THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT

THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT
THERE were once six blind men who stood by the roadside every day,
and begged from the people who passed. They had often heard of
elephants, but they had never seen one; for, being blind, how could they?
It so happened one morning that an elephant was driven down the road
where they stood. When they were told that the great beast was before
them, they asked the driver to let him stop so that they might see him.
Of course they could not see him with their eyes; but they thought that
by touching him they could learn just what kind of animal he was.
The first one happened to put his hand on the elephant's side. "Well,
well!" he said, "now I know all about this beast. He is exactly like a wall."
The second felt only of the elephant's tusk. "My brother," he said, "you
are mistaken. He is not at all like a wall. He is round and smooth and
sharp. He is more like a spear than anything else."
The third happened to take hold of the elephant's trunk. "Both of you are
wrong," he said. "Anybody who knows anything can see that this
elephant is like a snake."
The fourth reached out his arms, and grasped one of the elephant's legs.
"Oh, how blind you are!" he said. "It is very plain to me that he is round
and tall like a tree."
The fifth was a very tall man, and he chanced to take hold of the
elephant's ear. "The blindest man ought to know that this beast is not
like any of the things that you name," he said. "He is exactly like a huge
fan."
The sixth was very blind indeed, and it was some time before he could
find the elephant at all. At last he seized the animal's tail. "O foolish fellows!"
he cried. "You surely have lost your senses. This elephant is not
like a wall, or a spear, or a snake, or a tree; neither is he like a fan. But
any man with a particle of sense can see that he is exactly like a rope."
Then the elephant moved on, and the six blind men sat by the roadside
all day, and quarreled about him. Each believed that he knew just how
the animal looked; and each called the others hard names because they
did not agree with him. People who have eyes sometimes act as foolishly.