Lindley E Butler - The Pumpkin Man: Origins of a Halloween Tradition

Once upon a time there was a very small village at the edge of a deep dark forest. The people of this village were all hard workers, tilling their fields, building their homes, and raising vegetables in their well-tended gardens. They had cows and horses, chickens and ducks, a few pigs, and a goat or two. Oh, and they also raised children to help them with all the chores that came with home, garden, and their many animals.

One fine day in the Spring of the year, a stranger came into the village. He was a frumpy looking man with a tattered coat, worn-out shoes, and an old hat that sat on his head like a lopsided cake. But he had a friendly smile and a twinkle in his eye. He also played different musical instruments which he would pull out of his coat pockets, or out of the big brown bag he carried with him wherever he went.

Each day the stranger would pick an open street corner, or a place in the village green where he would sit and play his musical pipe or tap on a small, but very loud drum. Sometimes he would sing as he played. The sound of his music would always draw a crowd, especially the children. They would come and sit and listen to him play and sing, then he would tell them a story of some kind.

There were stories about the forest animals, like foxes and rabbits, deer and bears, hawks and doves and eagles. And there were stories about other darker, more mysterious creatures, like goblins and banshees and werewolves, that only came out at night. The children loved all these stories, but some of the parents werent so sure about the scarier ones.

The children loved to gather around the stranger whenever they could. Each day when they heard him play his music, they would stop whatever they were doing and run to listen to him sing and tell his stories. Well, this went on for several days and the parents started to notice the children were leaving their chores undone in order to go hear this musical stranger. They were none too pleased. They talked and complained to each other, Who is this strange man? Are your children going to hear him? Why is he here?

Now the stranger wasnt always just sitting about playing music. When he wasnt in the village he would be out at the edge of the forest where he had built a little hut for himself. There he would sleep at night and prepare his meals, along with the bread he bought in the village. The children began to visit him and bring him milk and butter and eggs from time to time. But what he really liked to eat were vegetables, especially fresh out of a garden. He wanted a garden where he could grow his own vegetables, including his favorite, pumpkins. So one sunny Spring day, the stranger asked the children to help him plant a small garden. Some of the older ones dug up the earth, others hoed and raked the soil smooth. Then the stranger showed them how to make rows and mounds for different seeds. There were little mounds for corn and beans and squash, and rows for lettuce, radishes and carrots. And at the end of the garden they planted several rows of pumpkins. The stranger said, You just never know when you might need an extra pumpkin or two, they have so many uses."

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Then he said, Thank you, children, each and every one of you, for all your hard work. By working together, we dug and planted this whole garden in just one day. Now its time for you to head home to your mothers and fathers and help them with the evening chores. The children returned home from the little hut by the edge of the deep dark forest and the garden they had just helped to plant. And as they walked, they talked among themselves: We did a lot of work today, said one boy. But it didnt feel like work at all, said another. "How fast the time went! He wasnt mean or loud when he showed us what to do. And then one little girl said, I wish my parents were more kind.

As the weeks went by, the parents were not pleased. They frowned when they heard the music. They grumped when the children dropped their rakes or brooms and put aside their chores to run and see the musical stranger. When the parents shouted and ordered the children back to the house and their chores, the children just laughed and ran away. This angered the parents and they would go look for their children. They would follow the music and the laughter and find them gathered around the knee of the stranger. Whatever shall we do? This has got to stop! they would mutter out loud or complain to one another.

Spring turned into Summer. The days grew longer, and the children had more time to play outdoors and spend more time with the stranger. There were times when they would follow him down to his little hut by the woods, where they would play and work in the garden. They would dig up weeds and admire all the new plants that had popped up! They were especially pleased with the pumpkin plants. They had big, green leaves and long curly vines by now, with big yellow flower blossoms or tiny green pumpkins, just beginning to show.

The stranger would also teach them how to make their own whistles out of a willow stick, or a drum from an old log, so they could play music along with him. Other days they would make dolls and puppets out of old bits of cloth or flowers and put on plays for each other. Some stitched together old pieces of leather and stuffed them with grass. This made a ball to catch and kick. Then the children would make up games with the ball.

What fun they had all summer long, gathering on the village green or playing down by the strangers hut and garden. They even made up a name for their musical friend, The Pumpkin Man, for he had become a friend to them all.

One day late in summer the parents had enough, and they came to the corner of the village green where the children were gathered around the Pumpkin Man. You there, they called out, What do you think youre doing?

Why, Im playing music for the children, telling stories, and teaching them new games to play, he said.

Youre distracting our children, and theyre not doing their chores like theyre supposed to," complained the parents.