Jennifer Jane and the Tooth fairy 3/6

He wasn't all that surprised to see her suddenly appear in his living room. After all, goblins are used to magic folk and sudden appearances by friends were not all that unusual.

Jennifer Jane explained her problem.

"No wonder your English Teacher said you had an insatiable curiosity," said the Oldest Goblin. "It's years and years since any one asked that question. It's to keep the dragons away from humans."

"Dragons!" exclaimed Jennifer Jane, "there aren't any dragons any more, except in fairy tales and story books!"

"Aha," said the Oldest Goblin, "that just shows you how well the system works. Of course there are dragons. Not very many, I'll agree but there are still a few around."

"How does buying baby teeth help keep dragons away from humans?"

"I thought you'd want to know that," replied the Oldest Goblin, "now sit quietly and I'll explain."

"I expect young Moonshine told you that she takes the teeth to the Clerk of the Weather.."

"Yes, but she doesn't know what he does with them," interrupted Jennifer Jane.

"Just be patient, I'm telling you," replied the Oldest Goblin. "Now, many hundred of years ago there were lots of dragons and they used to roam around the country eating human beings and collecting treasure. When they had enough treasure, they would keep it in a cave in a hillside and guard it and would only come out when they felt hungry and needed someone to eat. They became very partial to maidens and young children and the people who lived near a dragon's cave were always very frightened of them."

'Especially if they were young children or maidens,' thought Jennifer Jane.

"Don't interrupt," said the Oldest Goblin, who could hear Jennifer Jane's thoughts. "Now where was I?"

"People were frightened of living near dragons' caves," said Jennifer Jane politely.

"Right. Now, after a long time, people got better and better at fighting dragons. Eventually they invented armour for the knights who used to go out to fight. If he killed the dragon, the knight would often marry the maiden and take the dragon's treasure. He'd become very rich and they would both go away and live happily ever after."

"I've read stories just like that," said Jennifer Jane. "Sorry for interrupting again," she added.

This time the Oldest Goblin didn't say anything but just carried on with his story.

"Well, as you can imagine, the idea of marrying a beautiful maiden and becoming very rich appealed to any young man who could afford a suit of armour, a lance and a sword. Before long, dragons very nearly became extinct. At that point we goblins decided to do something. After all, we couldn't stand by and see a whole species wiped out, so we started a campaign to Save the Dragon.

There were lots of meetings between goblins and witches and fairies and any one else who wanted to Save the Dragon. At last we came up with an idea. We chose the nearest dragon left alive and went to ask him if he would stop eating humans."

Jennifer Jane just couldn't keep back the question. "Weren't you afraid of the dragons yourselves?"

"Oh no," replied the Oldest Goblin, "they prefer nice tender human beings. Most goblins are very old and dragons think they are too tough and stringy to enjoy eating. Any way as I was saying, we went to see the local dragon.

He was resting on top of his pile of treasure and was quite pleased to see us. They enjoy talking to people, you know! The trouble is most people only scream when they see a dragon and that makes them feel cross and hungry. We asked our dragon if he would mind not eating any more people. After all, if he kept on doing it, eventually a knight would turn up and kill him and steal his treasure."

'That sounds reasonable,' the dragon said 'but actually I have to eat humans to keep my flaming breath alight so that I can defend my treasure.'

Jennifer Jane was so fascinated that she didn't even interrupt. The Oldest Goblin was telling the story beautifully, even imitating the dragon's voice.

"Ever so well spoken and kind sounding," she thought. "I wonder if that's really what a dragon sounds like?"

"It's not a bad imitation," said the Oldest Goblin, who had heard Jennifer Jane's thoughts again "but they are a good bit louder."