A Tale of Three Pumpkins

Once upon a time, there was an artist who had three children. On Halloween, he asked them each (as he did each Halloween) to design a jack-o-lantern for the holiday. 

The youngest child chose a small pumpkin and said that he wanted a happy pumpkin. One that would bring joy and light to those who saw it. "And let it have square eyes and a square nose and a smiley mouth." The artist wrote all this down and carved the pumpkin.

The next child said that she wanted a monster pumpkin. She chose the biggest pumpkin she could find to make it. She wanted teeth and a triangle nose and a big smile (to show it was a nice monster).  The artist asked her how many eyes she wanted it to have, one, two or three? Her immediate response brought a smile to his face as she declared "Two and three eyes!" And so the artist labored to create the five-eyed friendly monster pumpkin.

The oldest child was special. At eight years old, the artist said he wanted to teach her how to carve her own pumpkin. This made her nervous but the artist assured her he would be there to help her. He waited as she did many other things but she did not bring him a design for her pumpkin. Alas, the emptied gourd lay on his workbench, waiting for a face.

Yet in the end the artist was happy. His eldest might not have a lantern but hoped to do it for the next day. An All Saints Day lantern he had never carved. This would truly be a new experience.