Written and narrated by Abhishek Rawat

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In a thick and rainy forest,

There once lived a young girl toad,

Who loved to build an experiment,

So everyone called her 'Odd Joad'.

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"Hey, look at that Odd Joad,"

The other toads laughed and exclaimed,

Every time one of her inventions

Ran out of control and failed.

 

When it came to doing toady things,

Joad seemed to be in a bind,

No matter how hard she seemed to try,

Her body never seemed to work with her mind.

 

She fetted when it came to hopping,

She could never jump up high,

While Joad would struggle to stretch her legs,

The other toad seemed to fly.

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"Oh, I wish I could be like him,"

Said Joad, looking at Billy,

"He seems more gifted than I am.

Next to him, I look so silly."

​

So Joad made herself a pair of shoes,

Fitting the soles with coil springs,

But when she tried to jump like Billy,

She bumped headfirst into Mr. Crain's wings.

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Mommy Toad then patted her head

And told Joad not to lose heart,

"You will get there eventually;

It just needs one more day to start."

​

When it came to catching flies,

Joad could never catch a break,

While she dreaded to fail all the time,

For others, it seemed like a piece of cake.

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"Oh, I wish I could be like her,"

Said Joad, looking at Lye,

"She has all the luck, it seems,

Why, she barely has to try!"

​

So Joad made herself a grabbing rope

With a suction cup at one end,

But when she tried to catch some flies,

It hit Mr. Gator's rear end.

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"Cheer up", said Daddy Toad,

Telling Joad to stop crying,

"You don't need luck to catch the flies;

What you need is to keep trying."

​

Now when rainy season came to the jungle,

All toads prepared to sing,

But poor Joad couldn't sing one croak,

Singing was just not her thing.

​

"Oh, I wish I could be like him",

Said Joad, looking at Felipe,

"He is such a natural,

He can sing even while asleep."

​

So Joad made herself a microphone

To add music to her voice,

But when she tried to croak in it,

Baby toads bawled from the noise.

​

"There is no shame in trying",

Said Coach Toad to her in school,

"To be natural at swimming,

even I practise every day in the pool."

​

Then one day came great lightning and thunder,

The sky went bright and a deep dark,

It rained and rained for many days,

The flood waters crossed the danger mark.

​

The toady folk came together

And prayed for all to get well,

But a sudden swell of water took them all

And in a deep ditch they fell.

​

The kids cried out,

The grown-ups thought to find a way out of the hole,

But no matter what they tried to do,

Nothing seemed to work at all.

​

The rain now started filling the ditch,

The toads began to fear,

There was no help in sight.

There wasn't a moment to spare,

 

Then coach toad called out to Joad,

And asked her to make a plan,

"Only you could think of a way out,

For us to get out of this jam."

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"Me??" asked an astonished Joad,

She could feel her beating heart,

"Please save us", cried everyone,

"Oh, Joad, you were always so smart."

 

Then mommy and daddy toad hugged Joad

And told her to believe in herself,

"We have always been proud of you.

Oh, Joad, you are a treasure unto yourself".

​

Joad closed her eyes and focused hard,

And came up with a scheme,

"For this to work,

we must work as team".

​

She asked Billy to wear the spring shoes,

To Lye the suction cup rope she threw,

And then explained to them both,

What they needed to do.

​

With Lye on his back,

Then Billy jumped with all his might,

He never knew

That he could jump to such a great height.

​

When they reach the top of the jump,

Lye uncoiled the suction cup rope,

She aimed and shot at an ebony rock,

Wedged just outside the slope.

 

"POP!" went the suction cup

As the rope stuck to the rock's face,

The toads all cheered,

And mommy and daddy did a tight embrace.

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One by one, the toads then climbed out of the flooded ditch,

And when they all came out safe and sound,

Said, "Phew",

We were in such a stitch.

 

"Hold on," said Joad to everyone,

There is still some work to be done.

She then called Felipe over

And handed him her microphone,

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Felipe filled his lungs, then croaked for help,

Keeping the mic close to his mouth,

The microphone then spread his voice

From north, all the way to the south.

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Soon, the toads rejoiced and danced,

And all together let out a cheer,

For a team of rescue iguanas

With their boats were coming near,

 

"Thank you, thank you,"

Wvery toad toasted Joad,

"You are such a genius,

We should never have called you odd".

​

"I am not a genius",

A blushing Joad then said,

"When you love doing something,

You just work hard each day instead."

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