A tortoise and scorpion¹ had contracted a great intimacy²（亲密）, and bound themselves with such ties of friendship, that the one could not live without the other.

 

One day these inseparable companions, finding themselves obliged to change their habitation, traveled together; but in their meeting with a large and deep river, the scorpion making a stop, said to the tortoise:

 

"My dear friend, you are well provided for what we see before us, but how shall I get over this water?"

 

"Never trouble yourself, my dear friend, for that, " replied the Tortoise, "I will carry you upon my back secure from all danger."

 

On this, the scorpion, without hesitation³, got upon the back of the tortoise, who immediately took water and began to swim. But he had hardly got half way across the river, when he heard a terrible rumbling⁴ upon his back, which made him ask the scorpion what he was doing.

 

"Doing!" replied the scorpion, "why, I am whetting⁵（研磨） my sting, to try whether I can bore this horny cuirass（胸甲，铁甲） of yours, that covers yours flesh like a shield, from all injuries."

 

"Oh, ungrateful wretch⁶, "cried the tortoise, "wouldst thou, at a time when I am giving thee such a demonstration⁷ of my friendship, wouldst thou at such a time,pierce with thy venomous sting, the defense⁸ that Nature has given me, and take away my life? It is well, however, I have it in my power both to save myself and reward thee as thou deservest. "

 

So saying, he sunk his back to some depth under water, threw off the scorpion, and left him to pay with his life for his monstrous⁹ ingratitude¹⁰.

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