The Story of the Thirsty Crow...

Hi!! This is a story that my mum used to tell me when I was 6 years old; The story was from the Panchatantra; it was a favourite tale of mine. Here is my take on the story of the Crow and the Pitcher...

Once, there was a small crow, who wasn't such a first-team player in life. He was more of a reserve player, or maybe even just a bystander!! He hid in corners of rooms, trying to avoid the bullet of a gun piercing the flesh underneath his bedraggled, pitch-black, rustic feathers. He would ruffle his feathers out in the balconies of skyscrapers, blowing a minuscule breeze in through the open, gleaming, glass doors of the homes that stood on the edge of the building. The crow never wanted an adventure, even though he always got one. His life was put on the verge of destruction, for a countless number of times, whether he liked it or not!! He had a willpower as strong as a bulldozer, that was constantly put to the test!! 

One day, the crow had just escaped from a hunter's lodge and flew back to his make-shift home. It was a nest made out of sticks and stone, which was worn-out and weary, with little pebbles standing on the edge, to aid in stability of the nest. The tanned twigs, woven together with precision and skill were now snapping, and breaking the once lavish, luxurious nest of the crow. He had once lived like a king, but now struggled to make ends meet.  The crow landed in the centre of his nest, parched, and struggling to breathe."Water...Water...I NEED WATER!!!!!" he screamed. But in vain, none of the other nested birds seemed to come to his rescue. None of the birds seemed like they cared about the mangy old crow, who was screaming in pain. None of the birds seemed to help him quench his thirst...

The crow was lying in his roost, rolling around in torture. He was wailing in agony, "WATER!! WATER!!"As he arched over his shoulder, in a state of turmoil, he eyed a villa near his tree. In the front yard of the villa, was a ceramic pitcher. It was sand-coloured and had red stripes closer to the mouth. But the crow was not interested in the looks of the pitcher, nooooo.  He was interested in what was in it! Through the mouth of the jug, he could see a clear substance. it was jostling about in the pitcher."Water!!!" he screamed, and not in agony. He could see freshwater lying there, for the taking!!

He swooped down, using all of his energy to caution his landing and trudged towards the amber jug. " Aaaah... My satisfactions are to be met, in 3.....2....1!!" He peered over the edge, and stared in shock! The water which he saw, was nothing but a sliver, sitting at the bottom of the pitcher."Nooooooooo!!!!!!!" the crow screamed in terror. His only wish was to drink water, but now his wish had become a fantasy......
He eyed the clear liquid, as it sang the song of death. The crow had no option but to die a dry death... as dry as dust...

Just as the crow was about to end his own life, he saw some pebbles. They were normal pebbles, just ordinary, but the crow eyed them as his gateway to a refreshed life!! He eyed them as a rainbow, that led to the pot of gold awaited in front of him. He gasped with courage. He looked death in the eye and said, "I'm not dying today"

The crow grasped a pebble with his talons, and plopped it into the kind-of-empty pitcher. The water level rose! He was elated at the sight of the water nearly reaching his ink coloured beak. Slowly, he plopped one more pebble. Then another. Then another. Then another, until he used all of the pebbles in the porch! he then saw an amazing sight...The water level had risen so much, that it had come to the brim of the pitcher! His heart was jumping with joy!!! His wish had come true! He had finally procured water to sustain his life!! Elated, was the crow, to see such a beautiful sight! He saved his own life, which was on the verge of destruction!!

Moral: Where there's a will, there's a way!!!

Hope you guys liked the story!!:) 

P.S.: Get ready, next post will be a QUIZ!!!!!! All about the Ramayana. Study hard!!!!