Source: Biography of Sima Guang, History of Song Dynasty
Original text:
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.
Translation:
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:
Sima Guang's moral character is noble, and he was famous in his hometown when he was young. After that, I studied as an official. He is gentle, humble and upright, and Su Shi praised him for his "loyalty and filial piety". Sima Guang has been a magistrate in Weicheng (now Anyang, Henan) for a short time, but he has won impressive praise, which shows that he has outstanding administrative ability and strong feelings of loving the people. He learned a lot, inspired himself with the spirit of "working day and night" and eventually became a great scholar.
Compared with others, it is obvious that the fundamental reason why "Sima Guang smashed the jar" can be spread through the ages is that Sima Guang is a historical giant, and people at that time and later generations loved and admired him, so it is well known that a little thing in his childhood can spread among the people.