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 blind-est man ought to know that this beast is
not like any of the things that you name," he said. "He is ex-act-ly
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. "O
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;
neither is he like a fan. But any man with a par-ti-cle 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 quar-reled about him. Each believed that he knew just how
the animal looked; and each called the others hard names because they
did not agree with him. People who have eyes sometimes act as
foolishly.
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