In a version of an old eastern fable, an elephant stands in a great dark room. Five ‘wise men’, who have never come across such an animal, are granted entrance by the king and asked to describe it. The first goes in, touches the elephant’s leg and, as he comes out, firmly declares: ‘the elephant is like a pillar’. The second goes in after him, but feels the elephant’s tail, thus stating that he disagrees with his colleague; the elephant is like a rope. ‘You are both wrong’, the third one says, having touched the elephant’s ear; ‘the elephant is clearly like a fan’. The fourth touches the elephant’s belly and describes the beast as a wall, while the fifth is awestruck by touching the tusk, which leads him to conclude without a doubt that the elephant is like a tree’s branch. On hearing their conclusion and heated argument, the king scolds them for not having discussed their findings with each other, or not doing as simple a thing as taking the initiative to light a candle before entering the dark room. If they had, they would know the elephant’s actual form and nature.