Fables of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists/Fable CCXXXIX
Fab. CCXXXIX.
A Crow and a Pitcher.
A Crow that was Extream Thirsty, found a Pitcher with a Little Water in’t, but it lay so Low he could not come at it. He try’d first to Break the Pot, and then to Over-turn it, but it was both too Strong, and too Heavy for him. He Bethought Himself However of a Device at last that did his Bus'ness; which was, by Dropping a great many Little Pebbles into the Water, and Raising it That Way, till he had it within Reach.
The MORAL.
REFLEXION.
'TIS a Kind of a School Question that we find started in This Fable, upon the Subject of Reason and Instinctt: And whether This Deliberative Proceeding of the Crow was not rather a Logical Agitation of the Matter, then the Bare Analogy, as we call it, of a Simple Impulse. It will be Objected, that we are not to Draw Conclusions from the Fictions of a Case, but whoever Constists his Experience, may satisfie Himself in many Instances that come up to This Supposition. We are also taught, that what we cannot Compass Directly, by the Force of Natural Faculties, may be brought to pass many times by Art and Invention.