There were many helpers but only one pot of wine. Who should drink it? Someone suggested:

"Each person is to draw a snake on the ground. Whoever draws fastest and most lifelike will get the pot of wine."

In the past a family in the State of Chu made sacrificial offers to their ancestors, and after that they rewarded the people who helped in the ceremony with the pot of wine used in it.

Everyone thought this was a good idea.

One man drew very fast, finished it in the twinkling of an eye, and was given the pot of wine. At this moment, he saw that the others had not yet finished, so he wanted to flaunt his skill once more. He said proudly:

"How slow you are! Let me add a few snake feet."

Holding the wine pot in his left hand, he began to add feet to the finished snake with his right hand. When he was just adding feet to the snake, another man finished his drawing. He grabbed the wine pot at once, saying:

"A snake has no feet. How could you add feet to it? The first one who finished drawing a snake is I, not you."

Having said this, the man drank the wine with an easy conscience.