Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The Little Pumpkin's Dilemma

There was a Little Pumpkin that didn't get to be a Jack-O-Lantern. In disappointment the Little Pumpkin lay in the garden until the frost covered its leaves which had all turned brown. Looking around it could see the snails and slugs getting ready to crawl all over it.

In fear it trembled all night. Through most of November the days got shorter and the nights in which it trembled got longer. The rain came and washed its little orange skin and made it shine during the day. But, at night the frost came and turned the water into glistening ice crystals that shimmered and sparkled in the full moon light.

Then one day the Mistress of the house came out into the garden to clean up the dying leaves for the summer garden. As she lifted a large brown leaf she discovered the Little Pumpkin. "I guess you were hidden and because you were so small we didn't even notice you were under this big leaf."

The Little Pumpkin thought it was marvelous that it was finally discovered. But, Halloween was long over and there was no chance for it to be a Jack-O-Lantern. What would the mistress do with it?

The Little Pumpkin felt the warm hands of the Mistress pick it up and cut its dried stem off the leaf stalk. She tucked it into a basket then it felt the warm air of the house as she brought it into the kitchen.

She washed its little face, put it on the cutting board and brought out a big cleaver. "OH!" thought the Little Pumpkin. "What is she going to do with that!?" It remembered in the summer as it was hiding under that leaf that the bad little children of the neighborhood coming with sticks and rocks had chopped up the squash, watermelons and big pumpkins with glee leaving them for the dreaded snails and slugs to devour.

As the Mistress lifted the cleaver the Little Pumpkin trembled and with one blow it was in two pieces. The Mistress scooped out eh seeds inside. The Little pumpkin was glad because it saw her wash them off and put them on a paper towel to dry to be planted next year inn the vegetable garden. "At least they will grow next year and make new pumpkins." The Little Pumpkin sighed.

Next the Mistress put both halves on a cookie sheet and put them in a hot oven. It was much nicer in the oven than it was in the freezing outside so the Little Pumpkin just went to sleep. In about an hour the Mistress came, took the Little Pumpkin out of the oven and spooned out the soft insides into a bowel.
She poured fresh milk and broke nice big eggs from the chickens that had kept all the bugs off the Little Pumpkin all summer.

The sugar was amazingly sweet and felt like soft rain on the Little Pumpkin's pulp. It was contented that it was going to be something, but what? Certainly this was not the way to be a Jack-O-Lantern! Where was its shell? where were the nice big holes that made up a face? Where was the candle to light up the inside? This didn't feel right! The Little Pumpkin was really worried now. Maybe she was going to feed it to the chickens! "Oh no." it thought. "They wouldn't eat their own eggs." Then what was the Mistress doing?

Next came the smell of something so sweet and strange that the Little Pumpkin swooned at the smell. "What was that brown powder she was putting on me? It is heavenly." thought the Little Pumpkin.

In a moment the Mistress was mixing up all the ingredients and pouring it into several little pans with crust in them. She put the pans on a cookie sheet just like she had done to the Little Pumpkin and put them in the oven.

The heat was lovely and the smell of that brown powder was amazing. The Little pumpkin just closed its eyes, drew in a big breath of the smells, and fell asleep in the warm oven.

An hour later the Mistress came back and opened the oven. There were eager little faces looking into the oven. The children had come to see what she had made out of the pumpkin. The Little Pumpkin just cracked a big smile on the top and was so happy to see the nice children.

Now it knew why it had been left out of the Jack-o-lanterns at Halloween. Joy filled its little heart as it sat on the banquet table in the warmth of the dining room next to the big turkey. At last it had found what it was so posed to be! Pumpkin Pie! It had become the Pumpkin Pie for Thanksgiving dinner!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!