✦ A Classic Story ✦

The Crow and the Pitcher

One of Aesop’s Fables

A thirsty crow finds a pitcher with a little water at the bottom, too low to reach. So he thinks of a clever plan, one pebble at a time.

Watch the Read-Aloud Read the Fable

Read aloud by Storyland Classics ✦ 1 min 08 sec ✦ Watch on YouTube

✦ The Story ✦

The Crow and the Pitcher

From The Æsop for Children (1919), the edition published online by the Library of Congress. Public domain.

In a spell of dry weather, when the Birds could find very little to drink, a thirsty Crow found a pitcher with a little water in it. But the pitcher was high and had a narrow neck, and no matter how he tried, the Crow could not reach the water. The poor thing felt as if he must die of thirst.

Then an idea came to him. Picking up some small pebbles, he dropped them into the pitcher one by one. With each pebble the water rose a little higher until at last it was near enough so he could drink.

The moralIn a pinch a good use of our wits may help us out.

✦ About the Story ✦

Using Your Wits

Aesop is said to have been a storyteller in ancient Greece more than 2,500 years ago. Whether or not he was a single real person, the short animal tales told under his name have been retold in almost every language, and each one ends with a lesson, or moral. This telling comes from The Æsop for Children, a 1919 collection illustrated by Milo Winter that is still a favorite with families and teachers.

This short fable is a favorite in classrooms because you can try it yourself with a glass of water and some pebbles. Scientists have even tested real crows with a version of this puzzle, and many of them work out the pebble trick just like the crow in the story.

✦ Talk About It ✦

Questions to Share

Why couldn’t the Crow reach the water?
How did the pebbles help?
Try it: put a little water in a tall glass and drop in pebbles. What happens?

✦ Keep Reading ✦

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