Covering His Ears to Steal the Bell

About this story

Covering His Ears to Steal the Bell tells the story behind the Chinese idiom 掩耳盗铃 (yǎn ěr dào líng), literally 'cover the ears, steal the bell.' It comes from Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals (Lüshi chunqiu), in the chapter Zi zhi ('Knowing Yourself'): after the fall of the Fan family of Jin, a man tries to steal their great bell, smashes it with a hammer, and covers his own ears so that nobody else will hear. The book uses it to criticise rulers who hate to hear about their own mistakes. This version carries the story on, as the villagers woken by the bell catch him in the act.

Tips for telling it

• Make every BONG long and loud, or tap a pot with a spoon, and children will be hooked.
• When the thief covers his ears, have your child cover theirs too, then ask: you can't hear well, but can everyone else?
• With older children, talk about everyday 'covered ears', like hiding a bad test paper and hoping nobody finds out.

Questions people ask

What does 掩耳盗铃 mean?

掩耳盗铃 (yǎn ěr dào líng) literally means 'cover your ears to steal a bell.' It describes fooling yourself by trying to hide something that obviously can't be hidden.

Where does Covering His Ears to Steal the Bell come from?

It comes from Master Lü's Spring and Autumn Annals (Lüshi chunqiu), compiled around 239 BCE by scholars gathered by Lü Buwei, chancellor of the state of Qin. In the original the thief steals a large bell (钟, zhōng), so the idiom was first 掩耳盗钟; later the bell became a small one (铃, líng).

What is the English equivalent of 掩耳盗铃?

The closest English idiom is 'to bury your head in the sand', refusing to see a problem as if that would make it go away. 'Fooling nobody but yourself' says the same thing.

What is the moral of 掩耳盗铃?

Facts don't disappear just because you refuse to see or hear them. Fooling yourself solves nothing; facing a mistake and fixing it does.