The Crow and the Pitcher

Lyric

Crow was thirsty, oh so dry,
Looked for water under the sky.

Found a pitcher, water low,
“How can I drink?” said the crow.

Plink, plink, plink, drop the stone!
Use your brain, you’re not alone!
Plink, plink, plink, one by one,
Smart and clever, job well done!

Stone by stone, the water rose,
Crow could drink, as everyone knows!

Plink, plink, plink, drop the stone!
Smart and clever, job well done!

Think, don’t quit, try again,
Clever minds will always win!

Plink, plink, plink, drop the stone!
Smart and clever, job well done!

THE STORY

The Crow and The Pitcher

A weary Crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a Pitcher which had once been full of water. But when the Crow put its beak into the mouth of the Pitcher, it found that only very little water remained, and that the water was so far down at the bottom that it could not reach it. It struggled and strained, but the precious water remained just beyond the tip of its beak, and despair began to set in.

The clever Crow thought for a while and then devised a plan. It began to gather small pebbles from the ground nearby, picking them up one by one in its beak and dropping them into the Pitcher. With each pebble that fell into the vessel, the water inside rose a little bit higher, displaced by the stones filling the bottom.

The Crow continued its work patiently until, after many pebbles, the water had risen all the way to the very brim of the Pitcher. At last, the Crow was able to quench its thirst and save its life, flying away refreshed and satisfied.

With grateful thanks to the original storyteller, Aesop (c. 620–564 BCE), whose ancient fables have taught wisdom and ingenuity for centuries. This tale, now in the public domain, has been passed down through generations.