寓言故事Fable; (Conveying a moral)

瞎子摸象The elephant to the blind ; The blind meets the elephant

有一天，幾個瞎子來到王宮求見國王。One day the emperor mentioned the elephant to a group of blind people

國王問：“有什麼事我可以幫忙的嗎？”The king asked: “What can I do for you?

瞎子答道：聽說，大象是一種巨大的動物，我們從來沒有見過，可以讓我們摸一摸嗎?I have heard that the elephant is a big animal that I have never seen before.  May we touch it?

我也從來沒有見過! Me too! I have never seen one either

大象有腿嗎?Does it have legs?

大象從哪來的?Where does it come from?

我不知道什麼是大象?We don’t know what an elephant is

國王就命令手下的大臣說：“你去牽一頭大象來讓這幾個瞎子摸一摸。”大臣遵命去了。The king ordered his minister to go and retrieve the elephant for the blind to touch.

“象來了，象來了，你們快過來摸吧！”The minister said, “you may come over here and meet it”

問道：“現在你們明白大象是什麼樣子的了嗎？The Minister asked the blind, “Do you know now what an elephant is?”

瞎子們齊聲回答：“明白了！”The blind say, “We understand now.”

說：那你們都說說看”The Minister said, “May you describe the appearance of an elephant?”

大象像一根大蘿蔔！”The first person felt the tusk of the elephant and said, “oh, the elephant is like a big daikon”

大象又寬又扁，像一把扇子。The second person was feeling the ear of an elephant and said, “The elephant is both wide and flat like a Chinese fan”

“大象又粗又高，就像一根柱子。”The third person felt the elephant’s leg and said, “The elephant is both thick and tall like a big post”

不對！大象又扁又平，就像一面牆！The fourth person felt the body of the elephant and said, “No, the elephant is flat and smooth like a wall”

大象又細又長，像一條繩子。”The fifth person felt the tail of the elephant and said, “no, the elephant is thin and long like a rope”

The five blind people started to fight

認識事物，一定要從多個角度來考察，才能全面的瞭解。

The emperor and the minister started laughing and said “we have to see the elephant in terms of its entirety and from more than one perspective before jumping to a definitive conclusion”