Once there was a frog named Todd. Todd was considered by all in the stream to be the ugliest thing they had ever seen, and he was the monster in stories told by mothers to their children as they went to sleep. To keep from frightening the others in the stream, the other frogs as well as the other inhabitants of the stream had Todd and his mother banished to the other side, where Todd would never scare anyone again. Once, when Todd was still a small tadpole, his mother brought him to the forbidden side of the stream to scare away the others so she'd have all the flies to herself. Unfortunately for her, she scared the flies away, too.

One day, long after his mother had died and Todd was left alone, a ferocious storm broke the peace of the stream. Thunder and lightening crashed and thundered and soon a tree had fallen across the stream, the end of it on fire where it had been struck. It was then he saw someone approaching.

It was a cat. Her fur black as night, her eyes green as grass. She introduced herself as Samantha and asked if he wanted a friend. Todd, who had never had anyone even look at him without being repulsed, even his mother had been, nodded his head happily. Samantha sat on the shore and listened patiently as Todd told her his life. When he said how unhappy he was that everyone else in the stream feared and scorned him her eyes lit up with a mischievous glee.

She told him she knew a happiness spell. She said she wasn't sure if he was ready, but he insisted he was. Sighing, she turned toward the tree still burning. "You must jump over the flames," she told him.

Todd was not thrilled by the idea, but the thought of happiness, of love, of acceptance, pushed all doubt from his mind. Todd took a deep breath and ran at full speed toward the fire, jumping at the time he felt was right. Unfortunately for him, he fell short and died in the flames.

Samantha ran and grabbed the carcass out of the fire, and thought how good it tasted as she tore into the crisp flesh.