◎ Mengxi Bitan by Shen Kuo
Chen Shugu, an academician of the Privy Council, once acted as the magistrate of Pucheng County in Fujian Province. A few suspects were caught after somebody lost something. To identify the true criminal, Chen Shugu tricked them by saying, “A bell in a temple can tell the true robber without fail.”
Chen then ordered his men to get the bell, put it in the backyard, took the suspects to stand before the bell, and announced, “If a person has not stolen, then the bell will not ring when he touches it; and if a person has stolen, then the bell will ring when he touches it.”
With serious expressions, Chen Shugu and his colleagues prayed and sacrificed in front of the bell. After the sacrifice, the bell was wrapped with a curtain, and someone was ordered to spread ink on the bell.
After a short while, Chen Shugu ordered the suspects to enter the curtain and touch the bell. When they came out, Chen Shugu inspected their hands, finding the hands of only one person had no ink. Then, Chen Shugu tried the person, who confessed his crime.
The person, a thief with a guilty conscience, was afraid the bell would ring if he touched it, and thus didn’t touch the bell.
