The Father of Teeth

Text for today: Enamel xcvii-ciii

Nevertheless, the Father of Teeth condescended to be present at the dispensing of the sacred sugar, which occurred with the accompaniment of much piping and choral importuning, at the base of a great flat-topped pyramid like a huge mutant molar. Priests in splendid feathered cloaks handed out the sugar in large brown lumps like crystallised mud, and instructed the children to suck on them slowly as they ascended the sacred staircase towards the top of the pyramid, where the high priest was waiting to present them to the gods. The Father of Teeth stood by and bared his benighted gums, but the children knew only that without their intervention the sun would not rise on the morrow, and they proceeded solemnly up the stairs to where the high priest waited with his fatherly obsidian. "After all," said the Father of Teeth, "what could be more cruel than to let children know that the sun will rise with or without them, and will shine or be extinguished whether they live or die?" And the priests continued to hand out the sacred sugar, and flourish their pretty feathers before the children's eyes.