Famous Stories
The Inchcape RockIn the North Sea there is a great rock called the Inch-cape...
The Story Of Cincinnatus
There was a man named Cin-cin-na'tus who lived on a little ...
The Black Douglas
In Scotland, in the time of King Robert Bruce, there lived ...
Androclus And The Lion
In Rome there was once a poor slave whose name was An'dro-c...
The Barmecide Feast
There was once a rich old man who was called the Bar-me-cid...
A Laconic Answer
Many miles beyond Rome there was a famous country which we ...
Maximilian And The Goose Boy
One summer day King Max-i-mil'ian of Ba-va'ri-a was walking...
The Miller Of The Dee
Once upon a time there lived on the banks of the River Dee ...
King Alfred And The Beggar
At one time the Danes drove King Alfred from his kingdom, a...
A Story Of Robin Hood
In the rude days of King Rich-ard and King John there were ...
King John And The Abbot
The 3 Questions. There was once a king of England whose...
Diogenes The Wise Man
At Cor-inth, in Greece, there lived a very wise man whose n...
The Sword Of Damocles
There was once a king whose name was Di-o-nys'i-us. He was ...
The Story Of Regulus
On the other side of the sea from Rome there was once a gre...
Three Men Of Gotham
There is a town in England called Go-tham, and many merry s...
The Sons Of William The Conqueror
There was once a great king of England who was called Wil-l...
George Washington And His Hatchet
When George Wash-ing-ton was quite a little boy, his father...
The White Ship
King Henry, the Handsome Scholar, had one son, named Willia...
The Brave Three Hundred
All Greece was in danger. A mighty army, led by the great K...
The Bell Of Atri
A-tri is the name of a little town in It-a-ly. It is a very...
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
 |
||||
 |
Report Privacy |
|||
| ADD TO EBOOK | ||||
|
||||
Viewed 5574