Some Hindus have an elephant to show.
No one here has ever
seen an elephant.
They bring it at night to a dark room.
One by one, we go in the dark and come out
saying how we
experience the animal.
One of us happens to touch the trunk.
"A water-pipe kind of
creature."
Another, the ear. "A very strong, always moving
back and
forth, fan-animal."
Another, the leg. "I find it still,
like a column on a
temple."
Another touches the curved back.
"A leathery throne."
Another, the cleverest, feels the tusk.
"A rounded sword
made of porcelain."
He's proud of his description.
Each of us touches one place
and understands the whole in
that way.
The palm and the fingers feeling in the dark are
how the
senses explore the reality of the elephant.
If each of us held a candle there,
and if we went in
together,
we could see it.
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Modern Languages / Anthropology 3043: Folklore &
Myth. |
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