It was six men of Indostan, to learning much inclined, <br />who went to see the elephant (Though all of them were blind), <br />that each by observation, might satisfy his mind. <br /> <br />The first approached the elephant, and, happening to fall, <br />against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl: <br />'God bless me! but the elephant, is nothing but a wall!' <br /> <br />The second feeling of the tusk, cried: 'Ho! what have we here, <br />so very round and smooth and sharp? To me tis mighty clear, <br />this wonder of an elephant, is very like a spear!' <br /> <br />The third approached the animal, and, happening to take, <br />the squirming trunk within his hands, 'I see,' quoth he, <br />the elephant is very like a snake!' <br /> <br />The fourth reached out his eager hand, and felt about the knee: <br />'What most this wondrous beast is like, is mighty plain,' quoth he; <br />'Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree.' <br /> <br />The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said; 'E'en the blindest man <br />can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can, <br />This marvel of an elephant, is very like a fan!' <br /> <br />The sixth no sooner had begun, about the beast to grope, <br />than, seizing on the swinging tail, that fell within his scope, <br />'I see,' quothe he, 'the elephant is very like a rope!' <br /> <br />And so these men of Indostan, disputed loud and long, <br />each in his own opinion, exceeding stiff and strong, <br />Though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong! <br /> <br />So, oft in theologic wars, the disputants, I ween, <br />tread on in utter ignorance, of what each other mean, <br />and prate about the elephant, not one of them has seen!<br /><br />John Godfrey Saxe<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-blind-man-and-the-elephant/
