I was born at the age of seven, and I was in awe as an adult. When I heard about Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals, I loved it and retired for my family. This is the great purpose. Since I can't put the book down, I don't know if I'm hungry or thirsty or cold or hot. A group of children were playing in court, one went to pick up the urn, and his foot fell into the water, so everyone abandoned it. If you break the urn with a stone, the water will burst and the child will live.
Breaking an urn to save a friend was written by Sima Guang in the Song Dynasty.
Vernacular translation:
When Sima Guang was 7 years old, he was as solemn as an adult. I have heard of Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals, and I like it very much. When I know its main idea, I will tell it to my family. From then on, he loved Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals so much that he forgot his hunger, thirst, cold and fever.
Sima Guang is playing with a group of children in the yard. A child stood on a vat and fell into it and was flooded. All the other children have run away. Only when Sima Guang broke the jar with a stone, the water flowed out and the children were able to live.
Extended data:
Anecdotal allusions
Influenced by his father, Sima Guang was smart and studious since childhood. According to historical records, Sima Guang likes reading Zuo Zhuan very much, and often "never stops reading books, never knowing hunger and thirst." At the age of seven, he was able to recite Zuo Zhuan skillfully, and he could clearly tell the historical outline of more than 200 years, indicating that he had a very strong interest in history since he was a child.
Once, he and his friends were playing in the backyard. There is a big water tank in the yard. A child climbed to the edge of the tank and accidentally fell into the tank factory. The water tank is very deep, and it seems that the child is going to have no roof. When other children saw that something was wrong, they cried and cried in fear and ran outside to ask adults for help.
Sima Guang used his quick wits to pick up a big stone from the ground and hit it hard at the water tank. "bang!" The water tank was broken, the water in the tank came out, and the child who was submerged in the water was saved. Xiao Sima Guang was calm when he was in trouble, and he was like an adult since he was a child. This is the story of "Sima Guang smashing a jar" that has been passed down to this day.
This accidental event made Xiao Sima Guang famous, and people in Tokyo and Luoyang painted it and spread it widely.