One sunny day, the gruff wizard was enjoying a walk with his dog, Mr T Rex, by the lake when he felt a tingling in his stomach, which meant that someone was summoning him.

  It was Cleocatra, the Queen of Egypt.

  There was no time to go home and get his magic rug so with a sprinkle of special magic ingredients, he and Mr T Rex disappeared in a flash of smoke and reappeared in the throne room of Queen Cleocatra’s palace.

  Woof, barked Mr T Rex. He ran up to the Queen who scratched his ears fondly.

  The gruff wizard bowed solemnly and asked the Queen, “Why have you summoned me?”

  “It is because of Iggy,” the Queen replied. Iggy was her pet crocodile.

  So the wizard went to the River Nile where Iggy lived, to have a look.

  Sure enough, Iggy, who normally has the biggest smile of all the crocodiles, was not smiling.

  He lay at the edge of the River Nile with a very grumpy scowl.

  “I give him chocolates, he loves chocolates, and he does not smile,” said the Queen. “I give him his fluffy teddy bear and he does not smile. The people have come to see the crocodile with the biggest smile and he is not smiling!”

  “Maybe a clown will cheer him up,” said the wizard. He tossed some special magic ingredients into the air, and said a few magic words.

  There was a bang and a whiz and a clown appeared.

  The clown had a big red nose and fuzzy green hair. He somersaulted and fell on his head.

  The wizard laughed, but the crocodile did not smile.

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  The clown juggled and a skittle fell on his head.

  The Queen laughed, but the crocodile did not smile.

  The clown told some jokes:

  “Why did the camel cross the road? Because he saw the zebra crossing! Why did the mother hen cross the road? Because her chicks were on the camel! What jam is not good to eat? Traffic jam!”

  The people laughed and clapped, but the crocodile did not smile.

  The clown told a funny story:

  “There were three little boys and when they were five years old, their mother took them to the magic playground so they could have a go on the magic slide.

  “They went up the ladder and the wizard of the magic slide told them that whatever they wished for would appear when they reached the bottom of the slide.

  “The first little boy went down the slide and said ‘Chocolate cake.’ And he landed on a giant chocolate cake.

  “The second little boy thought very hard and said, ‘Lemonade.’ And he landed with a splash in a big tub of lemonade.

  “The third little boy went down the slide and said, ‘Wheeeeeeeee!’”

  The crocodile did not laugh. He lost his temper and snapped at the clown. Snap, snap.

  The wizard did not know what to do, so he decided to summon his friend, the glamorous sorceress.

  The sorceress arrived on her magic rug and when she learned what the trouble was, she said that whenever she felt down, having a makeover would always cheer her up.

  She sent her magic rug off to fetch her hairstylist and makeup artist.

  When they arrived, she ordered them to give the grumpy crocodile a new look.

  The hairstylist made a beautiful wig for the crocodile and the makeup artist drew a beautiful lipstick smile onto the crocodile, but this made Iggy grumpier, and he snapped at the hairstylist and the makeup artist.

  “Oh dear,” said the sorceress. “That did not help. Let’s summon our friend, the grey witch.”

  The witch arrived on her broomstick.

  She looked at Iggy the crocodile, and asked him to open his mouth. The crocodile did so, and she saw at once what the trouble was.

  “The crocodile is not smiling because he has large holes in his teeth and he is in terrible pain,” said the witch. “You must have been feeding him too many chocolates and sweets and not brushing his teeth at all!”

  The Queen summoned the royal dentist, who cleaned and repaired the crocodile’s teeth.

  Then, because he no longer had a toothache, he smiled his biggest smile, and the people cheered. “Hip, hip, hooray!”

  “Now then,” the witch said to the Queen, “if you give chocolates and sweets to Iggy, you must remember to brush his teeth afterwards or he will have another toothache.”

  “Yes, I will,” said the Queen. And from that day onwards, the royal dentist cleaned the crocodile’s teeth every night.

  And Iggy, the River Nile crocodile, always smiled.