古希臘神話故事:海爾墨斯Hermesimmediately after he was born，Hermes was appointed God of thieves at Olympus．and a thief he became when he was barely a few hours old．feeling hungry，the infant left his cradle after nightfall to hunt for food．he chanced Aponapollo"s oxen grazing on a meadow and drove a number of these animals away，tying tree branches around the feet of the cattle to make their footsteps dim．he killed two of these oxen and had a magnificent dinner．then he slipped back into his little bed in his mother\"\"s house．when Apollo came to question him hermes pretended to be innocent．the angry sun god dragged him up to Olympus，where he was accused of the stealing and made to return the cattle to their master．in reconciliation little hermes gave Apollo the lyre he had made out of a tortoise shell，and Apollo was so pleased with the gift that he presented his little brother with a magic stick．the stick could pacify hostile forces．in due time hermes was appointed messenger of zeus and the gods．the gods equipped him with a pair of winged sandal sand winged cap to enable him to travel swifter than sight．it was hermes who took the messages of zeus to the world below．hermes was a patron of travellers．his busts and statues were set up as dividing marks at crossroads or street corners to guide passersby．the hermes，as these statues were called，were regarded as sacred，and their mutilation was sacrilegious sand punishable by death．the destruction of the numerous hermes within the city of Athens caused a terrible excitement among its citizens that it might be no exaggeration to state that it changed the whole course of historic development of Athens ．海爾墨斯海爾墨斯一生下來就被任命為奧林波斯山的賊神。他出生後幾個小時的時候就做了賊。黃昏時分，他感到飢餓，於是還是嬰孩的海爾墨斯離開了他的搖籃去找食物吃。他碰巧看見阿波羅的牛在草地裡吃草，於是他偷走了許多牛，並將樹枝綁在牛腳上，讓腳印變得模糊不清。他殺了其中兩頭牛，美餐了一頓。然後悄然地回到他媽媽的房裡，爬上床。當阿波羅發現牛少了，來質問他時，海爾墨斯佯作不知。憤怒不已的太陽神把他拖到奧林波斯山上，告他偷竊並責令將牛如數還給主人。為了平息這件事，小海爾墨斯將他用烏龜殼做的琴送給阿波羅。阿波羅得到這件禮物非常高興，並送給他的小兄弟一支魔棍，這支魔棍可以化解敵對力量。到了一定的時候，海爾墨斯被指定為宙斯和眾神的傳令官。

Add Feet

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.

添足

從前，有3個人得到一壺酒，但酒不夠這3個人喝，而且他們每個人都想獨自佔有。他們決定在地上畫蛇，先畫好的人就喝這壺酒。於是他們就開始在地上用木棍畫。

不一會兒，其中一個人先畫好了，他發現另兩人還未畫完，就說：“你們真慢啊!在你們畫完之前，我還能給蛇添上腳呢!”於是，他放下酒壺，開始給蛇添足。但腳未畫完，另一人拿起酒壺說，“我已把蛇畫好了，蛇本來沒有腳，你怎能給它添腳呢?”說著，他把酒一飲而盡。