So six blind people (they used to be men, but I guess I'd better get this story up to date) went along to investigate an elephant.
And the first bashed into its side. And declared that the elephant was like a wall.
And the second grabbed its tusk. And announced that in his/her opinion an elephant was like a spear.
And the third pulled its tail. And said that an elephant was like a rope.
And the fourth grabbed its ear, and said it was more like a fan.
And the fifth, feeling its trunk, said an elephant was a kind of snake.
And I can't remember what the sixth thought, but it was something amusing caused by a misapprehension of the size and complexity of elephants.
And the narrator of the story went off feeling very pleased with himself. Because by telling this story he'd proved how much cleverer he was than a bunch of imaginary blind people annoying an elephant. And that while those blind people had just a glimpse of the truth, he knew all of it.
And as he wandered along on his smug little way, he was tragically crushed when an elephant fell out of a tree and landed on him.
MORAL: There's more to elephants than you imagine. The sneaky beggars.
Now, given he was sighted and has seen the red nail varnish on its nails he should have known their love of hiding in (cherry) trees...
ReplyDeletehttp://stevetilley.blogspot.com/2010/02/cry-wolf.html
ReplyDeleteIs there a book in this?
Never mind elephants falling from trees, I always thought it rather odd that the elephant didn't stomp on the narrator for inventing a story which is all about feeling up an innocent animal.
ReplyDeleteMoral of the story, don't employ blind zoologists, too bloody unreliable! (our imaginations that is ;)
ReplyDeleteSteve, if we work at it...
ReplyDeleteI'm planning the Hare and the Tortoise where the Tortoise is tragically eaten by Charles Darwin.