this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2026
423 points (92.6% liked)

Comic Strips

22822 readers
2123 users here now

Comic Strips is a community for those who love comic stories.

The rules are simple:

Web of links

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

For those not familiar:

A frog was hopping along the shore of a river looking for a place to cross. He came upon a scorpion sitting on the shore. “Hello, friend frog,” said the scorpion. “It appears you are looking to cross the river. I too want to cross. Would you mind carrying me?”

The frog was taken aback. “Why, if I let you on my back to cross the river, you’d sting me and I would die. I don’t think I’ll do that.”

The scorpion immediately replied, “There is no logic to your concern. If I sting you and you die, I will surely die as well, since I can’t swim. I wouldn’t need a ride if I could swim.”

The frog thought a moment and then said, “Your logic makes sense. Why would you kill me if it would result in your death? Come along and climb on my back and we’ll cross this river.”

The scorpion climbed on the frog’s back and off they went to cross the river.

About halfway across the river, the scorpion raised its tail and stung the frog. The frog was both astounded and disconsolate. “Why did you sting me? Now I will die and you will surely drown and die also.”

The scorpion replied, “I can’t help it. It’s who I am. It’s in my nature.”

all 49 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] saimen@feddit.org 7 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)
  • Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

  • The probability that a certain person (will) be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.

  • A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.

  • Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places, and under any circumstances, to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.

  • A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 51 points 17 hours ago (7 children)

That story is ridiculous.

Scorpions don't have lungs so they can't talk.

[–] NostraDavid@programming.dev 3 points 4 hours ago

That story is ridiculous.

All classic stories are, which makes them great IMO.

[–] musubibreakfast@lemmy.world 5 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

You're overthinking it, the scorpion likely had psychic abilities.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

and laser eyes. it just didn't use them because it wasn't central to the plot

also scorpions can both swim, fly, and phase through matter and choose which stellar object's gravity applies to them. i saw it in a dream so it is true

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Oh I get it now. Scorpion venom must be hallucinatory to frogs and what really happened is the scorpion stung the frog before the story even started, causing the frog to hallucinate the entire story as the scorpion was eating it.

And OP is a reincarnation of the frog.

Whew was worried for a second that someone was making up lies on the internet, which would open quite the Pandora's box, so I'm glad it hasn't happened yet.

[–] Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world 4 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

All scorpions study morse code and ASL

[–] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 hours ago

Very progressive of them

[–] Diurnambule@jlai.lu 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Where did you get this educated in the ways of wisdom ?

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

I dissect scorpions as a hobby to make sure they haven't developed lungs yet.

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 8 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

I know one that dresses like a ninja and can breathe fire, tho

[–] naticus@lemmy.world 6 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

Who? Where? Get them over here, right now.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

It's most likely just a flame thrower hidden in its clothing. As mentioned earlier, scorpions don't have lungs. Not air lungs and not fire lungs either.

[–] DannyMac@sh.itjust.works 16 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Also, I'm fairly certain both lack higher reasoning skills to come up with these logical assessments.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 1 points 58 minutes ago

Yeah, has a scorpion ever passed a Turing test!?

The most instructions I've ever seen a scorpion follow are "Fight!" and "Finish him!" And I bet that's what the scorpion wanted to do anyways, so I don't think we should count that.

[–] MrShankles@reddthat.com 4 points 13 hours ago

They can also survive underwater for a while, from what I remember

[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 84 points 21 hours ago (5 children)

My preferred version of the "nature of the Scorpion" tale is a little different. It doesn't really fit here, but I like to post it whenever this story comes up, because I'm autistic, and it brings me joy to share the story.

One day, a Monk was walking alongside a stream when he saw a Scorpion struggling in the water. Knowing that scorpions cannot swim, he knelt down to scoop it out of the water.

Just before setting it down, the Scorpion turned and stung his hand. The Monk withdrew his hand in pain and the Scorpion fell back into the stream.

When the Monk realized this, he scooped his hands down again to save the Scorpion. And just as before, the Scorpion stung his hand and fell back into the stream. This scene repeated itself several times.

A little boy who was playing near the stream asked the Monk, “Excuse me. Why do you keep trying to save the Scorpion — Don’t you know it will just sting you every time you try to rescue it?”

The Monk, picking up a leaf and rescuing the scorpion successfully this time, replied, “Dear boy, just as it is a Scorpion’s nature to sting, and Water’s nature to make things wet, so it is my nature — a Monk’s nature — to save.”

That's not the exact version I was told originally, but close enough.

[–] Zink@programming.dev 6 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I like your version much better.

Instead of just focusing on the negative, it not only includes an example of a positive state of being but highlights the resilience of that good nature even when faced with the negative/harmful nature of another.

[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 4 points 4 hours ago

That's what I like about it, too :)

[–] NostraDavid@programming.dev 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

How do we stop the Monk from letting those scorpions loose in the village? He is undermining the village, and must be stopped!

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

no he's not scorpions are crumchy and delicioso. a little honey, your favorite bbq rub and a little forgetting that they are alive and click click yum.

imagine you did not have chippos but you needed chippos. nature will provide in the form of scorpions. people think there are only 5 flavors but textures are flavors too. if you don't get your crunchy often enough you will be sad and unsatisfied. cook for the whole damn palate.

[–] Zozano@aussie.zone 20 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

It'd be funny if what ended up killing the scorpion was repeated impact trauma of its body slapping against the water

[–] musubibreakfast@lemmy.world 5 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Or the little boy throws the scorpion back into the water and says: "I'm a little boy and I don't like scorpions"

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

TLDR I'm a little boy! I wonder if scorpions can fly!so, there's a kid who grew up in my town. i can talk about him now because multiple kids from my town have grown up to play ball for the MLB. this kid, when he was growing up he came out front one day about four years old. we were just hanging out not thinking and suddenly he just chucks his older brother's hamster as hard as can be across the street. kid grew up to pitch. at 4 he could throw better than i can now at [forty-mumble]. we gathered around him like "woah, what the fuck are you thinking dude" and he very innocently said "i wanted to see if it could fly". So like, there were a ton of kids on the block [we had enough for two whole teams and that's even if someone was staying in sick] and from that moment on, we all kept an eye on this 4 year old, from the 5-year-olds on up because we all knew how serious what just happened was. Only person to follow the hamster was his brother whose former pet had recently flown a few houses down the road and everyone else was focused on "is this 4-year-old showing early signs of being a serial killer or what the fuck why would he throw a hamster". Like, that kind of focus and attention from everyone, and specifically in his family it may have been the cause of his not getting involved in gangs and his older brothers doing so because of disproportionate parental attention anyways i'm getting real armchair psychologist now but aside from his oldest brother being like, wholehearted fascist they're all doing alright so i warned you with a tldr

but i gotta say it's real fun being in neighborhood games and demoralizing them when your pitcher is a 4-year-old and you're striking them out.

[–] WillFord27@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

The rare instance of irony being conflated with humor.

[–] MyVeryRealName@lemmy.world 15 points 16 hours ago

It's easy to want to help. It's difficult to take stings.

[–] titter@lemmy.world 11 points 20 hours ago

I like this, thank you

[–] BillyClark@piefed.social 95 points 1 day ago (5 children)

What a twist. The guy who owns a boat knows how to swim. I do enjoy the abject stupidity of the elf's hatred for humans in this comic.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 6 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

elf racism seems to be a theme in any movie/show/ card game they have been in.

[–] drolex@sopuli.xyz 10 points 14 hours ago

If you, an obviously barbaric and backwards race, don't want to be hated by us elves (models of perfection), why are you so comically inferior? That doesn't make sense.

[–] Smaile@lemmy.ca 43 points 1 day ago

yah, it always felt weird. tho to be fair real racism works similarly irl

[–] joyjoy@lemmy.zip 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Fantasy racism is tight! 

[–] PhoenixDog@piefed.ca 8 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

[–] fartographer@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

I don't know.

[–] MyVeryRealName@lemmy.world 3 points 16 hours ago

Rowing>>>swimming

[–] stepan@lemmy.cafe 15 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I always though it was "common knowledge" that most sailors in the medieval times didn't know how to swim. It might be an urban legend though.

[–] thebestaquaman@lemmy.world 12 points 14 hours ago

I've heard that it was based on a reasoning that if you end up in the water at sea, you're going to drown anyway, so it's better to not be able to swim and just get it over with.

However, knowing that most sailors came from coastal communities, it's probably pretty unlikely that learning to swim wasn't a natural part of growing up. Kids have always enjoyed playing in the water.

[–] How_do_I_computah@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago (3 children)

How is an elf like a scorpion?

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip 1 points 10 hours ago

This one has 6 "legs".

[–] saltnotsugar@lemmy.world 44 points 1 day ago

If you’ve ever played dwarf fortress you will know.

[–] Jesus_666@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago

You never got hammerstung by a river elf? You must've lived a sheltered life.

[–] someguy3@lemmy.world 10 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Is there lore that I'm unfamiliar with that elves can't swim?

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 9 points 17 hours ago

No, most elves can swim just fine. But not that elf.

[–] snooggums@piefed.world 10 points 23 hours ago

Attempted murder and a suicide.

[–] Pman@lemmy.org 14 points 1 day ago

I hate how relevant this appears to be to daily life.

[–] Gork@sopuli.xyz 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The elf couldn't swim? Sounds like a skill issue

[–] Quetzalcutlass@lemmy.world 9 points 23 hours ago

They believed their own hype and thought they could walk on water.

It is my nature