The Clever Crow and the Pitcher

Told in English, Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Spanish, French, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese.

Come here, my little one, and let me tell you a story about a very clever bird who never, ever gave up. On a scorching hot summer day, a thirsty crow flew all across the sky, searching everywhere for water. Her throat was dry, and she was growing tired. At last, she spotted a tall clay pot sitting in a garden below. She swooped down eagerly, but when she looked inside — oh no! There was only a little bit of water resting way down at the very bottom.

She dipped her beak in, stretching her neck as far as it would go, but no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't reach it. Can you imagine how frustrating that must have felt? Right when she was about to give up and fly away sadly, a clever little idea popped into her head. Do you know what she did? One by one, she picked up small pebbles lying nearby and dropped them into the pot — plop, plop, plop!

And slowly, ever so slowly, with each little pebble, the water rose higher and higher inside the pot, until finally — finally! — it reached all the way up to the rim. The clever crow took a long, refreshing drink, and flew off happily into the blue sky. And that, my dear, teaches us something so important: when you don't give up, and you use your clever little brain, you really can solve even the hardest problems.