For 200 years the Gluck family pampers the good-luck toad that sleeps in their barn, but when little Crackle Gluck is assigned to toad-tending duty, good sense soon ousts superstition. Crackle is sure that one toad just couldn't sleep that long, and sure enough she does prove that a whole nest of toads has been taking advantage of the family largesse. Does bad luck descend when she drives them all out? No; as soon as Crackle convinces Ma, Pa, and dumb brother Tuck that hard work and not luck have kept them going, the farm prospers more than ever. But Gackenbach makes such a straightforward and predictable case for reason that disaster would be welcome just to shake things up.