'TOOTHBREAKER
Known by children throughout Great Britain as a Tooth Fairy, the Toothbreaker is widely considered to be a benevolent creature. I have personally recorded dozens of accounts from those who claim to have caught a glimpse (though never, I stress, a full sighting) of one of them. Children who have lost on of their "baby" teeth will place the discarded item beneath their pillow at bedtime, and during the night a Tooth Fairy will take the tooth away and leave a coin as payment, pleasing child and parent alike.
And yet there are darker stories of this species, including the Scottish Bloodygums, the Milk Imp of the Isle of Man, and a specific creature named Jilly Rot-Tooth, whose reputation abounds in Pontypool, Wales. Stories of Toothbreakers are to be found throughout Great Britain, old tales of creatures who will steal children, tear out their teeth, and eat those teeth for their sustenance.
While I have no doubt that there is a reason for the preponderance of accounts of benevolent Tooth Fairies—they far outnumber and seem far more recent than stories of vicious Toothreakers—it seems likely that these are either two related species or one and the same, but with different behavioural patterns. Certainly the remains I acquired in Redditch from Mr. Twitchell are those of a creature built for savagery, and there is no doubt that it chews and digests human teeth for its food.
Until I can discover the true nature of these creatures—who seem as though they might be the most number of the still-existing fairy species—I must recommend avoiding them at all costs. A tooth places beneath a child's pillow can be nothing less than an invitation to mutilation or murder.'
(Catalogue Part One: Fairies of Ireland and Great Britain: Toothbreakers)
I don't have much to say, other than this is phenomenal and you should definitely get yourself a copy if you're fond of violent fairytales and twisted, linear illustrations.
It's surprising my copy doesn't have drool on it.
*also the director of the film.
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