画蛇添足　(huà shé tiān zú)

The Feet Too Far

This idiom, Hua She Tian Zu or “drawing a snake with feet added to it,” is perhaps the best expression in the Chinese language for the truth that to over-reach the mark is just as bad as not reaching it at all.

The story about the popular Chinese expression dates back more than 2,200 years.

One day, after holding a ceremony of worship to his ancestors, a lord in the State of Chu decided to give a goblet of wine as a reward to his servants.

The wine was not enough for all the servants, but it could well quench the thirst of one drinker.

Therefore, one of the servants suggested they engage in a contest of drawing a snake on the ground and whoever finished first would win the goblet of wine. The others all agreed.

Each contestant then took a twig of willow tree as a pen and started to draw a snake on the ground. One of them did it very quickly and finished his drawing in just a few seconds.

He took up the goblet and was ready to drink the wine when he found others were still far from finishing the drawing. He then said to himself: “Aha, I still have time to add some feet to my snake before I enjoy my wine.”

So, holding the goblet in one hand, he began to supply his snake with feet.

However, before he finished the feet, another servant completed his drawing and grabbed the goblet from him.

“A snake never has feet. Why are you adding feet to it?” asked the second servant. And with that, he guzzled down the wine.

The servant who finished drawing his snake first was dumbfounded and failed to respond. He regretted that he had lost the wine because he tried to gild the lily by adding feet to a finished picture of a snake. But, it was too late.

These days, this idiom, Hua She Tian Zu, is frequently quoted to depict any act which ruins the effect by adding what is superfluous.