Page:The poems of John Godfrey Saxe.djvu/279

Rh

T was six men of Indostan
 * To learning much inclined,

Who went to see the Elephant
 * (Though all of them were blind),

That each by observation
 * Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,
 * And happening to fall

Against his broad and sturdy side,
 * At once began to bawl:

"God bless me!—but the Elephant
 * Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
 * Cried: "Ho!—what have we here

So very round and smooth and sharp?
 * To me 't is mighty clear

This wonder of an Elephant
 * Is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal,
 * And happening to take

The squirming trunk within his hands,
 * Thus boldly up and spake: