Anonymous ID: d25e12 Sept. 21, 2020, 8:01 a.m. No.10731906   ๐Ÿ—„๏ธ.is ๐Ÿ”—kun

The /qresearch/ ode:

 

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 approachโ€™d the Elephant,

And happening to fall

Against his broad and sturdy side,

At once began to bawl:

โ€œGod bless me! but the Elephant

Is very like a wall!โ€

 

The Second, feeling of the tusk,

Cried, โ€œHo! what have we here

So very round and smooth and sharp?

To me โ€™tis mighty clear,

This wonder of an Elephant

Is very like a spear!โ€

 

The Third approachโ€™d the animal,

And happening to take

The squirming trunk within his hands,

Thus boldly up and spake:

โ€œI see,โ€ quoth he, โ€œthe Elephant

Is very like a snake!โ€

 

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,

And felt about the knee:

โ€œWhat most this wondrous beast is like

Is mighty plain,โ€ quoth he,

โ€œโ€˜Tis clear enough the Elephant

Is very like a tree!โ€

 

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,

Saidโ€” โ€œEโ€™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!โ€

 

The Sixth no sooner had begun

About the beast to grope,

Then, seizing on the swinging tail

That fell within his scope,

โ€œI see,โ€ quoth he, โ€œthe Elephant

Is very like a rope!โ€

 

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!

 

MORAL,

 

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!

 

โ€“John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887), Blind Men and the Elephant