Sammy the Slug talks to the Happy Snail Family

Based on Hans Christian Anderson's Fairy Tale: The Happy Family. With references to The Match Girl and The Leaping Match.

Sammy the slug had heard about how the snails liked to be cooked as escargot for the richest of the humans, but he wondered if that was really the best way for them to go. Sammy knew the snails wouldn't listen to him though because to the snails they were lesser-thans because they did not have shells on their backs. “Are you sure you want to burn yourselves alive in the end?” Sammy slug asked Sherman the snail from the family.

"Why becoming escargot is what our fancy family does. You are just envious," Sherman replied.

"Are you sure lighting yourself aflame is all that fancy? The poor match girl did it because she did not have any other options,” the slug tried to reason.

“Do tell about this match girl,” Sherman was interested.

“The match girl was so hungry and cold when she went out to sell matches that she used those very same ones to burn herself,” Sammy told the tale.

“Exactly, she used the very matches she wished she owned, just like how you wish you owned a shell!” Sherman slimed away.

Sammy was frustrated and needed a new plan to be believed. He later came across a rollie pollie and asked him to act as a detachable shell. The rollie pollie agreed for he had seen the clash between his kind and the snails for himself.

“What is that you have on your back?” Sherman asked when Sammy went back to see him again.

“My shell, don’t you know that all of slug’s shells are detachable. We just use them more for travel. The fact that they can come off when we need to is actually what is superior to you!” He triumphed.

“Oh my, maybe you are to be listened to,” Sherman was in awe at the shell as he followed the slug for many days in order to see where the humans live. Sammy had Sherman watch the way the humans brutally cooked the snails.

“You see here now that it is not so pleasant,” he gestured through the window.

“Oh my, you know more than we give you credit for,” Sherman went back to gather his snail family to convince them to listen to the slugs.

“Why that isn’t a shell on his back! That is a rollie pollie!” Shelley the snail pointed out, “We have been tricked.”

Sherman then was skeptical again, “How am I supposed to trust what you showed me now?” Sammy asked the slug.

“You saw it with your own eyes! I had to do something to get you to see for yourself because even though I had the knowledge that leaped higher than the rest of you, like the fly that leaped too high so you could not see what I was trying to tell you. In the same way the grasshopper that leaped into the kings face, you did not like the way I look. Then I thought I should be like the frog that leap straight into the princess’s lap to gain your attention,” the slug explained.

“It is true, he went through great lengths to get us to see his perspective while also charming the rollie pollie to follow him, so we must all go see what he has shown me,” Sammy decided and they all left to see what it was like to be burned for a dish. They then agreed that they should push out the beliefs from the days of the old and let the slugs be equal to the snails for they needed their wisdom.