think of a wall.

What was the second man's opinion about the
elephant? He thought the animal was "like a
spear".

Account for that idea. He felt one of the
elephant's tusks, and formed his opinion
without going any further.

And what about the third man? The third man put
his hands on the elephant's trunk and felt it
all over, but as he did not go any further, he
declared that the elephant was "like a snake",
because it was the only thing, as far as he
knew, that squirmed about as the trunk did.

What did the fourth man do? The fourth man felt
the big front legs and declared the elephant
was "like a tree".

Tell us about the fifth man. The fifth man
happened to touch the ear. He felt all over it
but nowhere else, so he said the elephant was
"like a fan".

And what had the sixth man to say? The sixth
man had caught hold of the elephant's tail, and
when he had felt all over it, he declared the
elephant was "like a rope".

What conclusion did they come to in the end?
They didn't come to any conclusion. They argued
and argued for a long time, and each man was
stubborn and stuck to "his own opinion".

GENERALIZATION

In what respects were they all alike?

1. Each one felt just one part of the animal
and took the part for the whole.

2. Each was in a hurry to give his opinion and
did not take time to form a good one.

3. Each man was stubborn and probably refused
to feel where the others had felt.

If they could be in your place, how would they
see themselves? They would see how foolish they
had been, and each would see that the others
were as nearly right as he himself was.

What lesson for ourselves can we learn from
this? It teaches us not to be in a hurry in
giving our opinions.

What do we learn from the dispute mentioned in
the last verse? We learn from it that, when our
own opinions about anything are firmly fixed,
it does no good to argue about the matter.

In what way could they have arrived at the same
conclusions? If each had done all that each of
the others did, they would have agreed about
the ele