Drawing a Snake and Adding Feet
Chinese Fables
One sunny afternoon, a kind man named Mr. Chang decided to share a big, shiny jug of delicious grape juice with his helpers. "My friends," he announced, holding up the jug, "I have this wonderful juice, but there's only enough for one big cup!"
The helpers looked at each other. How would they decide who got the juice?
"I have an idea!" said Mr. Chang with a twinkle in his eye. "Let's have a drawing contest. Everyone grab a stick. The first person to draw a snake on the ground wins the juice!"
What a fun idea! Everyone quickly found a stick and got ready. "Go!" shouted Mr. Chang.
Scritch, scratch, wiggle, wobble went the sticks in the dirt. One helper, a speedy fellow named Leo, drew very fast. In no time, his snake was complete – long and curvy. "Finished!" he yelled, dropping his stick and reaching for the jug of juice with his left hand.
As he held the jug, he looked at his snake. "Hmm," Leo thought, "my snake is good, but I can make it even better! I'm so fast, I have extra time." So, with his right hand, he picked up his stick again and started to add little legs to his snake. "One leg, two legs, three legs... this will be the fanciest snake ever!"
Just then, another helper, Mia, finished her snake. It was a simple, wiggly snake, just as it should be. She looked up and saw Leo drawing feet on his snake.
"Wait a minute, Leo!" Mia called out. "What are you doing? Snakes don't have feet!" She pointed to her own drawing. "I've finished my snake, and it's a proper snake. Yours now has feet, so it's not really a snake anymore!"
Everyone looked. Leo’s snake did indeed have little legs sprouting from its sides. Mr. Chang nodded. "Mia is right," he said gently. "A snake doesn't have feet. Mia drew a true snake, and she finished it properly after Leo started changing his."
So, Mia got to drink the delicious grape juice. Leo looked at his snake with its funny little feet and felt a bit silly. He learned that sometimes, trying to add extra things can spoil something that was already perfectly good.
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