This story dates back to the Spring and Autumn Period, about two and a half thousand years ago. A man went into a house whose owner had died, hoping to steal some valuables. He found a huge bell with some strange inscriptions on it.
“What a treasure!” he thought, “It must be very old.” He wanted to take it home, but the bell was too heavy. Pondering the problem, he said to himself, “If I can’t have the whole bell, I can still get good money for the metal. Why not break it into pieces; then I can take it home bit by bit.”
So he got a big hammer and started to smash the bell. But as soon as the hammer hit the bell, it rang loudly. Instinctively, he threw away the hammer and covered his ears with his hands.
“Oh dear,” he thought. “Am I not letting the neighbours know that I’m stealing the bell?”
Luckily, he then noticed that when he pressed his hands harder against his ears, the bell became so faint that he could hardly hear it. Happily he exclaimed, “Aha! I know what to do now! All I have to do is plug my ears and the sound of the bell will be greatly reduced. No one will be able to hear the noise I make.”
Subsequently, the man stuffed his ears with cotton wool and again started to hammer at the bell. The plan worked! Almost jumping for joy, he threw his enthusiasm into the task and began to hammer harder.
In reality he was making a great racket, and alerted the neighbors, who rushed in to catch him red-handed.
(Source:english.cri.cn)