"The Presence that stands Upon the stairs The unseen hands That move the chairs. The lights that play Across the wall, The stains that stay, The plates that fall, The mist , the chill, The wandering scents ... Read more of TO FREE A HOUSE FROM HAUNTING at White Magic.caInformational Site Network Informational
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Famous Stories

Diogenes The Wise Man
At Cor-inth, in Greece, there lived a very wise man whose n...

The Black Douglas
In Scotland, in the time of King Robert Bruce, there lived ...

The Sword Of Damocles
There was once a king whose name was Di-o-nys'i-us. He was ...

King Canute On The Seashore
A hundred years or more after the time of Alfred the Great ...

Picciola
Many years ago there was a poor gentleman shut up in one of...

How Napoleon Crossed The Alps
About a hundred years ago there lived a great gen-er-al who...

Cornelia's Jewels
It was a bright morning in the old city of Rome many hundre...

The King And His Hawk
Gen'ghis Khan was a great king and war-rior. He led his ...

Antonio Canova
A good many years ago there lived in Italy a little boy who...

King Alfred And The Beggar
At one time the Danes drove King Alfred from his kingdom, a...

King John And The Abbot
The 3 Questions. There was once a king of England whose...

Whittington And His Cat
The City There was once a little boy whose name was Rich...

Bruce And The Spider
There was once a king of Scot-land whose name was Robert Br...

Doctor Goldsmith
There was once a kind man whose name was Oliver Gold-smith....

Androclus And The Lion
In Rome there was once a poor slave whose name was An'dro-c...

The Bell Of Atri
A-tri is the name of a little town in It-a-ly. It is a very...

A Laconic Answer
Many miles beyond Rome there was a famous country which we ...

A Story Of Robin Hood
In the rude days of King Rich-ard and King John there were ...

George Washington And His Hatchet
When George Wash-ing-ton was quite a little boy, his father...

Arnold Winkelried
A great army was marching into Swit-zer-land. If it should ...



THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT








There were once six blind men who stood by the road-side every day,
and begged from the people who passed. They had often heard of
el-e-phants, but they had never seen one; for, being blind, how could
they?

It so happened one morning that an el-e-phant was driven down the road
where they stood. When they were told that the great beast was before
them, they asked the driver to let him stop so that they might see
him.

Of course they could not see him with their eyes; but they thought
that by touching him they could learn just what kind of animal he was.

The first one happened to put his hand on the elephant's side. "Well,
well!" he said, "now I know all about this beast. He is ex-act-ly like
a wall."

The second felt only of the elephant's tusk. "My brother," he said,
"you are mistaken. He is not at all like a wall. He is round and
smooth and sharp. 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.





Next: MAXIMILIAN AND THE GOOSE BOY
Previous: THE ENDLESS TALE




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