The thirsty crow
Reading time aloud: about four minutes.
Short, and usually the very first story a Desi child is told — often before they can talk.
It was the hottest part of the year. The tanks had dried, the ditches had dried, and a crow had been flying since morning looking for water.
In the corner of an empty courtyard he found a pot. He put his head in, and there was water — but far down, at the very bottom, and the neck of the pot was narrow. He could see it. He could smell it. He could not reach it.
He tried tipping the pot. It was too heavy. He tried breaking it. It was too strong. He sat on the rim in the heat and thought.
Then he hopped down and picked up a pebble, and dropped it in. Plink. He picked up another, and dropped it in. Plink.
The water came up a little.
He did it again, and again, and again — a long time, one pebble at a time, in the sun. And slowly the water rose in the narrow neck of the pot until it reached the top.
And the crow drank as much as he wanted, and flew away.
Not "be clever" — keep going. The crow's idea comes in the first minute; the rest of the story is him doing the same dull thing a hundred times. That's why it's the first story children are given, and why the pebbles are worth counting out loud as you read.
It's in Aesop too, which surprises people — this story has travelled between Greece and India for well over two thousand years and nobody can say which way it went first. Indian tellings usually make the heat and the drought much more vivid, because the audience knows exactly what that feels like.
A glass, some water and a handful of stones. Children who have just heard this story want to test it immediately, and it works.
Last updated: 2026-08-11
Get new guides by email
Occasional emails when we publish something worth your time. Published by The Desi Network; you can unsubscribe in one click, any time.