Member-only story
Once upon a time in the jungle lived a group of six blind men.
One day they heard that a strange animal had been brought to town. It was called the elephant. Out of curiosity, they went into town to learn more.
They met the mahout (elephant caretaker) and asked him to describe the animal to them. But the mahout wanted to learn how blind people perceive and analyze things. So he told the blind men to inspect the elephant by touch and share their perceptions with him.
The five men were ecstatic.
The mahout led the five blind men to the elephant and stepped back.
The five blind men slowly began their exploration.
One blind man exclaimed, “this elephant is like a thick snake!” He had been exploring the elephant’s trunk.
The second blind man had reached the elephant’s ear and so he said, “No, it seems more like a fan.”
The third man had been exploring the elephant’s leg. He shushed the other two and said, “No. It is like a pillar.”
The fourth blind man who had been exploring the side of the elephant told them they were all wrong and that “the elephant is more like a wall.”
The fifth blind man had been playing with the tail. He shook his head and argued that the elephant was “like a thick rope.”
