The Scorpion and the Frog

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The Scorpion and the Frog is a fable about a scorpion asking a frog to carry him across a river. The frog is afraid of being stung during the trip, but the scorpion argues that if it stung the frog, the frog would sink and the scorpion would drown. The frog agrees and begins carrying the scorpion, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When asked why, the scorpion explains that this is simply its nature. The fable is used to illustrate the view that the behaviour of some creatures, or of some people, is irrepressible, no matter how they are treated and no matter what the consequences.

Variations commonly include a farmer, youth, turtle, kangaroo, or fox in place of the frog, and a snake in place of the scorpion. The Farmer and the Viper is a specific variant that can be attributed to Aesop.

Origin 

An illustration of the fable from Kalilah and Dimna

The origin and author are unknown. Variations of the fable appear in West African and European folktales. The story is often identified with Aesop's Fables, although only variants appear therein. A study published in a German journal in 2011 points out a connection between the genesis of the fable and the tradition of the Panchatantra, a collection of animal fables dating back to India in the 3rd century BC. Whereas the original Sanskrit work and its early translations do not contain any fable resembling The Scorpion and the Frog, an earlier version of it, The Scorpion and the Turtle, is to be found as an interpolated fable in variants of the Panchatantra. The study suggests that the interpolation occurred between the 12th and 13th century in the Persian language area and offers a constructive frame of orientation for further research on the question of the fable's origin.