The Blind Men and the Elephant

Reading Long ago in India there lived five blind men. Even though they were blind, they knew much about the world, because they used their hands to touch things. So they would spend their days discussing all that they knew.

One day they were discussing elephants. It was difficult, because they had never touched one. They had never even been near one. They knew only that elephants were very big.

Finally they decided to go and find one. If each of them could feel a real elephant, they would all know what this huge animals was like. They asked a friend to take them to an elephant. Then each of them placed his hands on the animal and begin to feel it.

The first blind man touched the side of the elephant. “It is like a great wall,” he declared. “No,” said the second blind man, who was grabbling the elephant’s tail. “It is like a long, thick rope.” “No, no,” said the third, who was holding onto an ear. “An elephant is like a large fan.”

“It is something like a pillar,” argued the fourth blind man, who was feeling the leg. “You are all wrong,” said the fifth man, as he ran his hands along the elephant’s trunk. “It is shaped like a snake.”

Each of the blind men was sure that he was right. They begin to argue, and soon the argument became fierce. Finally, their friend realized what was going on. He laughed and said. “There is nothing to argue about. You are all right. The elephant is all these things: a wall, a rope, a fan, a pillar, and a snake.”

The blind men stopped arguing and turned toward their friend. They were confused. After all, each of them had touched the animal for himself. “But each of you has touched only one part of the elephant,” their friend said. “Be patient. Don’t judge too quickly. Wait until you have touched the whole animal, and then decide what it is like.”

Don’t jump to conclusions or you will be like a blind man feeling an elephant.