Draw Snake, Add Legs

http://www.yejs.com.cn/upload/20057515172478.jpg

Informant: David Huang, 22, M

Date Collected: 5/25/14

Genre: Proverb

Informant Data: David Huang was born in Wuhan, China, moved to Kentucky, and then to Florida and grew up there. He speaks Chinese at home, and is fluent. He occasionally attended local weekend Chinese school as a child, but as a youngster studied Chinese on his own. His parents are Chinese immigrants, and he learned of this proverb from a book he read as a child. This interview was collected on Dartmouth campus over Skype (David was all the way on another side of campus).
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Chinese: 画蛇添足 (Huà shé tiān zú)
Literal Translation: Draw snake, add legs

Free Translation: Draw snake and add legs to it

Context: Since this proverb is a very good thing to follow, it is commonly used in situations that might cause someone to act extravagantly or boast unnecessarily.

Meaning/Interpretation: Back in ancient China, people used to have ritual to offer sacrifices to ancestors (wine, foods, etc). Typically after they offer to ancestors, the people can eat the offerings for themselves. Among the things left over from the ritual was a big jar of wine. It was only big enough for a single person to drink. But who gets it? The family decided to play a game: whoever would draw the best snake on the floor can get the wine. They start drawing. One member of the family finished drawing quickly and began to taunt the others, and claims he could even add legs to his snake because the others were so slow. The wealthy guy who was offering the wine decided to not give it to the first guy, but gave it to the second guy—because the wealthy guy claimed the first guy's snake was no longer a snake because the drawing had legs. The lesson is to avoid unnecessary things that would ruin the original.