A scorpion perched at the edge of a stream, gazing across to the other side. He saw a frog swimming in the stream and called to him, "friend, give me a ride on your back across the stream. I wish to cross it but I cannot swim."
"If I allow you to climb on my back you will sting me and I will die," the frog protested.
The scorpion replied, "if I stung you on this bank, I would never be able to cross the stream. If you take me across the stream, you will have my gratitude rather than my enmity. I give you my promise not to sting you either on this bank or the other. So what do you have to fear?"
After considering this the frog swam to the bank where the scorpion stood and agreed to carry him across.
Midway across the stream, his eyes still fixed on the opposite bank, the scorpion shivered with anticipation, and then plunged his sting deep into the frog's back.
The frog felt his limbs begin to grow numb, and as he started sinking below the surface he gasped "why did you sting me, you fool? Now we will both die!"
And the scorpion replied.
"It's my nature."
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