the legend of chinese zodiacs

According to the legend, in the 6th century B.C. the Jade Emperor invited all the animals to participate in a race. The prize was a coveted position on the Chinese Zodiac Calender, which means the first 12 animals to cross the river would appear on the Chinese Zodiac Calender in the order in which they completed the race.
The 1st animal to make it accross the finishing line was rat. A long tme ago, cat and rat were good friends and neighbours. In his greed of winning the race, rat forgotten his promise to wake his friend, cat to go for the race together. On the way, rat meet tiger, ox, horse, and the other animals which could run much faster than him. In order to not fall behind them, he thought of a good idea. He made the straightfoward ox carry him on the condition that he sang for ox. Ox and rat arrived first. When they were almost reaching the finishong line, rat jumped off from ox's head and ran to the finishing line. Therefore, ox came in at 2nd place. When cat finally woke up and got to the racing ground, the race was already over. That is why cats hate rats so much that each time they meet, a cat will chase after a rat.
Tiger, also being strong, came in 3rd, followed by rabbit (4th place) that jumped his way accross and was helped during the last stretch by dragon (5th place). Snake (6th place) hid in the hoof of horse which was how he managed to make it across the river. At the last minute, the snake jumped out and scared horse into 7th place.
Sheep (8th place), monkey (9th place) and rooster (10th place) helped one another accross the river and earned their spots on the calender as well. Dog made it too, but he decided that a bath was more important that the position which is why he came in 11th place. Finally, boar appeared and was listed as the 12th and final animal to be in Chinese Zodiac Calender.