Three blind men are walking along the path just beyond the village when they discover an elephant along the way.

The first man reaches out and finds one of the creature’s legs. Content that he has identified the nature of the beast, he proclaims that it is most like a pillar.

The second man calls out that the first is mistaken and, hands grasping the elephant’s trunk, insists that the creature is most like an enormous snake.

The third man sadly shakes his head as he gingerly palms one of the elephant's great ears and says neither man has come close to describing the truth about the animal that is clearly most like a leathery fan.

From that day onward, each of them profess that they alone discovered the entirety of the truth along the path. 

Aesop's fable "The Blind Men and the Elephant"