The Widow and the Toad

"The Widow and the Toad"

A widow was feeling rather lonely and decided that
the best thing for her would be to have a companion.
So, off she went to the pet shop.

She wasn't sure just what kind of pet she'd like, so
she figured she'd just walk around until she found just
the "right one." She went past the adorable little
puppies, past the playful kittens, past the preening
birds, past the sleeping hamsters, past the whirling
gerbils, and past the colorful fish.

Nothing really appealed to her and seemed to be just
what she was looking for. She decided to go around
the store again.

On the way over to the puppies, she walked by a barrel.
At the bottom of the barrel was a rather nasty looking
toad. When she looked in, he WINKED at her! Our poor
widow just shook herself!

She couldn't believe it. She rather quickly went back
to the other pets on display.

Once again, she checked out those sweet little puppies,
the darling kittens, the fluttering birds, the fuzzy
hamsters, the sleek gerbils, and the darting fish. Nothing
really, really did it for her. She was starting to get
discouraged. So, she figured one last time around, just
in case she missed something.

Going by the barrel again, she took another peek. There
was that nasty toad, and this time, he puckered up and threw
her a kiss! This was almost too much for the poor widow
and she just about ran over to the other pets.

She tried hard to find just the right one to take home with
her, but not one of those cute puppies or silky kittens or
chirping birds or golden hamsters or skinny gerbils or fancy
fish seemed right for her. Totally discouraged by now, the
widow decide to go home.

On the way out of the shop, she had to walk past the barrel
again. As she furtively peeked in, the toad just gave her
the most beseeching look, and he had a little tear on the
corner of his eye. He even sniffed a bit. This was too
much for our widow, she started heading for the exit in a
hurry.

All of a sudden it struck her that this poor toad was probably
just as lonely as she was. Not only that, but he was so
ugly that no one would probably buy him, especially not with
all the other nice pets available.

So up to the counter she marched, told the salesperson she'd
take the toad, but requested that he be put in a sturdy box.
When she got to her car, she placed the box on the seat next
to her and proceeded to drive home.

As she was driving along, she heard some scratching coming
from the box. She tried to ignore it for a bit, but then thought
that the toad might need some air, so she opened the box a
bit. (What could it hurt?)

She would glance over at the toad from time to time, and he
kept winking at her and throwing her kisses. She finally
thought, "oh heck, what could it hurt?" and she leaned over
and KISSED him!

And POOF! He turned into a HANDSOME PRINCE!

And do you know what our poor widow turned into?

The first motel she came to!
Received on Wed Feb 2 11:11:25 2005