SOURCE:
A Classic Chinese Folktale, this story is based on a famous anecdote which relates how the young Sima Guang once saved a playmate who had fallen into an enormous vat full of water. As other children scattered in panic, Sima Guang calmly picked up a rock and smashed a hole in the base of the pot. Water leaked out, and his friend was saved from drowning.
FOOTNOTE:
Sima Guang (17 November 1019 – 11 October 1086), courtesy name Junshi, was a Chinese historian, writer, and politician. He was a high-ranking Song dynasty scholar-official and historian who authored the monumental history book Zizhi Tongjian.