The Scorpion and the Frog

The Scorpion and the Frog is a fable of unknown author, though often mis-attributed to Aesop. The story is about a scorpion asking a frog to carry him across a river. The frog is afraid of being stung, but the scorpion reassures him that if it stung the frog, the frog would sink and the scorpion would drown as well. The frog then agrees; nevertheless, in mid-river, the scorpion stings him, dooming the two of them. When asked why, the scorpion explains, "I'm a scorpion; it's my nature."

The story is sometimes told with a turtle or fox in place of the frog.

Once a jerk always a jerk (aka JC)

It is often quoted to illustrate the purportedly insuppressible nature of one's self at its base level.

Use in pop culture

In film

• This story is also told by Orson Welles in the film Mr. Arkadin (also known as Confidential Report, 1955).
• The story is used by Forest Whitaker in the film The Crying Game (1992).
• An altered version of the story, replacing the frog with a woman and the scorpion with a snake, is told by the Shaman character in Natural Born Killers (1994).
• It also appears in the 1989 Blake Edwards film Skin Deep.

In television

• The fable's premise is the basis of the plot of the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Scorpion", in which Chakotay describes the fable to Captain Janeway as a warning not to trust the Borg. A fox is substituted for the frog.
• It is referenced by James Gandolfini's character during season 2, episode #10, "Bust Out" of The Sopranos.
• By John Glover's Lionel Luthor character during the season 2 episode "Prodigal" of Smallville
• By Lorelai Gilmore (Lauren Graham) in Gilmore Girls during season 6.
• The fable is referenced multiple times in season two of the Showtime series Weeds (2005-2006) as a metaphor for the relationship between a widowed drug dealer and Drug Enforcement Administration agent.
• Told by Walt Braun in the "Burked" episode of CSI.
• In the "Bad Blood" episode of The Dresden Files, Bob references the story when talking to Harry Dresden.
• The scorpion and turtle version is told by Peter Thorton after an encounter with one of MacGyver's girls, in an episode of MacGyver.
• It is a pivotal reference in Season 2 of Weeds, a Showtime Original Series. Nancy discovers that Peter is a DEA Agent after she sleeps with him. When he informs her that he knows she is a drug dealer, they wind up discussing their relationship. Nancy refers to their situation as the Scorpion and the Turtle, and Peter jokingly corrects her and says its frog not a turtle. This becomes their joke, and is often referred to when their relationship hits a snag.
• David Simon, creator of the HBO series The Wire, describes the story as informing a plot line in season 5 of the show, where Marlo Stanfield, a young drug dealer, befriends and then kills a senior dealer: "That whole thing was Aesop's Fable of the turtle and the scorpion and Joe didn't recognize the scorpion. The Greek did." Simon clearly also thinks that Aesop is the source of the tale!
• In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fast Forward episode 23 - DNA is Thicker than Water, the turtles battle dark clones of themselves, and take Dark Leo in after he saved Cody. During Dark Leo's time in a holding cell, Leonardo tells him the fable, as a story that Master Spinter told Leo. He said that he believe that if you offer most people the opportunity to be the best they can be, they take it. The fable was used for Dark Leo to think about a choice that Leo wanted him to make: going into custody of the Peace Keepers, or to stay with the turtles. Dark Leo asked why he had to decide. Leo replied "To find out whether you're a scorpion, or a turtle."
• Features in Starsky and Hutch, Season 1, Episode 3 as the last words of a dying man who had been shot
• This fable is a major theme in Eden's Bowy. Interpretation of the story's moral is a source of conflict between Yorn and Spike.

In music

• The Oakland, CA rock band The Matches have made reference to this story in their song "To Build A Mountain" from their album A Band In Hope (2008).
• This fable is also the subject of the song "Scorpion" by the band Megadeth on the album The System has Failed.
• This story is also the inspiration for the song "Scorpion Frog" by the Israeli band Infected Mushroom.
• The Italian band 883 published a song inspired by this fable, entitled La rana e lo scorpione, on the album Grazie mille.
• The jam band WOOKIEFOOT has a song based on the Frog and The Scorpion on the album "Out of the Jar"
• Scottish Progressive Rocker Fish bases the song "Manchmal" from the album 13th Star on this fable.
• Jazzy singer Madeleine Peyroux retells the story with William Gadison in a song titled 'Shoulda known' on the album "Got you on my mind"

Other

• "The Scorpion and the Frog" was used as a strip title in the popular webcomic PvP. The strip explores Scratch Fury's inability to go against his animal instincts.

• "The Scorpion and the Fox" was used by Monet St. Croix aka. M during a fight with Jubilation Lee aka. Jubilee to illustrate her reasons for treating Jubilee as inferior, in the comic book 'Generation X', a spin-off of the popular X-Men series.

• An altered version of the fable is told in "Way of the Scorpion", a supplement of the Legend of the Five Rings roleplaying game. In this version, the scorpion replies "I can swim", instead of drowning in the river.

• "The Scorpion and the Frog" was used by Nakor the Isalani (Stories of Midkemia: by Raymond Feist) when describing the nature of the Mad God and his evil servants. In "Talon of the Silver Hawk", Nakor used this to describe Duke Kaspar's nature to Talwin Hawkins.

• "The Scorpion and the Fox" was used in the book "For Freedom" by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley when Suzanne describes the Nazis as the scorpion.

See also

• The Farmer and the Viper