Well, there I was, on my way to the toad village to say Ukabu To Ekdu or whoever it was, when the little guy attacked me! I started shouting Ukabu like a champ, but to no effect. I was forced to relieve him of his life force. Is there a way for this not to happen? Is it going to matter down the road?

Actually this is a bug. This happens if you swim below the guards. In this case you will trigger them and they will start to speak (waiting for you to say Ukabu). When i have been there, this also happened to me. I loaded back to an older game and directly swam to the stairs next time I was there. When you then reach the toad guard you can say Ukabu and he will reply without turning hostile to you.
Hope this helps...
-Fen

It depends on what toads attacked you. Do you mean Medgawa attacked you? Or was it a "Toadsavage" something or other? There are hostile toads out there too that will always attack you. If the toad that told you about Ukabu attacked you, something went wrong, and it would probably be a good idea to reload a save before it happened. Also, advance warning - be sure to keep a few saves in the toad village. Its easy to get stuck in there by toads blocking the halls. I even got pushed down into the floor a couple of times.