THE SCORPION AND THE FROG

'''The Scorpion and the Frog''' is a fable 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 they would both die if that happened. The frog then agrees; nevertheless, in mid-river, the scorpion stings him, dooming the both of them, and when asked why, explains, "I'm a scorpion; it's my nature."
The story is sometimes told with a turtle or fox in place of the frog.
It is often quoted to illustrate the purportedly insuppressible nature of one's self at its base level.
The fable's premise is the basis of the plot of the '' 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.
This story is also told by Orson Welles in the film ''Mr. Arkadin'' (also known as ''Confidential Report'', 1955) and by Forrest Whitaker in the film ''The Crying Game'' (1992). An altered version of the story is also told by a native character in Natural Born Killers. It is referenced by James Gandolfini's character during a season 2 episode of ''The Sopranos'', by John Glover's character during a season 1 episode of ''Smallville'', and 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 married drug dealer and Drug Enforcement Administration agent. It also appears in the 1989 Blake Edwards film ''Skin Deep'', and in an episode of '' ("Burked").
This story was also told and depicted several times in the Japanese animation ''Eden's Bowy''.
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, as this story is sometimes used as an anecdote in discussions concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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★ ''The Farmer and the Viper''