THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT

New Zealand Tablet, 19 November 1908, Page 37

THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT

There were once six blind men who had often heard of elephants, but who 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, and 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 fctt 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. 1 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 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, i>r a snake, or a tree ; neither is he like a fan. But any man with a particle of sense can see he is exactly like a rope.'