1. Synopsis
    Moral 

2. Origins
    Precursors 

3. Popular culture
    TV  Films  Politics 

4. References

The Scorpion and the Frog is an animal fable that seems to have first emerged in Russia. On account of its dark morality, there have been many references to it since then in popular culture, including in films, television shows, and books.

Synopsis

A scorpion asks a frog to carry it across a river. The frog hesitates, afraid of being stung by the scorpion, but the scorpion argues that if it did that, they would both drown. The frog considers this argument sensible and agrees to transport the scorpion. The scorpion climbs onto the frog's back and the frog begins to swim, but midway across the river, the scorpion stings the frog, dooming them both. The dying frog asks the scorpion why it stung the frog, to which the scorpion replies "I couldn't help it. It's in my nature." ^[1][2][3]

Moral

The moral of the story is that, like the scorpion, humans possess compulsions that they cannot repress even when it is in their best interest. Conversely, like the frog, humans can be too trusting and hence the importance of understanding others by their true nature.^[4][5]

Origins

The earliest known publication of this fable in this exact form was in the 1944 book The Hunter of the Pamirs: A Novel of Adventure in Soviet Central Asia by Georgi Tushkan.^[6] It also featured in the 1955 film Mr. Arkadin in a soliloquy delivered by Orson Welles, and since then the fable has become well-known.^[7][8] In interviews about the film, Welles remarked, "that scorpion story is Russian in origin".^[9]

Precursors

The Scorpion and the Tortoise is a fable that emerged in India. Instead of a frog, it is a tortoise that carries the scorpion, and the tortoise survives thanks to its protective shell.^[10][11] John Malcolm, in his 1827 book Sketches of Persia, from the Journals of a Traveller in the East, relates a version of this tale in which the tortoise spares the scorpion but delivers the following rebuke:

"Are you not the most wicked and ungrateful of reptiles? But for me you must either have given up your journey, or have been drowned in that stream, and what is my reward? If it had not been for the armour which God has given me, I should have been stung to death." "Blame me not," said the scorpion, in a supplicatory tone, "it is not my fault; it is that of my nature; it is a constitutional habit I have of stinging."^[12]

In some versions of the tale, the tortoise punishes the scorpion by letting it drown.^[13]

The image of a scorpion carried across a river by a frog occurs at an earlier period, in the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli), though with a different outcome and purpose. The scorpion crosses the river and stings a man, killing him. This is said to illustrate how God's will is fulfilled in seemingly impossible ways.^[14] An Arab variant is found in a Sufi source that illustrates divine providence with the tale of a scorpion that crosses the Nile on a frog's back in order to save a sleeping drunkard from being bitten by a snake.^[15] In neither of the above, however, is the frog injured.

The fable has often been mis-attributed to Aesop, but it may have taken inspiration from some of Aesop's actual fables. There is a fable of Aesop's called The Farmer and the Viper, which teaches the same basic moral. Another possible inspiration from Aesop's fables is The Frog and the Mouse, which warns against injudicious friendships: "inconsiderate and ill-matched alliances generally end in ruin; and the man who compasses the destruction of his neighbour is often caught in his own snare".^[16]

A study of The Scorpion and the Frog published in a German journal in 2011 found no connection with the Indian tradition of the Panchatantra, either in the original Sanskrit work or its early translations.^[17] However, the fable of The Scorpion and the Tortoise was found interpolated in post-Islamic variants of the Panchatantra.^[18] The study suggests that the interpolation occurred between the 12th and 13th centuries in the Persian language area and may offer a new starting point for further research on the question of the fable's origin.^[19]

Popular culture

References to the fable have appeared in many films, television shows, books and newspaper articles.^[20][21]

TV

In Season 5 episode 13 of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Detective Rosa Diaz references this story with regards to Jake trusting Doug Judy.

Films

Since the fable's narration by Orson Welles in Mr. Arkadin ^[7][8], it has been recounted in several other films: Skin Deep (1989)^[22], The Crying Game (1992) with Forest Whitaker,^[23] and Drive (2011) with Ryan Gosling^[24]

Politics

The fable has been used to dramatise the bitter nature of social conflicts such as in the Middle East.^[25][26] In 2017, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley denounced Iran over its alleged lack of compliance with a nuclear deal, calling it a “scorpion” which can’t help stinging.^[27][28]

References

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• Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya
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