The Blind Men and the Elephant

 By John Godfrey Saxe

 

It was six men of Indostan

To learning much inclined,

 Who went to see the Elephant

 (Though all of them were blind),

 That each by observation

 Might satisfy his mind

 

The First approached the Elephant,

 And happening to fall

 Against his broad and sturdy side,

 At once began to bawl:

 “God bless me! but the Elephant

 Is very like a wall!”

 

The Second, feeling of the tusk,

 Cried, “Ho! what have we here

 So very round and smooth and sharp?

 To me ’tis mighty clear

 This wonder of an Elephant

 Is very like a spear!”

 

The Third approached the animal,

 And happening to take

 The squirming trunk within his hands,

 Thus boldly up and spake:

 “I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant

 Is very like a snake!”

 

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,

 And felt about the knee.

 “What most this wondrous beast is like

 Is mighty plain,” quoth he;

 ” ‘Tis clear enough the Elephant

 Is very like a tree!”

 

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,

 Said: “E’en the blindest man

 Can tell what this resembles most;

 Deny the fact who can

 This marvel of an Elephant

 Is very like a fan!”

 

The Sixth no sooner had begun

 About the beast to grope,

 Than, seizing on the swinging tail

 That fell within his scope,

 “I see,” quoth he, “the Elephant

 Is very like a rope!”

 

And so these men of Indostan

 Disputed loud and long,

 Each in his own opinion

 Exceeding stiff and strong,

 Though each was partly in the right,

 And all were in the wrong!

 

So oft in theologic wars,

 The disputants, I ween,

 Rail on in utter ignorance

 Of what each other mean,

 And prate about an Elephant

 Not one of them has seen!