What is Scorpion and Frog?

Scorpion and Frog is an exploitable image macro based on the fable of the same name, showing a scorpion on a frog's back during a river crossing, with captions or face edits layered over the two animals.

Where did Scorpion and Frog come from?

The template is a Wikipedia illustration uploaded by editor Kurzon on February 4, 2020, first used as a meme by iFunny user GoodSamaritin on January 9, 2021.

What does Scorpion and Frog mean?

The frog stands in for a sincere or trusting party while the scorpion stands in for an aggressor who harms others out of nature despite dooming themselves too, matching the fable's grim moral.

How do you use Scorpion and Frog?

People add text or edit faces onto the frog and scorpion, with the frog typically voicing worry and the scorpion answering dismissively, as in the original iFunny post with "lol" and "lmao".

Is Scorpion and Frog still popular?

The format saw its main run in early 2021 across iFunny and Reddit, including a Monster Hunter World edit that drew 2,100 upvotes on /r/MonsterHunterWorld, and still sees occasional reuse.

Scorpion and Frog

2021exploitable image macrosemi-active

Published October 19, 2026

Scorpion and Frog is an exploitable image macro based on the Aesop-style fable, showing a scorpion riding on a frog's back as they cross a river. The illustration took hold as a meme format in January 2021 after an iFunny user captioned it with the scorpion laughing off the frog's panic. By March 2021, Monster Hunter World fans were redrawing the pair as a Hunter and a Vespoid for in-game jokes.

exploitable templates pre digital memes ifunny memes dark humor memes backfire memes

Overview

The format places the frog as the earnest, sympathetic party and the scorpion as an aggressor who waves off consequences. People Photoshop faces, logos, or dialogue onto the two animals and let the fable's doomed river trip carry the punchline3. Captions often give the frog a worried line while the scorpion answers with something dismissive like "lol" or "lmao," borrowing the fatalism of the original story and translating it into current internet speech1.

Styles range from minimal text layered on the plain Wikipedia illustration to heavier redraws that turn both characters into video game monsters, fandom mascots, or politicians4. A viewer only gets the joke if they already know the ending, where the scorpion stings the frog midway across the water and dooms them both5.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

iFunny (first meme edit) / Reddit (viral spread)

Key People

GoodSamaritin

Date

2021

The fable itself has circulated for over a century, and a motion graphics telling was uploaded to YouTube by the channel GangusKitty, which gathered roughly 120,000 views over nine years5. The template image for the meme comes from a diagram uploaded to Wikimedia Commons on February 4, 2020, by editor Kurzon for the Wikipedia article on the story4.

The earliest known meme edit of the illustration appeared on January 9, 2021, when iFunny user GoodSamaritin posted a version in which the frog voices concern and the scorpion replies with "lol" and "lmao"1. That post picked up 48 likes across seven months before the format moved to other sites3.

How It Spread

Nine days after the iFunny post, Redditor The_Secret_Nein shared a video version of the fable on /r/youtubehaiku on January 18, 2021, where it earned around 290 upvotes over six months2. The subreddit's short-form format exposed the story to viewers who later recognized the diagram as a meme template.

On March 6, 2021, Redditor Cow_Fu posted an enhanced edit to /r/MonsterHunterWorld in which the frog was replaced by a Hunter and the scorpion by a Vespoid, the series' wasp-like enemy that stuns players. The post drew 2,100 upvotes over five months and gave the template its most notable fandom-specific reuse6. From there, the format moved between smaller subreddits and image-sharing sites without a single mainstream breakout, holding onto its appeal with viewers already familiar with the fable's twist3.

Timeline

2020-02-04

Editor Kurzon uploads the scorpion-on-frog diagram to Wikimedia Commons for the Wikipedia article on the fable, creating what will become the meme template[4].

2021-01-09

IFunny user GoodSamaritin posts the earliest known meme edit, with the scorpion answering the frog's worry with "lol" and "lmao"[1].

2021-01-18

Redditor The_Secret_Nein posts a video telling of the fable to /r/youtubehaiku, earning around 290 upvotes[2].

2021-03-06

Redditor Cow_Fu posts a Monster Hunter World edit to /r/MonsterHunterWorld featuring a Hunter and a Vespoid, drawing 2,100 upvotes[6].

How to Use This Meme

A typical post keeps the Wikipedia diagram intact and adds captioned dialogue above each animal, with the frog saying something sincere or worried and the scorpion answering flippantly. Heavier edits replace the animals' heads with faces of public figures, fictional characters, or fandom targets, letting the story's ending supply the implied punchline1.