The Sparrow and the Crow: The Indian Folk Tale Retold for Bedtime
Quick answer: The Sparrow and the Crow retold for bedtime: two birds cook khichri, the crow is sent to wash his beak, and one errand leads to another until the pot is empty. A Punjabi tale.
A sparrow and a crow cook a pot of khichri, and when it is ready the sparrow sends the crow to wash his muddy beak first. The chain of errands that follows is one of the oldest jokes in Indian storytelling, and small children love it because they see the end coming long before the crow does.
The story
A sparrow and a crow decided to cook khichri together. The sparrow fetched the rice and the sparrow fetched the dal as well, while the crow sat on a branch and gave advice. At last the pot bubbled and the smell went across the field. “It is ready,” said the sparrow. “But look at your beak, black with mud. Go and wash it before you eat.”
The crow flew to the river. “River, give me water to wash my beak, so I can eat the khichri.” “Bring a pot to carry it in,” said the river. The crow flew to the potter. “Potter, give me a pot, to carry the water, to wash my beak, to eat the khichri.” “Bring me clay,” said the potter. The crow flew to the field. “Earth, give me clay.” “Bring a deer's horn to dig me with,” said the earth.
The crow flew to the deer. “Deer, lend me your horn, to dig the clay, to make the pot, to carry the water, to wash my beak, to eat the khichri.” “Feed me milk first,” said the deer. The cow wanted grass. The grass wanted a sickle. The blacksmith wanted to be paid, and the crow, who had never worked a day, had nothing to pay with, so he carried coals and pumped the bellows all afternoon until the sickle was made.
Then the crow cut the grass, fed the cow, milked her, paid the deer, borrowed the horn, dug the clay, took it to the potter, waited for the pot, filled it at the river, and washed his beak until it shone. He flew back to the tree. The pot was empty. The sparrow had waited as long as a sparrow can, eaten the khichri, and gone to sleep with her head under her wing. The crow sat on the branch with a clean beak and an empty stomach, and that, people say, is why crows still shout in the evenings.
Where it comes from
The tale is Punjabi, printed in English in Flora Annie Steel's Tales of the Punjab in 1894. It is told with several endings, some hard on the crow; the empty pot is the gentlest and the usual one at bedtime.
What the tale is about underneath
The crow does nothing wrong on his errand. He asks politely, works when asked, and pays his way at the forge. His fault was earlier, on the branch, and the chain of errands is that morning of idleness handed back as work. The sparrow's request was fair, and the tale never says she cheated. It only says a sparrow cannot wait forever, and that a bird who lets someone else fetch the rice should not be surprised to find the pot empty.
Reading aloud
Let the crow's request grow by one clause each time; say it fast.
Write your own
Borrow the errand that breeds errands. Send a character to do one small thing and let every person they ask need something first, until the list is absurd. Then pay it off by running the whole chain backward at speed, so the reader feels the work in a single breath. The ending belongs to whoever stayed behind.
What writers can take from this
- Give the river, the potter and the earth one flat line each; they are not characters, they are conditions.
- Let the crow's speech grow a clause at every stop and let the child repeat it.
- Make the forge the hardest part, since it is the first real work the crow has done.
- Run the unwinding chain in one long breath.
- End on the sparrow asleep, not on the crow's complaint.
Try it yourself
Write a story about a character sent to do one small task who finds that each person they ask needs something first. Build the chain until it is absurd, then run it back in one sentence, and let the reward have gone to someone who did the work at the start.
Questions
What is the moral of The Sparrow and the Crow?
The one who does the work eats the dinner, and the one who sits on the branch giving advice ends up running errands. The tale does not preach; it lets the empty pot make the point.
Is The Sparrow and the Crow suitable for a 3-year-old?
Yes. There is no villain and nothing frightening, and the repeated chain is easy for a small child to join. Choose the ending with the empty pot; some older versions are harder on the crow.
Where does The Sparrow and the Crow come from?
It is a Punjabi folk tale, recorded in English by Flora Annie Steel in Tales of the Punjab in 1894. Chain tales of this kind, where each helper demands something first, are told all over India and beyond.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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