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Famous StoriesThe Story Of CincinnatusThere was a man named Cin-cin-na'tus who lived on a little ... The Sword Of Damocles There was once a king whose name was Di-o-nys'i-us. He was ... Casabianca There was a great battle at sea. One could hear nothing but... King John And The Abbot The 3 Questions. There was once a king of England whose... The Sons Of William The Conqueror There was once a great king of England who was called Wil-l... The Miller Of The Dee Once upon a time there lived on the banks of the River Dee ... Androclus And The Lion In Rome there was once a poor slave whose name was An'dro-c... Grace Darling It was a dark Sep-tem-ber morning. There was a storm at sea... King Canute On The Seashore A hundred years or more after the time of Alfred the Great ... The King And His Hawk Gen'ghis Khan was a great king and war-rior. He led his ... How Napoleon Crossed The Alps About a hundred years ago there lived a great gen-er-al who... King Alfred And The Beggar At one time the Danes drove King Alfred from his kingdom, a... The Bell Of Atri A-tri is the name of a little town in It-a-ly. It is a very... Damon And Pythias A young man whose name was Pyth'i-as had done something whi... 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... Alexander And Bucephalus One day King Philip bought a fine horse called Bu-ceph'a-lu... The Blind Men And The Elephant There were once six blind men who stood by the road-side ev... Sir Humphrey Gilbert More than three hundred years ago there lived in England a ... Maximilian And The Goose Boy One summer day King Max-i-mil'ian of Ba-va'ri-a was walking... |
THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANTThere 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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