It was summertime, and water had dried from all rivers, ponds, and lakes. A Crow was very thirsty. He kept searching for water to drink but could not find it. Finally, he found a pitcher of water.

There was only one problem. The pitcher had a narrow mouth, and there was very little water in the pitcher. So, the crow could not reach the water.

“What do I do now?” thought the Crow. “If I don’t drink water immediately, I will die of thirst.”

The Crow kept thinking about what he could do when he saw a lot of pebbles nearby. Then he got an idea.

“I wonder what will happen when I throw in the pebbles,” thought the Crow.

He picked up the pebbles and dropped them into the pitcher one by one. At first, nothing happened. Feeling disheartened, he finally dropped one more stone and was about to give up when he noticed that the water level had risen slightly.

“The water level is rising slowly,” thought the Crow happily. “Let me add a few more pebbles to increase it even more.”

Finally, the water in the pitcher came to the brim. Now, the crow could reach the water with his beak. He drank the water and finally quenched his thirst.

Author’s Note:

Aesop’s Fables always have some moral associated with them.

One moral is “Intelligence will always help us at times of need”. Another moral to this story is “Necessity is the mother of invention”.