The
Elephant
There
were six blind
people. They heard that the king was visiting the next village, riding
on an elephant. None of them had ever seen an elephant. "An elephant!"
they said. "I wonder what an elephant is like."
They
went to find out.
Each of them went alone. The first held the elephant's trunk. The
second held a tusk. The third held an ear. The fourth held a leg. The
fifth held the stomach. The sixth held the tail. Then they went home,
all sure that they now knew exactly what the elephant looked like.
They
began to tell each
other. "Oh it's a fantastic elephant," said the first, "so slow and
soft, long and strong." "No," said the one who had felt the tusk, "it's
quite short, and very sharp." "You're both of you wrong," said the
third who had felt the ear, "the elephant is flat and thin, like a big
leaf." "Oh no," said the fourth who had felt the leg, "it's like a
tree."
And
the other two joined
in too. "It's like a wall." "It's like a rope." They argued and argued,
and their argument grew very bitter. They began to fight.
Then
someone who could
see came up to them. "You are all right" said this person who could
see. "All the parts together are the elephant."
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