Archer's Quest (15 page)

SNAKE: Charming, intelligent, courteous. Decisive, intelligent, good sense of humor. Lazy, insecure, prone to dishonesty.

Feb. 10, 1929 – Jan. 29, 1930: Earth
Jan. 27, 1941 – Feb. 14, 1942: Metal
Feb. 14, 1953 – Feb. 2, 1954: Water
Feb. 2, 1965 – Jan. 20, 1966: Wood
Feb. 18, 1977 – Feb. 6, 1978: Fire
Feb. 6, 1989 – Jan. 26, 1990: Earth

HORSE: Active, energetic, quick-witted. Ambitious, hard-working, loves to travel. Impatient, conceited, rebellious.

Jan. 30, 1930 – Feb. 16, 1931: Metal
Feb. 15, 1942 – Feb. 4, 1943: Water
Feb. 3, 1954 – Jan. 23, 1955: Wood
Jan. 21, 1966 – Feb. 8, 1967: Fire
Feb. 7, 1978 – Jan. 27, 1979: Earth
Jan. 27, 1990 – Feb. 14, 1991: Metal

SHEEP: Artistic, creative, elegant. Romantic, gentle, caring. Hesitant, anxious, insecure.

Feb. 17, 1931 – Feb. 5, 1932: Metal
Feb. 5, 1943 – Jan. 24, 1944: Water
Jan. 24, 1955 – Feb. 11,1956: Wood
Feb. 9, 1967 – Jan. 29, 1968: Fire
Jan. 28, 1979 – Feb. 15, 1980: Earth
Feb. 15, 1991 – Feb. 3, 1992 : Metal

MONKEY: Cheerful, fun, sociable. Clever, curious, creative. Unreasonable, unreliable, deceptive.

Feb. 6, 1932 – Jan. 25, 1933: Water
Jan. 25, 1944 – Feb. 12, 1945: Wood
Feb. 12, 1956 – Jan. 30, 1957: Fire
Jan. 30, 1968 – Feb. 16, 1969: Earth
Feb. 16, 1980 – Feb. 4, 1981: Metal
Feb. 4, 1992 – Jan. 22, 1993: Water

ROOSTER: Perceptive, sharp-witted, straightforward. Loyal, active, practical. Vain, hyperactive, attention-seeking.

Jan. 26, 1933 -Feb. 13, 1934: Water
Feb. 13, 1945 – Feb. 1, 1946: Wood
Jan. 31, 1957 – Feb. 17, 1958: Fire
Feb. 17, 1969 – Feb. 5, 1970: Earth
Feb. 5, 1981 – Jan. 24, 1982: Metal
Jan. 23, 1993 – Feb. 9, 1994: Water

DOG: Honest, dutiful, loyal. Intelligent, profound, righteous. Anxious, defensive, can be persnickety.

Feb. 14, 1934 – Feb. 3, 1935: Wood
Feb. 2, 1946 – Jan. 21, 1947: Fire
Feb. 18, 1958 – Feb. 7, 1959: Earth
Feb. 6, 1970 – Jan. 26, 1971: Metal
Jan. 25, 1982 – Feb. 12, 1983: Water
Feb. 10, 1994 – Jan. 30, 1995: Wood

PIG: Sincere, honorable, faithful. Polite, obliging, generous. Naive, wishy-washy, prone to snobbishness.

Feb. 4, 1935 – Jan. 23, 1936: Wood
Jan. 22, 1947 – Feb. 9, 1948: Fire
Feb. 8, 1959 – Jan. 27, 1960: Earth
Jan. 27, 1971 – Feb. 14, 1972: Metal
Feb. 13, 1983 – Feb. 1, 1984: Water
Jan. 31, 1995 – Feb. 18, 1996: Wood

The facts about Chu-mong in this story are part of the historical record. The three stories he tells about his own life are well-known folktales in Korea, and there is a fourth tale that describes his birth from a golden egg!

The Chinese emperor Wen Wang's "Garden of Intelligence" existed around 1000
B.C
It covered some 1,500 acres and was one of the earliest zoos on record.

During Chu-mong's time, the species of tiger that inhabited Korea was
Panthera tigris altaica,
familiarly known as the Siberian, or Amur, tiger. These magnificent animals, the largest of the cat family, once ranged across a wide area—from Russia through China and down into the Korean peninsula. Chu-mong would have been distressed to learn that the Siberian tiger is now seriously endangered. It is believed to be extinct in Korea, with only unreliable sightings reported along the border between North Korea and China. Perhaps 400 Siberian tigers are left in the entire world, most of them in eastern Russia.

Dorchester State University is fictional, but the tiger is indeed the mascot of a college in Rochester, New York—the Rochester Institute of Technology, where I taught for several years in the 1990s. And there is a majestic bronze statue of a tiger on the campus grounds. Look for it near the entrance to the bookstore.

The versions of the Chinese zodiac I was able to locate for reference go back only as far as 1900. I calculated the cycles for Archie's birth year just as Kevin did. Here is the arithmetic in a more straightforward form:

Between 55
B.C.
(the year of Archie's birth) and
A.D.
1986 (the year of the Tiger cycle when Kevin was born), a total of 2,040 years had passed. The year 1986 actually means that 1,985 years have passed, because there is no year
A.D.
0.

55 + 1,985 = 2,040.

Twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac, one per year.

2,040 ÷ 12 = 170.

There were 170 Tiger years between Archie's birth and Kevin's birth.

Five element cycles: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, Wood.

170 ÷ 5 = 34.

Each cycle had occurred exactly 34 times between their births, which means that Archie and Kevin were born during cycles of the same element—in their case, Fire.

Archie's birth: 55
B.C.,
a Fire-tiger year.

Archie at age 24, two cycles later: a Metal-tiger year.

Kevin in 1999, at age 12, one cycle after his birth: an Earth-tiger year.