A scorpion had to go to the the other side of a pond and noticed a Turtle, swiming merrily in the water. The scorpion said to the frog, “Please carry me across the pond.”

The Turtle, said, “You crazy? What’s to stop you from stinging me when we’re in the middle of the pond? I would drown and die.”

The scorpion replied, “That’s the whole point. I’d be crazy if I sting you in the middle of the pond. True, you are right in saying ‘You would drown,’ but then I can’t swirm and I would drown too.”

The Turtle, listened and as this made perfect sense said, “Jump on my back I’ll carry you across the pond .”

So the scorpion walked onto the Turtle,’s back and the frog started swimming across the pond. The the scorpion was sitting on top and enjoyed the sunshine. But when they got to the middle of the pond, the scorpion suddenly stung the Turtle.

As the dieing frog was sinking, he said with his last breath, “You have doomed both os us. I’m dying but you’ll join me soon. You’re drowning. Why did you do that?”

The scorpion replied nonchalantly, “I’m a scorpion. It’s my essence to sting. I cannot help myself.”

The above story comes from the great Iranian mystic and poet, Mullana Jallal-E-Din Balkhi known as Rumi.