ELEPHANT

I had heard this fable before but I don't remember ever reading this poetic version. 

John Godfrey Saxe retells the story of the 6 blind men who each get hold of a different part of an elephant and so come to very different conclusions about the nature of elephants.

At the end of his poem, Saxe astutely summarizes the lesson and then points the moral directly at those who argue theology. 

It would be good for all who profess belief in God to contemplate this lesson on a regular basis. 

The Blind Men and the Elephant: A Hindoo Fable
By John Godfrey Saxe

It was six men of Indostan
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side, At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! -- but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried: "Ho! -- what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 't is mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out his eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he; "'T'is clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong.

MORAL.
So, oft in theologic wars
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!