People think that Halloween scares children, but there is someone very famous who is even more scared: the Tooth Fairy. Children eat all the Halloween sweets but forget to brush their teeth, and by the time the Tooth Fairy comes to take them away, they're an absolute mess!

That's why the Tooth Fairy decided to travel to the land of the monsters to stop this madness of rotten teeth. But the monsters were not willing to give up the only day of the year when they were able to get close to their friends, the children. On any other day, if a real monster got close to a child, there would be total panic ...

However, the Tooth Fairy wasn't going to give up either and decided to do away with Halloween. One year she thought:

‘I'll turn the road signs to the cities upside down. Then the monsters will get lost.’

But it turned out that the monsters didn't look at them anyway because they couldn't read.
Another year the Tooth Fairy said:

“I know, I'll bring thousands of greedy sheep to eat the sweets that the monsters are saving up for Halloween.”

And the Tooth Fairy succeeded. The sheep didn't leave a single one, but they ate so many sweets that they turned into candy sheep. And the monsters shared them around the world so successfully that, that year, the teeth were the worst batch ever collected.

For the following year, the Tooth Fairy prepared a very risky plan.

“I will help the most wicked monsters escape from prison, the ones who treat children the worst. They will be so scary that no one will want another Halloween.”

Although scared to death, on Halloween night she secretly released the brutes and accompanied them into town. She expected them to cause massive chaos but, when they arrived and saw everyone in costumes, they thought it was all a surprise party for them. They were so happy and excited that they were very well behaved and for hours they smothered the Tooth Fairy with their furry hugs and slobbery kisses. They were so good that nobody felt they should be locked up again.

Desperate after so many failed attempts, the Tooth Fairy was ready to spend her entire fortune.

- “I will buy up all the sugar and throw it into the rivers and lakes of the world. Without sweets there will be no party.”

But the Tooth Fairy didn't know that the monsters had their own candy gardens and when these were watered with the fresh water, they produced the best harvest of sweets ever...

Seeing that nothing could spoil the party that the children and monsters loved so much, it occurred to her that maybe she just needed to change it a little. Thinking about the monsters' candy gardens, she had an idea... she sneaked over one night and planted a few more things: sugar-free sweets, fruit, toothpaste gumdrops... and even a toothbrush tree. The monsters were so stupid that they didn't even notice and, when they prepared the bags of goodies for the following year, they added the healthy treats planted by the Tooth Fairy too.

The plan proved to be a big hit because, seeing a toothbrush among the sweets, no child forgot to brush their teeth as they had no problem finding their toothbrushes. And so the monsters saved their party, the children ate their sweets, and that year the tooth fairy collected the best teeth ever.

Mums and dads liked the idea too and that is why, among all the treats and sweets given out at Halloween, you now see more toothbrushes, healthy fruit and sugar-free treats.

Translated by Samuel Johnson, Lee Holt and James McNally, Manchester Metropolitan University