A Scorpion, not knowing how to swim, asked a Frog to help carry it across the river. “Do I look like a fool?” said the Frog. “You’d sting me if I let you on my back!”
 

“Be logical,” said the Scorpion. “If I stung you I’d certainly drown myself.”
 

“That’s true,” the Frog acknowledged. “Climb aboard, then!” But no sooner than they were halfway across the river, the Scorpion stung the Frog, and they both began to thrash and drown. “Why on earth did you do that?” the Frog said morosely. “Now we’re both going to die.” 
 

“I can’t help it,” said the Scorpion. “It’s my nature.”

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———

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The fable of the Frog and the Scorpion has long been used to teach us that some people are irredeemably evil, and will stop at nothing to harm others, even if they must harm themselves in the process. What kind of moral is that?

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Based on the story by sadoeuphemist, The Infinite Lives places Frog and Scorpion in a Sisyphean time loop, asking how the fable might have played out if they could learn from the mistakes of the past.

 

A children's opera gone horribly wrong,

A kaleidoscopic fever dream,

A battle for the soul of humanity.