The Crow and the Pitcher
- 2 minute read
- Ages 4-8
- Aesop's Fables
It had not rained for weeks. The streams had dried into cracked mud and the ponds had shrunk to nothing, and a crow had been flying since sunrise looking for water.
He was very thirsty. His wings were heavy and his throat was dry.
Then, in the corner of a garden, he saw a pitcher.
Just out of reach
He landed on the rim and looked in.
There was water. Not much of it, but real water, sitting in the very bottom of the tall clay pot.
The crow put his head in and stretched his neck as far as it would go. His beak stopped a hand's width above the surface.
He tried leaning further, and nearly fell in.
He tried tipping the pitcher with his weight, pushing at the side, but it was thick clay and much heavier than he was, and it did not move at all.
He thought about breaking it. He could not.
The pebble
He sat on the rim for a while, looking down at the water he could not reach.
Then he noticed the pebbles lying in the garden path.
He flew down, picked one up in his beak, came back and dropped it into the pitcher.
It went in with a small sound. And the water came up, very slightly.
So he went back for another. And another. And another.
He carried pebbles for a long time, one at a time, back and forth from the path to the rim, and each time the water rose a little further up the inside of the pot.
Until at last it reached the top of the stones, and the crow lowered his head, and drank as much as he wanted.
Moral of the story
When strength will not solve a problem, thinking will. There is usually a way through if you are patient enough to find it.
Questions and answers
- Why was the crow so thirsty?
There had been no rain for weeks. The streams and ponds had dried up and he had been flying since sunrise looking for water.
- What was the problem with the pitcher?
The water was at the very bottom of a tall clay pot and the crow's beak could not reach down far enough.
- What did the crow try first?
He stretched his neck as far as he could, then tried to tip the pitcher over and to break it, and none of it worked.
- How did the crow solve the problem?
He dropped pebbles into the pitcher one at a time until the water level rose high enough to reach.
- Why does dropping pebbles make the water rise?
The stones take up space at the bottom of the pot, so the water has nowhere to go except upwards.
Word meanings
- pitcher
- A tall container with a narrow neck used for holding water.
- rim
- The outer edge of a cup, pot or bowl.
- pebbles
- Small smooth stones.
- patient
- Able to keep going calmly without giving up.
Questions about The Crow and the Pitcher
What is the moral of The Crow and the Pitcher?
The moral is that intelligence and patience solve problems that force cannot. The crow could not reach the water, so he raised the water instead.
Is the thirsty crow story the same as The Crow and the Pitcher?
Yes. It is the same Aesop's fable and is very often called 'the thirsty crow story' in Indian and Pakistani schoolbooks.
Can real crows do this?
Yes. Scientists have tested crows with tubes of water and stones, and crows really do drop stones in to raise the water level.
What is a good lesson for young children here?
That when something does not work, it is worth stopping to think of a different way rather than trying harder at the same thing.