English Assignment (folktale)

~ This is my own made English essay on FOLKTALE as what my teacher wants. So, I would like to share it here. Maybe can be made as a references for you guys.  

Original Idea n writing: Me! :D 

Grammar and spelling checking: My TESL foundation friend, Wan.  :D 

 Based on : Chinese Zodiac Legend

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Cat and Rat: The Legend of the Chinese Zodiac

A long, long time ago, in the faraway land of China, there lived a cat and a rat. They were best friends. Very, very best friend. They ate together, played together and they even slept together. One day, the Jade Emperor, The Emperor in Heaven in Chinese folklore; decided to hold a race among all the animals in the land. The first twelve animals to cross the finish line would have a year in the Chinese calendar named after them. This would be quite an honour.

“But! Winning the race will not be easy,” warned the Emperor. “You must run through the thickest part of the forest and then swim across the river at its widest part.” Hearing this announcement from the Emperor himself, made all the animals became very eager to take part in the once in a lifetime race. Even the powerful and mystical dragon became interested and decided to join the race.

As fast a lighting, the news about the race had widespread all over China. The cat heard about the race and dashed off to meet the rat and tell him about the race. Now that they both had already know about the race, they became enthusiastic to win the race. But then they realized that they would be the smallest contestants in the race and it is a disadvantage for them.

“We will never make it,” said the rat sadly after giving a thought that their opponents would be much bigger and stronger animals than them. “Don’t worry! We will make it. We’ll ask the ox to give us a hand.” said the cat. The rat’s face enlightened a bit. “He always wake up before sunrise. Maybe we can ask him to give us a ride. He will give us a good head start.” So the cat and the rat convinced the kind and strong ox to wake them up early on the day of the race.

The next morning, the ox was up long before dawn. “Wake up, lazybones!” he said to the sleeping cat and rat. “We had better get started.” So the cat and the rat climbed on the ox’s back. But they were so sleepy that by the time they had fully awakened, they were halfway across the river. The rat woke up first. He saw the Emperor standing at the finishing line far, far away in front.

“Why should I share the glory of first place with cat and ox?” the rat started to be selfish. He looked at the cat, sleeping soundly. He then looked at the river. “Wake up, my friend!” cried the rat. “Look! There are so many tasty fish swimming in the river.” The innocent cat woke up immediately and closely took a look in the river. He licked his lips. The swimming fresh fish made the cat drooled. At the same time, the selfish cunning rat pushed the cat into the river.

Splash! The cat tumbled straight into the river. He looked at the rat blankly, not realizing that the rat had betrayed him. The ox then turned his head to see what had made the splash. He did not see the cat, though. What he saw instead was the other animals in the race - and they were close behind him. Without giving the cat and rat another thought, he sped towards the Emperor.

And splish! splash! splish! splash! Off the ox went, crossing the widest part of the river to the finishing line. Just as the ox neared the riverbank, the clever rat leaped from behind his ear and crossed the finishing line in first place. “How did such a small animal win the race?” asked the Emperor in surprised. “I may be small but I’m also smart.” replied the rat. He scampered up onto the winner’s podium. The ox knew he had been tricked into second place, but he could only grunt in dismay.

Back in the river, the cat tried to swim in the strong current of the river. He hates water but if he had to swim in order to win the race, he would do so. Behind him, he heard an animal swim towards him. It was the king of animals in China, the tiger. The strongest tiger struggled to overcome the strong current and when he was about to pass by the cat, the cat asked him a favour. “Dear king of the animals, would you mind to give me a hand in this strong current? I am nearly drowning.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t.

I need to win this race.

The Emperor is waiting for me.”

And splish! splash! splish! splash! Off the Tiger went, crossing the widest part of the river. The tiger came roaring to the finishing line. “Am I the first?” asked the tiger hopeful. “No,” answered the rat smugly. “You have to be awfully clever to beat me.” The ox nodded. “And you had to get up extra early to beat me.” the ox added. So the tiger assigned the third place.

Meanwhile, the cat was still struggling going through the strong current in the river. At the same time, the lucky rabbit had her luck when she discovered many rocks that can help her cross the strong current river safely and with much more ease. The cat tried to approach the rabbit and asked her for a favour. “Dear lucky rabbit, would you mind helping me get onto the rocks so that I can cross this strong current river? I am nearly drowning in it.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t.

I need to win this race.

The Emperor is waiting for me.”

And hip! hop! hip! hop! off the Rabbit went, crossing the widest part of the river to the finishing line. And so the rabbit was assigned as the fourth winner. Just as the rabbit crossed the finish line, the sky became dark and a great storm blew. The powerful and mystical dragon appeared in the clouds above. He was so much, much too big to run through the woods or swim across the river. So the Emperor had told him he could race through the sky, braving the rains and the wind. As the dragon descended down to the ground, he was assigned as the fifth finisher.

The Cat saw the dragon’s appearance and he tried the best out of him to swim through the river. He swam as fast as he could. A few moments later, he heard the sound of galloping hooves in the distance. It was the strong elegant horse. As the horse was about to pass by him, he called up to the horse and asked him a favour. “Dear strong yet elegant Horse, would you give me a ride across this strong current river? I am nearly drowning.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t.

I need to win this race.

The Emperor is waiting for me.”

And splish! splash! splish! splash! Off the Horse went, crossing the widest part of the river to the finishing line. Just as he was about to set his foot on the finishing line, suddenly the silvery snake came out of nowhere and startled the horse. Startled, the horse took a few steps back, making it easier for the snake to slither across to the finishing line and took the sixth place. Feeling annoyed, the Horse crossed the finishing line and was assigned as the seventh winner.

“How come you didn’t realize that the snake was there before you?” the Emperor asked out of his curiosity after he saw how shocked the Horse was by the time he found out about the snake. “She managed to hitch a ride on me secretly and I didn’t know when it happened. Maybe when I was about to cross the river, Emperor.” The snake just grinned to the Emperor while hearing the horse’s story.

On the other side of the riverbank, the sheep, monkey and rooster had made a raft to take them across the river as they are bad swimmers. Meanwhile, the strong and great swimmer, the dog, had already swam across it. The trio then set off on their hand-made raft across the river. The monkey paddled the raft, the rooster gave the directions and the sheep stood at the back of the raft to give balance. Again, the cat saw the trio and talked to the sheep without being noticed by the rooster and the monkey. “Dear wise sheep, could you give me a secret ride on you raft? I’m nearly drowning in this strong current river.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t.

We need to win this race.

The Emperor is waiting for us.”

And splish! splash! splish! splash! Off the trio went, crossing the widest part of the river to the finishing line. Amazed by the great teamwork showed by the trio, the Emperor assigned the sheep as the eighth winner, the monkey as the ninth winner and the rooster as the tenth winner. But they were shocked to see that the strong and great dog haven’t crossed the finish line yet. A few minutes later, the dog came wiggling his tail. He won the eleventh place. “How come you came later even though you set off earlier than us?” asked the monkey curiously. “I couldn’t resist the water so I decided to play in it a little longer.”

“Now we already have eleven winners. Who will be the twelfth?” asked the Emperor. “I just need one more animal.” The cat who was still swimming hard in the river tried to catch the Emperor’s attention by shouting; “Me! I will be the last animal.” But he was too far away from the Emperor to make him hear his shout. That made him swim even faster than before. Unfortunately for the cat, the pig was much faster than him and rushed to the finishing line.

“Number twelve!” cried the Emperor but the cat was still far away from the riverbank. The Emperor then asked the pig what took him so long to finish the race. He said; “When I was running, I got hungry and stopped to eat my lunch. But then I got sleepy and took a nap. Luckily, I woke up just in time and rushed to win this race.”

“Congratulations to all the winners! As I had promised, one of the months will be named after each and every one of you according to the place that you had won.” said the Emperor. All the animals were very happy and they all had a big party to celebrate their winning with the Emperor.

The exhausted and lethargic cat finally arrived at the riverbank only to see the joyfulness of the winners especially the rat. Remembering how hard he had to go through in the river and how humiliated he felt after the rat’s betrayal, he held a great grudge on the rat. And from that point on wards, whenever he saw the rat, he always wanted to kill him.

That is how the Chinese Zodiac and calendar was determined; and that is also why the cat always chases the rat and tries to kill it. So, when we see a cat chasing after a rat, it is actually for the sake of their ancestor’s grudge that is passed down through generations until now.

~THE END~

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#I really hope that my teacher give me high mark....