ene. 18, 2017
Por Francisco Larra Bujalance
Six blind Hindustani men set out to determine what an elephant looked like by feeling different parts of the animal’s body. The first man approached the elephant, and happening to fall against his broad side, at once called out, "The elephant is very much like a wall!" The second, feeling the tusk, cried, "What we have here is so very round and smooth and sharp that it is mighty clear the elephant is very like a spear!" The third happened to take the squirming trunk within his hands and said, "My God, the elephant is very much like a snake!" The fourth reached out an eager hand and felt the animal’s knee. He said, “It’s clear enough the elephant is very like a tree!" The fifth, who happened to touch the ear, said, "Even the blindest man can tell the fact that an elephant is very much like a fan!" The sixth seized on the swinging tail. "I see," he said, "the elephant is very much like a rope!" And so, these Hindustani men disputed loud and long, though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong. (This parable is attributed to Rumi, a 13th century Persian poet and teacher of Sufism.)