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Classical fables were forbidden in the mansion.
When they were young children, Klaus remembers very well that their nannies were forbidden to tell them bedtime stories, a rule of Reginald's, of course. Children's stories made kids have imagination, and that couldn't be had if he wanted them under his complete control.
The most they could have was reading scientific or historical books before going to bed, of course, even those were regulated by Hargreeves himself.
Grace then arrived after Klaus might be the only one able to see their old babysitters, most of them with their necks broken, as well as legs or arms. But little Klaus had already begun to get used to such bloody and twisted sights somehow, his dreams were weird.
Grace was kind. She was their mom. And everyone liked mom.
She used to tell them stories on the sly, sometimes at breakfast when Reginald didn't have breakfast with them, sometimes when she tucked them in to sleep, and even on their birthday.
Klaus liked the Brothers Grimm stories, his favorite was Hansel and Gretel, and he liked it when his mom told him that story. But if he was honest, he liked it better when they all got together and read them stories together, even if they weren't from the Brothers Grimm.
He can remember how Diego and Allison loved those moments, both begging for a story off the shelf with bright, innocent eyes, loving the narratives and the gestures of mom. It always made him smile the way Allison asked for a story without using a rumor on her mom, she being a patient and nice girl was nice, (Not like when they played and if she got mad, he would be one of her favorite toys).
But many times he couldn't hear well, because of the whispers that he sometimes heard around him, he didn't know where they came from and he was embarrassed to ask his siblings, what if they made fun of him?
So he never heard much of the fables that his mother also told. He listened to fragments, but he never listened to them completely. There were times when the whispers annoyed him by saying ugly things that he could never understand.
And he just gave up.
He didn't mind not listening to the stories, nor the lessons, nor his own siblings many times.
It wasn't something important anyway, not when he started having bigger problems thanks to his father and the ghosts that haunted him endlessly. He then grew up, survived (barely), suffered loss, got lost, and finally came back to his family, which is great, even with an apocalypse looming.
When he wakes up at Allison's house in the 60's and hears her voice upset and desperate, he immediately gets up trying to cheer her up like he has done since their childhood. He tries to make jokes but it doesn't work, he doesn't know what to do.
It is then that he vaguely remembers a fable that he had half listened to one day that his mother told them in the library, the fable of "The scorpion and the frog", something kinda classic. He doesn't know exactly why that story was specifically in his mind, he doesn't even remember the moral of it, but he felt that he should tell it to Allison.
And so he did.
Clearly missing part of the moral, he couldn't even narrate as well as his mother once did. He added of his own ideas, Did the frog really ask for money for the trip? He doesn't quite remember, and Ben didn't help him get the full picture, just mocked him and left him alone with Allison.
He lately has been an idiot, although well, he has also been an idiot for most of his existence.
"The scorpion manages to convince the frog to take him to the other side of the river with the idea that if he hurts him, they would both drown."
"The frog agrees, and they both begin their journey. But halfway down the river, the scorpion stings the frog."
"And they both drowned."
Of course, Klaus tried to make a joke to ease the bitter end, especially when he notices the dismayed look on his favorite sister's face.
But it didn't matter, it was a fictional fable after all! He was just trying to cheer her up!
Any resemblance with reality is mere coincidence and all that bullshit, right?
Right??
He could never have imagined that this fable could really apply to their life.
Nor that Allison could be a scorpion.