Once upon a time there was a pretty little girl. Her name was Lilly. She had very pretty hair, a pretty bow on her headband and a beautiful dress. But what did it matter if she didn’t want to brush her teeth? When she smiled and showed her dirty teeth, people frowned, some even felt sick. And when she spoke and the smell came out of her mouth, everyone ran for their life
Her parents kept telling her to brush her teeth. They came up with all sorts of rewards and punishments, they even tried to hold Lilly and brush her teeth themselves, but it didn’t work. Lilly was kicking and throwing her hands around and even biting. In vain were the threats that if she did not brush her teeth she would get a teethache and then they would all fall out. She didn’t mind. She cheerfully threw her toothbrush out of the window and wouldn’t brush her teeth at any cost.
Lilly didn’t have any friends, no one wanted to play with her because of her smelly breath. Even the animals began to avoid her. Her parents, they’d kind of gotten used to the smell. She didn’t mind any of it, it certainly wouldn’t make her brush her teeth.
So day after day went by. One morning, Lilly had a toothache.
“Ouch!” came from all over the apartment.
Her parents came running and immediately comforted Lilly. Her mother opened the window, because besides the screaming, there was a foul smell coming from Lilly’s mouth.
“She needs to go to a dentist,” Daddy said. But he shouldn’t have said that
“Ouch!” Lilly screamed in fear, until people from the other apartments came out into the hallway and wondered what that terrible scream was.
Eventually, with the help of a few neighbors, her parents managed to get Lilly dressed, got her into the car, and drove her to the dentist.
In the waiting room, Lilly was stubbornly silent and scowled at everyone. The parents were unhappy, but they consoled themselves by the thought that the dentist would be able to help Lilly.
But it wasn’t so. When it was Lilly’s turn to sit in the dentist’s chair, she refused to open her mouth. The dentist threatened her, promised her rewards, but it was all in vain. Finally, the maintenance man was called in with a crowbar to help Lilly open her mouth.
As soon as the mouth opened, a terrible smell wafted out of it. The maintenance man couldn’t stand it and jumped out of the office window. The nurse and Mr. Dentist put on their surgical masks, that helped a little.
“You sure don’t brush your teeth,” Mr. Dentist said to Lilly, and launched into a rant in which he declared that these teeth hadn’t seen a toothbrush in their life, and what did the concerned parents have to say about that, that they were not taking good care of their child’s teeth, and that the sore tooth needed to come out, and all the others too.
“Ouch!” screamed Lilly, but the nurse came quickly, sent the parents out the door, and in a few minutes it was done. Not a single tooth was left in Lilly’s mouth.
“How is our little girl going to eat now?” asked the parents.
“Buy a blender and blend everything for her. She can only eat mushy and liquid foods,” said the doctor.
And so Lilly ate the schnitzelss and potatoes pureed in the blender as porridge. She didn’t particularly mind. She was glad she didn’t have to brush her teeth. She didn’t have any. The only thing that bothered her was that when she talked, she lisped. Without teeth, it sounded like an old woman talking instead of a little girl.
So, dear children, brush your teeth so that they are nice and healthy and your breath doesn’t smell bad, so that you don’t end up like that stubborn girl, Lilly.
