Original content

English translation

A scorpion, with the venom of harm in its sting and the arrow of malice in its nature, resolved to set out on a journey. It reached the edge of a wide expanse of water and was left stranded, having neither the means to cross nor the resolve to turn back. A turtle observed this plight in it, took pity on it, mounted it upon its own back, cast itself into the water, and, swimming, set its face toward the other side.

In the midst of this, a sound reached the turtle's ears, for the scorpion was striking something upon its back. It asked, 'What is this sound?' The scorpion answered, 'This is the sound of my sting, which I am striking upon your back. Though I know it takes no effect there, still I cannot abandon my own nature.'

The turtle said to itself, 'There is nothing better than that I should deliver this ill-natured creature from this ugly disposition, and keep those of good nature safe from its harm.' It sank into the water; a wave snatched the scorpion away and carried it off to a place where it had never been.

Every brute who, in this banqueting-hall of evil and corruption, Is at every moment supplied with the thread of a hundred tricks, Nothing is better for him than to be plunged into the wave of annihilation, So that he may be freed from creation, and creation from him.