The Blind Men And The Elephant Story With Moral For Kids
ByAngela Naik
November 1, 2022 https://www.firstcry.com/intelli/articles/the-blind-men-and-the-elephant-story-with-moral-for-kids/
In This Article
• OriginAndHistoryOfTheBlindMenAndTheElephantStory
• StoryTypeOfTheBlindMenAndTheElephant
• StoryCharacters
• TheBlindMenAndTheElephantStoryForChildren
• StorySummary
• MoralOfTheStory
• HowCanChildrenApplyTheMoralLessonOfTheStoryInTheirRealLife?
Folk tales and stories are ideal for teaching kids how different people can have distinctly differentperceptions ofthesamething.Forinstance, TheBlind MenandtheElephantstoryin
Englishwillhelpkidslearndifferentperspectivesofpeopleandhowthoseperspectivesimpact anindividual’spointofview.
Origin And History Of The Blind Men And The Elephant Story
TheoriginofthestoryTheBlindMenandtheElephantcanbetracedbacktotheBuddhist,Hindu, and Jain writings. The story has been adapted by many religions and published in various versionsforadultsandchildren.
Story Type Of The Blind Men And The Elephant
TheBlindMenandtheElephantisafolktalefromIndiathatcanbereadtochildrenasabedtime story.
Story Characters
Hereisthelistofstorycharacters:
• Sixblindmen
• Travellers
• Rajah
• Rajah’sdaughter
• Youngboy
• Gardener
The Blind Men And The Elephant Story For Children
Verylongago,sixoldmenlivedinanIndianvillage.Eachofthesesixmenwasbornblind.The villagerslovedtheseoldmenandkeptthemsafe,awayfromharm.Sincethesixblindmencould notseetheworldforthemselves,theyimaginedmanyofitswonders.Theylistenedcarefullyto thestoriesoftravelerstolearnaboutlifeoutsidethevillage.
The six men were curious about the traveler’s stories they heard, but they were mostcurious aboutelephants.Theyweretoldthatelephantscouldcarryhugeburdens,trampleforests,and frighten young and old with their loud trumpet calls. But the men also knew that the Rajah’s daughterrodeanelephantwhenshetravelledinherfather’skingdom.Theythought,wouldthe Rajahlethisdeardaughtergetnearsuchadangerouscreature?
Theoldblindmenargueddayandnightaboutelephants.
“Anelephantmustbeamightygiant,”saidthefirstblindman.Hehadheardstoriesabouthow elephantswereusedtoclearforestsandbuildroads.
“No,youarewrong,”repliedthesecondblindman.“Anelephantmustbeagracefulandgentle animalifaprincessistorideonitsback.”
“You’reincorrect!Ihaveheardthatthecreaturecanpierceaman’sheartwithitsstrong,terrible horn,”saidthethirdblindman.
“Please,”spokethefourthblindman.“Youareallmistaken.It’snothingmorethanalargecow sortofanimal.Youknowhowpeopleexaggerate.”
“Iamprettysurethatanelephantissomething magical,”saidthefifthblindman.“Thatwould explainwhytheRajah’sdaughtertravelssafelythroughoutthekingdom.”
“Idon’tbelieveelephantsexist,”arguedthesixthblindman.“Ithinkweallarethevictimsofa crueljoke.”
Thevillagers grewtired oftheblind men’s arguments, andtheyarranged for them tovisitthe Rajah’spalacetolearnthetruthaboutelephants.Aboyfromtheirvillagewasselectedtoguide thesixblindmenon their journey. Thesmallestman kepthishandon theboy’sshoulder.The secondblindmankepthishandonhisfriend’sshoulder,andsoonuntilallthemenwereready towalksafelybehindtheboywhowouldleadthemtotheRajah’smajesticpalace.
Whenthesixblindmenreachedthepalace,theyweregreetedbyanoldfriendfromtheirvillage whoworkedonthepalacegroundsasagardener.Thegardenerledthemtothecourtyard.There stoodthebigcreature.Theblindmensteppedaheadtotouchtheanimal.
Thefirstblindmankepthishandonthesideofthecreature.“Anelephantissmoothandsolid likeawall!”hesaid.“Itmustbeaverypowerfulcreature.”
Thesecondblindmanraisedandputhishandonthecreature’slimbertrunk.“Theanimalislike agiantsnake,”heannounced.
Thethirdblindmantouchedtheelephant’spointedtusk.“Iwasright,”hedecided.“Anelephant issharpasaspear.”
Thefourthblindmantouchedtheelephant’soneofthefourlegs.“It’sanextremelylargecow,” hesaid.
The fifth blind man felt the elephant’s enormousear and said, “I believe this creature is like a magiccarpetthatcanflyovertreetopsandmountains”.
Thesixthblindmantouchedthecreature’scoarsetail.“Why,isthiselephantnothingmorethan apieceofoldrope?Dangerous,indeed,”hesaid.
Thegardenerledtheblindmentotheshadeofatree.“Sithereandrestbeforethelongjourney home,”hesaid.“Letmebringyousomewatertodrink.”
Whiletheywaited,theblindmentalkedabouttheelephant.
“Thecreatureislikeawall,”saidthefirstblindman.“Surely,nowwecanfinallyagreeonthat.”
“Awall?No.Anelephantisagiantsnake!”thesecondblindmansaid.
“It’slikeaspear,”saidthethirdblindman.
“I’msureit’sagiantcow,”saidthefourthblindman.
“It’slikeamagiccarpetwithoutanydoubt,”saidthefifthblindman.
“Don’tyousee?Someoneusedaropetotrickus,”saidthesixthblindman.
Theargumentoftheblindmencontinued,andtheirshoutsgrewlouderandlouder.
“Wall!”“Snake!”“Spear!”“Cow!”“Carpet!”“Rope!”
“Stopshouting!”Averyangryvoicecalledout.
ItwastheRajah.Hewasawakenedfromhisnapbythenoisyargumentoftheblindmen.
“Howcanallofyoubesocertainthatyouareright?”askedtheRajah.
The blind men considered the question. Knowing that the Rajah is a very wise man, the blind mendecidedtosaynothingatall.
“The elephant is avery huge and large animal,”said the Rajah. “Each of you touched onlyone part.Perhapsifyouallwillputthepartstogether,youwillseethetruth.Now,letmetakeanap inpeace.”
When the gardener returned with the water, the six blind men rested quietly in the shade, thinkingaboutwhattheRajah’sadvised.
“The Rajah is right,” said the first blind man. “To learn the truth, we all must put the parts together.Let’sdiscussthisonthejourneybackhome.”
Again,thefirstblindmankepthishandontheshoulderoftheyoungboywhowouldguidethem home. Thesecond blind man keptahand on his friend’s shoulder, andsoon, untilallsixmen werereadytowalkbacktogether.
Story Summary
HereisthesummaryofTheThreeBlindMenandtheElephantstory.
Six blind men heard that there was an animal called an elephant. They were curious aboutits shapeandform.Outofcuriosity,theyvisitedtheRajah’spalacetofindoutthetruth.Oneofthe blindmen,whosehandlandedonthetrunk,said,“Thiscreatureislikeathicksnake”.Foranother onewhosehandfeltitsear,itseemedlikeakindofmagiccarpet.Asforanotherblindman,whose hand wasupon itsleg,said, theelephantis likealargecow. Theblind manwhokepthis hand uponitssidesaiditislikeawall.Anotherwhofelttheelephant’staildescribeditasarope.While allthesixmenwerearguingloudlyaboutthecreature,theRajahsuggestedtheyputalltheparts togetherandthenimaginethecreature.
Moral Of The Story
‘Thestorywillteachkidsthattruthisrelativetoone’sownperspective,andbecausethetruthis relative,weallshouldrespecttheopinionsofothers’.Afterall,theirviewsofrealityarebased onadifferentviewpointthanourown.
How Can Children Apply The Moral Lesson Of The Story In Their Real Life?
Thechildrencanapplythelessonofthisstorywithpicturesintheirreallifebylisteningtoother people’sviewpoints,especiallybylisteningtotheirelders.Withthehelpofthisshortstory,kids willlearntorespectotherpeople’sopinionsandperspectives.