The first tooth was pulled in our house this week. It was actually not pulled because both the Engineer and I refused to do it, so the owner of the tooth managed to do it herself. Super proud about this rite of passage, she allowed for a photo to be taken and ran off to go and dig out the little box they made a church for the tooth mouse. Yes, I know, in English, it’s a fairy, but for some reason, the Afrikaans speakers decided that it should be a mouse, which is important for the purposes of this story.
The excitement about the night-time visit, which will only happen when everybody is asleep, found the Lilliputians in bed way before bedtime. The tooth, was safely wrapped and tucked into the little box, awaiting appropriate reimbursement.
Early the next morning I cannot find Hannes in his bed. He is tightly tucked in next to his sister, eagerly awaiting the first eye to open to share in the excitement of the riches. He explains that he saw the tooth mouse and his little helpers, who looked like socks, as they had to come through his window. He will forever be the storyteller in this duo. The evil eye from me quickly makes him ad that it was probably just a dream.
The recipient of the money is quite happy with her loot, and we go with our fairly chaotic morning. Lisa, very excited to go a show off her new look to all her friends. Somewhere in-between home and school, Hannes develops an undefined ailment (probably because he is not the centre of this story).
Upon pickup, Lisa is in tears about everything and anything. The whole afternoon and evening, she does not leave my side. Eventually, at bedtime, she announces that she is not sleeping in this room where mice can just come in and take whatever they want. And how big do they have to be to carry around cash? And how will this mouse remember that he had already visited her and not come back a second time by accident? The tears were flowing now with the final question of “why are we not English, because then it would have been a fairy”, which, of course, would have been much more acceptable.
Utterly shocked at this development I blurt out the truth. It is Mamma mouse and not an actual mouse at all. Very upset she asks “why are grownups such liars?!”. And then after a moment of thought: “and why did you give so little money?”.
So, that is the story of how the tooth mouse came back and bit me in the ass.