A few weeks ago, I found out that the Easter Bunny doesn’t come to France. And now, I discover that he’s not the only folkloric childhood character who doesn’t come here. His cousin, the tooth fairy, doesn’t visit France either.
The Tooth Fairy of my Youth
When I was a child and I lost a tooth, I would put it under my pillow at night. While I was sleeping, a cute little fairy in a pink tutu with a twinkling magic wand would fly onto my bed, gently lift the pillow where I slept and ever so delicately take the tooth. In its place she would leave me a shiny coin. It was a nice trade. But what about the children in France?
If there’s no Tooth Fairy in France, do the French children still get paid to lose their baby teeth? Yes, they do. When they lose a tooth, they put it under their pillow at night, just like American children do. But who sneaks into their room at night to take the tooth and leave a coin? That would be La Petite Souris, known in English as “The Little Mouse.” That’s right, French parents allow a mouse to crawl into their child’s bed, wiggle its way under the pillow, and take the tooth! Am I ever glad I lost my baby teeth in the United States!
The French Tooth Mouse
In searching for the origins of the Little Mouse, all of the sources that I found say she is probably based on a 17th century French fairy tale by Madame d’Aulnoy, called La Bonne Petite Souris or “The Good Little Mouse.” I’m pretty sure that the French parents, who tell their children about the nice little mouse who will crawl into their bed at night and take their tooth, have not read this story. I suppose in one sense you could say that the “good little mouse” is good – she does help the people get rid of a very evil king. But the way she goes about it is anything but nice.
She’s actually a fairy who turns herself into a mouse at night and creeps up into the evil king’s bed. While he sleeps she bites one ear. He turns over and she bites the other. He screams in pain and calls everyone in the castle to search for the mouse. In the meantime the “good little mouse” goes to the room of the equally evil prince and does the same thing to him. Then back to the once-again-sleeping king to bite his nose. There is more screaming and mouse searching while the “good little mouse” is nibbling on the princely nose. When everyone is called to the princely chamber to search for her, she goes back to the king and into his mouth where she chews on his tongue, cheeks and lips. Then of course, she does the same to the Prince.
The “good little mouse” in this story causes a lot of havoc in the bed, but she doesn’t take any teeth and she doesn’t leave any money. Well, one time she did cause the king to lose four teeth when she pushed him out of a tree. But she wasn’t in mouse form – she was invisible at the time.
In any case, La Petite Souris is apparently in much better humour these days and of course, since the French children are all good and well-behaved, she wouldn’t do any of these awful things to them. But still, I much prefer the thought of that delicate little pink fairy flitting around my room and reaching under my pillow to the idea of a little mouse running around in my bed… No matter how nice they say she is.
I’ll be sure to take care of my teeth while I’m in France! Now where’s that floss?
*La Bonne Petite Souris by Madame d’Aulnoy 1697-1698 (in French)
*Get the book – To find out about more holidays and traditions celebrated in France, get my book, French Holidays & Traditions.
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You might prefer my reimagined version of the Tooth Mouse story! http://www.susanhoodbooks.com/node/4
Hi Susan, it looks like a very entertaining children’s book. Congratulations!
Even re-imagined, I still prefer the tooth fairy to Le Petit Souris. Luckily for Australian children we follow the English tradition too! I wonder how old the English Tradition is; as the French tradition is less than 400 years old. Paula
Me too Paula. Mice have a rather negative image – but then, we all love Mickey and Minnie, don’t we? Interestingly, the Tooth Fairy is much younger than the tooth mouse and apparently she is American! At least that’s what this “Tooth Fairy expert” says: http://www.salon.com/2014/02/09/dont_tell_the_kids_the_real_history_of_the_tooth_fairy/
I love learning stuff like this. Thanks for another great post.
Thanks for the comment. I really enjoy your writings about France as well at: http://365thingsiloveaboutfrance.com/
All the best! -Margo
This is great! I always wondered about the background of la petite souris when I first heard about it being the equivalent of the American tooth fairy. And I quite agree, I’m glad I lost my baby teeth stateside as well.
Hi Quiche Lauren. Thanks for the comment. I think there are many things that France does better than the US… But tooth fairies isn’t one of them. 🙂
Having 2 kids still just about in the tooth-losing phase of their lives the tooth mouse has been a regular visitor to our house but I had no idea just how nasty she was! I didn’t know the origins of la petite souris, and I’m certainly glad my kids don’t either! Thanks so much for linking up with #AllAboutFrance Margo, this is a perfect post for it.
Thanks Phoebe. It was a great idea to get all the french bloggers together.
I love finding out the origins of traditions…great article! Visiting from #AllAboutFrance!
I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thank you for stopping by. 🙂
We still stick to the tooth fairy, I tell our children that there are both fairies and mice to share the workload, that way they don’t get confused when their friends at school talk about the mice. Personally I hate mice!!!
Good idea to use both traditions! I guess La Petite Souris looks more like Minnie Mouse than a real mouse so it’s not too bad, but mice in the bed… it’s just not for me. 😉 Thanks for stopping by.
Our boys got rather confused between the Tooth Mouse here in France and the Tooth Fairy back in the UK. They sort of accepted it was differet things for different countries but then one boy lost a tooth on an overnight ferry …. so we had to invest the Tooth Dolphin! #AllAbout France
Oh, that’s so funny – and a very clever idea. Sometimes you just have to adapt. 😉
That’s fascinating – it never came up on my French exchange but I will be sharing it with my primary school French club! Hurrah for the tooth dolphin too Rosie!
Hi Menai, I’m sure it will be interesting to hear what children have to say about the Little Mouse. 😉 Thanks for stopping by.
All the best -Margo
I know this is years old but still… here in Latin America (and also in Spain) we also have the “Ratón de los Dientes” or “Ratón Pérez”, which is also a mouse. He (as is traditionally male) comes from a late 1800s spanish story and actually have some kind of logic. It was said that if an animal was to found a baby teeth, the child who lost it will have tooth similar to that of the animal who found it. The mouse took the teeth as he has strong teeth and the child will have them too
Hello, Thank you for giving us another view about the tooth mouse. It’s interesting how these traditions are similar but with slight differences. Thank you for reading and commenting. All the best -Margo