To ruin the effect by adding something superfluous; to overdo it, making something worse or unnecessary.
Era:
Ancient
Frequency:
Story:
In ancient Chu, a nobleman, after offering sacrifices to his ancestors, gave a pot of sacrificial wine to his retainers who had helped.
The retainers discussed among themselves, saying, "If we all drink this pot of wine, it won't be enough; but if one person drinks it, there will be plenty. Let's each draw a snake on the ground, and whoever finishes first will get to drink this pot of wine."
One person quickly finished drawing his snake. As he was about to pick up the wine pot to drink, he proudly held the pot in his left hand and continued to draw on his snake with his right hand, saying, "I can even add some feet to it!"
However, before he could finish drawing the feet, another person had already completed his snake. That person snatched the pot and said, "Snakes originally have no feet; how can you add feet to it?" With that, he drank the wine from the pot.
The man who added feet to his snake ultimately lost the wine that was almost his.