画蛇添足

Huà Shé Tiān Zú

画蛇的时候又给它添上了脚。比喻做多余的事,反而把事情弄坏。

Drawing a snake and then adding feet — doing something extra and unnecessary that only ruins what you had.

shíhòuchǔguóyǒurénjiǔjiǔzhǐyǒujiādōuxiǎngquègòufēnyǒurénchūzhǔshuō:“menměirénhuàtiáoshéshuíxiānhuàhǎozhèjiǔjiùguīshuí。”jiādōutóngle

jiāláimáitóuhuàshéyǒurénhuàdezuìkuàihuìrjiùhuàhǎolejiǔzhèngyàoquèbiāndekànzhebiérénshuō:“huàdeyòukuàiyòuhǎoháinénggěishétiānshàngzhījiǎone!”

shuōzhejiùzàishédeshēnbiāntiānshànglejiǎozhèshílìngrénhuàwánleqiǎngguòjiǔshuō:“shéběnláiméiyǒujiǎohuàshàngjiǎojiùshìshélezhèjiǔyīnggāiguī。”shuōwánjiùjiǔle

huàshétiānderénzhǐnéngyòuhòuhuǐyòushēngkǒujiǔméidào

huàshétiānzhèchéngjiùshìcóngzhèláideyòngláixíngróngzhǒngduōshìqíngnònghuàidezuò

Long ago in the state of Chu, a few friends sat down to share a jug of wine. There was only one jug, and it wasn't enough for everyone. Someone suggested, “Let's each draw a snake on the ground. Whoever finishes first wins the whole jug.” They all agreed.

They bent over their drawings. One man finished very quickly. He reached for the jug, but instead of drinking right away, he smiled proudly at the others and said, “I was so fast, I even have time to add feet to my snake!”

He began drawing feet beside the snake. Just then, another man finished his own drawing, snatched up the jug, and said, “Snakes don't have feet. What you drew isn't a snake anymore — so the wine is mine.” And he drank it down.

The man who had added the feet could only sit there regretting it, without a single sip of wine.

From this comes “drawing a snake and adding feet” — doing one extra thing that spoils everything you had already earned.