Stories of Animal Signs
13 total works
Hit Spring Ox is one of the titles in Snowflake Books' series: Animal Signs. Adapted from ancient Chinese legends, all based around the mythical Race of the Animals, these stories are well-known and loved by all Chinese children; the books thus provide an informal and accessible means of introducing Western children to an important aspect of Chinese life and culture in the home, and of introducing diversity studies into education. Each book tells the story of one of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac signs, which are also used as the names of the years in the Chinese calendar. In Hit Spring Ox, Ox enters for the legendary Race of Animals and seems very likely to win, but he kindly gives a lift to Mouse who tricks him into second place. Ox, however, is good natured and forgiving. The Jade Emperor, mythical ruler of heaven, honours Ox with his own star in the sky. Ox takes pity on the humans on earth who are always hungry and don't know how to grow food properly, while rice is reserved only for heaven as the "food of the gods". Disobeying the Emperor, Ox shows humans how to plow and sow rice.
When the Rain God is sent to drag Ox back to the heavens, Ox makes the supreme sacrifice of his life to give rice and young oxen to the people on earth. As with all Chinese traditional animal stories, their deceptive simplicity is a vehicle for displaying the richness and variety of human character and feeling; Chinese believe the animal year of a person's birth influences character; the animals in these legends display to some extent their respective zodiac qualities, in this case sympathy, kindness and quiet courage for a just cause. The myth may also be seen as a folk memory of the transition from a hunter-gatherer society to an agrarian one, and the patient oxen still plough the rice fields in China.This is an entirely new version of the old legend, re-written in simple English, suitable for reading to or by young children, or by older children learning Mandarin. The complete text is bi-lingual with colour coded key words and a Mandarin-English vocabulary. The parallel text in Pinyin, using the Roman alphabet, enables readers to pronounce the Chinese characters. Purchase of the book allows access to an animated e-book with audio in English and/or Chinese.Production quality is high, with good quality paper and colour, original full colour illustrations by Chinese artists on every page and traditional binding.
When the Rain God is sent to drag Ox back to the heavens, Ox makes the supreme sacrifice of his life to give rice and young oxen to the people on earth. As with all Chinese traditional animal stories, their deceptive simplicity is a vehicle for displaying the richness and variety of human character and feeling; Chinese believe the animal year of a person's birth influences character; the animals in these legends display to some extent their respective zodiac qualities, in this case sympathy, kindness and quiet courage for a just cause. The myth may also be seen as a folk memory of the transition from a hunter-gatherer society to an agrarian one, and the patient oxen still plough the rice fields in China.This is an entirely new version of the old legend, re-written in simple English, suitable for reading to or by young children, or by older children learning Mandarin. The complete text is bi-lingual with colour coded key words and a Mandarin-English vocabulary. The parallel text in Pinyin, using the Roman alphabet, enables readers to pronounce the Chinese characters. Purchase of the book allows access to an animated e-book with audio in English and/or Chinese.Production quality is high, with good quality paper and colour, original full colour illustrations by Chinese artists on every page and traditional binding.
Golden Pig is one of the titles in Snowflake Books' series: Animal Signs. Adapted from ancient Chinese legends, all based around the mythical Race of the Animals, these stories are well-known and loved by all Chinese children; the books thus provide an informal and accessible means of introducing Western children to an important aspect of Chinese life and culture in the home, and of introducing diversity studies into education. Each book tells the story of one of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac signs, which are also used as the names of the years in the Chinese calendar. Golden Pig has a golden skin, though all her brothers and sisters are pink. This is because a magic golden light shone from the sky just as she was born. Golden Pig is very greedy and eats everyone's food as well as her own; Mother Pig is very angry and Golden Pig runs away from home, but she eats all the food in the village too. All the pigs decide they must grow more food. They dig up the earth with their noses. The farmers are very pleased. They say, 'Emperor Shun had elephants to plow his fields. But we have pigs.' They grow lots of food.
One day Golden Pig is digging for food as usual when she discovers some valuable rock salt. This makes everyone very rich and happy. Golden Pig is persuaded to enter for the Jade Emperors Race of Animals, but as usual she stops to eat fallen fruit and anything she sees. At last, as everyone shouts encouragement, she jumps and rolls over the finish just in twelfth place, so the twelfth and last Chinese Year is the Year of Pig.As with all Chinese traditional animal stories, their deceptive simplicity is a vehicle for displaying the richness and variety of human character and feeling; Chinese believe the animal year of a person's birth influences character; the animals in these legends display to some extent their respective zodiac qualities. Golden Pig is at first disliked because she seems self-centred, but she is good natured, and in her own disorganised way she brings a lot of good to everyone, so she is popular in the end.This is an entirely new version of the old legend, re-written in simple English, suitable for reading to or by young children, or by older children learning Mandarin. The complete text is bi-lingual with colour coded key words and a Mandarin-English vocabulary.
The parallel text in Pinyin, using the Roman alphabet, enables readers to pronounce the Chinese characters. Purchase of the book allows access to an animated e-book with audio in English and/or Chinese.Production quality is high, with good quality paper and colour, original full colour illustrations by Chinese artists on every page, and traditional binding.
One day Golden Pig is digging for food as usual when she discovers some valuable rock salt. This makes everyone very rich and happy. Golden Pig is persuaded to enter for the Jade Emperors Race of Animals, but as usual she stops to eat fallen fruit and anything she sees. At last, as everyone shouts encouragement, she jumps and rolls over the finish just in twelfth place, so the twelfth and last Chinese Year is the Year of Pig.As with all Chinese traditional animal stories, their deceptive simplicity is a vehicle for displaying the richness and variety of human character and feeling; Chinese believe the animal year of a person's birth influences character; the animals in these legends display to some extent their respective zodiac qualities. Golden Pig is at first disliked because she seems self-centred, but she is good natured, and in her own disorganised way she brings a lot of good to everyone, so she is popular in the end.This is an entirely new version of the old legend, re-written in simple English, suitable for reading to or by young children, or by older children learning Mandarin. The complete text is bi-lingual with colour coded key words and a Mandarin-English vocabulary.
The parallel text in Pinyin, using the Roman alphabet, enables readers to pronounce the Chinese characters. Purchase of the book allows access to an animated e-book with audio in English and/or Chinese.Production quality is high, with good quality paper and colour, original full colour illustrations by Chinese artists on every page, and traditional binding.
Five Colour Dog is one of the titles in Snowflake Books' series: Animal Signs. Adapted from ancient Chinese legends, all based around the mythical Race of the Animal, these stories are well-known and loved by all Chinese children; the books thus provide an informal and accessible means of introducing Western children to an important aspect of Chinese life and culture in the home, and of introducing diversity studies into education. Each book tells the story of one of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac signs, which are also used as the names of the years in the Chinese calendar. Five Colour Dog is clearly a magic dog since the legend says he is not born in the usual way, but from a little worm which lives in a gourd covered by a plate; hence his story name of Plate-Gourd. The shepherd's wife realises he is too special to be a farm dog and encourages him to explore the wider world. Plate Gourd is naturally caring, brave and loyal and he risks his life to rescue the drunken Mountain King from a bush fire. Plate Gourd is badly wounded as he searches for magic herbs to cure the Princess Little Lotus as she is dying from a mystery disease.
But, with the magic of the god of the mountain, the sincere tears of Little Lotus falling onto Plate Gourd heal him in turn, and he becomes a human being. Interestingly, legends of the ancient Yao and She mountain people in China say they are descended from a mythical dog called Panhu, meaning Plate-Gourd.As with all Chinese traditional animal stories, their deceptive simplicity is a vehicle for displaying the richness and variety of human character and feeling; Chinese believe the animal year of a person's birth influences character; the animals in these legends display to some extent their respective zodiac qualities, in this case the combination of caring with courage and loyalty.This is an entirely new version of the old legend, re-written in simple English, suitable for reading to or by young children, or by older children learning Mandarin. The complete text is bi-lingual with colour coded key words and a Mandarin-English vocabulary. The parallel text in Pinyin, using the Roman alphabet, enables readers to pronounce the Chinese characters. Purchase of the book allows access to an animated e-book with audio in English and/or Chinese.Production quality is high, with good quality paper, original full colour illustrations on every page and traditional binding.
But, with the magic of the god of the mountain, the sincere tears of Little Lotus falling onto Plate Gourd heal him in turn, and he becomes a human being. Interestingly, legends of the ancient Yao and She mountain people in China say they are descended from a mythical dog called Panhu, meaning Plate-Gourd.As with all Chinese traditional animal stories, their deceptive simplicity is a vehicle for displaying the richness and variety of human character and feeling; Chinese believe the animal year of a person's birth influences character; the animals in these legends display to some extent their respective zodiac qualities, in this case the combination of caring with courage and loyalty.This is an entirely new version of the old legend, re-written in simple English, suitable for reading to or by young children, or by older children learning Mandarin. The complete text is bi-lingual with colour coded key words and a Mandarin-English vocabulary. The parallel text in Pinyin, using the Roman alphabet, enables readers to pronounce the Chinese characters. Purchase of the book allows access to an animated e-book with audio in English and/or Chinese.Production quality is high, with good quality paper, original full colour illustrations on every page and traditional binding.
Lord Tiger is one of the titles in Snowflake Books' series: Animal Signs. Adapted from ancient Chinese legends, all based around the mythical Race of the Animals, these stories are well-known and loved by all Chinese children; the books thus provide an informal and accessible means of introducing Western children to an important aspect of Chinese life and culture in the home, and of introducing diversity studies into education. Each book tells the story of one of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac signs, which are also used as the names of the years in the Chinese calendar. Lord Tiger is a very bad tiger - he eats people! The villagers appeal to the Land God, who orders Tiger to behave. Tiger hopes one day to be King of the Animals, so he tries to be good. But when he is very tired and hungry after the Race of the Animals he eats an old lady by mistake. The wise Doctor Wu shows Tiger that. now there is no one to care for the old lady's mother. Tiger is full of remorse and promises to care for the mother himself. He makes friends with a young girl, and when the girl is very ill, Tiger discovers that he has healing powers.
Doctor Wu and Tiger agree to work together to heal sick people and Lord Tiger becomes known as the "Guardian of Children".As with all Chinese traditional animal stories, their deceptive simplicity is a vehicle for displaying the richness and variety of human character and feeling; Chinese believe the animal year of a person's birth influences character; the animals in these legends display to some extent their respective zodiac qualities, in this case the extremes of wickedness and potential for goodness in one character. It is a story of remorse and redemption. Chinese mothers still leave gifts at the statues of Lord Tiger in the temples, hoping for good health for their children.This is an entirely new version of the old legend, re-written in simple English, suitable for reading to or by young children, or by older children learning Mandarin. The complete text is bi-lingual with colour coded key words and a Mandarin-English vocabulary. The parallel text in Pinyin, using the Roman alphabet, enables readers to pronounce the Chinese characters. Purchase of the book allows access to an animated e-book with audio in English and/or Chinese.Production quality is high, with good quality paper and colour, original full colour illustrations by Chinese artists on every page and traditional binding.
Doctor Wu and Tiger agree to work together to heal sick people and Lord Tiger becomes known as the "Guardian of Children".As with all Chinese traditional animal stories, their deceptive simplicity is a vehicle for displaying the richness and variety of human character and feeling; Chinese believe the animal year of a person's birth influences character; the animals in these legends display to some extent their respective zodiac qualities, in this case the extremes of wickedness and potential for goodness in one character. It is a story of remorse and redemption. Chinese mothers still leave gifts at the statues of Lord Tiger in the temples, hoping for good health for their children.This is an entirely new version of the old legend, re-written in simple English, suitable for reading to or by young children, or by older children learning Mandarin. The complete text is bi-lingual with colour coded key words and a Mandarin-English vocabulary. The parallel text in Pinyin, using the Roman alphabet, enables readers to pronounce the Chinese characters. Purchase of the book allows access to an animated e-book with audio in English and/or Chinese.Production quality is high, with good quality paper and colour, original full colour illustrations by Chinese artists on every page and traditional binding.
A thousand years ago, Five Flower Horse was a special dancing horse trained to entertain Emperors and their guests in the Tang Dynasty of China. An inspiring story about following your dreams. In the emperor's race the Five Flower Horse was distracted by his love for dancing and therefore didn't win. His family was disappointed in him, but instead of letting this defeat upset him the horse becomes determined to pursue his passion of dancing in the emperor's court despite being a war horse. Even though his friends and family disagree with his choice, the horse believes in himself and accomplishes his dream.It is the story for children who were born in the Year of the Horse.
In this legend, Fu De Zhang was made a god to protect his villagers because he was very kind to save the little snake and he taught her not to hurt humans when she had grown up to be big. This story not only tells us to be kind, but also shows that animals may have feelings like humans; they won't hurt us if we don't disturb them first.This is the story of the Year of the Snake.
Jade Rabbit is one of the titles in Snowflake Books' series: Animal Signs. Adapted from ancient Chinese legends, all based around the mythical Race of the Animals, these stories are well-known and loved by Chinese children; the books thus provide an informal and accessible means of introducing Western children to an important aspect of Chinese life and culture in the home, and of introducing diversity studies into education. Each book tells the story of one of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac signs, which are also used as the names of the years in the Chinese calendar. In Jade Rabbit, Rabbit lives with her friends Fox and Monkey in a forest. There is a terrible drought and famine. One day a starving old man appears, begging for food. Rabbit can find no food and so offers herself in a supreme and rather bizarre sacrifice. But it turns out that the old man was a god, testing Rabbit's sincerity and kindness. The god sends Rabbit on a journey to the moon. Here she lives with the Moon Lady in the beautiful Moon Palace. Rabbit is taught how to make many wonderful herb medicines until, one day, she is sent back to earth to enter the legendary Animal Race.
During the race Rabbit comes across many sick people and uses her knowledge of medicine to cure them. Rabbit uses many disguises in her work, but one day she is very tired and falls asleep, when her disguise fades away and the grateful people discover she is only a rabbit after all.As with all Chinese traditional animal stories, their deceptive simplicity is a vehicle for displaying the richness and variety of human character and feeling; Chinese believe the animal year of a person's birth influences character; the animals in these legends display to some extent their respective zodiac qualities, in this case Rabbit's kind and self-effacing character which is seen to be worthy of the Moon Lady's instruction. Rabbit uses her knowledge well and her reward is to be respected and loved by everyone. Chinese people still regard Jade Rabbit with affection and pray to her, hoping for good luck and health.This is an entirely new version of the old legend, re-written in simple English, suitable for reading to or by young children, or by older children learning Mandarin. The complete text is bi-lingual with colour coded key words and a Mandarin-English vocabulary.
The parallel text in Pinyin, using the Roman alphabet, enables readers to pronounce the Chinese characters. Purchase of the book allows access to an animated e-book with audio in English and/or Chinese.Production quality is high, with good quality paper, original full colour illustrations by Chinese artists on every page, and traditional binding.
During the race Rabbit comes across many sick people and uses her knowledge of medicine to cure them. Rabbit uses many disguises in her work, but one day she is very tired and falls asleep, when her disguise fades away and the grateful people discover she is only a rabbit after all.As with all Chinese traditional animal stories, their deceptive simplicity is a vehicle for displaying the richness and variety of human character and feeling; Chinese believe the animal year of a person's birth influences character; the animals in these legends display to some extent their respective zodiac qualities, in this case Rabbit's kind and self-effacing character which is seen to be worthy of the Moon Lady's instruction. Rabbit uses her knowledge well and her reward is to be respected and loved by everyone. Chinese people still regard Jade Rabbit with affection and pray to her, hoping for good luck and health.This is an entirely new version of the old legend, re-written in simple English, suitable for reading to or by young children, or by older children learning Mandarin. The complete text is bi-lingual with colour coded key words and a Mandarin-English vocabulary.
The parallel text in Pinyin, using the Roman alphabet, enables readers to pronounce the Chinese characters. Purchase of the book allows access to an animated e-book with audio in English and/or Chinese.Production quality is high, with good quality paper, original full colour illustrations by Chinese artists on every page, and traditional binding.
The little white snake was hurt during the race, but she still tried hard to reach the finish. Although she was only sixth in the race, she showed a very strong spirit, and now the sixth Chinese year is called the Year of Snake after her. In the legend, Fu De Chang was made a god to protect his villagers because he was very kind to save the little snake and he taught her not to hurt humans when she had grown up to be big. This story not only tells us to be kind, but also shows that animals may have feelings like humans; they won't hurt us if we don't disturb them first. It is a wonderful time in 2013 for us to know the story of Little White, a very brave and smart snake.
Dragon Raises Head is one of the titles in Snowflake Books' series: Stories of Animal Signs. Adapted from ancient Chinese legends, all based around the mythical Race of the Animals, these stories are well-known and loved by Chinese children; the books thus provide an informal and accessible means of introducing Western children to an important aspect of Chinese life and culture in the home, and of introducing diversity studies into education. Each book tells the story of one of the animals of the Chinese Zodiac signs, which are also used as the names of the years in the Chinese calendar. In Dragon Raises his Head the Jade Emperor, mythical ruler of heaven, is angry with the Chinese people because, for the first time, they have dared choose a woman as emperor. The Jade Emperor controls the legendary Dragon Kings who, so Chinese believe, manage rain and storms. The dragons are ordered to stop all rain and there is a disastrous drought. The desperate people pray to heaven and one night the rain returns. When an old man sees a dragon on the mountain, apparently asleep, he chides it for forgetting to bring rain.
But, the dragon protests, he did bring that rain, under cover of the Animal Race. Now, as punishment, he is condemned to be crushed for ever under a huge rock "Until the yellow beans flower", but no one knows what they are. When the old man tells his villagers, a clever child works out that the yellow bean flowers are pop-corn. The grateful people make lots of pop-corn and the kind dragon is released.As with all Chinese traditional animal stories, their deceptive simplicity is a vehicle for displaying the richness and variety of human character and feeling; Chinese believe the animal year of a person's birth influences character; the animals in these legends display to some extent their respective zodiac qualities, here the courageous dragon disobeys orders to do what he thinks right, but not only is he punished for it, his sacrifice is not at first appreciated by the people. Empress Wu Ze-Tian lived 624-705 CE and it is very likely that any extreme weather may have been blamed on her unusual accession. This is an entirely new version of the old legend, re-written in simple English, suitable for reading to or by young children, or by older children learning Mandarin.
The complete text is bi-lingual with colour coded key words and a Mandarin-English vocabulary. The parallel text in Pinyin, using the Roman alphabet, enables readers to pronounce the Chinese characters. Purchase of the book allows access to an animated e-book with audio in English and/or Chinese.Production quality is high, with good quality paper, original full colour illustrations by Chinese artists on every page, and traditional binding.
But, the dragon protests, he did bring that rain, under cover of the Animal Race. Now, as punishment, he is condemned to be crushed for ever under a huge rock "Until the yellow beans flower", but no one knows what they are. When the old man tells his villagers, a clever child works out that the yellow bean flowers are pop-corn. The grateful people make lots of pop-corn and the kind dragon is released.As with all Chinese traditional animal stories, their deceptive simplicity is a vehicle for displaying the richness and variety of human character and feeling; Chinese believe the animal year of a person's birth influences character; the animals in these legends display to some extent their respective zodiac qualities, here the courageous dragon disobeys orders to do what he thinks right, but not only is he punished for it, his sacrifice is not at first appreciated by the people. Empress Wu Ze-Tian lived 624-705 CE and it is very likely that any extreme weather may have been blamed on her unusual accession. This is an entirely new version of the old legend, re-written in simple English, suitable for reading to or by young children, or by older children learning Mandarin.
The complete text is bi-lingual with colour coded key words and a Mandarin-English vocabulary. The parallel text in Pinyin, using the Roman alphabet, enables readers to pronounce the Chinese characters. Purchase of the book allows access to an animated e-book with audio in English and/or Chinese.Production quality is high, with good quality paper, original full colour illustrations by Chinese artists on every page, and traditional binding.
