The Blind Men and the Elephant

Key Ideas: Hindu, respecting difference

It was six men of Hindostan,

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,

"Bless me, it seems the elephant

Is very like a wall."

The second, feeling of his 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

Then boldly up and spake:

"I see," quoth he, "the elephant

Is very like a snake."

The fourth stretched out his eager hand

And felt about the knee,

"What most this mighty beast is like

Is mighty plain," quoth he;

" 'Tis clear enough the elephant

Is very like a tree."

He 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," cried he, "the elephant

Is very like a rope."

And so these men of Hindostan

Disputed loud and long,

Each of his own opinion

Exceeding stiff and strong,

Though each was partly in the right,

And all were in the wrong!

John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)