A fable from Orson Welles' "Mr. Arkadin"
Tokyo, 2006

A scorpion wanted to cross a river, so he asked a frog to carry him. "No," said the frog. "No, thank you. If I let you on my back, you may sting me, and the sting of the scorpion is death." "Now, where," asked the scorpion, "is the logic of that?" (for scorpions always try to be logical.) "If I sting you, you will die and I will drown." So the frog was convinced and allowed the scorpion on his back. But just in the middle of the river he realized a terrible pain and realized that, after all, the scorpion had stung him. "Logic!" cried the frog as he started under, bearing the scorpion down with him. "There is no logic in this!" "I know," said the scorpion, "but I can't help it - it's my character."

I was mesmerized by Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. I watched it again and again. The more I watched, the more I was fascinated. I am reading an interview-book of Welles by Peter Bogdanovich (This is Orson Welles) and his views on films and film-making are just as fascinating. I wonder how a person of Welles' talent got around struggling for survival as a film-maker. I wonder if the fable from "Mr. Arkadin" has some clues.