"If men wore feathers very few would be as clever as this bird." --Henry Ward Beecher

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in order to gather information for the section of my webpage dedicated to keeping crows as pets, i posted an advertisement on a Free Bird Classifieds board saying that i would like to find people who breed crows. i recieved this response from Ben Youmans. i personally think this is a lovely story that he said took place over a period of two years.

I raised a nest of crows when I was a kid. I kept them in a coop with a bunch of pigeons. They ruled the coop. I opened the coop when they were fully fleged. They stayed around for a long time and were tame to me and no one else. One spent the winter with me. He came and went as he pleased. I had some pigeons that I allowed to stay out all day and I would lock the coop at night. He stayed with these and went out during the day, but always returned at night before dark. He finally started to skip coming home at dark. To my delight he showed up one evening after 6 or so months just like it was yesterday. He was tamer to me than the pigeons that I was around everyday. I think he ate a few squabs but Im not sure but he thought he was a pigeon. I never confined him while he was here. He finally left after a week or two. I think he was back about a year later but he wasnt tame any more. He just hung around. He went into the coop a few times, but he didnt spend the night ever again. he just disappeared and I never saw him againI am 54 years old now and I still get tears when I think about him. He was a fond memory in my life When I was a young man, I started hunting, I enjoyed it greatly until one day I came across a man with a high powered rifle shooting at crows at a great distance. This brought back a flood of memories, When I left I guess this guy thought I was a real nut case. Anyway, That soured me on hunting anything. Somehow It seemed so cruel and senseless When I saw the add about crows, I thought for a brief moment that I would like to have another, but I would rather they be free.

These Stories are taken from Jack Zipes' The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm
The Crows
The Lazy One and The Industrious One

An honest and diligent soldier had earned and saved some money because he had been industious and had not squandered his earnings in the taverns as the other soldiers had. It so happened that two of his comrades were quite devious and wanted to get at his money, and so they pretended to be very friendly with him. One day they said to him, "Listen, why whould we stay here in this city? We're locked in as though we were prisoners. Besides, someone such as you could really earn something decent and live happily if you were in yoiur own country."

They kept talking to him like this untill finally he agreed to break out and leave with them. However, the other two only intended to steal his money. After they had gone part way, the two soldiers said, "We must turn right over there if we want to get to the border."

"No," he replied. "That leads straight back into the city. We've got to keep to our left."

"What!" the other two exclaimed. "You always want to have the last word in everything!"

Then they rushe dat him and began hitting him untill he fell down, and they took the money out of his pocket. But that was not enough. They poked his eyes out, dragged him to hte gallows, and tied him up tightly there. After that they left him behind and went back to the city with his stolen money.

The poor blind man was not aware that he had been left in such a terrible place. He groped about and could feel that he was sitting under a beam of wood. Since he thought it was a cross, he said, "Well, at least it was good of them to tie me up under a cross. God is with me." And he began praying to God. When it was almost night, he heard the fluttering fo wings, which turned out to be three crows that landed on the beeam. After that he heard one of them speaking, "Sister, what good news have you brought? Oh, if the people knew what we know! The king's daughter is sick, and the old king has promised to give her to anyone who can cure her. But no one can do it, for she'll get well again only if the toad in the pond over there is burned to ashes and she drinks the ashes with some water."

Then the second crow said, "Oh, if the people knew what we know! A dew will fall from heaven tonight, and it will have such miraculous and healing powers that the blind will be able to regain their sight if they rub their eyes with it."

Finally, the third crow said, "Oh, if the people knew what we know! The toad can only help one person, and the dew can only help a few. Meanwhile, there's a great emergency in the city. All the wells are dried out, and nobody knows that if the people removed the square stone in the marketplace and dug beneath that spot, the most beautiful water would gush forth."

After the three crows had finished talking, the blind man heard the fluttering of wings again, and they flew away. Graduallly he was able to untie himself, and then he stooped down, puled out a few blades of grass, and rubbed his eyes with the dew that had fallen on them. All at once he regained his sight. The moon and the stars were in the sky, and he saw that he was standing next to the gallows. After that he looked for some earthenware to gather as much of the precious dew as he could find. When this was done, he went to the pond, dug into the water, grabbed hold of the toad, and burned it to ashes. Next he carried the ashes to the king's court and had the king's daughter take some. When she was restored to health, he demanded her for his wife as the king had promised. However, the king did not take a liking to him, because he was dressed so poorly, and he said that whoever wanted to have his daughter would first have to provide water for the city. In this way the king hoped to get rid of him. But the soldier went to the city and ordered the people to remove the square stone from the markentplace and to dig beneath the spot for water. No sooner had they dug than they hit upon a spring, and a mighty jet of water shot forth. Now the king could no longer refuse to give his daughter to him. After the wedding, they lived together in a happy marriage.

One day, when the soldier was taking a walk through the fields, he met his former comrades who had treated him so disgracefuly. They did not recognize him, but he knew them right away and went up to them. "Look," he said, "this is your former comrade whose eyes you poked out so cruelly. But fortunately the dear Lord has allowed me to prosper."

They fell to his feet and begged for mercy. Since he had a kind heart, he took pity on them and brought them back to his palace. He gave them food and clothes and afterward told them what had happened and how he had gained such homor. When the two heard all that, they were restless and eager to spend a night beneath the gallows to see if they could perhaps hear somthing good as well. So they went and sat underneath the gallows. Soon they heard the fluttering of wings abouve their heads, and the tree crows arrived. One of them said to the others, "Listen sisters, someone must have overheard us, for the king's daughtr is healthy, the toad is gone from the pond, a blind man has regained his sight, and they've dug a fresh well in the city. Come, let's look for the eavesdropper and punish him."

When they swooped down from the beam, they found the two soldiers, and before the men could defend themselves, the crows sat on their heads and hacked out their eyes, and they kept hacking their faces until they were deaad and then left them lying beneath the gallows. After a few days, when the soldiers had not returned, their former comrade thought, Where could the two be wandering about? He went out to look for them but found nothing except their bones, which he took away from the gallows and buried in a grave.

Once upon a time there were two journeymen who traveled together, and they swore they would always stick together. However, when they reached a large city, one of them began living loosely and wandered here and there. Most of all he loved to be at the places where he could find the most excitement. The other journeyman remaineed committed to his job in the city, worked industriously, and then continued his travels.

One night he passed by the galjlows without realizing it, but he saw a man lying asleep on the ground. He was shabby and destitute, and since the stars were so bright, the journeyman recognized him as his former companion. So he laid himself down next to him, covered him with his coat, and fell asleep. However, he was soon wakened by two voices. They were ravens sitting on top of the gallows.

One said, "God provides!"

The other, "Act according to the situation!"

After those words were spoken, one of the ravens fell exhausted to the ground. The other went and sat next to him until it was day. Then he fetched some worms and water, revived him with that, and woke him from the dead.

When the two journeymen saw all this, they were astounded and asked the one raven why the other was so miserable and sick. Then the sick raven said, "It was because I didn't want to do anything, for I believe that all my food will be provided for by heaven."

The two journeymen took the ravens with them to the next village. One of the birds was cheerful and searched for his food. He bathed himself every morning and cleaned himself with his beak. However, the other stayed around the house, was bad-tempered, and always looked shaggy. After a while the landlord's daughter, who was a beautiful maiden, became very fond of the industrious raven. She picked hmi up from the floor and petted him with her hand, and then one day she pressed him to her face and gave him a kiss out of sheer delight. The bird fell to the ground, rolled over, fluttered, and truned into a handsome man. Then he revealed that the other raven was his brother and that they had both insulted their father, who had put a curse on them by saying, "Fly around as ravens until a beautiful maiden kisses you of her own free will."

So one of the brothers was released from the spell, but nobody wanted to kiss the one who was idle, and he died as a raven.

The journeyman who had been living loosely took a lesson from this, and he became industrious and proper and took good care of his companion.

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Aesop's origin is a bit unclear, his real life being obscured by myth. I do believe that he is thought to have been born about 620 BCE to a slave, but no one is sure exactly where. I have also heard one story about him that claimed he was deformed and told his stories about animals which tend to outwit humans because he did not think much of humans for their treatment of him. I found the following stories at a Gopher sight.
Click here for a Gopher list of Aesop's fables Click here for some illustrated fables

The Crow and Mercury
The Crow and The Raven
The Crow and The Serpent
The Crow and The Sheep
The Dove and The Crow
The Swallow and The Crow
The Raven and The Swan
The Fox and The Crow
The Crow and The Pitcher

A Crow caught in a snare prayed to Apollo to release him, making a vow to offer some frankincense at his shrine. But when rescued from his danger, he forgot his promise. Shortly afterwards, again caught in a snare, he passed by Apollo and made the same promise to offer frankincense to Mercury. Mercury soon appeared and said to him, "O thou most base fellow? how can I believe thee, who hast disowned and wronged thy former patron?'

A Crow was jealous of the Raven, because he was considered a bird of good omen and always attracted the attention of men, who noted by his flight the good or evil course of future events. Seeing some travelers approaching, the Crow flew up into a tree, and perching herself on one of the branches, cawed as loudly as she could. The travelers turned towards the sound and wondered what it foreboded, when one of them said to his companion, "Let us proceed on our journey, my friend, for it is only the caw of a crow, and her cry, you know, is no omen."

Those who assume a character which does not belong to them, only make themselves ridiculous.

A CROW in great want of food saw a Serpent asleep in a sunny nook, and flying down, greedily seized him. The Serpent, turning about, bit the Crow with a mortal wound. In the agony of death, the bird exclaimed: "O unhappy me! who have found in that which I deemed a happy windfall the source of my destruction."

A Troublesome crow seated herself on the back of a Sheep. The Sheep, much against his will, carried her backward and forward for a long time, and at last said, "If you had treated a dog in this way, you would have had your deserts from his sharp teeth." To this the Crow replied, "I despise the weak and yield to the strong. I know whom I may bully and whom I must flatter; and I thus prolong my life to a good old age."

A Dove shut up in a cage was boasting of the large number of young ones which she had hatched. A Crow hearing her, said: "My good friend, cease from this unseasonable boasting. The larger the number of your family, the greater your cause of sorrow, in seeing them shut up in this prison-house."

The swallow and the Crow had a contention about their plumage. The Crow put an end to the dispute by saying, "Your feathers are all very well in the spring, but mine protect me against the winter."

Fair weather friends are not worth much.

A Raven saw a Swan and desired to secure for himself the same beautiful plumage. Supposing that the Swan's splendid white color arose from his washing in the water in which he swam, the Raven left the altars in the neighborhood where he picked up his living, and took up residence in the lakes and pools. But cleansing his feathers as often as he would, he could not change their color, while through want of food he perished.

Change of habit cannot alter Nature.

This story is just like the Native American story Coyote and Crow.

A Crow having stolen a bit of meat, perched in a tree and held it in her beak. A Fox, seeing this, longed to possess the meat himself, and by a wily stratagem succeeded. "How handsome is the Crow," he exclaimed, in the beauty of her shape and in the fairness of her complexion! Oh, if her voice were only equal to her beauty, she would deservedly be considered the Queen of Birds!" This he said deceitfully; but the Crow, anxious to refute the reflection cast upon her voice, set up a loud caw and dropped the flesh. The Fox quickly picked it up, and thus addressed the Crow: "My good Crow, your voice is right enough, but your wit is wanting."

I thought the version of this story that i found on the gopher list was quite sparse and since I had heard other versions of it, i thought I would write my own.

One summer there was a horrible draught, all the lakes and wells were dry. All the people and animals of the land were terribly thirsty, even the dogs that lived with men were dying from thirst because there was not enough to share with them. In this land lived a crow, who was having no more luck finding water then anyone else. She came to a man's house in her search for water and sat in a tree to observe the area.

As the crow looked about she said to herself, "If i do not find any water today i know i shall die." As the crow pondered her dilema and looked around she notice a pitcher sitting on the sill of the man's home. Thinking it may have water she flew down to it and peered inside. Oh! and it did have water. The crow was so happy, for now she was finally get a drink, so she leaned into the pitcher to drink. Unfortunately she found she could not reach the water because the pitcher was too deep.

"Oh, what am i to do?" the crow moaned. She tried and tried to get at the water but no matter how she put her head in she could not reach the water. Finally she decided to just sit and think about her dillema.

The sun crossed the sky as she thought, and as it began sinking toward the horizon she thought of an idea. She began to gather pebbles from the yard around the house and dropped them, one by one, into the pitcher. After gathering many rocks and when the sun had begun to dip below the earth she finally was able to raise the water up to the top of the pitcher. She leaned in and promptly drank all of the water.

Then the clever crow flew off and a few days later the draught ended and it began raining again. So the crow had been able to survive long enough because of her inginuity.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

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