In the past, a family in the State of Chu held a ceremony to honor their ancestors. Afterward, they decided to reward the helpers with the pot of wine used in the ritual.
There were many helpers but only one pot of wine. To decide who should drink it, someone suggested: "Let each of us draw a snake on the ground. Whoever finishes first and draws the most lifelike snake will win the wine."
Everyone agreed this was a fair idea.
One man drew his snake extremely quickly, finishing in the twinkling of an eye, and was handed the pot of wine. Seeing that the others were still drawing, he decided to flaunt his skill further. He said proudly, "You are all so slow! Let me add some feet to my snake."
Holding the wine pot in his left hand, he used his right hand to add feet to his completed drawing. Just as he was doing this, another man finished his snake. The second man immediately grabbed the wine pot and declared, "A snake has no feet. How can you add feet to it? I am the first to have finished drawing a proper snake, not you."
Having said this, the second man drank the wine with an easy conscience.