The Scorpion and the Frog
 | This article possibly contains original research. (February 2011) |
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, but the scorpion argues that if it stung, the frog would sink and the scorpion would drown. The frog agrees and the scorpion stings the frog during the crossing, dooming them both. When asked why, the scorpion points out that this is its nature. The fable is used to illustrate the position that the behaviour of some creatures is irrepressible, no matter how they are treated and no matter what the consequences.
Variations commonly include a farmer, youth, turtle, or fox in place of the frog, and a snake in place of the scorpion. The Farmer and the Viper is a specific variant which can be attributed to Aesop. There is also a variation[1][2] in which the final words of the scorpion are "It is better we should both perish than that my enemy should live."
Origin
The author is unknown, and variations of the fable appear in West African[3][4] and European folktales. The story is often identified with Aesop's Fables, although only variants appear therein.[5][6] A study published in a German journal in 2011[7] 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 BCE. 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 post-Islamic variants of the Panchatantra.[8] The study suggests that the interpolation occurred between the 12th and 13th century in the Persian language area[9] and offers a constructive frame of orientation for further research on the question of the fable's origin.
In popular culture
- The title character of Mr. Arkadin tells the story at his party.
- The fable is also told in The Crying Game.
- In Natural Born Killers the Navajo shaman tells a version of "The Farmer and the Viper".
- The Mars Volta singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala alludes to the fable in the song "Agadez" on their fourth album, The Bedlam in Goliath.
- "The Snake" (b/w "Getting Ready for Tomorrow") by Al Wilson (singer) (1968)
- The Matches' song "To Build A Mountain", on their album A Band In Hope (2008), refers to this story.
- This fable is also the subject of the song "The Scorpion" by the band Megadeth on the album The System has Failed, which describes the actions and behaviours of antisocial personality disorder.
- 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.
- Scottish progressive rocker Fish bases the song "Manchmal", from the album 13th Star, on this fable.
- William Galison retells the story in a song titled "Shoulda Known" on the album Got You on My Mind. Carly Simon cameos on the track delivering the line, "It's my nature; that's what scorpions do."
- Commander Chakotay tells the story in "Scorpion", an episode of Star Trek: Voyager.
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- Lorelai Gilmore recites the story to her parents in "New and Improved Lorelai", the first episode in the sixth season of Gilmore Girls.
- The story of the Scorpion and the Frog is referenced by Louie aka "The Old Man" to Noah aka "Il Duce" before the final battle scene in the movie The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day.
References
- ^ "The Scorpion and the Fox". 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
- ^ "better we should both perish". 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-21.
- ^ Livraghi, Giancarlo (2009). The Scorpion and The Frog. Pescara, Italy: M&A. ISBN 978-88-89479-15-5. Retrieved 2010-08-01 (author's footnote).
Its origins seem unknown. There are no traces, in any tradition, that lead back to Aesop. No indications that it ever existed in Greek or Latin. It's around in several languages. It seems to have started in English, somewhat earlier than fifty years ago. But it may have an older origin in African folklore – the tale of a "generous" frog on the shore of the Niger river.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help); Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ The Farmer and the Viper. p. 416. Retrieved 2010-08-01 Retrieved via Google Books.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help); Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Aesops Fables: The Farmer and the Viper (Aesop, Arthur Rackham). p. 121. Retrieved 2010-08-01 Retrieved via Google Books.
{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help); Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "Aesops Fables (Myth-Folklore Online)". Folklore and Myth. 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
- ^ Takeda, Arata (2011). ”Blumenreiche Handelswege: Ost-westliche Streifzüge auf den Spuren der Fabel Der Skorpion und der Frosch”. Deutsche Vierteljahrsschrift für Literaturwissenschaft und Geistesgeschichte, Volume 85, Issue 1, pp. 124–152.
- ^ Takeda (2011), pp. 140–142.
- ^ Takeda (2011), p. 142.