Three Wise Men—A Foolish Tale by Cocomo Rock
"Who is it among you that has seen the face of God? Come forward, now, and speak of it!"
Once, when the earth was young and humankind had not yet developed the sense of sight, a council of village elders decided that they would send one of their number out to learn of the world beyond their village.
To be picked from among the six elders themselves, many honors would be showered upon the journeyman who was chosen. When he returned, he would take on the highest role amongst them, that of teaching the rest of the people all that he had learned from his expedition.
“Which one of us shall go?”
The six queried amongst themselves.
“Why, I will go,” said the youngest of the six, leaping to his feet. “I am only ninety-eight years of age,
and I am the strongest and swiftest of all of you!”
“Do not be foolish,” spoke the eldest. “It is I who must go! Such a journey as this cannot possibly be undertaken without benefit of the wisdom of my years!”
“Rubbish and poppycock!” boomed the authoritative protest of the mercantile elder who had amassed the greatest wealth among them. And, so it went back and forth for many days.
Then a small, as yet unheard voice piped up, saying:
“We shall all go.”
And they did.
* * *
The road outside of their village stretched away eastward and westward. Upon reaching it, the six blind elders became embroiled in bitter debate once again. This time they were at odds over which direction their journey should take. Finally, the eldest successfully persuaded the rest that they should best split up, going three to the east and three to the west. Thus, two parties of three each set out that day to learn of the world beyond their village, one party to the east and the other party to the west. They had agreed that the parties would meet again, at this very spot, in one year's time.
The sun had not risen and set many times before the three elders on the eastern road came upon a conundrum. But, ho! In the west, as well, their three counterparts found that they too were faced with a great enigma! Each, it seems, had happened upon great elephants, simultaneously. Neither of them had ever experienced nor heard of this great creature before. Furthermore, being blind, none of the erstwhile travelers had wandered very far or very far apart at all, for they each had encountered animals grazing at separate ends of one very large herd! Neither group was aware of the others discovery.
In each group, the companions began investigating their animal, both by sniff and by touch. One of their number even stuck out his tongue in his effort to learn more about their discovery! Finally, in each group, one of them shouted in triumph:
“This is a tree! This is a tree that we have found, my great friends! Nothing more.”
And each of them, both in the east and in the west, stood embracing the stout hind leg of the elephant.
“Absolute nonsense,” came the cry of another—again, in both the western party and in the eastern as well.
“Surely, you must know that this is a snake we have here!” and each of these two, both east and west, stood holding on to the elephant’s tail.
“You are both mad,” scoffed two others— one in the east and one in the west—as they each leaned their bodies into the massive sides of their elephants, with both arms spread out wide.
“It is quite clear that we have come upon a wall!”
And evening fell.
* * *
The sun rose upon silence in the east as the three blind elders awakened the next morning and eagerly set themselves to continue exploring their find. However, as the same sun cast its light upon the elders in the west, such a din of bitter conflict roiled in their camp as might have wakened the dead. They had been at it all night.
“A tree!” shouted one.
“Damn you! It is a wall!” Bellowed another.
“To hell with you both! Can you fools not plainly see that this is a snake?” maintained the third.
It was not long before, they each refused even to so much as eat with one of the others. Soon after that, they would no longer gather food or water together either. Every word any one spoke to the other was shouted in anger. Each started to blame the other for his growing hunger and thirst. At last, they took to striking wild, blind blows at each other. Most often, with the attacker ending up hurting himself moreso than he did the intended target of his attack.
Eventually, exhausted from their fighting, they all fell asleep. Waking the next day, one by one, they reached out to capture their respective holds upon the elephant as before, only to find that tail, wall, tree, and all had gone away and left them. Sulking, and altogether disenheartened, they started their journey homeward, wandering through many seasons.
* * *
In the meantime , as the sun had risen on the eastern group, it illuminated a great excitement humming through the camp. One of the blind elders had just grabbed a hold of an ear of the elephant and had exclaimed to the others in wonder:
“I was wrong! I was wrong! I was wrong before! No longer do I have here a tree. It is a blanket!”
And the other two listened intently as the first described his blanket to them.
In a little while, another of them climbed upon the elephant's back. Once more, intense wonder animated the sceneas the other two questioned him, and he explained in amazement that he believed they had found a mountain. And they continued like this for many a year, without so much as a passing thought for the turning of the seasons.
One day, taking their evening meal together, in the quiet, under the setting sun, one of them said to the others:
“You know, I pressed my ear close upon it today, and as I listened, I think I heard a heartbeat. I think it may be alive.”
“Oh what an extraordinarily large and diverse element this is that we have happened upon,” ventured another. "We have much to learn about it yet."
* * *
Exactly one year from the day they had left, the three arguing elders out of the west arrived back at their village, hungry, angry, and tired. They proceeded, as promised, to teach the people what they had learned in the world beyond, and it is said that the generations of their children continue to multiply in the earth today.
