画蛇添足Supplying Feet to a Painted Snake

Supplying Feet to a Painted Snake（成语 南辕北辙 英文）

After offering sacrifices to his ancestors, a man in the State of Chu granted a goblet of letf-over wine to his attendants, who, however, after talking among themselves decided that the wine would not be enough for all, though more than enough for one. And that it would be better for every one of them to draw a snake on the ground so that whosoever fineshed first might drink the wine.

Then one of them came out first and complacently took up the goblet, ready to drink. Holding it in his left hand, he said,"Oh, there's still time for me to supply the snake with feet." So saying,he used the other hand to do it, but before he could finish the feet another man completed his snake. He immediately seized the vessel and cried,"A snake is born without feet. How can you give it them?" With that, he gulped down the wine, and the one doing the feet ended up losing what should have belonged to him

画蛇添足(chinese idioms)

有一家人家祭祀祖宗。仪式完毕后，把剩下的一壶酒，赏给手下的办事人员喝。人多酒少，很难分配。这几个人就商量分酒的办法。有个人说：“一壶酒分给几个人喝，太少了。要喝就喝个痛快。给一个人喝才过瘾呢！”大家都这样想，可是谁也不肯放弃这个权利。另一个提议说：“这样吧，让我们来个画蛇比赛。每个人在地上画一条蛇，谁先画完，谁就喝这壶酒。”大伙儿都赞成这个办法。于是每个人折了一根树枝，同时开始画起来。有一个人画得最快，转眼之间，把蛇画好了。他左手抓过酒壶，得意地看看同伴，心想，他们要赶上我还差得远哩。便洋洋自得地说：“我再给蛇添上几只脚，也能比你们先画完。”正当他画第二只脚的时候，另一个人把蛇画完了。他一把夺过酒壶说：“蛇本来是没有脚的，你画的根本就不是蛇。还是我先画完，酒应当归我喝。” 添画蛇脚的人无话可说，只好咽着唾沫，看别人喝酒。

画蛇添足，比喻做了多余的事，反而有害无益，徒劳无功。