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Day after day , week after week , the man kept on saying , " Then another locust went in and carried away a grain of corn . " A month passed ; a year passed . At the end of two years , the king said , — " How much longer will the locusts be going in and carrying away corn ? " " O king ! " said the story - teller , " they have as yet cleared only one cubit ; and there are many thousand cubits in the granary . " " Man , man ! " cried the king , " you will drive me mad . I can listen to it no longer . Take my daughter ; be my heir ; rule my kingdom . But do not let me hear another word about those horrible locusts ! " And so the strange story - teller married the king's daughter . And he lived happily in the land for many years . But his father - in - law , the king , did not care to listen to any more stories . THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT . There were once six blind men who stood by the roadside every day , and begged from the people who passed . They had often heard of elephants , but they had never seen one ; for , being blind , how could they ? It so happened one morning that an elephant was driven down the road where they stood . When they were told that the great beast was before them , they asked the driver to let him stop so that they might see him . Of course they could not see him with their eyes ; but they thought that by touching him they could learn just what kind of animal he was . The first one happened to put his hand on the elephant's side . " Well , well ! " he said , " now I know all about this beast . He is exactly like a wall . " The second felt only of the elephant's tusk . " My brother , " he said , " you are mistaken . He is not at all like a wall . He is round and smooth and sharp . He is more like a spear than anything else . " The third happened to take hold of the elephant's trunk . " Both of you are wrong , " he said . " Anybody who knows anything can see that this elephant is like a snake . " The fourth reached out his arms , and grasped one of the elephant's legs . " Oh , how blind you are ! " he said . " It is very plain to me that he is round and tall like a tree . " The fifth was a very tall man , and he chanced to take hold of the elephant's ear . " The blindest man ought to know that this beast is not like any of the things that you name , " he said . " He is exactly like a huge fan . " The sixth was very blind indeed , and it was some time before he could find the elephant at all . At last he seized the animal's tail . " O foolish fellows ! " he cried . " You surely have lost your senses . This elephant is not like a wall , or a spear , or a snake , or a tree ; neither is he like a fan . But any man with a particle of sense can see that he is exactly like a rope . " Then the elephant moved on , and the six blind men sat by the roadside all day , and quarreled about him . Each believed that he knew just how the animal looked ; and each called the others hard names because they did not agree with him . People who have eyes sometimes act as foolishly .
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