The Scorpion and… the Frog, the Turtle, the Saint…

There’s an old fable about a scorpion and a frog…

Scorpion wants to cross a river but can’t swim; Scorpion asks Frog to carry it across. Frog’s afraid that Scorpion might sting it. Scorpion promises not to as it would drown if it killed Frog in the middle of the river. Frog agrees to carry Scorpion. Midway across the river, Scorpion stings Frog.

Frog asks Scorpion why it stung; Scorpion replies: ‘I couldn’t resist it. It’s my character.’ Frog and Scorpion both die.

Perhaps it’s moral is that bad people can’t change, even if causes their self-destruction. Perhaps it’s a warning not to be naïve and overly trusting…  

There’s a similar fable about a scorpion and a turtle…

Scorpion asks Turtle to carry it across the river. Scorpion tries to sting Turtle; Turtle survives because of its protective shell. Scorpion explains that it can’t resist its instinct to sting. Turtle tips Scorpion off his back and drowns it to prevent it from harming anyone else.

Perhaps there are similar lessons about self-destruction, self-preservation… or the effects of our irrational behaviour.

In a fable about a scorpion and a saint… Saint notices Scorpion drowning in the river. Saint picks up Scorpion; Scorpion stings him. Instinctively Saint flings Scorpion back in the river. Saint tries again, again he’s stung, again he throws Scorpion back. Eventually, after significant pain and persistent effort, Scorpion is saved.

Saint explains: just as it’s Scorpion’s nature to sting, so it’s Saint’s nature to help and save.

Today many Christians remember Dietrich Bonhoeffer, executed by the Nazis on April 9^th 1945. Describing his opposition to Hitler, Bonhoeffer said:

‘If I sit next to a madman as he drives a car into a group of innocent bystanders, I can’t, as a Christian, simply wait for the catastrophe, then comfort the wounded and bury the dead. I must try to wrestle the steering wheel out of the hands of the driver.’

It sounds to me like Saint rescuing Scorpion – whatever the pain or consequences.