12 Markings - Scorpions

The Scorpion and the Frog

A scorpion and a frog meet on the bank of a stream and the

scorpion asks the frog to carry him across on its back. The

frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting me?" The scorpion

says, "Because if I do, I will die too."

The frog is satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream,

the scorpion stings the frog. The frog feels the onset of

paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both will drown,

but has just enough time to gasp "Why?"

Replies the scorpion: "Its my nature..."

Aesop

The scorpion, the earth's most ancient, deadly creature,with Richard Fidler CONVERSATIONS ABC RN. Historian Louise Pryke reveals the mysteries of the scorpion, an exceptional creature.

The scorpion, a small, venomous arthropod, has inhabited Earth, almost unchanged in form, for hundreds of millions of years.

Deadly, silent, elusive and tough by design, they've also been a powerful cultural and religious symbol throughout human history.

Louise Pryke is an Assyriologist who studies stories from the world's most ancient cultures.

To do this work, Louise transcribes texts which were scribed in cuneiform onto stone tablets, millennia ago.

Among the gods and goddesses of the ancients, Louise would often notice references to the scorpion.

She's recently written a history of the scorpion, its meaning to various peoples, and prominence in myth and symbology.

http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conversations/conversations-louise-pryke-rpt/8768870

©Jeff Guess 2017