有一天，工之僑意外得到一塊很不錯的桐木，他東敲敲，西打打，打算把桐木做成一張琴。裝好琴弦後，輕輕一撥，啊，真動聽！像是金屬和玉石互相敲擊出來的聲音，工之僑認為這應該是天下最好的一張琴了，於是高高興興地把琴送到官府。
樂官請全國最有名的樂師看看這張琴，樂師左看看，右看看，搖搖頭說：「這琴還不夠古老。」就要工之僑把琴帶走。工之僑默默地帶琴回家後，找了漆匠和刻工一起討論，決定在琴上漆出模糊不清的花紋，還刻出古代的文字。接著，工之僑把琴裝進盒內，再埋到土裡。
一年的時間過去了，工之僑把琴挖出來，拿到市場上叫賣。有個大官路過時，覺得這張琴很不錯，就花了一大筆錢買下來，準備送給皇上。當這張琴送進宮裡，讓樂官們看到時，每個人都說：「真是世界上很少見到的寶物啊！」
工之僑聽到這個消息後，深深地嘆了一口氣說：「唉！這樣的社會，真讓人感到悲哀啊！只看表面的事，難道只會發生在琴的身上嗎？世界上都是這樣的人吧，如果我不早些為自己做點什麼的話，應該就會跟著社會一起敗壞了！」最後，工之僑決定離開，到一個沒有人知道的地方去了。
One day, Gong Zhi-qiao came across a fine block of Paulownia wood. He chipped away at the wood, and turned it into a beautiful zither. After attaching the strings, he ran his finger across it, and found that it made delightful sounds like the melodious chime of metal and jade when struck together. Gong Zhi-qiao thought it was the finest zither in the world. So, he happily presented it to the palace’s music official.
The music official invited the most famous musician in the country to examine the zither. However, after a close look, the musician shook his head and said, “This zither does not look ancient enough. ” and so, Gong Zhi-qiao was told to take his zither and go home. Feeling sad and disappointed, Gong Zhi-qiao went home with his zither. He decided to seek the help of a painter and a carver, to paint a faint and intricate pattern on the zither, and also carve ancient characters on it. Then, he placed the zither inside a wooden box and buried it in the ground.
After a year, Gong Zhi-qiao dug up the zither, and took it to the market to sell. As luck would have it, the zither caught the eye of a high-ranking official who thought it was very exquisite. He paid Gong Zhi-qiao a lot of money for the zither, and planned to present it to the emperor as a royal gift. When the zither arrived in the palace, the music officials were amazed and exclaimed, “This zither is such a rare and beautiful treasure! ”
Upon hearing what happened, Gong Zhi-qiao sighed and said, “Alas! Such a society! How sad it makes me feel! Surely, judging something’s value by its appearance does not stop at a zither! Are all people in the world like this? If I don’t look out for myself, I might end up getting corrupted too! ” In the end, Gong Zhi-qiao decided to leave, and went somewhere unknown.
