This tale from Jami's Baharestan dramatizes the doctrine that an innate evil disposition cannot be reformed by reason, kindness, or self-interest. A turtle takes pity on a stranded scorpion and carries it across a wide water on its back, yet the scorpion repeatedly strikes the shell. When questioned, the scorpion admits its sting cannot pierce the shell and gains nothing, but it cannot abandon its intrinsic nature (خاصیت). The turtle concludes that the only way to protect the good-natured is to be rid of such an incorrigible creature. As a learning object, the allegory abstracts the moral principle from the narrative: ingrained character, especially malice, tends to reassert itself regardless of circumstance or benefit received.