Once upon a time, a boy was born with no arms. His mother raised him like any other boy and finally he became a man and needed to make his way in the world, and his mother told him he should seek work at the monastery, because anyone can do the Lord's work, so the man heads off to the monastery.

He approaches the abbot and tells him he wants a job at the monastery, so they try to see what kind of work he can do for them. First, he tries to work as a scribe, but it's difficult to write with his feet. Next he tries to work as a cleaner, but was finding it next to impossible to sweep or scrub the floors.

One day, the old bell ringer dies, and the man approached the abbot again, telling him he wants that job. At first the abbot laughed, but seeing that he was serious, he told him if he could ring the bell, he could have the job. So, the man with no arms climbed the bell tower, took a running start, and ran head-first into the bell, causing it to ring out, so he was given the job.

Day after day, the man with no arms would climb the bell tower, run at the bell, and hit it face-first to make it ring, and it wasn't long before it began to take its toll on him, his vision becoming more and more blurry as his head has taken so many knocks. One day, upon reaching the top of the tower, his vision has become so doubled that he simply sees two bells in front of him. "Well," he said to himself, "one of them must be the real one." So he took a running start...

...and went running off the bell tower to his death. The other monks gathered around his body and one called out, "Who is this that has died?" Another replied, "I'm not sure, but his face rings a bell."