牙仙
关于tooth fairy的传说
牙仙是美国的一个民间传说
故事是说，5岁左右小孩子，开始要换第一颗牙了，掉的牙都要用手帕包好，睡觉前放到枕头下，在梦中牙仙就会到来，取走牙齿，放上零花钱。掉了乳牙的孩子醒了，好高兴啊？有了自己可以支配的钱了，换牙的痛苦和丑小鸭式的牙齿也不会关注了，也不会在乎别的小朋友对自己豁牙的讥笑了。小孩子喜欢牙仙，最起码减少了许多他们对牙齿脱落的恐惧啊？现实生活中的牙仙当然是妈妈啦，妈妈会把钱准备好，把牙齿收集起来等所有的乳牙都收集齐了。小孩子也快12岁了，这个时候，妈妈就真的变成牙仙了，也就在这个时候，孩子的牙齿也从丑小鸭式变成白天鹅样了，一个真的白天鹅来了。
残忍点的故事是说牙仙是魔鬼的化身，专门杀害掉乳牙的小孩子。唉！不说也吧。难怪至今还在妖魔化医生。其实哪一个医生不想医治好自己的病人呢？是市场经济还是社会的浮躁把本来的白衣天使变成了白狼，我不得而知。我相信自己还有身边的大多数同事还是天使，还是在凭良心和医德做事的。正如我相信牙仙是美好的一样。她不是恶魔。
给我介绍下 tooth fairy（牙齿小仙女）的故事？
Primitive peoples believe that hair， nail clippings， and lost teeth remain magically linked to the owner even after they have been disconnected from his body. As any voodoo artist will tell you， if you want to grind someone into powder， you don't need to touch him at all. It's quite enough to stamp on a missing molar and let "contagious magic" do the rest. This is why peoples all over the world traditionally hide lost body parts， lest they fall into the wrong hands.
远古时期的人们认为毛发、剪下的指甲和脱落的牙齿即使离开了人的身体，仍与其主人保持着神秘的联系。正如任何一个伏都教大师都会告诉你的，假如你想置某人于死地，根本用不着去碰他，只需用脚踩碎那人脱落的一颗臼齿就够了，剩下的事就交给“无边的法力”去办。这就是为什么全世界各个民族都习惯于把身体上脱落的东西藏起来，以免落入恶人之手。
American children's ritual of hiding lost teeth under their pillows probably derives distantly from this practice. But there is an obvious difference， for when Suzie conceals her baby milk-tooth， she fully expects it to be found， and by a good magician， not an evil one. Moreover， she expects to be paid for having surrendered it， and at the going rate. Nothing mare clearly suggests the blithe commercial gusto of our culture than this transformation of a fearful superstition into a cheery business transaction.
美国儿童把脱落的牙齿藏到枕头下的习惯做法很可能与这个习俗稍有联系。但两者又有明显的差别，因为当小苏珊把她的乳牙藏起来时，她其实满心希望有个善良的，而不是邪恶的巫师能发现她的牙齿。而且由于交出了牙齿，她还希望按现行价格得到报偿。我们把可怕的迷信变成了愉快的商业交易，没有什么比这更明白地表明我们文化中的令人愉快的商业热情。
Because American children expect fair exchange for their lost teeth， it is likely that the tooth fairy ritual derives more immediately from the European， and particularly German， tradition of placing a lost tooth in a mouse or a rat hole. The folk belief governing this practice is that when a new tooth grows in， it will possess the dental qualities， not of the original， lost tooth， but of whatever creature finds it， so the creatures of choice would be those world-class champers， the rodents.
因为美国孩子希望用他们脱落的牙齿作公平交易，所以牙齿仙女的习俗可能更直接渊源于欧洲风俗，尤其是德国风俗中把脱落的牙齿放在老鼠洞里的传统做法。这种习俗依据的民间观念认为，新牙长出来时不具有原先脱落的牙齿的特质，哪种动物发现了掉下来的牙，新牙就具有那种动物的牙的特质。因此，要选那些世界一流的擅长啃咬的动物，那些啮齿目动物。
Thus the optimistic， "fair exchange" principle most likely started in Germany and was brought here by German immigrants. It was only left to America to replace the beneficent “tooth rat” with the more agreeable fairy and to replace the traditional hope of hard molars with our more characteristic hope of hard cash.
因此，这种乐观的“公平交易”原则很可能发源于德国，并由德国移民带到了这里。美国人只是把好心的“牙齿老鼠”换成了更可亲的仙女，而传统上人们希望长出坚固的牙齿，到我们这儿却变成了希望拿到现金，这就更具有我们的特色。