The Crow and the Pitcher is one of Aesop's Fables, numbered 390 in the Perry Index. It relates ancient observation of corvid behaviour that recent scientific studies have confirmed is goal-directed and indicative of causal knowledge rather than simply being due to instrumental conditioning.
The Crow and the Pitcher, illustrated by Milo Winter in 1919
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
The fable is made the subject of a poem by the first century CE Greek Poet Bianor,[1] was included in the 2nd century fable collection of pseudo-Dositheus[2] and later appears in the 4th–5th-century Latin verse collection by Avianus.[3] The history of this fable in antiquity and the Middle Ages is tracked in A. E. Wright's Hie lert uns der meister: Latin Commentary and the Germany Fable.[4]
The story concerns a thirsty crow that comes upon a pitcher with water at the bottom, beyond the reach of its beak. After failing to push it over, the bird drops in pebbles one by one until the water rises to the top of the pitcher, allowing it to drink. In his telling, Avianus follows it with a moral that emphasises the virtue of ingenuity: "This fable shows us that thoughtfulness is superior to brute strength." Other tellers of the story stress the crow's persistence. In Francis Barlow's edition the proverb 'Necessity is the mother of invention' is applied to the story[5] while an early 20th-century retelling quotes the proverb 'Where there's a will, there's a way'.[6]
Artistic use of the fable may go back to Roman times, since one of the mosaics that has survived is thought to have the story of the crow and the pitcher as its subject.[7] Modern equivalents have included English tiles from the 18th[8] and 19th centuries[9] and an American mural by Justin C. Gruelle (1889–1978), created for a Connecticut school.[10] These and the illustrations in books of fables had little scope for invention. The greatest diversity is in the type of vessel involved and over the centuries these have varied from a humble clay pot to elaborate Greek pitchers.[11]
The fable was later set to music by Howard J. Buss as the fourth item in his "Fables from Aesop" (2002).[12]
The fable in scienceedit
The Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder is the earliest to attest that the story reflects the behaviour of real-life corvids.[13] In August 2009, a study published in Current Biology revealed that rooks, a relative of crows, do just the same as the crow in the fable when presented with a similar situation.[14] The ethologistNicola Clayton, also taking the fable as a starting point,[15] found that other corvids are capable of the thinking demonstrated there.[16]Eurasian jays were able to drop stones into a pitcher of water to make the water level rise. Further research established that the birds understood that the pitcher must contain liquid rather than a solid for the trick to work, and that the objects dropped in must sink rather than float. New Caledonian crows perform similarly,[17][18][19] but Western scrub-jays appear to fail.[20] The findings have advanced knowledge of bird intelligence; the Eurasian jay had not been scientifically observed to use tools either in the wild or in captivity before. The research also indicated that physical cognition evolved earlier in the corvid family than previously thought as the not closely related crows and ravens were already known to score highly on intelligence tests, with certain species topping the avian IQ scale[21] and tool use is well-documented.[22] Unrelated birds, the great-tailed grackles, also pass the test due to remarkable behavioral flexibility.[23] Such tool use has been observed in great apes as well and the researchers were quoted as drawing a parallel between their findings and the fable.[24]
^Pliny the Elder (1855). Natural History. H. G. Bohn. p. 525. pliny crow urn stones water.
^Bird, Christopher David; Emery, Nathan John (2009). "Rooks Use Stones to Raise the Water Level to Reach a Floating Worm". Current Biology. 19 (16): 1410–1414. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2009.07.033. PMID 19664926.
^Clayton, Nicola (25 November 2011). "Cognition in birds (transcript)". Science Show. ABC Radio National. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
^Cheke, Lucy G.; Bird, Christopher D.; Clayton, Nicola S. (19 January 2011). "Tool-use and instrumental learning in the Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius)". Animal Cognition. 14 (3): 441–455. doi:10.1007/s10071-011-0379-4. PMID 21249510. S2CID 9123984. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
^Logan CJ, Jelbert SA, Breen AJ, Gray RD, Taylor AH (2014). "Modifications to the Aesop's Fable Paradigm Change New Caledonian Crow Performances". PLOS ONE. 9 (7): e103049. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...9j3049L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0103049. PMC4108369. PMID 25055009.
^Jelbert SA, Taylor AH, Cheke LG, Clayton NS, Gray RD (2014). "Using the Aesop's Fable Paradigm to Investigate Causal Understanding of Water Displacement by New Caledonian Crows". PLOS ONE. 9 (3): e92895. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...992895J. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092895. PMC3966847. PMID 24671252.
^Taylor, A. H., Elliffe, D. M., Hunt, G. R., Emery, N. J., Clayton, N. S., & Gray, R. D., PLoS ONE, 6(12), e26887. (2011). "New Caledonian crows learn the functional properties of novel tool types". PLOS ONE. 6 (12): e26887. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...626887T. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0026887. PMC3237408. PMID 22194779.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Logan, C. J., Harvey, B. D., Schlinger, B. A., & Rensel, M. (2016). "Western scrub-jays do not appear to attend to functionality in Aesop's Fable experiments". PeerJ. 4: e1707. doi:10.7717/peerj.1707. PMC4768697. PMID 26925331.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Rincon, Paul (2005-02-22). "Science/Nature | Crows and jays top bird IQ scale". BBC News. Retrieved 2011-11-12.
^Shettleworth, Sara J. (2010). Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior. Oxford University Press. pp. 3–4. ISBN978-0-19-531984-2.
^Logan, Corina J. (2016-05-03). "Behavioral flexibility and problem solving in an invasive bird". PeerJ. 4: e1975. doi:10.7717/peerj.1975. ISSN 2167-8359. PMC4860340. PMID 27168984.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Crow and the Pitcher.
15th-20th-century illustrations from books
YouTube clip from "Inside the Animal Mind" (BBC Two Program) showing a crow solving a puzzle in order to get food.
December 20, 2023
crow, pitcher, aesop, fables, numbered, perry, index, relates, ancient, observation, corvid, behaviour, that, recent, scientific, studies, have, confirmed, goal, directed, indicative, causal, knowledge, rather, than, simply, being, instrumental, conditioning, . The Crow and the Pitcher is one of Aesop s Fables numbered 390 in the Perry Index It relates ancient observation of corvid behaviour that recent scientific studies have confirmed is goal directed and indicative of causal knowledge rather than simply being due to instrumental conditioning The Crow and the Pitcher illustrated by Milo Winter in 1919 Wikisource has original text related to this article The Crow and the Pitcher Contents 1 The fable and its moral 2 The fable in science 3 References 4 External linksThe fable and its moral editThe fable is made the subject of a poem by the first century CE Greek Poet Bianor 1 was included in the 2nd century fable collection of pseudo Dositheus 2 and later appears in the 4th 5th century Latin verse collection by Avianus 3 The history of this fable in antiquity and the Middle Ages is tracked in A E Wright s Hie lert uns der meister Latin Commentary and the Germany Fable 4 The story concerns a thirsty crow that comes upon a pitcher with water at the bottom beyond the reach of its beak After failing to push it over the bird drops in pebbles one by one until the water rises to the top of the pitcher allowing it to drink In his telling Avianus follows it with a moral that emphasises the virtue of ingenuity This fable shows us that thoughtfulness is superior to brute strength Other tellers of the story stress the crow s persistence In Francis Barlow s edition the proverb Necessity is the mother of invention is applied to the story 5 while an early 20th century retelling quotes the proverb Where there s a will there s a way 6 Artistic use of the fable may go back to Roman times since one of the mosaics that has survived is thought to have the story of the crow and the pitcher as its subject 7 Modern equivalents have included English tiles from the 18th 8 and 19th centuries 9 and an American mural by Justin C Gruelle 1889 1978 created for a Connecticut school 10 These and the illustrations in books of fables had little scope for invention The greatest diversity is in the type of vessel involved and over the centuries these have varied from a humble clay pot to elaborate Greek pitchers 11 The fable was later set to music by Howard J Buss as the fourth item in his Fables from Aesop 2002 12 The fable in science editThe Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder is the earliest to attest that the story reflects the behaviour of real life corvids 13 In August 2009 a study published in Current Biology revealed that rooks a relative of crows do just the same as the crow in the fable when presented with a similar situation 14 The ethologist Nicola Clayton also taking the fable as a starting point 15 found that other corvids are capable of the thinking demonstrated there 16 Eurasian jays were able to drop stones into a pitcher of water to make the water level rise Further research established that the birds understood that the pitcher must contain liquid rather than a solid for the trick to work and that the objects dropped in must sink rather than float New Caledonian crows perform similarly 17 18 19 but Western scrub jays appear to fail 20 The findings have advanced knowledge of bird intelligence the Eurasian jay had not been scientifically observed to use tools either in the wild or in captivity before The research also indicated that physical cognition evolved earlier in the corvid family than previously thought as the not closely related crows and ravens were already known to score highly on intelligence tests with certain species topping the avian IQ scale 21 and tool use is well documented 22 Unrelated birds the great tailed grackles also pass the test due to remarkable behavioral flexibility 23 Such tool use has been observed in great apes as well and the researchers were quoted as drawing a parallel between their findings and the fable 24 References edit The Greek Anthology trans W R Paton New York 1916 poem 272 p 145 Ben Edwin Perry 1965 Babrius and Phaedrus Loeb Classical Library Cambridge MA Harvard University Press pp 493 494 no 390 ISBN 978 0 674 99480 5 Avianus 27 Latin English Retrieved on 2007 07 19 Hie lert uns der meister Latin commentary and the German fable 1350 1500 onread com 39 De cornice et urna 1687 illustrated by Francis Barlow J H Stickney Aesop s Fables a version for young readers Boston 1915 text available online Stock Photos Royalty Free Images and Vectors Shutterstock shutterstock com The Crow and the Pitcher vam ac uk 1780 Tile vam ac uk 1875 There is a photograph of this taken in 1936 in the collection of Connecticut State Library Flickr Photo Sharing 21 August 2010 J W Pepper com Pliny the Elder 1855 Natural History H G Bohn p 525 pliny crow urn stones water Bird Christopher David Emery Nathan John 2009 Rooks Use Stones to Raise the Water Level to Reach a Floating Worm Current Biology 19 16 1410 1414 doi 10 1016 j cub 2009 07 033 PMID 19664926 Clayton Nicola 25 November 2011 Cognition in birds transcript Science Show ABC Radio National Retrieved 15 December 2011 Cheke Lucy G Bird Christopher D Clayton Nicola S 19 January 2011 Tool use and instrumental learning in the Eurasian jay Garrulus glandarius Animal Cognition 14 3 441 455 doi 10 1007 s10071 011 0379 4 PMID 21249510 S2CID 9123984 Retrieved 15 December 2011 Logan CJ Jelbert SA Breen AJ Gray RD Taylor AH 2014 Modifications to the Aesop s Fable Paradigm Change New Caledonian Crow Performances PLOS ONE 9 7 e103049 Bibcode 2014PLoSO 9j3049L doi 10 1371 journal pone 0103049 PMC 4108369 PMID 25055009 Jelbert SA Taylor AH Cheke LG Clayton NS Gray RD 2014 Using the Aesop s Fable Paradigm to Investigate Causal Understanding of Water Displacement by New Caledonian Crows PLOS ONE 9 3 e92895 Bibcode 2014PLoSO 992895J doi 10 1371 journal pone 0092895 PMC 3966847 PMID 24671252 Taylor A H Elliffe D M Hunt G R Emery N J Clayton N S amp Gray R D PLoS ONE 6 12 e26887 2011 New Caledonian crows learn the functional properties of novel tool types PLOS ONE 6 12 e26887 Bibcode 2011PLoSO 626887T doi 10 1371 journal pone 0026887 PMC 3237408 PMID 22194779 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Logan C J Harvey B D Schlinger B A amp Rensel M 2016 Western scrub jays do not appear to attend to functionality in Aesop s Fable experiments PeerJ 4 e1707 doi 10 7717 peerj 1707 PMC 4768697 PMID 26925331 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Rincon Paul 2005 02 22 Science Nature Crows and jays top bird IQ scale BBC News Retrieved 2011 11 12 Shettleworth Sara J 2010 Cognition Evolution and Behavior Oxford University Press pp 3 4 ISBN 978 0 19 531984 2 Logan Corina J 2016 05 03 Behavioral flexibility and problem solving in an invasive bird PeerJ 4 e1975 doi 10 7717 peerj 1975 ISSN 2167 8359 PMC 4860340 PMID 27168984 Charles Q Choi July 11 2007 Clever Apes Recreate an Aesop Fable LiveScience Retrieved 2007 07 19 External links edit nbsp Children s literature portal nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Crow and the Pitcher 15th 20th century illustrations from books YouTube clip from Inside the Animal Mind BBC Two Program showing a crow solving a puzzle in order to get food Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Crow and the Pitcher amp oldid 1187414472, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
