I don’t want a dinosaur breath

Happy, the hippo, writhes with pain. She cries and raves. Nobody can come near her, because the sound of her roar hurts their ears. She has toothache!

Her mother is at her wit’s end, because - she doesn’t think of going to the dentist? Oh, no, Happy stamps and tosses and pulls and tugs till the mountains answer. “What must I do? I don’t want all these troubles!” Mommy Hippo wonders.

She rushes to Grandpa Owl to ask for advice. Grandpa Owl hoots-hoots and honks-honks and thinks like blazes. Eventually he roars and growls the following: “We will have to tell her of Freddie, with the dinosaur breath.”

“Who is Freddie, with the dinosaur breath, Grandpa Owl?” asks Mother Hippo.

“Grandma Owl, you tell the story better than I do.”

“Freddie never wanted to brush his teeth. In the mornings he jumped out of bed, quickly dressed and then went to school. He never brushed his teeth. After a while he had less and less friends. He never could understand why this was happening.

As soon as Freddie came near the little friends, they at first turned their faces away and then ran away quickly. One day he again sits at the table in the school yard, and NOBODY sits with him! Tears trickle down his cheeks. He cries harrowingly.

Miss Warthog sees this and goes to him. “What is the matter, Freddie?”

Miss, NOBODY likes me. NOBODY wants to sit with me. What did I do wrong?”

Teacher must think hard. How is she going to tell Freddie it’s his breath which scares everybody? She will have to tell him, otherwise the problem will never be solved.

“Freddie, do you remember when we spoke about Gerry Germ last week? It’s the bloke who gives us different illnesses and terrible problems. You can for example get bad teeth when you don’t brush your teeth. This causes one’s breath to smell bad. Dinosaurs never brushed their teeth, and this caused many other animals to quickly run away from them, because they couldn’t tolerate the bad smell!

It’s very important that one should brush one’s teeth, not only because you want to chase Gerry Germ away, but also because you want a fresh breath. Friends struggle to speak with somebody who has a dinosaur breath.

I have a pretty, new, blue toothbrush in my class. If you promise me that you will brush your teeth every day, I will give it to you as a present. You will see you will quickly make new friends!”

That afternoon Freddie couldn’t wait to get home to show his mom his pretty, new, blue toothbrush. He is so excited to use it that he nearly runs over his daddy.

The next morning, he goes to school with a mint fresh breath. His old friends run to him, and they laugh and chat with him again. This made him very happy.”

That evening after bath time Happy’s mother tells this story to her.

Happy sighs deeply. “Oh, Mommy, I feel so bad. I want to go to the dentist, please, because I really don’t want a dinosaur breath. He must pull my tooth which Gerry Germ caused to become so decayed.”

Mommy winks at Grandpa Owl. Their plan worked beautifully. All’s well that ends well.