The Blind Men and the Elephant
Classical Stories · No. 56 — Six sure experts, one elephant, and nobody quite right.
- Classical Stories
- 41 min
- Ages 8–13
- 7 chapters
About this audiobook
In an old Indian town, six curious men who cannot see hear that a strange great beast called an elephant has arrived, and go together to learn what it is. Each reaches out and touches a different part. The one who feels the broad side says an elephant is like a wall; the one at the tusk says a spear; the trunk, a snake; the ear, a fan; the leg, a tree; the tail, a rope. Each is completely certain, and each is describing something real — and because each knows only his own piece, they argue louder and louder, no one able to see that every one of them is partly right and no one is right alone.
Why it's worth a listen
Six wise men who have never met an elephant each touch a different part — the trunk, the ear, a leg, the tail — and each declares, with total confidence, exactly what an elephant is. They are all correct, and all wrong, and they fall to arguing. A tiny, ancient story that has never stopped being useful about how people can each hold a piece of the truth and still miss it whole.
A question to keep
When everyone is partly right, how does anyone see the whole truth?
Chapters
- The Dust of the Grand Road
- The Approach to the River
- Six Hands Upon the Great Unknown
- Six Truths in the Shade
- The Storm of Certainty
- The Whole of the Beast
- A Question to Keep