Jennifer Jane and the Tooth fairy 4/6

"'You see,' continued the Oldest Goblin, in his dragon voice, 'We dragons eat humans partly because they taste nice, especially the tender young ones and partly because they're full of the crunchy bits that we have to eat to keep the fires alight inside our tummies. No crunchy bits, no fires; no fire and we can't defend our treasure.'"

"'That's what we thought,' said the goblins who were talking to the dragon. 'Now then, we have an idea which will keep you and all the humans alive and you can keep nearly all your treasure.'”

"'Nearly all?' said the dragon, 'that doesn't sound so good to me'” and he breathed two little flames through his nostrils.

"'Now wait a bit,' said the goblins, 'don't be so hasty. After all, no more knights will be chasing after you. You can have as much food as you want, when you want it, complete with the crunchy bits and all for ten percent of the treasure. We will need some money to finance our idea.'

"'Ten percent?' said the dragon, 'that sounds rather a lot. My treasure is very valuable, you know; it took centuries to collect. Some of it consists of irreplaceable antiques from the very best castles. Five percent sounds much more reasonable if you really can promise results.'”

"'Seven and a half percent,' said the goblins 'and that's our final offer'.

"'Done,' said the dragon and everybody cheered."

"And that's how we saved the dragons and lots of maidens and children from being killed and eaten. Now then, Jennifer Jane, I know what you're thinking," continued the Oldest Goblin "but don't spoil the story."

Jennifer Jane knew more or less how the story ended and what happened to the baby teeth that the fairies collected. After all, she was good at putting two and two together. She didn't say anything though and the Oldest Goblin continued with his story.

"The goblins went off with seven and a half percent of the dragon’s treasure and opened bank accounts in every country where a dragon was left alive. Then we organised the fairies to collect baby teeth from human children. The money in the banks was used to buy tins and tins of cat food and dog food and a baby tooth was put into every tin."

"So the dragons had lots to eat, including the human crunchy bits, without having to eat people," burst out Jennifer Jane, who just couldn't keep quiet any longer.

"Yes and some dragons liked the cat food better than the dog food and some preferred it the other way round," said the Oldest Goblin rather crossly, before Jennifer Jane could ask the next question.

"Well, that's all cleared up," said Jennifer Jane "but why do the fairies give the teeth they collect to the Clerk of the Weather?"

"Your English teacher was right!" said the Oldest Goblin. "You see, we had to move the dragons far away from all the humans so that they wouldn't be tempted to eat people and so that people wouldn't be able to find the dragons and steal their treasure. Now, the Clerk of the Weather has to send weather everywhere in the world, so who better to deliver the dragons' food?"

The Oldest Goblin sat back in his chair with a smile. "I think Lieutenant Moonshine has been listening to our conversation and knows what you want to do next," he said.