Thousands of years ago, there lived animals in a certain kingdom.

Each year, the animals organized a race. Many small and big animals registered for the race and the first 12 animals to finish were to be honoured by exempting them from community work. The year would also to be named after them.

After a long day of training, Cat and Rat went to sleep. These two were both late risers so they asked Ox to wake them up early on the day of the race.

In the morning, Ox woke Cat and Rat but they were too sleepy and did not want to wake up. Instead they continued sleeping.

The race was about to start so the Ox decided to carry sleepy cat and rat on his back and started running. The animals raced across the land, through the forests and rivers.

While on the race track, the rat woke up just at the time Ox was crossing the last river.  Rat knew that he could never beat cat in the race so he pushed sleepy Cat into the river. The cold water woke Cat up and he swum to the river banks.

When Ox almost reached the finish line, Rat jumped off his back and won. Ox came second and Tiger was the third, but he cheated. He used the backs of other animals as stepping stones because he did not want to swim.

Cat was the last in the race so he wondered how Rat won yet they were sleeping together on Ox’s back. Ox explained to him what Rat had done to him. Thereafter cat angrily chased the Rat whenever he saw him.

This is why cats chase rats all the time. They cannot imagine that a rat can beat them in any race.

Ends