Oh Sure, I Could Start a Necklace, But It'll Take Years To Finish

Yesterday morning, the Princess came out of the bathroom announcing loudly that her tooth was really loose. As I've been hearing about her tooth being loose for about two months now, I showed polite interest to keep her happy but expected the same, not-moving tooth I'd been looking at so far. The she opened her little mouth and pushed her tooth with her tongue, and sure enough, the tooth gave.

We've already bought into the whole tooth fairy thing (I don't know where she got it, but she believes it), so now I have a conundrum to face, that being the exchange rate on a tooth. When I was a kid, I think I may have pulled down a quarter for each one. She may very well be satisfied with that, but it seems a bit stingy for some reason. Inflation and all.

I tried to get more information, but to no avail. Instead I got a creepy history of the fable's origins. One day I'm going to learn not to look this stuff up. The highlights were the feeding of baby teeth to rats and mice for two reasons - to keep them from witches (obviously) and because the adult teeth would grow in like those of the animal that ate them (I guess they were shooting for yellow and pointy - I would've gone with a shark, but whatever). Anyway, apparently in France they got themselves a tooth mouse, and at some point someone wrote a story about a fairy turned into a mouse that involved teeth somehow and...well, eventually we get a tooth fairy. Once in a while, it boggles my mind that all of this stuff we do mostly stems from weird superstition. At the same time, my mind is boggled by cheese food in a spray can, so maybe that's not saying much.

Either way, I was left without a definitive source as to the proper amount of cash to slip under a pillow. I've always enjoyed the elegance of a coin, so I'm thinking maybe a dollar coin will fit the bill. I'll naturally have to confer with my lovely wife to determine the final course of action (or leave it up to her, thus washing my hands of the responsibility). Of course this does nothing to solve the other problem.

What the &#%$ am I supposed to do with the tooth I'm about to buy?