One day three men got a bottle of wine. But the wine was not enough for them three and each of them wanted to drink the wine alone. Then they all agreed that they each would draw a snake on the ground and the one who first finished drawing would be given the wine. So they began to draw on the ground with sticks.

　　It was not long before one of the three finished drawing his snake. He found the other two were still busy with their drawings. “How slow you are ！ ”said he， “I can even add feet to my snake before you finish yours. ”

　　He put down the bottle and began to add feet to his snake. But before he finished， another man took hold of the bottle and said， “I’ve finished. Snakes have no feet， so yours is not a snake. ”With these words he drank up the wine.

翻譯：

　　從前，有三個人得到一壺酒。但是酒不夠他們三個喝的，他們每個人都想獨自喝這酒，于是他們決定在地上畫蛇，先畫好的人就喝這壺酒。于是他們開始在地上用棒畫蛇。

沒多久他們三個中就有一個畫好了，見另兩人還未畫完，就說：“你們畫的真慢，我甚至還能在你們畫好之前給蛇添上腳！”

他放下瓶子開始給他的蛇添足。但他還沒結束，另一人拿起瓶子，說，“我已經完成了。蛇是沒有腳的，所以你的不是蛇。“說完些話他喝了酒。