Legends says that long ago in Miyagi Prefecture, a famous marksman heard about an old, dilapidated house by a bridge where every night a strange old woman appeared and spun thread. Her neighbors feared her and thought she was a demon of some kind. The marksman went to investigate the old woman. Her smile and cackle were so disturbing to him that he immediately aimed his gun at her heart and fired. As he did, the light from her lantern went out and the night became pitch black. The marksman stumbled home in the dark. The following morning the woman was gone, and there was no sign of any injury. He must have missed somehow. A few nights later the old woman appeared again. The marksman went to see, and this time he aimed his gun not at the woman, but at her lantern. He fired, and once again everything went black. This time he heard a terrible shriek and a clattering sound. At first light he returned to the house, and lying where the woman had been was the corpse of an enormous, ugly toad.