AESOP'S FABLES: THE CROW AND THE PITCHER

-------☹😊☹-------

Aesop's Fables, or the Aesopica, is a collection of fables credited to Aesop, a slave and storyteller believed to have lived in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE. Of diverse origins, the stories associated with his name have descended to modern times through a number of sources and continue to be reinterpreted in different verbal registers and in popular as well as artistic media.  The fables originally belonged to the oral tradition and were not collected for some three centuries after Aesop's death. By that time a variety of other stories, jokes and proverbs were being ascribed to him. 

-------☹😊☹-------

The Fable:

The Crow and the Pitcher

A crow, perishing with thirst, saw a pitcher, and, hoping to find water, flew to it with great delight. When he reached it, he discovered to his grief that it contained so little water that he could not possibly get at it. He tried everything he could think of to reach the water, but all his efforts were in vain. At last he collected as many stones as he could carry and dropped them one by one with his beak into the pitcher, until he brought the water within his reach, and thus saved his life.

Moral:

Necessity is the mother of invention.

-------☹😊☹-------

Meaning: 

The primary driving force for most new inventions is a need. 

It has also been put that means that if someone really needs to do something, they will find a way of doing it. 

-------☹😊☹-------

About:

The author of this proverb is unknown. One of the earliest recorded instances is in one of Aesop’s Fables, “The Crow and the Pitcher” from the mid 6th century BCE. Plato's Republic says "our need will be the real creator", which Jowett's 1894 translation rendered loosely as "The true creator is necessity, who is the mother of our invention." 

The phrase was also used in medieval French. It is found in a collection of proverbs dating to 1485-1490, and is included with another saying, "Hunger makes people resourceful," and an illustration of one man eating a carrot and another man eating grass.

-------☹😊☹-------

Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention

In 1964 Frank Zappa took over leadership of the American rock band The Soul Giants. He renamed the band The Mothers, that being a jazz compliment for a great musician. However, their record company, Verve Records, objected to the insinuation (i.e., "motherfuckers") and by necessity Zappa had to change the name.  The company suggested The Mothers Auxiliary, Zappa instead chose The Mothers of Invention.

The following item about Frank Zappa has been previously posted in BytesL'

Zappa once appeared on Joe Pyne’s TV show, Pyne having pioneered the attack interview in which the host confronts the guests, advocating a viewpoint and arguing with guests and audience members. In 1955, Pyne had lost the lower part of his left leg due to a rare form of cancer. Thereafter he had a wooden prosthetic leg.

After introducing Zappa, Pyne commented "So Frank, you have long hair. Does that make you a woman?"

Frank Zappa: 'You have a wooden leg. Does that make you a table?”

-------☹😊☹-------

-------☹😊☹-------