The Great race -Story of the ⭐ #zodiac Sign

The story goes that a race was organized by the Jade Emperor.
The years on the calendar would be named for each animal in the order they reached the jae place gate. 🐈🐀🐂🐅🐇🐉🐍🐎🐐🐒🐓🐕🐖

The 😺 Cat and the 🐭 Rat were not good at swimming, but they were both quite intelligent. They decided that the best and fastest way to cross the river was to hop on the back of the Ox. The 🐮 Ox, being kindhearted and naïve, agreed to carry them both across. As the Ox was about to reach the other side of the river, the Rat pushed the Cat into the water, and then jumped off the Ox and rushed to the Jade Emperor. It was named as the first animal of the zodiac calendar. The Ox had to settle in second place.
The tiger ran a good race but the current in the river sent it a little off-course.
Next up was the rabbit crossed the river: by jumping from one stone to another, in a nimble fashion.

In fifth place, was the flying 🐲dragon
The Jade Emperor was wondering why such a swift airborne creature such as the Loong did not come in first. The Loong explained that it had to stop by a village and brought rain for all the people, and therefore it was held back.

🐴 Horse hadn’t noticed that the 🐍 snake was saving energy by wrapping itself around the horse’s leg to hitch a ride. With the finish line in sight, the snake uncoiled itself and frightened the horse enough to slither into sixth, leaving its carrier, the horse, to take seventh place.

Next up were the sheep, 🐵monkey and 🐔 rooster and this is a perfect example of teamwork. The Rooster found a raft, and the Monkey and the Goat tugged and pulled. With combined efforts, they three piloted a small raft which would see them across the river safely.

Although 🐶 Dog is the best 🏊🏿 swimmer and runner, it spent its time to play in the water. For that, first 10 creatures to overtake it and it almost did not make it to the finish line.
When asked Dog explanation for being late was because it needed a good bath after a long spell.

The 🐷 pig got peckish during the race. After stopping for food, it became sleepy and dozed off. It did wake up after a while and managed to make it over the line in last place. The Emperor had almost given up on it but was happy to assign it the final space in the zodiac.

Right when the Emperor was going to end the race, an "oink" sound was heard: it was the 🐷 Pig. The Pig felt hungry in the middle of the race, so it stopped, ate something, and then fell asleep. After it awoke, it finished the race in twelfth place and became the last animal to arrive.

Why isn't there a Year of the Cat?
The cat eventually drowned and failed to be in the zodiac. It is said that this is the reason cats always hunt rats and also hate water as well.