The origin of the little mouse
Ξ February 12th, 2008 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Apprendre, Enfants |
My eldest daughter lost her first milk tooth. She’s almost 6 years old. Obviously, the mouse took the tooth…
Where does this story of the little mouse come from? And, what about the tradition of replacing the tooth with money?
Actually, the mouse is part of many countries folklore. The exchange tooth-Money ritual is probably Anglo-Saxon (The Fairy Tale of The Teeth of Lee Rogow, 1949). But the mouse origin is in France, in the 17th century under Louis XIV. Madame d’Aulnoy wrote the fairy-tale of the Good Little Mouse. This story is different from the story that we tell our children today. In that story the fairy turns into a mouse to help the gentle queen to defend herself against the evil king.
To punish the king, the little mouse hides under his pillow. At night, she devours the ears, nose and everything inside his mouth ! The story of the mouse as it is known now goes back to the early 20th century. In 1927, Esther Watkins Arnold published The Tooth Fairy, a character sketch in three acts for children. Then, in 1949, Lee Rogow published The Tooth Fairy, the first real story for children on the small mouse. This story was very popular in the 50’s. Since then, parents have adopted this little mouse that has become part of family life.
