Yes, Richie, I always thought that a toad was much more likely to escape detection, and would be a better witch's familiar as well.

Steve, since Bell Robertson's fragment has the hero named differently and the more plausible toad detail, where do you think she might have got it from (if not her grandmother). If she was going to fabricate a witchcraft ballad, you'd have thought she'd have come up with more than three verses.