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Covering His Ears to Steal the Bell (掩耳盗铃)

Covering His Ears to Steal the Bell is a classic story from Chinese Idiom Stories for Kids, for children aged 4–8. This page has the English story with a native English narration (about 2 min), plus the Chinese version with Mandarin narration (about 4 min). Free to read and listen, no sign-up.

A man tries to carry off a big bell that isn’t his. When it rings, he covers his own ears, as if no one else could hear it either. The idiom story 掩耳盗铃 in English and Chinese, with narration.

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Read Covering His Ears to Steal the Bell

Long ago, a rich family lived in a big house. In the yard hung a huge bell. When you hit it, it went DONG! People far away could hear it.

Later, the family moved away. The big bell stayed in the empty yard.

One day, a man walked by and saw the bell. "What a beautiful bell!" he said. "I want it in my house." But the bell was not his. He looked left and right. Nobody was there. So he crept into the yard.

He tried to carry the bell on his back. He pulled and pulled, but the bell did not move. It was too big and too heavy.

Then he had an idea. "I will break it into small pieces. Then I can carry them home." He found a big hammer and hit the bell.

DONG! The sound was very loud. It went out into the street. The man jumped. "Oh no! People will hear it. They will come and take my bell!"

He covered his ears with his hands. The sound got quieter. "If I can't hear it, nobody can hear it," he thought. But he needed his hands for the hammer. So he put cloth in his ears and hit the bell again. DONG! DONG!

The bell was just as loud as before. The neighbors heard it and came running. There was the man, with cloth in his ears, hitting the bell. "That bell is not yours!" they shouted.

The man took the cloth out of his ears. His face turned red, and he put down the hammer. He had only covered his own ears. Everyone else could hear the bell all along.

The Chinese version: 掩耳盗铃

很久很久以前，晋国有一户姓范的大户人家。他家的院子里挂着一口大铜钟，又高又大，敲一下，就会“当——”地响起来，好远好远都听得见。

后来，范家败落了，一家人都搬走了。大门敞开着，院子里空空荡荡，只剩下那口大钟，还静静地挂在那里。

有一天，一个人从门口经过，探头一看，眼睛都亮了：“好气派的钟啊！要是能搬回我家去，那该多好。”可是，这口钟并不是他的。他左看看，右看看，四下里一个人也没有，就踮着脚溜了进去。

他抱住大钟，想把它背到背上。“嘿哟——嘿哟——”他憋得脸都红了，大钟却一动也不动。这口钟实在太大、太沉了。

他挠挠头，想出一个主意：“整个的背不动，我就把它敲成一小块一小块的，分好几趟拿回家。”他找来一把大槌子，高高举起，朝大钟砸了下去。

“当——！”钟声又响又亮，在院子里嗡嗡地打转，一直传到了大街上。那个人吓了一大跳：“糟了糟了！这么响，别人听见了，一定会跑来跟我抢钟的！”

怎么办呢？他赶紧用两只手紧紧捂住自己的耳朵。咦，钟声一下子小了好多。他心里一乐：“我自己都听不见了，别人肯定也听不见啦！”可是两只手捂着耳朵，就没法砸钟了。他想了想，从衣角撕下两小团布，塞进耳朵里，又举起了槌子。

“当——！当——！”他只听见一点点闷闷的声音，越砸越起劲。可是钟声一点儿也没有变小。它飞过院墙，飞过大街，飞进了邻居们的耳朵里。大家你看看我，我看看你：“范家早就没人了，是谁在敲钟呀？”于是都跑过来瞧。

邻居们一进院子，就看见那个人塞着耳朵，正抡着槌子砸大钟呢。大家又好气又好笑，一起喊：“喂，这钟可不是你的！”那个人拔出耳朵里的布团，这才听见大家的喊声，脸一下子红到了耳朵根。

他低着头，放下了槌子。原来，他捂住的只是自己的耳朵，别人的耳朵，一直都听得清清楚楚呢。

Covering His Ears to Steal the Bell (掩耳盗铃): the moral of the story

Covering your own ears doesn’t stop anyone else from hearing. Hiding a mistake only fools yourself; it is better to own up.

What does Covering His Ears to Steal the Bell mean?
Literally “cover the ears, steal the bell”: 掩 (yǎn) cover, 耳 (ěr) ear, 盗 (dào) steal, 铃 (líng) bell. It describes fooling yourself: trying to hide something that can’t be hidden, as if others won’t notice just because you pretend not to.
Example sentence
My little brother pushed the broken cup under the sofa and said nobody would ever know. “That’s 掩耳盗铃 (yǎn ěr dào líng),” I told him. “We all heard it smash.”

The original Chinese text of Covering His Ears to Steal the Bell

范氏之亡也，百姓有得钟者，欲负而走，则钟大不可负；以椎毁之，钟况然有音。恐人闻之而夺己也，遽掩其耳。恶人闻之，可也；恶己自闻之，悖矣。

— 《吕氏春秋·自知》

Our translation

When the house of Fan fell, a commoner came by a bell. He wanted to carry it off on his back, but the bell was too big to carry. He struck it with a mallet to break it up, and the bell rang out with a loud clang. Afraid that others would hear it and take it from him, he quickly covered his ears. To fear that others will hear it makes sense; to fear that you yourself will hear it is absurd.

— Lüshi Chunqiu (The Annals of Lü Buwei), “Knowing Oneself” (3rd century BC)

Chinese words in Covering His Ears to Steal the Bell

Play the Chinese narration and listen for these words. The pinyin shows the tones.

  • 掩耳盗铃yǎn ěr dào líng

    cover your ears to steal a bell

  • 钟zhōng

    bell (a large one)

  • 院子yuàn zi

    yard

  • 槌子chuí zi

    mallet, hammer

  • 听见tīng jiàn

    hear

  • 捂住wǔ zhù

    cover (with your hands)

  • 耳朵ěr duo

    ear

  • 邻居lín jū

    neighbor

Bedtime storytelling tips

  • Stretch out each “DONG!”, or tap a glass gently with a spoon for the bell. Children listen closely for it.
  • When the man covers his ears, have your child cover theirs while you say something quietly. Then ask, “You couldn’t hear it, but did I still say something?”
  • Have your child call out “DONG!” each time the bell rings. In the Chinese version the bell is 钟 (zhōng) and its sound is 当 (dāng).

Things to talk about afterwards

  • Why did the man want to break the bell into small pieces?
  • He covered his own ears. Why could the neighbors still hear the bell?
  • If you do something wrong by accident, is it better to hide it or to tell a grown-up? Why?

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Covering His Ears to Steal the Bell (掩耳盗铃): common questions

What does the Chinese idiom 掩耳盗铃 mean?
掩耳盗铃 (yǎn ěr dào líng) means “cover your ears to steal a bell.” It describes fooling yourself by hiding from something that everyone else can plainly see or hear.
What is the moral of Covering His Ears to Steal the Bell?
Covering your own ears doesn’t stop anyone else from hearing. If we do something wrong and act as if no one will notice because we would rather not see it ourselves, we only fool ourselves.
Where does 掩耳盗铃 come from?
It comes from the Lüshi Chunqiu, chapter “Knowing Oneself,” compiled for Lü Buwei, chancellor of Qin, at the end of the Warring States period. In the original, after the noble house of Fan fell, a man tried to break up its bell to carry it away, and covered his ears when it rang.
Was it a big bell (钟) or a small bell (铃)?
In the original it is a 钟 (zhōng), a large bell, so the story was first told as 掩耳盗钟. As it was passed down, 钟 was replaced by 铃 (líng), a smaller bell, and 掩耳盗铃 became the usual form. The meaning stayed the same.
How do you pronounce 掩耳盗铃?
yǎn ěr dào líng. The first two syllables are both third tone, so in normal speech the first one rises: yán ěr dào líng.

Source and how we retold it

From the Lüshi Chunqiu, chapter “Knowing Oneself” (自知), compiled at the end of the Warring States period by scholars working for Lü Buwei, chancellor of Qin; the original is in the public domain. In the original, when the house of Fan fell, a commoner got hold of a bell and wanted to carry it off on his back, but it was too big. He struck it with a mallet to break it up, and when it rang out, he covered his ears for fear that others would hear and take it from him. The story ends there. We expanded it into a story for children: the man wants to take a bell that is not his, and we added the cloth he stuffs in his ears, the neighbors who hear the bell and come running, and the man putting down his hammer, red in the face.

The narration on this page is AI-generated: the English is read by 英伦绅士 and the Chinese by 温柔妈妈. The audio files are labeled as AI-generated.

If you liked Covering His Ears to Steal the Bell (掩耳盗铃), there are more stories in Chinese Idiom Stories for Kids. You can also read this one to your child in your own voice.

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