I have a multitude of fic ideas, and I think it's time to show them to the world.I usually write something like a summary and the core concept. So blog
You can take them and do whatever you want with them.
It is a fic part.
Not just fic idea..but maybe...fandom thoughts at all. I have thought s and it time to says them.
Thoughts part
I also want to show people my cats, because they deserve it.
And it is a cat part.
And I want them to still exist somewhere, even after I'm gone.
But before you scroll further, meet Vesta:
She has been my cat since I was four years old. My cat.
She passed away last year (October 2024); she was twenty-two.
She was wild, and kind, and I have known her my entire life. We could talk, and she understood me just as I understood her. And she loves me. We are growing together.
I miss her, and I want someone else in this world to see her.
I love how I have three cats with completely different personal boundaries.
Here's Boa. Most of the time, she's in the same room as you.
But you don't know that — until some shadow suddenly gains eyes. Until some shadow suddenly decides to move — and gives you a heart attack.
This is Boa — you have to approach her very carefully, and any contact starts very consciously, because she's scared of everything. She's a cat with trauma. But sometimes — you're both sitting on the couch — and you start petting her, slowly bringing your hand closer, giving her time — and a second later, she starts purring. And you know — yes, everything is okay.
Here's Nami. Nami just teleports half a meter away from you.
She has big round eyes, staring straight into your soul. Nami doesn't care about you. She's just here — and you can't move her, you can't push her. If you touch her — she'll get loudly upset and bite (gently)
She doesn't like being touched — she complains and growls — but she's still here.
She sleeps within arm's reach. But you can put your hand a centimeter away from her — and she'll start purring. And gentle touch. That's enough. Sometimes she decides you need to be grooming — and you can't do anything about it. Because if you try to move away — she'll use claws and teeth. So she just lick all my arm loudly purrrs.
And then there's Merry. Merry genuinely believes your personal space doesn't exist.
She just lies nearly to you. She just lies on you. She'll gently hit your hand — demanding pets. You can hug her like a stuffed bear — and she'll purr. She'll kick you off your pillow because she wants attention — and if she needs to lie on your face for you to notice her — she will lie on your face.
This is Merry. You can pick her up at any moment — and she'll start purring and melt like butter right in your arms — because she's happy.
This is Merry — and other cats' personal space doesn't exist for her either
Recently I witnessed Nami and Merry sleeping together in a little ball. But then Nami woke up — looked at Merry very confused — like 'who are you and why are you here?' She hissed — started gently hitting her with her paw. It was like: 'why are you sleeping here?! what are you doing in my bed?! wake up, wake up, wake up!'
Merry woke up. Merry made a chirp. Put her head more comfortably on Nami — and went back to sleep. Nami just complained loudly — sighed deeply — and lay back down to sleep.
I love fanfics where characters suffer. I love angst. But it's rare to find good angst.
Recently I realized that writing trauma is hard — because there's a whole system of suffering that has to exist. It's not just "he's in pain."
It's why he's in pain, how it works, who did it and why he can't fight back, why no one did anything, why he didn't reach out for help in the first seconds. How did a tiny traumabecome so huge?
I also realized — almost no one truly suffers if there's someone there with them.
The peak of a person's suffering always happens in solitude. Alone.
And sometimes it's really hard to answer why there was no one around.
But the answer is always simple:
Miscommunication.
Not being understood. Other people being busy, or inattentive. A trauma from early on that taught the character to hide their pain and their problems. No one was in here from tge start.
Any healing — any comfort — always begins when others find out.
When, in that situation, another person appears next to the suffering character. Because as soon as someone else shows up, the trauma kind of... loses its purpose of causing pain.
And a new purpose appears: to heal, or to learn to live with it.
And I think in any story, the hardest thing is to show why this or that character was alone — and why they never asked for help.
You know there is Time Travel Fix-It. But i don't want Fix-It part anymore.
I read so many time travel fics, and it's alway Fix-It. But now i don't want Fix-It.
i just want…
i want hero to go back in time and think that this is a second chance, that they have a better way.
so that in the end: everything got worse.
there is no better way. your bad was already a better chance.
i want them to try to fix things, but it got worse, that luck and small chance of winning last time… didn't work anymore.
last time the arrow flew over his head, this time it hit him in the chest.
You didn't fix anything. You just changed.
I like to think about Obi-Wan coming to change Anakin's fall and Palapentine's death, but in the end the Sith are made up of dark people and….no more Luke and Leia to save the world, no more resistance and fighters and more losses because the empire with Darth Vader was the lesser evilI
like the story where Bilbo comes back and wants to save Thorin (and destroy the ring earlier) but in the end more dwarves die.
Where someone from Harry Potter comes back but they don't have Harry Potter's luck and fortune, they make things worse.
Maybe Naruto comes back in time, but his (conversation - enemies - friends doesn't work anymore) because he is not the same anymore, he is older and not so naive and bright, not so full of faith in the best.
this changes things. Not in a right way. One life for enough. You choose. You gild. You lose.
not necessarily in a big sense, maybe they are the guards, maybe they are the people and friends with whom everything was fine.
.I want a story in which the hero returns in time, but it doesn't change anything.
I take the carrier out two to three hours before I need to leave.
Sometimes I leave it overnight in the middle of the main room. They know it's for them.
They have time to get used to the idea that soon I'll pick them up and stuff them inside.
But for cats to feel calm and comfortable with the carrier, you need to introduce them to it beforehand. !!!
1. Give them a small blanket or plush. Let it lie on their spot and soak up their scent for a few days before their first experience.
2. Just let them explore the carrier.
3. Put that blanket inside so this unfamiliar object — and the future unfamiliar, possibly scary environment — already smells like them. Home and safe.
Each of my cats has a small plush toy that's theirs. Those go in the carrier too.
4. Close them inside for the first time and sit next to them. Talk to them. Stay visible. They need to get used to the idea that this closed space is okay and you're right there.
It can take 5 or 30 minutes. Sometimes you n3ed do it multiple times.
5. Walk around the house a bit with the carrier and the cat inside. They need to get used to the fact that this thing can move and that you're the one carrying it.
If possible, take a short walk outside. This stage might take a week or two. An hour in the carrier during the day helps them understand the process.
6. Treats. I have special cat treats they only get in the carrier. After closing the carrier, at the end of the trip, during any stressful moments along the way.
7. You should always be visible to the animal. If not, they should at least be able to hear you.
( And here's a photo of Nami in her carrier during a car ride. We're in the passenger seat. And yes, the carrier is open — because she loves it when I pet her, she never jumps out, never even tries to leave it. Don't try this with other cats if you're not sure. She loves to sleep hugging my arm inside the carrier. She never does this at home, so we both treasure this time together. The purple thing is her plush octopus-squid. The red one is her blanket — it's a big blanket that basically works as a pillow for her. She's comfortable and warm on it. You can see her watching the streetlights and the houses passing by outside the window.)
Additional notes:
There are different types of carriers, but the most important thing is to figure out what your cat is comfortable with — do they like having a window, or do they prefer hiding in a corner with minimal view of the world?
Nami, for example, loves an open view. She doesn't care who sees her.
But my late cat Vesta felt much better if no one could see her, but she could still observe her surroundings through the cracks. Otherwise she'd get nervous and press herself into the farthest corner.
Sometimes you really need absorbent pads in the carrier.
Always have wet wipes handy.
The carriers are always sitting in the corner of my room or acting as little cat houses, but two hours before we leave, I usually move one to the middle of the room.
Get your cats to use the litter box before you go.
After years of traveling in her carrier, Vesta understood that if the carrier appeared in the middle of the room, she needed to use the bathroom. And she'd drag her favorite toy into the carrier herself, in case I forgot.
If it's hot outside, don't forget to bring water.
Sometimes I give my cats water using a small syringe (you need to train them for this too).
Last summer I traveled a lot between the city and the countryside — which meant first an hour on foot, then an hour on the metro. All with a carrier and Nami (6–8 months old) inside. Twice a week. She learned the rules pretty quickly.
Don't use the carrier only for trips to the vet. Cats will associate it with just one destination. And if their vet experiences have been painfuland stress?
Well. Good luck to you.
If you're using the carrier for car travel, you need to get them used to the car too.
If possible, let them explore the car the first few times. Cats can get motion sickness too. Don't play loud music. Let them understand that the car itself is also an object that moves.
Short, slow drives where cats can look out the window from their carrier — that's a good way to start.
Keep the car windows closed if the cat isn't in the carrier.
When my cat Vesta passed away in 2024 after twenty years with me, I told my mom that for my birthday, I wanted a cat. I was grieving, but coming home to an empty house — with no one there — felt impossible.
Getting a kitten as a gift?
Why not.
I only had three conditions:
1. A girl.
2. A kitten (under three months).
3. Ginger.
I don't know why, but I just knew I wanted a ginger cat. I didn't care about breed or where she'd find one — honestly, I was expecting one of those mixed-breed kittens people give away for almost nothing.
Instead, a few days before my birthday, my mom texted that she was coming to see me. With my brother. And my new cat. (The breeders said she had to be picked up right away.)
As a preview, my mom sent me the first photo of my future cat.
It was her in a carrier. Already in the car.
Do you see this little one? Gorgeous. I remember screaming into my pillow after opening that photo.
I wasn't expecting a Scottish Fold, but... okay. She was perfect. She still is.
All I can say is — we matched perfectly in energy and personality. The grief inside me softened just a little.
Her birthday is December 1st.
Nami came to me in mid-January 2025. Such a tiny thing.
Why Nami?
Remember how I said I wanted a ginger cat? Of course, with the thought of having a ginger cat, I'd prepared a list of names. Ten of them. So when they asked me what I'd name her, I said — I don't know. My list probably won't work since she's not ginger. Hmm, I need to think.While I was thinking, my brother found the list on the table and started reading it out loud. At some point, he got to "Nami." And well. Two One Piece fans just... understood that maybe this was the name.
Now let me tell you about Nami.
She's incredibly independent.
She loves being about a meter away from me. Loves being everywhere she's not supposed to be.
She gets very vocal if you pick her up or move her. Yells at closed doors. Yells even louder if that door separates her from me. It took me a long time to teach her that I can leave the house for hours — otherwise she'd just... scream at the door. She's better now, especially after Merry and Boa arrived. But she still hates it when I go into the bathroom without her.
Nami loves to bite. It's her primary instinct — catching things with her mouth, hunting toys with her teeth. She taught Merry to bite as a sign of affection.
If you pet her, she doesn't purr. But she will purr while eating your hand. She'll lick it first, then you're allowed to pet.
She can go outside.
Loves walking on a harness. We often take the metro and car rides together — I trained her to be calm in her carrier, and she's incredibly relaxed in it. I even unzip it sometimes to pet her, and she just lies there, enjoying the attention.Very talkative. Loves chatting with me when I come home.She does zoomies around the house — fast, long, often.
She doesn't care if she has to run over me while I'm sleeping. She's teaching Merry to do the same. Boa is still too scared to show any aggressive behavior toward me.
Nami and the new girls.
She was 9 months old when Boa and Merry arrived.
Before that, Nami had already met other family cats (my brother's cat) and it went well — after a week of hissing, they became friends. But maybe that worked because Plush is a very slow, calm Persian cat. Very chill. Plus there were family dogs around.
Here, Merry was just learning to crawl, and Boa was trying to simultaneously understand her new home, protect her only baby, and realize that she was safe too.
At first, Nami hissed every time either of them came within sight or within two meters. Then she'd position herself so she could watch them from across the room. Ir they just be like this. With Merry in the middle and the invisible border
When Merry started walking, she immediately decided Nami was her favorite thing and would follow her everywhere. It was hilarious. Nami would try to hiss and gently push away this tiny gray fluffball with her paw, looking utterly confused, constantly glancing at me for help.
Probably two months passed before Nami stopped her warning hisses at them. She looked completely bewildered by Merry's existence. And finally — finally — she started playing gently with her.Before that, she just kept her distance and watched.Boa watched from afar.
(Nami supervising Merry discovering the world.)
I blinked, and suddenly the two girls were sleeping curled up together on my bed.
In a world where Rin dies on the Kannabi Bridge, and Obito kills Kakashi — obtaining the Mangekyo.
Rin... becomes disillusioned with the world and instigates the Fourth Shinobi War. Her reasons are different from Tobi's.
However, they lead to entirely different results. Rin never loses sight of the fact that she is doing this for her teammate, the teammate who was still loyal to, and above all, loved Konoha.
Hello, sweet grief (I knew you'd be the death of me)
Fandom: Naruto
Main Characters: Minato, his genin, Naruto.
Title: lines from song Diamond Heart by Aln Walker
Fic idea:
Minato in a world where his entire genin team dies.
All his children.
Obito at Kannabi, Rin by the Three-Tails (not Kakashi, it was never him), and Kakashi creates the seal for Naruto.
Namikaze Minato loses his wife and son; he is the Hokage of a shattered village with an infant in his arms. Minato aches.
This grief in his eyes never strays far.
Naruto, however... Naruto grows up with glimpses of Rin and Kakashi at the edge of his sight
Obito is still planning to destroy the world.
(P.S. Oh no, I've reached Naruto. I have way too many fics there.I adore the idea of ghosts.I think the ghosts of Kakashi and Rin here can be explained– the Sharingan bond within Kakashi to the living Obito, the chakra bond to Rin, the Death Seal, and essentially a multitude of other things that create a connection between death and Naruto.
The ghosts of Rin and Kakashi here are more like– a play of light, bedtime stories, guidance, the feeling of being watched, etc. Naruto knows his big brother and sister are with him, and he never asks if that's normal. Don't all people have deceased relatives watching over them?)
+ it's poly team minato or sibling feelling for them. All or nothing. But i really love bound between Rin and Kakashi here.
Yes, she's named after Boa Hancock from One Piece.
All three of my cats are named after One Piece characters. Oops.
(also it really hard do photos of her because she doesn't like it)
It's time to show you my cats!
I got Boa very unexpectedly. More accurately — I saved her.
From a distant relative. With a lot of drama attached. Oops.
Boa is the most gorgeous cat, and before the rescue, I'd only seen her once — when she was a kitten. That's the only reason I know she's barely three years old.
By my calculations, she would have turned three around New Year's 2026, but when I got her in September, she was most likely still two. I still decided when i need her birthday.
A little bit of a tragic backstory:
And her baby Merry
Her owner doesn't... feel things for animals. The classic mindset of someone from the countryside, a farmer's mentality. She always kept her dog chained up outside. I mean always.
Which I didn't know back then. She never considered dogs part of the family. So with the cat — Boa was only needed for catching mice. She didn't even have a name.i hive it to her, after rescue.
And okay, fine. Maybe that's... whatever.
BUT. She didn't spay her. (Which, in my country, is incredibly easy — a half-hour drive to the clinic and about $30.) But she thought it was better to just let the cat roam outside.
There was a tomcat nearby. A huge, giant gray cat that would attack this little one every time she went out. While I was there, I found out Boa had already been pregnant three times. When I arrived, she had just given birth to a litter of four.
The cat herself was barely three years old. Health guidelines say cats shouldn't have more than about eight litters in their entire lifetime. !! (15-20 years)
This was already incredibly stressful for her. At this rate, she'd be dead by five, her body completely worn out. (And I learned her previous cats didn't live long either.)
But you know what else this woman did? She drowned the kittens. Right after they were born.
I never knew this.
Any respect I had for this woman just... died the moment I realized. Any family feelings, any connection — gone. We wasn't close before like 5 times meet?
We were only visiting for a few days. And just days before we arrived, Boa had given birth. This woman drowned them all. All 6
Except for one tiny one. Who I think Boa managed to hide.
Meet Merry. (Yes, named after the ship.)
(here Merry after a week at my home)
That woman admitted she would have drowned her too — but simply didn't notice her. (She won't do it now, obviously — either out of shame with us around, or maybe she figured two cats are better since Boa won't last long at this rate.)
I couldn't just stand there and watch. You know those moments in life when you know you'll hate yourself if you just walk away? I knew. I couldn't leave things as they were.
That woman refused to give them to me. They weren't "cats" to her, and she decided what happened to them.
For the sake of other family members, I tried to be reasonable. I offered to take the kitten and pay for Boa's spaying. She refused.
I offered to help with spaying anyway. I offered to take both cats and return Boa after she was fixed. I tried to explain all the health risks. I tried so hard not to kill (this woman ) right there when she said with full confidence that drowning kittens wasn't wrong, that they'd been doing it for centuries. Honestly. I tried so hard.
Morals changen now people have another choice. They have another choice nad it on you doing this.
Also — the police would have been useless. It's the middle of nowhere. A village. And yes, that's always how it's been done there. Plus, proving anything would be nearly impossible, and it was a different region from where I live — the legal process would have been a nightmare. She can kill this animal and no one can say it was her pets.
So. After a massive argument on the day we were leaving, I broke into the house and stole both cats. (Literally broke into after she thinks we drive away and she go to shop we sitting in the car like hours)
Meet Mama Boa and baby Merry.
I can't say Nami was thrilled when I left for a week (the first time I'd been away from her for so long) and came back with two cats.
Here Boa and Marry in the of October
Now:
Boa is vaccinated. The vet examined her and said she needs to be spayed — but only after she's fully recovered and gained some weight. (That'll be January-March. I got Boa in September.)
I think Merry was born on September 15th.
Now they're both healthy and happy in my home.
Nami (my Scottish Fold, who was 9 months old in September) was hostile to Boa at first. But now, after all this time, they're actually quite sweet together. They still squabble often, and I constantly have to tell Nami to stop bullying her. Nami loves to corner Boa — under the bed, under a chair — and just sit a meter away, staring at her. Sometimes they just... stare at each other from half a meter away, completely tense.
I don't think Boa ever had positive interactions with other animals before. But slowly, she's coming out of her shell. And she really is as beautiful and graceful as her name suggests.
Here all 3 (it was a rare shoot) but New Year!
Name and Merry have a little fight while Boa looking
Merry, meanwhile, is the most affectionate, clingy cat I've ever known — and I've known a lot of cats.
(sleep in my bed)
Boa loves to be up high, in any kind of hiding spot. She's scared of loud noises, and some days she won't leave her little house — so I have to bring her food there. Sometimes she lies under the bed, and I can hear her purring loudly when i ready to sleep. Fells likes she purrs under my pillow.
She loves watching cars through the window.
Sometimes she and Merry have zoomies around the house — but Boa always gets scared when Nami joins in. Merry has to run with her mom first, then with Nami. I've also noticed Merry sleeps either with one cat or the other — there seems to be some kind of schedule.
Boa loves Merry so much.
(this is them yesterday in Boe's little home looking in the window)
This is Order 66. The clones'minds command them to execute it. Their thoughts constrict under the influence of the chips and a dark power. They become little more than droids carrying out a command.
Or perhaps...
What if the clones miss their shots so badly not because they can't shoot, but because they are trying to resist the order? What if they remain, but just a little?
Trying to miss, to stop...
However, they are still clones killing Jedi, attacking their friends, raising weapons against younglings, killing their generals.
(P.S. Welcome to my favorite headcanon about the clones. Their very nature prevents them from shooting well. All subsequent generations of stormtroopers simply receive a genetic order from their ancestors or a glitch in the system: "They were created for the Jedi, for the Republic, for protection... not for the Empire.")
Here and now, I want to tell you a story about trust and nature.
Have you ever heard the tale of the Scorpion and the Frog? Allow me to share it with you.
There are many variations and many stories about these two, and in every place, they are told anew.
And here are several of them.
Eight (8) same but different stories
Listen and read carefully.
This is how it begins.
----------
The North
Have you ever heard the story of the Scorpion and the Frog?
This is how it goes.
A Frog and a Scorpion meet on the bank of a river.
«Carry me across with you,» pleads the Scorpion. «I must cross this river.»
«No! Do not come near me!» cries the Frog. «You'll only end up stinging me to death!»
«I will not,» promises the Scorpion.
«I wish to cross the river. You must believe that I will not sting you — just as I must believe that you will not drown me.»
The Frog thought about it and agreed, and so they set off upon their way.
The Frog swam one quarter of the way across. Then half. Then three quarters.
And then she felt a sharp sting.
«Why did you do that?» murmured the Frog, as she began to drown. «You have killed us both.»
«I cannot help myself,» replied the Scorpion, gasping his last breaths of air. «It is in my nature.»
And so they both drowned.
That is the story. That is how they tell it in the north.
That is the story.
In the west, however, they tell it differently
The West
Have you ever heard the story of the Scorpion and the Frog?
A Frog and a Scorpion meet on the bank of a river.
«Carry me across with you,» pleads the Scorpion. «I must cross this river.»
«No! Do not come near me!» cries the Frog, shrinking back.
«You'll only end up stinging me to death!»
«I will not,» promises the Scorpion.
«I wish to cross the river. You must believe that I will not sting you — just as I must believe that you will not drown me.»
The Frog thought about it and agreed, and so they set off upon their way. The Frog felt the heavy weight of the Scorpion on her back. She felt the cool river water all around.
Above, she knew, a fearsome sting hovered.
One quarter of the way was done.
«The Scorpion will kill me,» thought the Frog. «There is nothing to be done. It is in his nature.»
They swam half the way. The shadow of the claw... the Frog could feel it.
At any moment, the strike would come.
At any moment. She saw the Scorpion's reflection in the water. Fearsome and deadly, sitting on her back.
They passed three quarters of the way. Was that a twitch, or was the Frog simply giving in to fear?
She dove, and the Scorpion drowned.
«He would have killed me,» thought the Frog.
«In the end, it is in his nature.»
That is the story. That is how they tell it in the west.
That is the story.
In the south, they tell it differently.
The South
You know this story.
A Frog and a Scorpion meet on the bank of a river.
«Carry me across with you,» says the Scorpion. «I must cross this river.»
«Very well,» says the Frog.
«But if you sting me, I will drown you.»
«Agreed,» says the Scorpion, climbs onto the Frog, and a second later...... stings her again and again, right there on the river bank.
«You will never get across,» gasped the Frog, dying.
«Ah, but you will never drown me,» replies the Scorpion.
That is the story. That is how they tell it in the south.
That is the story.
In the east, however, they tell it differently
The East
Have you ever heard the story of the Scorpion and the Turtle?
Oh, yes. It was a Turtle before it became a Frog.
Listen...
A Turtle and a Scorpion meet on the bank of a river.
«Carry me across with you,» pleads the Scorpion. «I must cross this river.»
«How can I trust one such as you?» says the Turtle. «Everyone knows how you sting others.»
«I will not,» promises the Scorpion.
«I only wish to cross the river. You must believe that I will not sting you — just as I must believe that you will not drown me.»
The Turtle considered this and agreed, and so they set off upon their way.
The Turtle swam one quarter of the way across. The river spray hit the Scorpion's legs, and he jumped about nervously.
The Turtle was strong, but the water was dark, and the river was wide.
They reached the middle of the way. A wave washed over the Turtle. Panicking, the Scorpion stung.
The Turtle, feeling nothing through her thick shell, continued on her way to the shore.
The Scorpion remained on her back. The Turtle kept swimming.
The Scorpion climbed onto the bank and thanked the Turtle sincerely, and they parted as friends.
That is the story. That is how they tell it in the east, and this is but one story of many.
In the mountains, they tell this story differently.
The Mountains
Have you ever heard the story of the Scorpion and the Frog?
This is the oldest story, and perhaps how it was always meant to be.
A Frog and a Scorpion meet on the bank of a river.
«Carry me across with you,» pleads the Scorpion. «I must cross this river.»
«How can I trust one such as you?» says the Frog. «You'll only end up stinging me to death!»
«I will not,» promises the Scorpion.
«I wish to cross the river. You must believe that I will not sting you — just as I must believe that you will not drown me.»
The Frog thought about it and trusted him, and so they set off upon their way.
The Frog swam one quarter of the way. One quarter of the way— the Scorpion draws his sting back into himself, as if into a sheath. Halfway— his legs tremble, but do not grip the Frog's skin too tightly.
The Frog swims through the waves, trying to keep the Scorpion steady on her back and away from the water.
On the shore, the Scorpion climbs off, without leaving a single scratch.
«Why... why did you not sting me?» asks the Frog.
«Because I trusted you, and you trusted me. We are both stronger than our nature,» he replies.
They parted as friends.
That is the story. That is how they tell it in the mountains.
That is the story.
On the islands, however, they tell it differently.
The Islands
Have you ever heard the story of the Scorpion and the Frog?
Of course you have, but this is a different story.
A Frog and a Scorpion meet on the bank of a river.
«Carry me across with you,» pleads the Scorpion.
«I must cross this river.»«No! Do not come near me!» cries the Frog. «You'll only end up stinging me to death!»
«I will not,» promises the Scorpion.
«I wish to cross the river. You must believe that I will not sting you — just as I must believe that you will not drown me.»
The Frog thought about it and said: «No, I will not swim with you, but follow me.»
And she hopped off along the river bank.
«I swim in these waters all the time, so I know the path better.»
The Scorpion followed. He needed to cross the river. They walked along the bank for a long time, longer than it would have taken to cross.
And in the end, the Frog led the Scorpion to a bridge.
«Here, you may cross the river safely,» she says.
The Scorpion thanks her and climbs onto the bridge.
The Frog hops along beside him. And so, crossing the river via the bridge, they become friends.
That is the story. That is how they tell it on the islands.
That is the story.
In the forests, they tell it differently
The Forests
You know this story. Who does not.
A Frog and a Scorpion meet on the bank of a river.
«Carry me across with you,» says the Scorpion. «I must cross this river.»
«No! Do not come near me!» cries the Frog. «You'll only end up stinging me to death!»
«I will not,» promises the Scorpion.
«I wish to cross the river. You must believe that I will not sting you — just as I must believe that you will not drown me.»
The Frog thought about it and said — «I do not trust you. But you will sit on a branch, and I will push it; that is how you will cross the river.»
The Frog pushes a branch into the water. The Scorpion climbs on. The Frog swims alongside, pushing the log with her feet.
One quarter of the way — the branch spins, but the Scorpion holds on. The Frog keeps pushing.
«Hold on tight!» says the Frog at the halfway point. A wave washes over; he presses himself against the bark. The Scorpion is still on the branch. Three quarters — his sting slides over the wood, leaving scratches, but finding no flesh.
On the shore, the Scorpion climbs off.
«Why did you help me, if you know my nature and do not trust me?» he hisses.
«Because I could help you. That required nothing more,» says the Frog, and swims away.
That is the story. That is how they tell it in the forests.
That is the story.
In the desert, they speak of it differently.
The Desert
In the desert, this story is much shorter.
A Frog and a Scorpion meet on the bank of a river.
«Carry me across with you,» says the Scorpion. «I must cross this river.»
«No,» the Frog says simply — and without a second thought, jumps into the water.
The Scorpion crawls along the bank.
He searches for another way to cross the river.
An hour later, he is still there. A day later — still there.
On the third day, the rain comes. The river swells.
The river carries him away.
That is the story. That is how they tell it in the desert.
That is the story.
There are many more stories yet to be found. And if you know of other tales about these two, please, do tell them to me.
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A Note from the Storyteller:
This collection was inspired by the parable of "The Scorpion and the Frog" from a childhood book of fables.
The author (me) later discovered its many variations across the internet, which led to creating new ones, drawing parallels, and compiling them all together.
Beautiful and careful. Ta-da. Here 8 stories for you.
It is important to note: the places and cultures mentioned are not real. The author has no knowledge of how this parable is truly told in different cultures; the names of the regions (North, West, Islands, etc.) are used purely as a narrative device to reflect a certain meaning and give each variation a name.
Please perceive this as a work of fairy-tale symbolism.
You are free to use, share, and adapt these stories in any way you like.
I use it for my work building fantasy story.
And if you find or dream up your own versions, I would be delighted if you told them to me, too.
