The story of the blind men

Long ago in a village in India lived six old men. They had all been blind since birth, but they were very curious about the world around them. They liked to find out what things were like by feeling them with their hands.

They could not see, but they could hear and they loved to listen to the sounds coming from the jungle, especially the loud trumpet calls of the elephant. They wanted to learn more about elephants, so they went to the prince's palace to meet one.

The first blind man reached out to feel how wide and firm the elephant's body was. 'It's like a thick wall!' he cried. 'This elephant must be very strong and powerful.'

The second man didn't agree. 'This feels round and sharp.' he cried, as he placed his hand on the elephant's pointed tusk, 'It's more like a dangerous spear!'

The third blind man didn't agree with either of them.

'The elephant isn't dangerous,' he said, as he rubbed one of the elephant's thick, round legs. 'It's like a tree!'

The fourth man had yet another opinion. He was stroking the elephant's trunk as it squirmed and wriggled.

'The elephant is like a giant snake that never keeps still!' he said.

The fifth man was running his hand over the elephant's wide floppy ear. 'This doesn't feel like a snake,' he said. 'This elephant is as flat and thin as a pancake.'

Finally the sixth man found the elephant's tail and gave it a pull. 'You're all wrong,' he announced. 'The elephant is just like a piece of old rope.'

The six men just couldn't agree on what the elephant was like.

They were arguing so loudly, that the prince himself came to calm them down. 'Why do you all think you are right?' he asked. 'The elephant is a very big animal and you only felt small parts of it.'

Suddenly, the men understood what the Prince was saying. To know what something is really like, you need to put all the different parts together. You need to know the whole story, not just one part of it.