The blind men and the elephant

nce upon a time, a wise man came to a village with his elephant. The elephant's name was gajju. It was very large and looked like a mountain.

Many people came to see and touch him. Gajju was a tame animal, so no one was afraid of him.

Four friends also came to see the elephant. As none of them had seen an elephant before, they were very eager to see one. However, something was very different about the four friends .

All of them were blind.

The first one touched the elephant's leg and said, "The elephant is like a tree."

The second person touched the tail of an elephant and said, "No... this elephant is like a rope ."

The third friend came and he touched the trunk of the elephant and opined, "You both are wrong. The elephant is like a snake."

The fourth friend came forward and found the elephant's ear and said, "All of you are wrong. The elephant is very much like a fan."

Thus, they all began to argue among themselves and started fighting. They all had their own views of what the elephant was like. Each of them thought that he was right.

On seeing the friends fighting, the Wiseman came forward and told them, "Dear friends, each one of you is saying the right thing. But when your views are put into contest , then none of you is right because each one of you is describing only a part of the big animal,"

Friends- "How's that?"

The wise man explained, "The elephant's leg looks and feels like a pillar, the tail is like a rope, the trunk does feel like a snake and the ears are like fans. You all should have pooled your information instead of arguing over who is right."

The four friends realized their mistake and did as advised by the wise man. Thus, they were finally able to get a clear picture of the animal in their mind.

They understood that one should examine a matter from all sides and only then give his/her opinion.

Therefore, we should not quarrel with others who have different opinions because everybody looks at things from different angles. We should always appreciate other people's opinions. This will go a long way in improving our relations with them.