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The Crow and the Pitcher

The Crow and the Pitcher is a classic story from Aesop's Fables for Kids, for children aged 3–7. This page has the English story with a native English narration (about 2 min), plus the Chinese version with Mandarin narration (about 3 min). Free to read and listen, no sign-up.

A thirsty crow can’t reach the little water left in a pitcher, so he drops in pebbles one by one until it rises. Aesop’s fable in simple English and in Chinese, both with narration.

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Read The Crow and the Pitcher

One summer, it did not rain for a long, long time. The rivers were dry. The ponds were dry. The ground was hot and hard.

A black crow flew here and there. He was very thirsty. He looked and looked, but he could not find any water.

At last he saw a tall pitcher in a garden. He landed on top of it and looked inside. There was water at the bottom! But there was only a little. He put his head in as far as he could. His beak could not reach the water.

The crow pushed the pitcher with his wings, but it was too heavy. He pecked at it with his beak. Tap, tap, tap! But it did not break.

Then he saw some small stones on the ground. "I have an idea!" he said.

He picked up a stone in his beak and dropped it into the pitcher. Plop! He picked up another stone. Plop! One stone, two stones, three stones... He flew back and forth again and again. His wings were tired, but he did not stop.

With every stone, the water came up a little. Up, up, up it came.

At last the water was near the top. The crow put his beak in and drank and drank. "Caw!" he said happily, and he flew away.

The Chinese version: 乌鸦喝水

那年夏天，好久好久没有下雨。小河干了，池塘也干了，地面晒得裂开了一道道口子。

一只黑乌鸦在天上飞来飞去，嗓子干得冒烟，连“哇哇”都叫不出声。它飞过田野，飞过村庄，低头看看，哪儿都是干巴巴的。

飞着飞着，它看见一户人家的院子里，放着一只高高的水罐。乌鸦落在罐口上，歪着脑袋往里一瞧：罐底亮闪闪的，有水！可是水只剩下浅浅的一层。它把脖子伸得长长的，嘴巴还是碰不到水面。

乌鸦用翅膀推推罐子，想把它推倒。罐子又大又沉，纹丝不动。它又用嘴去啄，“笃，笃，笃”，罐子结结实实的，一点儿也没有破。

乌鸦站在罐口上，急得直跺脚。它看看罐底的水，又看看院子的地面。地上散落着好多小石子，有圆的，有扁的，在太阳底下闪着光。乌鸦的眼睛转了转：“有了！”

它跳下来，用嘴衔起一颗小石子，飞到罐口，“扑通”，丢了进去。又衔起一颗，“扑通”，又丢了进去。一颗，两颗，三颗……乌鸦飞了一趟又一趟，翅膀都酸了，也不肯歇一歇。

每丢进一颗石子，罐子里的水就往上爬一点儿。水面离罐口越来越近，越来越近。

终于，乌鸦一低头，嘴巴碰到了清清凉凉的水。它咕咚咕咚地喝了个够，抖抖羽毛，“哇——”地叫了一声，高高兴兴地飞回了树林。

The Crow and the Pitcher: the moral of the story

When a problem looks hard, stay calm and keep thinking. A good idea and a little patience, one pebble at a time, can solve it.

Chinese words in The Crow and the Pitcher

Play the Chinese narration and listen for these words. The pinyin shows the tones.

  • 乌鸦wū yā

    crow

  • 下雨xià yǔ

    rain

  • 水罐shuǐ guàn

    pitcher, water jar

  • 翅膀chì bǎng

    wing

  • 嘴zuǐ

    beak, mouth

  • 石子shí zǐ

    pebble

  • 有了yǒu le

    I've got it!

  • 扑通pū tōng

    plop, splash

Bedtime storytelling tips

  • Each time the crow drops a stone, clap softly and say “Plop!”, and count together: one stone, two stones, three stones…
  • When pushing and pecking don’t work, stop and ask, “If you were the crow, what would you do?”
  • The next day, try it with a clear glass, a little water and some pebbles, and watch the water rise. Stay close so little ones don’t put pebbles in their mouths.

Things to talk about afterwards

  • Why couldn’t the crow drink the water at first?
  • What did the crow try? Which idea worked in the end?
  • When something is hard, how do you work out what to do?

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The Crow and the Pitcher: common questions

What is the moral of The Crow and the Pitcher?
Don’t panic or give up when something is hard; think it through and keep at it. The crow couldn’t push the pitcher over or break it, so he found another way and kept dropping in stones, one at a time, until he could drink.
Can crows really drop stones in water to raise it?
Scientists have tested it. When a floating worm was put in a tube of water just out of reach, some birds of the crow family, such as rooks and New Caledonian crows, dropped stones into the tube to raise the water and get the worm.
Where does The Crow and the Pitcher come from?
It is one of Aesop’s fables, number 390 in the Perry Index, said to come from a storyteller in ancient Greece around the 6th century BC. A pitcher is a tall jug for water.
Is there a Chinese version of The Crow and the Pitcher?
Yes. In Chinese it is known as 乌鸦喝水 (wū yā hē shuǐ), “the crow drinks water,” and a lesson based on it appears in Chinese primary school textbooks. This page has our own Chinese retelling, not the textbook text, with Mandarin narration.

Source and how we retold it

Aesop’s fables, number 390 in the Perry Index. Aesop is said to have been a storyteller in ancient Greece around the 6th century BC. His fables were first passed on by word of mouth and collected by later writers, and they have long been in the public domain. Our retelling keeps the original plot, in which the crow drops stones into a pitcher until the water rises high enough to drink. It is our own version, not the lesson in Chinese school textbooks. The long drought at the start and the crow first trying to push the pitcher over and peck through it are details we added for young listeners.

The narration on this page is AI-generated: the English is read by 英伦绅士 and the Chinese by 温柔妈妈. The audio files are labeled as AI-generated.

If you liked The Crow and the Pitcher, there are more stories in Aesop's Fables for Kids. You can also read this one to your child in your own voice.

More Aesop's Fables for Kids