Once upon a time, there lived a magic frog who wore a crown of gold covered with rubies and diamonds. She lived in a swamp filled with otters who wanted to have her crown for themselves. It was believed that this crown had magical powers. Whoever wore it could say a magic word and go anywhere in the world just by touching the ruby. The magic word was “Istanbul.” To return home, you had to touch the diamond and say “Doodle bug.”
One day, while the frog was sleeping, the otter snuck up behind her and took the crown but didn’t know the magic word and accidentally said “I stand on a bull.” This caused the otter to appear in Mexico riding a bull.
“Yeehaw!” He jumped off. “Ahh!” He landed right next to a rattle snake. He got up and ran but then shook. “Aaaah!!” The snake wrapped around him. Slowly, the otter grabbed the snake and threw it straight at a cactus.
The snake fell off the cactus with spines stuck in it’s back. “Eeek!” yelled the otter, “I’ve created a porcupine snake!”
The otter ran away as fast as he could. “Noodle suds, that was close!” he said, because that was his usual exclamation. But he was holding the crown so without warning, he was transported to Ohio, in a bath and ramen factory. One of the workers looked at him, muttered “Only in Ohio.” and went back to work.
Scared of what could possibly happen in Ohio, he said “Home, please!” He was brought back to the swamp. He quickly put the crown back and fell asleep.
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