Once in a far distant country, somewhere to the north of Afghanistan there was a city inhabited entirely by the blind. One day the news came that an elephant was passing outside the walls of the city.
The citizens called a meeting and decided to send a delegation of three men outside the gates so that they could report back what the elephant was. In due course, the three men left the town and stumbled forwards until they eventually found the elephant. the three reached out, felt the animal with there hands, then they all headed back to the town as quickly as they could to report what they had felt.
The first man said: “An elephant is a marvelous creature! It is like a vast snake, but it can stand vertically in the air!” The second man was indignant at hearing this: ”What nonsense!” he said. “This man is misleading you. I felt the elephant and what it most resembles is a pillar. It is firm and solid and however hard you push against it you could never knock it over.” The third man shook his head and said: “Both these men are liars! I felt the elephant and it resembles a broad pankah (fan). It is wide and flat and leathery and when you shake it it wobbles around like the sail of a dhow.” All three men stuck by their stories and for the rest of their lives they refused to talk to each other. each professed that they and only they knew the whole truth.
Story by Jalal-ud-Din Rumi.
