Once, a man wanted to steal the bell hanging on someone's gate. Afraid it would ring, he covered his own ears as he reached for it, thinking: if I cannot hear it, neither can anyone else.
But the moment he touched it, the bell rang loudly and the owner came out and caught him. He had deceived no one but himself.
"Covering one's ears to steal a bell" means deceiving yourself: knowing there is a problem, yet pretending not to see or hear it. Like skipping review while telling yourself "the exam is easy". Facing problems honestly is what smart people do.
The story: a man wanted to steal a large bell. It was too heavy to carry, so he decided to smash it into pieces. Worried the noise would be heard, he came up with a "clever" idea - cover his own ears first. He reasoned: if I cannot hear it, surely nobody else can either? Naturally, he was caught on the spot.
The idiom means covering one ears while stealing a bell. On the surface it is about fooling yourself; in usage it mocks those who deceive themselves, thinking others will not notice what is plainly visible to everyone.
Usage: denying a mistake and comforting yourself that "nobody knows" is covering your ears to steal a bell; cheating on an exam believing the teacher cannot see is the same. It is almost interchangeable with "self-deception".
The story comes from Master Lu Spring and Autumn Annals, where the original object was a bell; later retellings changed it to a handbell, smaller and livelier. Idioms get polished in transmission, but the core lesson stays.
English equivalents: closing your eyes to the truth, or burying your head in the sand. The Chinese version is more vivid - you can cover your own ears, but not the whole world.
Life lesson: facing a problem honestly is the first step to solving it. The more you fear being found out, the more you know it is wrong. Instead of fooling yourself, face it - most problems are easier than they seem.
The story: a man wanted to steal a large bell. It was too heavy to carry, so he decided to smash it into pieces. Worried the noise would be heard, he came up with a "clever" idea - cover his own ears first. He reasoned: if I cannot hear it, surely nobody else can either? Naturally, he was caught on the spot.
The idiom means covering one ears while stealing a bell. On the surface it is about fooling yourself; in usage it mocks those who deceive themselves, thinking others will not notice what is plainly visible to everyone.
Usage: denying a mistake and comforting yourself that "nobody knows" is covering your ears to steal a bell; cheating on an exam believing the teacher cannot see is the same. It is almost interchangeable with "self-deception".
The story comes from Master Lu Spring and Autumn Annals, where the original object was a bell; later retellings changed it to a handbell, smaller and livelier. Idioms get polished in transmission, but the core lesson stays.
English equivalents: closing your eyes to the truth, or burying your head in the sand. The Chinese version is more vivid - you can cover your own ears, but not the whole world.
Life lesson: facing a problem honestly is the first step to solving it. The more you fear being found out, the more you know it is wrong. Instead of fooling yourself, face it - most problems are easier than they seem.
