What shape is an elephant? Is it round or crooked, is it soft or is it coarse? These are questions that go much deeper than they appear. With this story, Katha introduces Rumi, the great Persian poet and philosopher, for the first time to young readers in India. Rumi's original Persian version of the story of the elephant in a dark house seeks to explain why people have differing notions about Life and indeed about God. We try to understand Life as people try to understand the elephant in the story – by groping in the dark. But touching alone is no way of knowing. If we allow ourselves to look beyond, we shall behold more than our eyes can see and our hands can touch. So open your mind's eye, and together with Rumi, see what you may have never seen before!