Traveling back to ancient times to determine the zodiac

前言

We are all very familiar with the twelve zodiac animals, which are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig, etc. But why did the ancients choose these twelve animals as the zodiac? And why are they arranged in this way? In fact, there have been many different opinions about the origin of the zodiac. There is a legend that the Jade Emperor chose them for the purpose of recording years; there is also a legend that the Yellow Emperor chose them for the purpose of recruiting palace guards. There are all kinds of stories, strange and bizarre. The origin of the twelve zodiac animals I want to talk about here is the story of our human ancestors who bravely fought against the Nian beast and finally defeated the Nian beast and subdued the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, etc. For details, please read this book patiently.

It is said that in ancient times, the world was in chaos. Thanks to Pangu who created the world with a sharp axe, the world became clear and peaceful. After tens of thousands of years, Pangu finally died. His body turned into the sun, moon, stars, mountains and rivers. From then on, the earth began to have life, flowers, trees, birds, beasts, fish and insects grew, but there were no humans. God saw that the world was lonely, so he ordered Nuwa to go down to the world to create humans.

Nuwa was ordered to go down to the mortal world and came to a place called Hongmeng. The scenery here is beautiful, like entering a fairyland. In the distance, there are rolling mountains, and in the near distance, there is a vast plain. A Hongmeng River, about 20 meters wide, flows out of the valley in the distance, crosses the plain, and flows slowly to the east. The mountains and forests are full of strange peaks and rocks, and towering trees. On the plains, there are green grass and colorful flowers. It can be said that it is a beautiful place with clear water and beautiful mountains, birds singing and flowers blooming, which makes people feel relaxed and happy and linger.

Nuwa found a pond, mixed some yellow mud with water, and began to make a person in her own image. Soon, a clay figure was made. Nuwa blew a breath of fairy air at the clay figure, and the clay figure came to life, not only able to walk and jump, but also able to speak and sing.

Nuwa continued to create humans for several days until she created many humans. When Nuwa was about to create more humans, the men and women who were created first gathered around Nuwa and said to her, "Nuwa, please create more later. We are all hungry. What shall we eat?"

So, Nuwa stopped creating humans and started teaching them how to find food, just like a mother taking care of her children. She taught them to collect seeds of herbs on the grassland and to pick fruits from trees in the mountains. After people had eaten their fill, Nuwa taught them to take tree barks and grass stems and weave them into clothes to wear. They not only covered the body but also kept warm. Just when Nuwa was about to teach people more life skills, God sent a messenger to tell Nuwa to return to heaven. Nuwa had no choice but to leave these newborn humans behind and return to heaven.

Although Nuwa left, the people who came to the world had to continue to live. They worked hard, fought bravely against wild beasts, and multiplied from then on. Generation after generation, people gradually learned to make tools such as stone knives and stone axes, and also made various weapons such as spears, bows and arrows. They also took fire when the heavenly fire was sent out, and learned to use fire to cook food. Everyone formed a tribe with a leader as the leader, helping each other and being united and friendly. Men were responsible for hunting in the mountains, fishing in the rivers, and collecting food everywhere. Women were responsible for making fire, cooking, and having children. Although people's lives were backward and primitive, they lived a peaceful, happy and joyful life. At that time, people did not use years to count time, and there was no distinction between four seasons and solar terms. They only knew to work at sunrise and rest at sunset. Therefore, it is unknown when the story described in this book happened. There is a poem as evidence, which says:

Pangu created the world, and Nuwa created intelligent humans.

The world that was originally a world of beasts has since become civilized.

Cross

High up on the bungee jumping tower, three high school students were arguing fiercely.

"Mei Li, I really like you. Although I am very poor now, with my talent, I will definitely be successful in the future. You are definitely right to choose me." The tall and thin handsome man Liu Xing said seriously to Mei Li in front of him.

"Meli, I love you the most. My family owns a mine and I have endless money. If you marry me, you can just enjoy your life in the future." Another fat boy, Qian Duoduo, also said to Meili.

"Qian Duoduo, although your family is rich, you are like a stupid pig. Will Meili be happy with you?" Liu Xing said sarcastically.

"Liu Xing, don't think you are great just because you are good at studying. You will still have to struggle for money in the future. And I am already at the top of your struggle." Qian Duoduo retorted disdainfully.

Meili is very beautiful and is the school's most beautiful girl. Seeing the two arguing, he interrupted them and said, "Liu Xing, Qian Duoduo, stop arguing. You both have talent (wealth), but I still want to choose a brave man to be my boyfriend. In this way, if I encounter danger, he will dare to come out to protect me. So I thought about it for a long time and decided to invite you to bungee jumping to see who is braver?"

"Meli, so you want to test us? I'm braver than a tiger. I'll go first." Qian Duoduo quickly agreed and walked towards a staff member on the bungee tower.

"Little fatty, how could I have guessed that you are so brave?" The staff nodded in appreciation and helped him tie the rope neatly.

Soon, everything was ready. The staff led Qian Duoduo to the entrance of the tower and said, "Okay, you can jump now."

Qian Duoduo stood at the entrance of the 60-meter-high tower and looked down. He suddenly developed a fear of heights. His legs were shaking with fear and he kept saying, "Oh my god - it's so high, it's too scary, I dare not jump, I dare not jump."

"Little Fatty, didn't you just say you were braver than a tiger? How come you're suddenly braver than a mouse?" The staff member teased, "If you don't jump, you can't get your money back!"

"I won't return the money. My family has plenty of money." Qian Duoduo retreated to the middle of the tower trembling.

"Hmph! Coward!" Liu Xing sneered as he walked towards the staff.

The staff member untied the bungee rope from Qian Duoduo, helped Liu Xingxing onto it, and then guided him to stand at the bungee opening.

Liu Xing looked down and was not afraid. He opened his arms and shouted to the sky, "Heaven - Earth - here I come."

After shouting, the man rushed forward.

"Whoosh——" The bungee rope was pulled straight in an instant, and then bounced back.

"Oh no! The rope is broken!" the staff suddenly screamed.

"Why didn't you change one in advance?" Liu Xing, who had bounced back, asked angrily when he heard it.

"Of course we have to wait until the rope breaks before replacing it!" the staff member replied helplessly.

"Fuck..."

"Bang——", with a loud noise, Liu Xing knew nothing.

Primitive society

"Ouch——" Liu Xing, lying on the straw mat, groaned and felt a splitting headache. The first thing he thought of was: "Where am I? Am I in the coffin or in the hospital?"

When he tried to open his eyes, what he saw was a huge cave ceiling. On the wooden block next to his bed, there sat a woman in her thirties. She had waist-length hair, wheat-colored skin, and tears in her eyes, staring at him silently. She was wearing clothes made of deerskin and a tiger-skin skirt.

Liu Xing was stunned and quickly closed his eyes again, screaming in his mind in disbelief: "What the hell is this place? Who is she? Am I dreaming?"

The woman next to him was so surprised to see Liu Xing wake up that she couldn't help crying again. While crying, she kept complaining: "Xing'er, you finally woke up. Wuwu - God bless you. It's been three days, and I thought you were gone. Wuwu - Xing'er, why are you so stupid? Why did you run to that cliff to commit suicide? Wuwu - ten years ago, your father went out hunting and met a tiger. He fought the tiger bravely. Although he killed the tiger in the end, he was also seriously injured and died when he came back. Since then, we have depended on each other. If you die now, how can I live? Wuwu -."

"What's going on? What's going on?" Liu Xing became more and more confused. "What does this have to do with anything? Did I travel through time?"

Thinking of this, Liu Xing hurriedly shook his head, like shaking a bottle of potion. Sure enough, the door to another person's memory was opened:

It turns out that this is a primitive society in the Stone Age. People at that time had names but no surnames. Parents named their children based on what they saw or thought of. The boy who traveled through time was also named Xing, sixteen years old. Although he was 1.8 meters tall, he couldn't go hunting with the adults because he suffered from a congenital disease, had difficulty walking, and stuttered. Three days ago, Xiaoxing went to the back mountain to play and found a two-foot-tall nameless plant on a cliff. The branches and leaves were sparse and plump. At the top of the plant, there was a thumb-sized, fiery red fruit that looked very strange. So Xiaoxing decided to eat the fruit.

Xiaoxing climbed down the cliff carefully. Just when he picked the fruit, his foot suddenly slipped, and he rolled down the cliff and fainted.

Xiao Xing recalled this, opened his palm, and found that the fruit was still in his hand. So he threw it into his mouth and swallowed it directly.

"Xing'er, how are you? Are you okay?" Xiaoxing's mother, whose name is Chun, saw that he had just eaten something and shouted worriedly: "What did you eat? You, you didn't fall and become stupid, did you?"

"Mom, I'm not committing suicide. I just accidentally fell off the cliff, that's all. I didn't eat anything. I'm fine." Xiaoxing was afraid that Chun would worry, so he didn't tell her that he had eaten the wild fruit.

"I'm glad you're okay." Chun smiled with relief, and continued, "You have a good rest, I'll get you some food." After that, he got up and left.