22．足部 foot
画draw蛇snake添add足feet
A long time ago, a family gave their God an offering of a jar of wine. After the ceremony, the host of the family gave the wine to his servants. There were several servants and all of them wanted the whole jar. One servant came up with an idea to decide the issue. He suggested that they hold a drawing contest. They would each draw a snake. The person who finished drawing the snake first would get the wine. Everone agreed to this plan and started drawing. One person drew very fast. He finished the snake and grabbed the wine jar with one hand. Noticing the others were still working, he used his other hand to continue drawing and adding feet to his snake. When he was doing so, another person finished drawing and grabbed the jar of wine from his hand saying, “Snakes don’t have feet, so what you drew is not a snake! I finished drawing a snake first so I am the winner.”
This story is a warning not to ruin the effect by adding something unnecessary.
【拼音】huà shé tiān zú
【解释】画蛇时给蛇添上脚。比喻做多余不恰当的事，以致弄巧成拙。
【出处】《战国策·齐策二》：“楚有祠者，赐其舍人卮酒，舍人相谓曰：“数人饮之不足，一人饮之有余，请画地为蛇，先成者饮酒。”一人蛇先成，引酒且饮之，乃左手持卮，右手画蛇曰：“吾能为之足。”未成，一人之蛇成，夺其卮曰：‘蛇固无足，子安能为之足？’遂饮其酒。为蛇足者，终亡其酒。”
