The Toad is the eclipse-devourer of Khmu celestial lore: when the moon (or sun) darkens, it is because the toad has seized and swallowed the light, and people beat drums, mortars, and pots and raise a great clamour to frighten the creature into disgorging it. The motif belongs to a broad Southeast Asian family of eclipse beliefs in which the luminary is swallowed by an animal or demon; the identification of the swallower as a toad or frog is characteristic of the upland Mon-Khmer world, though tellings vary and some name a different devourer. The Toad is a single mythic actor of eclipse narrative rather than a class of spirits, and it is documented through eclipse practice rather than an established cult.