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Nellie's Pumpkin

Nellie Brown bent over and picked up the little pumpkin. She wondered why it was sitting all alone by itself in the field. She carried it over to her husband who was loading pumpkins on the wagon.

"Why aren't you taking this pumpkin?" she asked.
Her husband, Ely, turned and said, "It's too small. Nobody would want such a little pumpkin. You can feed that one to the pigs."

Ely hitched his old plow horse up to the wagon and started for the village. Every year before Halloween, he would take their pumpkins to the village and sell them to the people for the Harvest Feast. They always had the biggest and sweetest pumpkins around.

Nellie watched the wagon disappear down the dirt road. She carried the pumpkin over to the pigpen. The hungry pigs grunted noisily when she started to throw it in...but she stopped.

She looked at the little pumpkin and said, "Just because you're small doesn't mean you should be food for the pigs."

Nellie tucked the pumpkin under her arm and took it into their cottage. She set it on the wooden table and went to do her chores. She fed the chickens and the pigs. As she sat milking the cow, she wondered what she could do with that pumpkin. Maybe she could make a pie with it. No, it's too small. Besides she had already made two pumpkin pies. What if she made some bread out of it? No, she'd already baked some bread too. What if she made a flower pot out of it? No, it would only get rotten and smell. She realized there were not very many things she could do with such a little pumpkin.

When she brought her pail of milk into the cottage, she looked at the pumpkin again.
"I know,' she said out loud, "I'll give it to one of the neighbors." Then she shook her head, "No, what would they do with such a little pumpkin? Probably feed it to their pigs too."

Picking up the pumpkin she said, "I guess there's nothing I can do with you." Walking back to the pigpen she started to throw it in...but she stopped again.

"It would be such a waste to throw this pretty little pumpkin away," she said as she carried it back into the cottage. " I will think of something."

Nellie picked up her broom and started to sweep the cottage, but she kept looking at that little pumpkin. Finally, she walked over and sat down at the table next to it.

"I know what I can do. I'll give you a face," she said. "You can be company for me while my husband is gone to the village."

Taking a sharp knife, she cut off the top using the stem for a handle. She scraped out the sticky seeds with

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