A crocodile without teeth

Many children in Haarlem know a rhyme about a crocodile.

It goes like this:

Under the bridge of the Spaarne

there lay a crocodile

I wanted to go sailing

when it bit my bottom

Ouch ouch ouch

My whole bottom was blue

In Haarlem, there once lived a crocodile, in the Spaarne. The residents of the city didn't mind, because then their children at least stayed away from the river. Most people couldn't swim very well, so if you fell into the water, you drowned. Parents endlessly repeated the rhyme, so their children became afraid of the biting crocodile.

Of course, things sometimes went wrong. A child would fall into the water and would quickly be devoured by the large animal with sharp teeth. Sometimes you could still hear it burp after a hearty child. But as the years went by, that happened less and less.

The residents of the city wondered what had happened to the crocodile. A brave biologist set out to investigate with a small boat. Under one of the bridges, he found an old, pitiful little crocodile. ‘Say crocodile, what’s wrong with you?’ asked the biologist. The crocodile didn’t answer but opened its mouth. Then the biologist saw what was wrong. The crocodile's teeth had fallen out. That’s why it no longer bit children!

‘Don’t worry, crocodile, I’m going to help you,’ said the biologist. ‘Say aaah?’ The crocodile opened its mouth as wide as possible, and the biologist took a measuring tape. He had a nice set of dentures made for the crocodile. Unfortunately, crocodile teeth were not available, but still, the crocodile was happy. It could bite children in their bottoms again, but it no longer ate them. Since then, Haarlem has been a lot safer.

Haarlem Marketing