Tuesday 9 April 2013

Carpe Diem: Scorpion and the Frog

One day, a scorpion looked around at the mountain where he lived and decided that he wanted a change. So he set out on a journey through the forests and hills. He climbed over rocks and under vines and kept going until he reached a river.

The river was wide and swift, and the scorpion stopped to reconsider the situation. He couldn't see any way across. So he ran upriver and then checked downriver, all the while thinking that he might have to turn back.

Suddenly, he saw a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.

"Hellooo Mr. Frog!" called the scorpion across the water, "Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?"

"Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you wont try to kill me?" asked the frog hesitantly.

"Because," the scorpion replied, "If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!"

Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. "What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!"

"This is true," agreed the scorpion, "But then I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the river!"

"Alright then...how do I know you wont just wait till we get to the other side and THEN kill me?" said the frog.

"Ahh...," crooned the scorpion, "Because you see, once you've taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!"

So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over to the bank and settled himself near the mud to pick up his passenger. The scorpion crawled onto the frog's back, his sharp claws prickling into the frog's soft hide, and the frog slid into the river. The muddy water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.

Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting in his back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the frog's back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.

"You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?"

The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drownings frog's back.

"I could not help myself. It is my nature."

Then they both sank into the muddy waters of the swiftly flowing river.

Self destruction - "Its my Nature", said the Scorpion...



Kiss from Scorpion
the frog trusted him and died
deadly piece of tail

12 comments:

  1. Acknowledging I read it and wanted you to have a comment. lol. Interesting take.

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  2. Thanks Maggie, I go with what the prompt bring to me and this old fable is what came. :)

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  3. scorpion fatal
    "Wryd bið ful Ãræd" it's true
    tale of deadly tail

    Cheers!
    JzB

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    1. huh? What's the reference? Not latin .... perplexing. I believe that is one of Aesop's Fables - its all greek Greek? to me.

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  4. I've heard this fable but the animals change, sometimes a snake does the biting and sometimes it's a fox doing the swimming, but the moral always holds true.

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  5. A haibun for the day, complete with word play!

    Scorpion

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  6. love your haikus and poems..also loving the Peanuts theme :)

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  7. deadly piece of tail - ha!

    scorpion on back
    is not better than monkey
    can grab monkey's tail

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  8. Perfectly paired... your prose and poem, if not the hapless frog and the true- to- form scorpion. Well done!

    Scorpion

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  9. totally entertaining! well-written story with a wonderfully original ending - 'a deadly piece of tail'....loved it all

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  10. What a wonderful haibun ... well done Sam. I like the way you've been inspired by Scorpio.

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