I don't know if it's because I have been making lots of visits to the dentist recently but, I started to think about back when I was a kid and one of my milk teeth fell out. Like most children in the western world I believed that the Tooth Fairy would visit me during the night if I placed a recently lost tooth below my pillow.
Sneaking in under the cover of darkness, the Tooth Fairy would carefully sprinkle me with fairy-dust in order that I did not detect her presence. Knowing now, that I was in a deep sleep the Tooth Fairy could carefully remove my tooth and leave me a silver coin in return.
The thing was one night she forgot her magical dust and I woke up just as my tooth was being slipped from underneath my pillow. The only problem was on this final visit, the Tooth Fairy had been substituted by my mother. I was devastated, my magical world was blown apart. I instantly realised that Santa Claus too was a myth. Two gut-wrenching revelations in one day.
Alas, many good stories do come to an end. Especially this one, because you no longer receive a silver coin for your loss, only a hefty dental bill.
That is the fun about fairies and fairy-like people, you know, Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy wouldn't be half so much fun if they were like we are. they can do all sorts of things that we never could!
Louise Price Bell "There is a Santa Claus" 1935
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