: along came the rabbit. The only way that the rabbit
00:21:51
Speaker 1: could cross the river was by hopping from stone to
00:21:55
Speaker 1: stone to reach the other side. Half way across, the
00:22:03
Speaker 1: rabbit realized that there were no more stones to jump onto.
00:22:10
Speaker 1: The rabbit looked around for assistance and spotted a big
00:22:15
Speaker 1: wooden log floating down the river. The rabbit waited for
00:22:21
Speaker 1: the log to float past, expertly hopped on top of
00:22:27
Speaker 1: it and clung on tight. Surprisingly, the log drifted quickly
00:22:35
Speaker 1: down the river, and the rabbit leapt off onto land.
00:22:40
Speaker 1: When she was close by, The rabbit raced to the
00:22:45
Speaker 1: palace and the Jade Emperor congratulated her on coming in
00:22:51
Speaker 1: fourth place. The Jade Emperor looked up at that moment
00:22:57
Speaker 1: and saw the dragon approaching. The Jade Emperor was very surprised.
00:23:05
Speaker 1: He thought that the dragon would have come in first
00:23:08
Speaker 1: place since he could fly. What took you so long,
00:23:15
Speaker 1: the Jade Emperor asked the dragon. The dragon explained that
00:23:21
Speaker 1: he had been on his way, but he noticed a
00:23:25
Speaker 1: community of farmers in trouble as he passed by. The
00:23:29
Speaker 1: farmer's crops were withering from drought, so the dragon had
00:23:35
Speaker 1: stopped to send rain to the farmer's land to help
00:23:39
Speaker 1: their crops grow again. Then, when the dragon reached the river,
00:23:47
Speaker 1: he had seen the rabbit struggling to cross as the
00:23:51
Speaker 1: stepping stones ran out, So the dragon had used his
00:23:57
Speaker 1: mighty breath to blow a log downstream for the rabbit
00:24:01
Speaker 1: to jump onto. Then the dragon had blown the log
00:24:07
Speaker 1: across to the other side so that the rabbit could
00:24:12
Speaker 1: safely reach land. The Jade Emperor was so impressed by
00:24:19
Speaker 1: the dragon's kindness that he declared him the fifth animal
00:24:26
Speaker 1: of the zodiac. Not far behind, the horse could be
00:24:31
Speaker 1: seen making its way through the river. Everyone thought that
00:24:38
Speaker 1: the horse would come in sixth place, But just as
00:24:43
Speaker 1: the horse was trotting towards the finish line, the smiling
00:24:48
Speaker 1: snake appeared out of nowhere. The cheeky snake had secretly
00:24:57
Speaker 1: coiled itself around the horse's hoo to make its way
00:25:02
Speaker 1: through the river. Just as the horse was about to
00:25:07
Speaker 1: reach the finish line, the snake surprised everyone by jumping
00:25:13
Speaker 1: out and beating the horse right at the last second.
00:25:19
Speaker 1: The snake became the sixth animal, and the horse begrudgingly
00:25:25
Speaker 1: became the seventh animal of the zodiac. The next three
00:25:30
Speaker 1: animals all arrived together. The rooster, the monkey, and the
00:25:36
Speaker 1: goat had all found it difficult to cross the river. Thankfully,
00:25:43
Speaker 1: with a bit of teamwork and quick thinking, the three
00:25:47
Speaker 1: of them had masterfully concocted a plan to cross the
00:25:52
Speaker 1: waters safely. The rooster had found a raft, the goat
00:25:59
Speaker 1: ate a path through the grass towards the river, and
00:26:03
Speaker 1: the monkey steered the raft across the waters. The Jade
00:26:09
Speaker 1: Emperor was impressed by their teamwork and announced the goat eighth,
00:26:16
Speaker 1: the monkey ninth, and the rooster tenth in the zodiac lineup.
00:26:23
Speaker 1: The dog came in eleventh place, and the Jade Emperor
00:26:28
Speaker 1: was very confused. Once more, Why did it take you
00:26:34
Speaker 1: so long when you're such a good swimmer, the Jade
00:26:39
Speaker 1: Emperor asked the dog. The dog wolfed and explained that
00:26:45
Speaker 1: the water was so refreshing, and it had been so
00:26:49
Speaker 1: long since he had had a bath that he couldn't
00:26:53
Speaker 1: resist the urge to splash around in the river. The
00:26:58
Speaker 1: dog had spent so long enjoying the water that he
00:27:03
Speaker 1: had turned up in eleventh place. The Jade Emperor waited
00:27:10
Speaker 1: and waited for the final animal to cross the finish line.
00:27:19
Speaker 1: The pig was taking so long that the Jade Emperor
00:27:23
Speaker 1: almost gave up waiting. Right at the last moment the
00:27:30
Speaker 1: pig arrived. I'm sorry, I'm lade, the pig apologized. I
00:27:37
Speaker 1: had to stop for a snack, and then lunch, and
00:27:43
Speaker 1: then an afternoon snack, and then dinner, and then I
00:27:48
Speaker 1: felt so sleepy that I had to take a little nap.
00:27:53
Speaker 1: What's for supper? The Jade Emperor and all the other
00:27:58
Speaker 1: animals giggled, and the pig was just in time to
00:28:03
Speaker 1: be the twelfth animal of the zodiac. Ever since that day,
00:28:10
Speaker 1: each year has been dedicated to one of the twelve
00:28:15
Speaker 1: animals in the order they completed the race. That is
00:28:21
Speaker 1: how the Chinese Zodiac came to be. As Rue the
00:28:28
Speaker 1: Rabbit finished telling the story of the Chinese Zodiac, her
00:28:34
Speaker 1: neighbors in Sleepy Forest finally understood why this new year
00:28:41
Speaker 1: was so important to her. Is almost midnight, everyone, Morcho
00:28:49
Speaker 1: the monkey announced excitedly. Rue the Rabbit ushered every one
00:28:56
Speaker 1: outside into the woods of Sleepy Forest for her final
00:29:01
Speaker 1: treat of the night. They all stood outside together in
00:29:07
Speaker 1: the cool night air and looked up above the trees
00:29:11
Speaker 1: at the moon and the starlit sky. Are you all ready?
00:29:18
Speaker 1: Rue asked eagerly. All of Rue's sleepy forest friends and
00:29:24
Speaker 1: her fellow animals of the zodiac began to count down
00:29:30
Speaker 1: ten nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three two one.
00:29:48
Speaker 1: The sky above sleepy forests suddenly became filled with hundreds
00:29:55
Speaker 1: of colorful, shimmering fireworks. They zoomed and blasted through the
00:30:03
Speaker 1: sky and popped and fizzled. As their glittering sparks irrupted
00:30:11
Speaker 1: and crackled away, they all stood together and wished each
00:30:18
Speaker 1: other a happy new year of the Rabbit Tang. The
00:30:24
Speaker 1: tiger gave Rue a big hug and wished her a
00:30:30
Speaker 1: happy and prosperous year. As Rue and all her friends
00:30:39
Speaker 1: admired the glorious light show in the winter night sky,
00:30:44
Speaker 1: Rue smiled to herself. She could tell that it was
00:30:50
Speaker 1: going to be a wonderful year, and she was delighted
00:30:55
Speaker 1: to have been able to celebrate the Chinese with her
00:31:01
Speaker 1: friends and introduced the celebrations to her neighbors. Everybody had
00:31:10
Speaker 1: a fabulous time at the party, and by the time
00:31:14
Speaker 1: they all went their separate ways to their homes for bed,
00:31:20
Speaker 1: it was way past midnight. Rue wandered back into her
00:31:27
Speaker 1: colorfully decorated warren and looked around. All of the food
00:31:34
Speaker 1: had been gobbled up gratefully, and the decorations still hung
00:31:41
Speaker 1: down from the walls and ceiling marvelously. Her home, which
00:31:48
Speaker 1: earlier on was filled with chatter, laughter, and music, was
00:31:54
Speaker 1: now peaceful and silent. Let out a big yawn and
00:32:03
Speaker 1: rubbed her eyes. She was so tired and couldn't wait
00:32:10
Speaker 1: to curl up in bed. She would clean up in
00:32:14
Speaker 1: the morning. Rue walked through into her bedroom and climbed
00:32:22
Speaker 1: under the douvet covers. She wrapped them around her furry body,
00:32:30
Speaker 1: and she wiggled her toes with delight. Her bed was
00:32:36
Speaker 1: so toasty and warm, and her mattress and pillow were
00:32:41
Speaker 1: delightfully squishy and comfortable. She closed her eyes, took a
00:32:48
Speaker 1: deep breath in, and sighed contentedly. Rue's New Year party
00:32:58
Speaker 1: had been a great success, and as she peacefully drifted
00:33:04
Speaker 1: off to dreamland, she reimagined the Jade Emperor's race that
00:33:10
Speaker 1: had occurred all those years ago. She dreamt of running
00:33:18
Speaker 1: and running through the blades of grass and drifting away
00:33:25
Speaker 1: on a big wooden log down the stream, with a
00:33:31
Speaker 1: gentle dragon's breath safely guiding her to shore.