Tell Us Another Story!

The old woman leaned forward in her rocking chair, and looked down at the wide-eyed children seated at her feet.
"Would you like to hear a story, children?" she said, in a raspy wet voice.
"Yes! Yes! Tell us! Tell us!" they exclaimed noisily, clapping their hands together excitedly. The old woman raised a gnarly skinny finger to her lips.
"Shhhh........shhhhh......it's quite secret, this story."

The children looked quietly up at her as she leaned back in her rocker, and lit a corn cob pipe. They watched in awe as she blew smoke rings that floated up toward the dim yellow light of the bare bulb, dangling from the ceiling by it's cord.

"There was once a little girl." she said, in a wet, gargling whisper. " A very special little girl, in many ways. She was different from the rest. This was a long time ago, when it was not a good thing to be different from the others." She paused to re-light her pipe.
"What was wrong with her?" one of the children asked.
"There was nothing wrong with her, really." she said, blowing smoke from the side of her mouth, and clenching the pipe with her stained teeth, as she spoke through her lips. "The little girl had done nothing wrong. She was, in fact, a very sweet and kind little girl." the old woman continued. "But, by the age of seven, it became clear to all, that she was different. And people began to avoid her. She became quite lonely, at this young age."

"How was the little girl different ?" one of the children asked, standing up, and tugging on the old woman's arm.
"Sit down, dear child. I will tell you." The boy returned to his place on the carpet, as she puffed several times on her pipe. She leaned forward and looked down at the children.
"Who here has teeth?" she said. "Raise your hand, if you have teeth." The children all waved their hands around in the air in front of her face.
"I have teeth!! "Me, too, I have teeth!"

The old woman reached down and patted their heads one by one. "Let me see." she said. One by one, the children showed the old woman their teeth. "Yes," she said. "Teeth and more teeth. Big white teeth. So many teeth! You see," she said, leaning back in her chair again. "This little girl had no teeth. Not even one. She tried rubbing on her gums with her fingertips, to make her teeth grow out. But, no teeth were ever to appear, and grow in her mouth."

"What happened to her?" a little girl with curly yellow hair asked. "Did she die?" The old woman shook her head.
"No, dear. She didn't die. In fact, something very extraordinary took place in her life. Something quite magical. A very old man who lived on the hillside above the village, heard of her unfortunate fate. He was a nice old man, even though many feared him because, he was said to be a wizard. He had boxes and boxes of teeth. He had collected teeth all his life. There were teeth all about his house. Boxes of teeth. Jars and cans of teeth. Drawers full of teeth.
"Why did he have so many teeth?" one of the children asked.
"Well," the old woman answered. "He just kept finding them, everywhere he went. And he didn't know what to do with them, so he just saved them. It became a hobby to organize his collection. Molars, in the box, here. Bi-cuspids, in the can, there. Incisors in the jars on the shelf, and so on." "So," she said, leaning forward again. "What do you think happened?"

"Did he give the little girl some teeth?" the little curly haired girl asked. The old woman smiled, and nodded.
"Yes. He gave her a whole mouthful of shiny pearly teeth, just like yours! But, that is only where the story begins. For, you see, he was, in fact, a wizard. In meeting the little girl, and giving her a mouthful of teeth, he realized that he now knew what to do with all the teeth he had collected over the years. He could give them to people who need teeth.
"Did my teeth come from the wizard?" one child asked.
"Let me see." the old woman said, peering into his mouth. "No, those are teeth you grew yourself. But, if one comes out, maybe the wizard will make a new one for you."

"Is that the end of the story?" the boy asked.
"Not quite." said the old woman. "For, what happened next was the most extraordinary of all. The old man gave the little girl a special mission to gather more teeth for him. The demand for lost teeth would soon deplete his collection, otherwise. So, he sat the little girl down on a milking stool. He walked all around her, mumbling certain secret words, and circling his wand around her head. And as he raised both his hands up high into the air, the little girl began to float up off the stool and into the air, and flew right out the window."

"Where did she go?" The children asked, excitedly.
"Shhhh..." Said the old woman, her voice falling to a whisper. "She goes to visit little children who have lost a tooth. She trades them a little present for the lost tooth, and brings it to the wizard, so the wizard can find a new tooth for that child. Do you know who that little girl is?" "The tooth fairy?!!!" the children shouted. The old woman smiled, and nodded, and re-lit her pipe. "Tell us another story! Tell us another story!" the children cried.