Magic and the Tooth Fairy
Warning this post contains spoilers regarding the Tooth Fairy and Santa Clause!
This is a scan of a letter that Leora recently wrote. As you can see, she has just lost her first tooth. Translated, it reads: "Dear Tooth Fairy, I want to meet you one of these days. Love Leora." You will not be shocked to learn that we have never mislead her about the identity of the Tooth Fairy, nor Santa, Easter Bunny et. al. Still she has a very strong desire to pretend to herself that they are real. I think the essence of this desire is the need for magic.
I can remember wanting magic to exist. I wanted there to be dragons and dwarves and lightening bolts from my fingertips. Never mind the terrible consequences of orcs and power hungry mages, I wanted my levitate spell. I never had the belief for as long as I can remember--even though I can recall my parents playing into the Santa mythology and my dad making coins dissappear. I always thought that there was a strange truth of the universe. Let us call it Tinker Bell's Folly. If you could only truly belive than that would be enough to make it reality. I never managed to succeed.
Now, back to Leora. Wendy wrote her a nice letter back from the Fairy in question. In fact, we have been carrying on a corespondance for quite some time with a fairy named Eolanda. In this case, money was exchanged, the tooth taken. End of story. Not so. The next morning Leora bounces into the room full of excitement as she shows us her money and grins while squeezing her tongue through the empty socket in her smile.
"Look Mom, I got a dollar."
"Great."
"Now can I have my tooth back?"
"The Tooth Fairy took it."
"No, Mom, REALLY. I need it for school."
As it turns out, in exchange for showing the tooth, Leora was able to get an "I lost a tooth" certificate and that is why she wanted it back. Personally I would have kept it just out of a sense of fairness. A transaction took place, afterall. Being from the James family I think Wendy just couldn't resist the bargain of Leora getting two prizes for the price of one tooth. I'm sure Teela would be proud.
This is a scan of a letter that Leora recently wrote. As you can see, she has just lost her first tooth. Translated, it reads: "Dear Tooth Fairy, I want to meet you one of these days. Love Leora." You will not be shocked to learn that we have never mislead her about the identity of the Tooth Fairy, nor Santa, Easter Bunny et. al. Still she has a very strong desire to pretend to herself that they are real. I think the essence of this desire is the need for magic.I can remember wanting magic to exist. I wanted there to be dragons and dwarves and lightening bolts from my fingertips. Never mind the terrible consequences of orcs and power hungry mages, I wanted my levitate spell. I never had the belief for as long as I can remember--even though I can recall my parents playing into the Santa mythology and my dad making coins dissappear. I always thought that there was a strange truth of the universe. Let us call it Tinker Bell's Folly. If you could only truly belive than that would be enough to make it reality. I never managed to succeed.
Now, back to Leora. Wendy wrote her a nice letter back from the Fairy in question. In fact, we have been carrying on a corespondance for quite some time with a fairy named Eolanda. In this case, money was exchanged, the tooth taken. End of story. Not so. The next morning Leora bounces into the room full of excitement as she shows us her money and grins while squeezing her tongue through the empty socket in her smile.
"Look Mom, I got a dollar."
"Great."
"Now can I have my tooth back?"
"The Tooth Fairy took it."
"No, Mom, REALLY. I need it for school."
As it turns out, in exchange for showing the tooth, Leora was able to get an "I lost a tooth" certificate and that is why she wanted it back. Personally I would have kept it just out of a sense of fairness. A transaction took place, afterall. Being from the James family I think Wendy just couldn't resist the bargain of Leora getting two prizes for the price of one tooth. I'm sure Teela would be proud.
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