The Tooth Fairy and the Crocodile King

The Tooth Fairy and the Crocodile King is a fairy tale told in simple rhyming couplets. It is the story of a sleepy child who is visited by the Tooth Fairy; they take a journey together to the North Pole to meet King Crocodile, an avid collector of little teeth: "King Crocodile's home is made of teeth, And shimmers quite beyond belief, But in his mouth there is not one; His gums are bare as a baby's bum. He eats jam, soup and ice cream too, With mashed up pea and dumpling stew." In return for her tooth the Crocodile King gives our heroine a gold coin which allows her to travel anywhere she wishes to go and so she visits the bottom of the sea: "She swims with whales and talks to seals, And slithers with some slippery eels. She makes a hat from seaweed strands, And comfy shoes from giant clams." Next morning she wakes to find the gold coin beneath her pillow and on her cupboard shelf: "There sits a playful fairy there, Who waves her wand about the air. No-one can see her only you - And me of course, that makes just two."