Is the Tooth Fairy Real?

[Selfruled Society]

Is the Tooth Fairy Real?: A Fable

Harriet told her little brother Dan that there was no Tooth Fairy; it was their parents who put the money under the pillow.

Dan refused to believe Harriet. He knew there was a Tooth Fairy. Every time he put a tooth under his pillow, there was money there the next morning. And all his friends said the Tooth Fairy brought them money too. And it couldn't be Mom and Dad because he'd wake up if they came in the room and lifted his pillow. Anyway, Mom and Dad said there was a Tooth Fairy, and they wouldn't lie.

Harriet asked him how he thought the Tooth Fairy found out about lost teeth, how she got into the house, where she got the money from, and what she did with the teeth. Dan said he didn't know, but wasn't it a wonderful mystery? Harriet pointed out that older kids all eventually stopped believing in the Tooth Fairy. Dan said that only proved that the Tooth Fairy would only bring money to those who still believed in her.

Harriet got several neighborhood kids to help test whether the Tooth Fairy would appear if the parents didn't know a tooth had been lost. It turned out that every time the parents knew about the tooth, there would be money under the pillow the next morning, and every time the parents didn't know about the tooth, there would be no money. Dan said the Tooth Fairy was just refusing to cooperate in those cases, because she wouldn't bring money if she knew she was being tested.

Harriet got out her Junior Detective kit and dusted Dan's Tooth Fairy money for fingerprints. Sure enough, she found their parents' fingerprints on it. Dan said that didn't prove anything, because there are lots of ways the Tooth Fairy could get hold of money the parents had previously touched. Or she could have magically put the evidence there to confuse us. And of course, the Tooth Fairy wouldn't leave any fingerprints of her own because she was magical.

The next time Dan lost a tooth, Harriet spread flour on the floor, and the next morning, she showed Dan their parents' footprints between the door and the head of his bed. He said that didn't prove anything-his parents had probably just checked on him, and the Tooth Fairy had come later. There were no Tooth Fairy footprints, because fairies don't leave footprints.

The next time Dan lost a tooth, Harriet set up a video camera in Dan's room and caught their parents in the act. (For those readers with dirty minds, I mean the act of removing the tooth and putting money under the pillow.) Dan told her that didn't prove a thing. Maybe the Tooth Fairy wouldn't appear when a camera was present. Maybe she is a shape-shifter who made herself look like their parents on videotape. Maybe she asked Mom and Dad to do the job for her just this once.

Harriet led Dan into their parents' bedroom, opened a dresser drawer, and showed him a box containing all of Harriet's and Dan's baby teeth neatly labeled and dated. She said that was proof their parents were taking the teeth and leaving the money. Dan said it was no such thing; the Tooth Fairy probably passed the teeth on to parents for keepsakes, or maybe she sold teeth to parents to raise the money she put under the pillows. Hey, yeah, that would explain the fingerprints!

Harriet and Dan confronted their parents, who admitted they had been taking the teeth and leaving the money under the pillow. Dan said either they were lying before or they're lying now, and they're probably lying now. Why trust what anyone says? He was just going to ignore everything except what he knew: the tooth-under-the-pillow thing worked. The Tooth Fairy was real.

Harriet screamed in frustration and tore all her hair out. She left it under her pillow. It was still there in the morning.

As told in:

http://csicop.org/si/2006-03/thinking.html

[devogue]

The only thing wrong with this story is that no child would be as childish as Dan - they would figure it out very early on.

Still, a wonderful story on which to finish up here for today. I often go on about the ridiculousness of the tooth fairy, yet sometimes a little part of my mind says I'm being over the top when I bang on about it and religion.

Never again!

[Selfruled Society]

True, kids nowdays are specially witty and clever. Still something to think about when tempted to spend more than 10 minutes arguing with religious folks.

[soul_biscuit]

True, kids nowdays are specially witty and clever. Still something to think about when tempted to spend more than 10 minutes arguing with religious folks.

Kids have always been witty and clever, because they are still actively forming their understanding of how the world works. Most adults act as if they have it more or less "figured out."

[Selfruled Society]

Most adults act as if they have it more or less "figured out."

Maybe that's what the story is trying to point out too.

[Drunken Monkey]

Great story

Encore, encore!

[prothero]

No but the tooth and the dollar bill are real.

[Mr. Geddoe]

GOLDEN.

[soul_biscuit]

Most adults act as if they have it more or less "figured out."

Maybe that's what the story is trying to point out too.

Then shouldn't the boy have been an adult?

EDIT: I understand the story's point, and I'm not trying to pick it apart. I just don't think kids should be sold short; their ability to learn and continually reorganize their understanding of the world is amazing.

[Selfruled Society]

I agree completely Soul, kids in real life are a totally different matter.

[Saerain]

Still something to think about when tempted to spend more than 10 minutes arguing with religious folks.

That said, I wonder what a theist's response to this fable may be. I hope it wouldn't, but suspect it would, be as simple as, 'Yeah, but God is real.'

I would be much more entertained if they provided an opposing fable!

[Selfruled Society]

Oh yeah Saerain, the idea of god is very much alive and real for most theists. The most extremist ones don't go around blowing themselves up for nothing.

[Silent.Bomber]

True, kids nowdays are specially witty and clever. Still something to think about when tempted to spend more than 10 minutes arguing with religious folks.

Kids have always been witty and clever, because they are still actively forming their understanding of how the world works. Most adults act as if they have it more or less "figured out."

We are born ignorant: education makes us stupid. ~ Russell

[GeorgeV]

A great story to illustrate the lengths to which people will go to hang on to irrational beliefs. How many christians have been doing the exact same thing for centuries.

[Selfruled Society]

A great story to illustrate the lengths to which people will go to hang on to irrational beliefs. How many christians have been doing the exact same thing for centuries.

Christians and pretty much all religious folks for that matter.

[cutekawaii]

:clap:

The only thing wrong with this story is that no child would be as childish as Dan - they would figure it out very early on.

Haha, well, when my mom told my brother there is no Santa Claus, he replied, "Yes there is! Where else would the presents come from?"

[Darwinsbulldog]

I still believe in the tooth fairy because she does no harm. AND evidence of existance! Tooth under pillow at night, present in the morning. I suspected parents, of course, but they denied it, so honourable tooth fairy must exist.

In contrast is god, no proof at all...not even one little bit of proof.

[Ciraric]

I still believe in the tooth fairy because she does no harm. AND evidence of existance! Tooth under pillow at night, present in the morning. I suspected parents, of course, but they denied it, so honourable tooth fairy must exist.

In contrast is god, no proof at all...not even one little bit of proof.

**Clap**

My goodness, he isn't wrong!

[Selfruled Society]

...In contrast is god, no proof at all...not even one little bit of proof.

Oh yeah? well what about the war in Irak Mr. smarty pants? Wasn't God the one who ordered it?

[Arnaud]

...In contrast is god, no proof at all...not even one little bit of proof.

Oh yeah? well what about the war in Irak Mr. smarty pants? Wasn't God the one who ordered it?

A man says there is proof for God. I will not question this and accept this as the truth. We have proof that God exists and science is always WRONG.