When the Crow Didn't Give Up

It was a hot summer afternoon in the middle of a long drought. The sun glared down from the sky like a giant ball of fire, and not a single cloud could be seen. Trees stood still with drooping leaves, the rivers had shrunk into trickles, and the animals in the forest were growing tired and thirsty.

Among them was a young black crow named Kavi. Kavi was not the biggest bird, nor the fastest flyer, but he had something else — a curious mind and a determined heart.

That day, Kavi had flown far from his usual resting place, hoping to find a cool pond or even a small puddle. But everywhere he looked, the earth was dry and cracked. His wings were getting tired, and his throat was dry like sandpaper. He could feel his energy slipping away.

Just as he was about to give up and rest under a thorny bush, he spotted something glimmering in the distance — a clay pot! It was standing in the shade beneath a tall tree, half-buried in the dirt.

Hope fluttered in Kavi’s chest. "Water!" he croaked with excitement, and with a final burst of energy, he swooped down beside the pot.

He peered inside eagerly — and there it was. At the very bottom of the pot, a small pool of water glistened like a treasure. But there was a problem. The pot was deep, and the water was far too low for Kavi’s beak to reach.

He tried hopping up on the rim and stretching his neck down, but it wasn’t enough. He couldn’t reach it, not even close.

Kavi sat down, panting. “All this way,” he murmured, “and the water’s right there… but I still can’t drink it.”

A lazy squirrel nearby, watching from a branch, called out, “Give it up, Crow. That water’s not for you. It’s too deep. Why waste your energy?”

But Kavi shook his head. “No,” he said. “I’ve come too far. There must be a way.”

He looked around and noticed a few small pebbles scattered on the ground. Then he remembered something his grandmother once told him: “When you can’t reach the water, make the water reach you.”

His eyes lit up. “Pebbles!” he cried. “Of course!”

Kavi picked up a pebble in his beak and dropped it carefully into the pot. Plunk! The water level rose just a tiny bit.

One pebble. Then another. And another. Plunk. Plunk. Plunk.

The squirrel rolled his eyes. “You really think that’s going to work?”

Kavi didn’t stop to answer. His wings were sore, and his beak ached, but he kept working. One pebble at a time. Sometimes he dropped one in the wrong spot. Sometimes it rolled out. But he kept going.

Birds flew past. A rabbit stopped to watch. A pair of monkeys giggled at the sight.

“What a waste of time!” they laughed. “That pot is huge!”

But Kavi didn’t listen. His heart beat with purpose.

Minutes turned into an hour. The sun began to dip toward the horizon. The ground was littered with fewer pebbles now, but the water was rising. Slowly, steadily, the cool water crept upward, nearer and nearer to the rim.

At last, as the orange sun touched the tops of the trees, the water reached the edge of the pot.

Kavi leaned over and drank.

Oh, how sweet it was! Cool and refreshing, it slid down his throat like rain after a long summer. He drank and drank until his thirst was gone.

The animals who had been watching stood silent for a moment. The squirrel scurried down and peeked into the pot. “It… it worked,” he said softly.

The monkey scratched his head. “That crow really did it.”

Kavi smiled, though he was tired. “It’s not about how big you are,” he said. “It’s not even about being the smartest. Sometimes, all it takes is not giving up.”

Word of the clever, determined crow spread throughout the forest. Young animals asked their parents to tell the tale again and again — about the time a little black crow found a pot of water and refused to give up, even when everyone else told him to stop trying.

And from that day forward, whenever someone in the forest felt like quitting, they would remember Kavi and his pebbles.

Because sometimes, a small act, repeated with patience and belief, can change everything.

Moral of the story: Never give up. Even when things seem impossible, perseverance and creativity can lead to success.