Twinkle the tooth fairy flew down to the bottom of the garden. She was curious.

“What would happen,” she asked Merl the magic mushroom, “If children didn’t get a sixpence for their lost teeth?”

“Don’t be so inquisitive, Twinkle,” said Merl, who was the oldest and wisest magic mushroom in the world. “You really are the most curious fairy I’ve ever seen, and you know what they say…”

Twinkle flew off slowly, and did her nightly rounds of boys and girls who had put a tooth under their pillow. It was a big job, as Twinkle had the whole of London to look after, and every night had to visit hundreds of children and replace a tooth with a shiny sixpence. Being a tooth fairy was hard work!

She had always been curious. One time she was curious as to why a little boy’s Mother cried so. She soon discovered that the Mother had lost her job and couldn’t pay the rent, so Twinkle sent Hadji the Luck Dragon to pay her a visit. The very next day the lady got a much better job than her old one, and found a fifty-pound note in the street!

Another time she was curious about the bruises on a little girl’s face. When she found out about the step-father and what he’d been doing to the girl and her Mother, she arranged a visit by Tuff, the Tragedy Troll. The next day the man had a very serious accident at work, and the lady received a very handsome insurance payout.

There was, however, one thing that Twinkle was REALLY curious about, and she was determined to find the answer. That night, on her very last visit, she left the tooth alone under the pillow, then hid on the top of the wardrobe and waited for morning.

Johnny woke up early, and immediately dived under his pillow to grab his sixpence, but instead, pulled out the old tooth. There was no sixpence!

“There IS no tooth fairy,” said Johnny sadly, and began to cry softly.

Twinkle felt really bad, but then she felt something else: with every tear that fell from Johnny’s eyes, one of her fairy wings dropped off! It wasn’t long before she stood there, wingless and unable to fly at all.

Johnny got dressed and headed downstairs. Twinkle knew only one thing: she had to make her way to the bottom of the garden! She climbed out the window and started down the drainpipe; it was going to be a long, dangerous trip, but that’s another story!

It took her all day to get to the bottom of the garden. She found Merl, and told him what had happened.

“Goodness,” said Merl, “You see what I meant about curiosity? If children start believing there are no fairies, soon they’ll believe there is no Santa, and soon after that, they won’t believe in magic, and then there will be nothing at the bottom of the garden except weeds!”

“I’m very, very sorry,” said Twinkle, “I’ll never be curious again.” She hung her head sadly. “And who will do my job tonight? I can’t fly!”

“Well, I guess you’ve learned your lesson,” said Merl. “Take a bite out of me, and go and do your job!”

Twinkle took a big bite of the magic mushroom. A cloud of fairy dust swirled around her, then settled on her shoulders and formed into wings. She could fly again!

The next morning, Johnny awoke and felt a lump under his head. He ripped back the pillow to discover a big pile of shiny sixpences!

“Hooray!” yelled Johnny and did a dance around the bed. “Hooray for the tooth fairy!”

He didn’t notice the fairy dust sparkling happily on the top of the wardrobe…