Draw a foot for the snake(wéi shé huà zú)

Draw a foot for the snake

Chinese idiom, Pinyin is w é ISH é Hu à Z ú, which means that doing something is not only useless, but harmful. It comes from Qi CE Er, Warring States strategy.

original text

If there is a temple in Chu, it will be given wine. He said, "if several people don't drink enough, one person can drink more. Please paint the land as a snake, and the first one drinks. " A man and a snake come first. He leads wine and drinks it. He holds a snake in his left hand and draws a snake in his right hand, saying, "I can do it." Before it was finished, a man's snake was finished. He snatched it and said, "the snake has no feet. Can zi'an do it?" Then he drank his wine. For the foot of the snake, the end of its wine.

Word notes

1) C í: sacrifice. The nobles of the Zhou Dynasty offered sacrifices to their ancestors all the year round, and each season had a special name for sacrifice. Spring sacrifice was called "ancestral temple". Temple: the person who presides over the sacrifice.

2) Sheren: a member of the family of princes and nobles in the old days.

3) Zha: the ancient utensil for holding wine.

4) Xiangyue: discuss with each other and discuss together.

5) Lead wine and drink it: pick up the wine pot and prepare to drink. Lead, pick up.

6) Gu: originally, originally.

7) Zi: you are a respectful name for people. Ann, how, how.

8) So: so.

9) Death: loss, refers to not drinking.

10) Bestow: bestow. In ancient times, the elder gave something to the younger.

11) For feet: draw feet on it.

12) Final: final, final.

13) An Neng: how, how.

14) Quote: pick up.

15) And: prepare.

16) Cheng: finished.

17) Yu: the rest.

18) Foot: foot

19) Death: loss

translation

There was a nobleman in the state of Chu. After sacrificing his ancestors, he gave a pot of sacrificial wine to the door guests who came to help. The guests discussed with each other and said, "it's not enough for everyone to drink this pot of wine. One person will have a surplus. Let's compete on the ground to draw snakes. Whoever draws them first will drink this pot of wine. " A man was the first to draw a snake. He picked up the wine pot and was about to drink it, but he held the wine pot in his left hand and continued to draw snakes in his right hand, saying, "I can add some more feet to it!" But before he had finished drawing the feet, another man had already drawn the snake. The man snatched the pot of wine and said, "the snake has no feet. How can you add feet to it?" then he drank the wine from the pot. The man who drew the snake's feet didn't get the wine in the end.

Chinese PinYin : wéi shé huà zú