12 Animals of Chinese Mythology #2 LbNA #8164
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Add Location| Owner: | Nairon   |
|---|---|
| Plant date: | May 8, 2004 |
| Location: | |
| City: | Exeter |
| County: | Washington |
| State: | Rhode Island |
| Boxes: | 7 |
| Planted by: | moghedian |
|---|---|
| Found by: | Nairon (6) |
| Last found: | Jul 13, 2013 |
| Status: | FFFF |
| Last edited: | Mar 6, 2023 |
How The Emperor Chose His Animals (pt. 2)
This is one version of the story telling how the twelve animals of Chinese mythology were chosen. The mighty Jade Emperor ruled the heavens, but had never been to earth. He grew curious as to what the many different types of animals found on earth were like. As it would be too time consuming to summon every single one, he asked his senior courtier to choose the twelve most interesting creatures and bring them to the palace. Once he had looked them over carefully, the Emperor planned to grade them. The courtier summoned the rat, cat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster and dog to the palace early the following morning. When morning came, the rat decided that the handsome cat might show him up. He let the cat oversleep, and only eleven creatures appeared before the Emperor. A servant was immediately sent to earth to snatch the first animal he saw-which happened to be a pig being carried to market by a farmer. Once in front of the Emperor, the rat gained first place by jumping on the Ox's back and playing the flute. The Ox won second place for generously letting the rat jump onto his back. The brave looking tiger came third, while the rabbit's lovely white fur brought him in fourth. The dragon, snake and horse came in next three-admired respectively for their powerful, snake-like appearance, sinuous body and elegant air. The ram's sturdy horns secured him eighth position. The monkey came ninth, the rooster tenth and the dog eleventh. And, last but not least , the late coming pig. The twelve animal stories that follow include how the animals competed with each other to be chosen by the Jade Emperor..
The final seven animals have been placed!! You can find them along the Pachaug Trail, located in Rhode Island. This is a fairly long hike, give yourself 3½-4 hours to find them all. This hike is the same one listed in Walks and Rambles in Rhode Island by Ken Weber. Hike #13.
To park, from Rt 3 in RI, take Rt 165, 6.6 miles west. You will find an old abandoned picnic area on the north side of the road, just before the main parking area for Beach Pond.
NOTE: We have parked here several times to hike this trail. Today, after placing the boxes, we noticed two signs that would read "Parking Between the Arrows" if not for the piece of tape above the word "parking" with the word "No" written on it. We're not sure if this an "official" no parking sign or not. There is room to park shortly before this area (6.5 miles) on the south side of the road at a red gate or you can park at the Beach Pond parking lot itself (just down the hill) to pick up the yellow/blue blazes there if you do not want to park here. The lot at the beach tends to get full in the summertime.
Anyway...once you decide where to park, you want to pick up the yellow/blue blazes. These will be found just north of the abandoned picnic area or east from the parking lot at Beach Pond.
Follow these yellow and blue blazes generally east, down a hill until the trail crosses then splits after a dirt road. You will want to take blue, passing thru the "doorway" of two trees.....
Follow the blue trail and you will shortly come to Beach Pond where the trail will wind along the shore for a ways. Stay alert for when the trail will swing east away from the pond. You will want to stop at the 2nd blue blazed tree. 18 paces at 6° to a small alcove formed by a medium boulder and a smaller rock. Here you will find The Snake. Please re-hide well.
Continue on blue and past some prehistoric "elephant ears" and thru the Graveyard of Stones. Over a rocky brook and eventually back toward the pond. Then again you will head away from the pond, along a brook, around a rocky jumble. Once again, stay alert! You will come across several old rocky cairns/(graves?). At the double blazed, quite dead, V tree, you should check the cairn at 57° for The Horse. Please re-hide well.
Once again the blue trail beckons. You will pass a foot-high mailbox. Take a breather to read the logs and leave your own.....then continue on blue. Thru the pines. On to the base of a rocky escarpment, green with the coverings of mosses and lichens. The trail will seem to visit the largest and most picturesque. Follow blue trail up the side of this escarpment and then up to the NW. When the trail swings SW (near a small pond when we were here) take 15 paces at 38° to look under a small rock overhang, beneath Deadwood for The Ram. Please re-hide well.
The Blue Trail Calls You. At the T go 232° blue. Cross the dirt road, stick with blue. When the boat launch lot is reached, look for the blue blazed rock to the north. Blue re-enters the woodlands here..... Cross the gravel road...... On a bit, dropping down a chasm, then up a smaller one.... Bypassing several other junctions, stick with friend Blue. You will soon head up a wide gorge (roughly NNE).... At the end/top of this wide gorge, you will come to a blue blazed tree on the left. (There was a large, dank pond to the right of the trail on the day we were here). At this tree, turn around 180°. You should see a double blue blazed tree. From this double blazed tree, look to 188° for a small, upright stone slab. Behind this slab, beneath some Deadwood, Jabbas favorite letterbox lies, The Monkey. Jabba says "Please rehide my friend very well!!"
Once again on Friend Blue, along the base of a cliff. Continue on until the trail crosses a stone wall. 11 paces at 175° along the wall, at its base, behind Deadwood, lies The Rooster. Re-hide well please.
Blue goes on. Crossing a woods road you stay on blue. The trail goes thru some recent cuttings? it looks like. Stay on blue until a dirt road. Your friend goes left. However, you leave your friend and go right, along the dirt road. Following this for a ways. Watch out for another dirt road heading off to the left with a double white blazed tree. From this tree, 16 paces south along the stone wall, check the base of the east side of the wall for The Dog. Rehide well.
Continue on the dirt road. A pleasant walk after your earlier exertions. When the road takes a 90° turn to the east, do not be frightened. Follow it. Ignore the road straight ahead as that leads to scarier things.
Continue on, ignoring side paths. You will soon see glimpses of a pond thru the woods to the east. A yellow trail will soon join you and you will follow this yellow trail south. Shortly you will pass an old graveyard, enclosed in a stone wall to the east. On until yellow swings SW. From the double yellow blazed tree at this "swing", take 9 paces at 149° along the SW side of wall to The Pig.
You are close to the end. Just continue on, following the yellow blazes, back to the old picnic area or further on to the beach, wherever you decided to park. Hope you had fun on your trek.
This is one version of the story telling how the twelve animals of Chinese mythology were chosen. The mighty Jade Emperor ruled the heavens, but had never been to earth. He grew curious as to what the many different types of animals found on earth were like. As it would be too time consuming to summon every single one, he asked his senior courtier to choose the twelve most interesting creatures and bring them to the palace. Once he had looked them over carefully, the Emperor planned to grade them. The courtier summoned the rat, cat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster and dog to the palace early the following morning. When morning came, the rat decided that the handsome cat might show him up. He let the cat oversleep, and only eleven creatures appeared before the Emperor. A servant was immediately sent to earth to snatch the first animal he saw-which happened to be a pig being carried to market by a farmer. Once in front of the Emperor, the rat gained first place by jumping on the Ox's back and playing the flute. The Ox won second place for generously letting the rat jump onto his back. The brave looking tiger came third, while the rabbit's lovely white fur brought him in fourth. The dragon, snake and horse came in next three-admired respectively for their powerful, snake-like appearance, sinuous body and elegant air. The ram's sturdy horns secured him eighth position. The monkey came ninth, the rooster tenth and the dog eleventh. And, last but not least , the late coming pig. The twelve animal stories that follow include how the animals competed with each other to be chosen by the Jade Emperor..
The final seven animals have been placed!! You can find them along the Pachaug Trail, located in Rhode Island. This is a fairly long hike, give yourself 3½-4 hours to find them all. This hike is the same one listed in Walks and Rambles in Rhode Island by Ken Weber. Hike #13.
To park, from Rt 3 in RI, take Rt 165, 6.6 miles west. You will find an old abandoned picnic area on the north side of the road, just before the main parking area for Beach Pond.
NOTE: We have parked here several times to hike this trail. Today, after placing the boxes, we noticed two signs that would read "Parking Between the Arrows" if not for the piece of tape above the word "parking" with the word "No" written on it. We're not sure if this an "official" no parking sign or not. There is room to park shortly before this area (6.5 miles) on the south side of the road at a red gate or you can park at the Beach Pond parking lot itself (just down the hill) to pick up the yellow/blue blazes there if you do not want to park here. The lot at the beach tends to get full in the summertime.
Anyway...once you decide where to park, you want to pick up the yellow/blue blazes. These will be found just north of the abandoned picnic area or east from the parking lot at Beach Pond.
Follow these yellow and blue blazes generally east, down a hill until the trail crosses then splits after a dirt road. You will want to take blue, passing thru the "doorway" of two trees.....
Follow the blue trail and you will shortly come to Beach Pond where the trail will wind along the shore for a ways. Stay alert for when the trail will swing east away from the pond. You will want to stop at the 2nd blue blazed tree. 18 paces at 6° to a small alcove formed by a medium boulder and a smaller rock. Here you will find The Snake. Please re-hide well.
Continue on blue and past some prehistoric "elephant ears" and thru the Graveyard of Stones. Over a rocky brook and eventually back toward the pond. Then again you will head away from the pond, along a brook, around a rocky jumble. Once again, stay alert! You will come across several old rocky cairns/(graves?). At the double blazed, quite dead, V tree, you should check the cairn at 57° for The Horse. Please re-hide well.
Once again the blue trail beckons. You will pass a foot-high mailbox. Take a breather to read the logs and leave your own.....then continue on blue. Thru the pines. On to the base of a rocky escarpment, green with the coverings of mosses and lichens. The trail will seem to visit the largest and most picturesque. Follow blue trail up the side of this escarpment and then up to the NW. When the trail swings SW (near a small pond when we were here) take 15 paces at 38° to look under a small rock overhang, beneath Deadwood for The Ram. Please re-hide well.
The Blue Trail Calls You. At the T go 232° blue. Cross the dirt road, stick with blue. When the boat launch lot is reached, look for the blue blazed rock to the north. Blue re-enters the woodlands here..... Cross the gravel road...... On a bit, dropping down a chasm, then up a smaller one.... Bypassing several other junctions, stick with friend Blue. You will soon head up a wide gorge (roughly NNE).... At the end/top of this wide gorge, you will come to a blue blazed tree on the left. (There was a large, dank pond to the right of the trail on the day we were here). At this tree, turn around 180°. You should see a double blue blazed tree. From this double blazed tree, look to 188° for a small, upright stone slab. Behind this slab, beneath some Deadwood, Jabbas favorite letterbox lies, The Monkey. Jabba says "Please rehide my friend very well!!"
Once again on Friend Blue, along the base of a cliff. Continue on until the trail crosses a stone wall. 11 paces at 175° along the wall, at its base, behind Deadwood, lies The Rooster. Re-hide well please.
Blue goes on. Crossing a woods road you stay on blue. The trail goes thru some recent cuttings? it looks like. Stay on blue until a dirt road. Your friend goes left. However, you leave your friend and go right, along the dirt road. Following this for a ways. Watch out for another dirt road heading off to the left with a double white blazed tree. From this tree, 16 paces south along the stone wall, check the base of the east side of the wall for The Dog. Rehide well.
Continue on the dirt road. A pleasant walk after your earlier exertions. When the road takes a 90° turn to the east, do not be frightened. Follow it. Ignore the road straight ahead as that leads to scarier things.
Continue on, ignoring side paths. You will soon see glimpses of a pond thru the woods to the east. A yellow trail will soon join you and you will follow this yellow trail south. Shortly you will pass an old graveyard, enclosed in a stone wall to the east. On until yellow swings SW. From the double yellow blazed tree at this "swing", take 9 paces at 149° along the SW side of wall to The Pig.
You are close to the end. Just continue on, following the yellow blazes, back to the old picnic area or further on to the beach, wherever you decided to park. Hope you had fun on your trek.