畫(huà)蛇添足

戰(zhàn)國(guó)時(shí)代有個(gè)楚國(guó)人祭他的祖先。儀式結(jié)束后，他拿出一壺酒賞給手下的幾個(gè)人。大家商量說(shuō)：“我們都來(lái)畫(huà)蛇，誰(shuí)先畫(huà)好誰(shuí)就喝這壺酒?！逼渲杏幸粋€(gè)人先畫(huà)好了。

但他看到同伴還沒(méi)有畫(huà)完，就又給蛇添上了腳。這時(shí)，另一個(gè)人也畫(huà)好了，奪過(guò)酒壺吧酒喝了，并且說(shuō)：“蛇本來(lái)是沒(méi)有腳的，你怎么能給它添上腳呢？”

Drawing a snake and Adding Feet

In the Warring States Period, a man in the State of Chu was offering a sacrifice to his ancestors. After the ceremony, the man gave a beaker of wine to his servants. The servants thought that there was not enough wine for all them, and decided to each draw a picture of a snake; the one who finished the picture first would get the wine.

One of them drew very rapidly. Seeing that the others were still busy drawing, he added feet to the snake. At this moment another man finished, snatched the beaker and drank the wine, saying, 'A snake doesn't have feet. How can you add feet to a snake? '