Six Blind Men and the Elephant Go back »

2011-07-27 | Nanjing

Long time ago in a distant village, there lived six blind men who often gathered together for a cup of tea and a good chat. One beautiful day, a strange animal, called “elephant” by the local people, was brought to their village. The six men gathered curiously around the big animal, and by touching and stroking it they tried to figure out how the unknown animal looked like. Each of the six men got hold of a different part of the elephant and claimed to have discovered the answer.

The first man approached the animal and touched the elephant’s body. It felt big and wide. After a while he concluded that an elephant must resemble a wall.

Now came the turn for the second men who touched one of the elephant's tusks. The tusks felt hard and sharp and the men decided that an elephant must be like a spear.

The third man slowly moved towards the elephant and touched its trunk. It felt thin and long. Therefore, the man declared that an elephant must look like a snake.

The fourth man stepped forward and touched one of the legs. It felt round, thick and rough and therefore, he concluded that an elephant must resemble a tree.

The fifth man got hold of one of the elephant's ears. The animal’s ear felt thin and moved gently. He concluded that the elephant must resemble a fan.

Approaching the elephant the sixth man touched its tail. For him the elephant felt thin, long and strong. He therefore came to the conclusion that an elephant must look like a rope.

The six friends started arguing and could not reach an agreement on how an elephant must look like. The king who had been following the arguments patiently felt that debate had taken an inadequate direction. As each of the blind men had only touched part of the elephant none of them was actually able to feel the whole animal to get the entire picture. The king concluded that an elephant did not resemble a wall nor a spear or a snake, nor looked like a tree or a fan or even a rope.

The six blind men left the village still arguing. Not long down the road they passed by a wise men. The wise men followed their dispute and after a while he said ‘Each of you is right and at the same time you got it all wrong. However, you can trust me I know exactly what you mean’.