19/08/2017
A wonderful story .... Don't miss it
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. How could they; they were blind?
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. "Oh 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, nor 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 unkind names because they did not agree
with him.
People who have eyes sometimes act as foolishly
