The Elephant Fable With A Twist

Michael Nugent ✒ The fable of the blind men and the elephant is often used to show how humans cannot understand god. Here’s a version with a different ending.

A wise man met six scholars

who were having quite a fight

deciphering an elephant

without the gift of sight

Each described what they had felt

and claimed the beast must be

like a fan or wall or rope

or snake or spear or tree

♜ ♞ ♟

The wise man told the scholars

that as they all were blind

they could not see the elephant

with all its parts combined

They’d touched the ear or side or tail

or trunk or tusk or knee

of the great beast which misled each

because they could not see

♜ ♞ ♟

The wise man brought the scholars back

to where they met the beast

so he could show them how their

partial knowledge could increase

They reached the spot and the wise man

was mystified to see

a fan and wall and rope and snake

and spear and old pine tree

Michael Nugent is Chair
of Atheist Ireland