Follow-up to the Frog and the Scorpion Story

For perhaps 30 years I have employed, in a retelling, the parable of the frog and the scorpion to explain our problem in the Middle East.

You know, the one that goes like this:

A frog was requested by a scorpion to ferry him across the Jordan River. But being wary, the frog asked the scorpion "How can I know that you will not sting me when we are halfway across?."

"Why should I sting you? If I do so, you'll sink and so will I. Am I crazy?" answered the scorpion.

The frog was convinced, put the scorpion on its back and set off. But when they were half-way across, the scorpion stung the frog.

Dying, and sinking, the frog turns to the scorpion and asks, "Why did you do that? Now we'll both perish. Was that logical?"

"Logic? In the Middle East?" replied the scorpion.

And sure enough, there have been people that have accused me of portraying Arabs as scorpions.

Well. I am now relieved.

Even ranting Gush Shalom activist Adam Keller uses the story.

^