The Raven and the Scorpion

The fable of the Raven and the Scorpion, in the Bruges edition of Waarachtingen Fabulen (1567)

 

by Brett Rutherford

     Adapted from Archias, The Greek Anthology, ix, 339

The Raven, to its prey,
is black death from a clear
blue sky. One, high aloft
with keen eye, spied a stir
from under a crevice
and swooped to catch
the young, red Scorpion.

But, ever alert to threat
from the deceptive sky,
the Scorpion jabbed out
and up into the Raven’s heart.
The beak that had just seized
its tender carapace
went slack. Out slid
the sly invertebrate
as the raptor went
belly up, and died.

Thus Nature works and churns.
Sometimes the killer is killed
by his own intended victim.