The purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of pre-service elementary teachers` metaphors on mathematics textbooks. Their metaphors describe individual and collective patterns of thinking and action on mathematics teaching and learning. To analyze their metaphors, qualitative analysis method based on Lakoff and Johnson`s theory of metaphor (1980) was adopted. Metaphors on mathematics textbooks were elicited from 161 pre-service elementary school teachers through writing prompts. The writing prompt responses revealed three types and thirteen categories: As TypeⅠ, there were ① ``Principles``, ② ``Summary``, ③ ``Manual``, ④``Encyclopedia``, ⑤ ``Code``, ⑥ ``Guidelines``, and ⑦ ``Example``. As TypeⅡ, there were ⑨ ``Assistant``, ⑩ ``Friend``, ⑪ ``Scale``, and ⑫ ``Ongoing``. As TypeⅢ, there was ⑬ ``Trap``. Among these categories, ``Guidelines``, ``Assistant``, and ``Ongoing`` were the most frequently revealed. These results indicate that the relations of mathematics curriculum, textbooks, and classrooms are not a unilateral way but should communicate with each other.