The Scorpion and the Frog

Image Sources (modified): River, Scorpion, Frog

The parable of The Scorpion and the Frog seems to originate in 1954 in the Orson Welles film Mr. Arkadin, but is probably a modern re-telling of Aesop's (~620 to ~560 BCE) Fable 176, The Farmer and the Viper. It has been referenced frequently in popular culture because of its dark morality, and many of you have heard me tell it.

A scorpion

is walking along the banks of a river, looking for a way to cross, when it happens upon a frog.
The scorpion asks the frog to carry it across the river on its back.
The frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?"
The scorpion replies, "If I sting you, we will both drown."
Considering this, the frog agrees to carry the scorpion across the river.
But halfway across, in a heavy current, the scorpion stings the frog.
Gasping its dying breath, the frog asks, "Why?"
Replies the scorpion: "I couldn't help it. It's my nature."

The moral of the story

is that it is incorrect to blame the scorpion for being a scorpion. The frog should have known better.

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