Hessy was seven years old and had not lost any tooth yet. His mother said it was because he was special and had beautiful teeth. However, Hessy had one extra tooth on his lower jaw. This made his incisors five. No one else had an extra tooth in his family. So he usually bugged his father to remove that tooth.
“Why don’t you like this tooth, Hessy?” His father asked him one day.
“They always make fun of me when we’re playing.” Hessy looked at his father with teary eyes.
His father took him and sat him on his lap.
“But you know you were born like that. We can’t remove what God has given you.”
“But why did He give me something I did not inherit from you or mom or grandparents?”
Seeing that his son was emotional he embraced him.
“Oh, my son! I should have told you that I used to have that tooth too.”
“Really, Dad?” Hessy’s eyes glowed with excitement and hope. “So how did you get rid of it?”
His father sighed. He had thought that Hessy would be relieved that he too once had the tooth.
“I didn’t get rid of it. There came a time when the other teeth pushed until it got out. When that time comes, you take the tooth and throw it on the roof. When you throw the tooth, you have to tell the lizard on the roof to take its ugly tooth and never return it. That way, the tooth will never grow again.”
Hessy seemed satisfied and never talked about the tooth again
One day his tooth started feeling loose. Hessy was very happy. He started practising the song of the lizard every day. However, many days passed and the tooth still hanged on in his mouth. His father told him many times to leave it alone, but Hessy would keep pestering the tooth until he bled. Then he would be smouldered by his mother, who made him promise never to pester the tooth again.
One day, while playing with his friends, Hessy accidentally collided with his friend and they both fell. When he stood up, he felt a rusty taste in his mouth and spat the blood.
“Look, Hessy’s tooth is out.” One of the friends cried happily.
But the tooth was nowhere to be found. The games stopped and everybody started looking for Hessy’s tooth. He was determined not to go home until he found the tooth. The search extended to dusk. His friends were being called to go home one by one. When he was left all alone to continue the search; he began to cry. His father called him to come home, but he didn’t answer. He wanted his tooth. His father came to get him and found him fighting hysteric hiccups.
“What is wrong Hessy? What happened?” His father asked him.
Hessy sat down and started crying again.
“I… I have…l…lost…my tooth.” He said in between the cries.
His father raised him from the ground and hugged him tightly.
“It is okay son. Don’t cry.” He patted him softly.
Hessy tried to calm down in his father’s embrace.
“What is going to happen to my teeth now, Dad?” He asked in a faint voice.
“It is lost now. Even the lizard will not find it. So it will not grow back because lizard doesn’t know that it is lost. Does that make you happy?”
Hessy nodded happily and hugged his father tightly.
The End
Halieo Motanyane is a Mosotho girl born and raised in the mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. She’s a writer by passion and a filmmaker by profession. She is an independent video editor and screenwriter. She spends most free time reading and writing stories, both in Sesotho and English.
Hessy and the Lost Tooth emerged as the 2nd runner up in the 2020 Wakini Kuria Prize for Children’s Literature
Click to read Scared Little Boy – 1st place winner
Click to Read – Sophie What Do You Say? – 1st Runner up
