THE SCENE: Gerald of Wales recounts the tale of a young Welshman who found himself plagued by a host of killer toads.
THE TEXT: In our days a young man who lived in this neighborhood and who was lying ill in bed, was persecuted by a plague of toads. It seemed as if the entire local population of toads had made an agreement to go to visit him. Vast numbers were killed by his friends and by those looking after him, but they grew again like the heads of the Hydra. Toads came flocking from all directions, more and more of them, until no one could count them. In the end the young man’s friends and the other people who were trying to help were quite worn out. They chose a tall tree, cut off all its branches and removed all its leaves. Then they hoisted him up to the top in a bag. He was still not safe from his venomous assailants. The toads crawled up the tree looking for him. They killed him and ate him right up, leaving nothing but his skeleton.
– A Journey Through Wales, Gerald of Wales, 12th Century AD
