The fountain "Girl with a Pitcher" was created in 1816 by sculptor Pavel Sokolov. On a cliff, in a mournful pose, sits a maiden holding a fragment of a broken pitcher that lies at her feet. From the broken mouth of the pitcher a stream from the only spring in the Catherine Park flows into a tiny granite basin.
   The prototype for the maiden was the heroine of the fable by Jean de La Fontaine "The Milkmaid". According to the fable, the milkmaid was dreaming about future wealth on her way to the market. Carried away by her thoughts, she forgot about the pitcher that she was carrying on her head and jumped for joy. The pitcher fell and broke, the milk poured out, and the sad maiden sat by the road, mourning her misfortune.