The Blind Men and the Elephant
This centuries-old allegory has its roots in ancient India. Numerous versions have been told, but two of the better-known versions are the poem by the 19th Century American poet, John Godfrey Saxe, and the story by the 13th Century Sufi poet, Rumi.
The Blind Men and the Elephant
by John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)
It was six men of Hindustan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!
The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!
The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
I see, quoth he, the Elephant
Is very like a snake!
The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain, quoth he;
'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: Even the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!?
The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
I see, quoth he, the Elephant
Is very like a rope!
And so these men of Hindustan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!
Moral:
So oft in theologic wars,
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!
from Tales from Masnavi
by Jalāad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (1207-1273)
Some Hindus had brought an elephant for exhibition and placed it in a dark house. Crowds of people were going into that dark place to see the beast. Finding that visual inspection was impossible, each visitor felt it with his palm in the darkness.
The palm of one fell on the trunk. “This creature is like a water-spout,” he said.
The hand of another lighted on the elephant’s ear. To him the beast was evidently like a fan.
Another rubbed against its leg. “I found the elephant’s shape is like a pillar,” he said.
Another laid his hand on its back. “Certainly this elephant was like a throne,” he said.
The sensual eye is just like the palm of the hand. The palm has not the means of covering the whole of the best.
The eye of the Sea is one thing and the foam another. Let the foam go, and gaze with the eye of the Sea. Day and night foam-flecks are flung from the sea: of amazing! You behold the foam but not the Sea.
We are like boats dashing together; our eyes are darkened, yet we are in clear water.
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