Wilber, The Littlest Pumpkin
Wilber, The Littlest Pumpkin
(Without Illustrations)
Wilber lived in a large pumpkin patch on Farmer Jones’ farm. He had five brothers and sisters, all growing on the same vine. Every day Farmer Jones went to the patch with his hoe, and carefully took all the weeds away so the pumpkins would grow big and strong. After he got rid of all the weeds he would water the pumpkins.
Wilber was the littlest pumpkin in the patch because he was the last pumpkin on the vine. He tried everything he could think of to grow big like his brothers and sisters, but nothing he tried seemed to work. His brothers and sisters drank almost all the water before it got to him.
As Halloween approached all the pumpkins in the patch began to worry. They all wanted to be chosen to be some child’s Jack-O-Lantern. They knew that if they were not chosen they would be sent to the large bakery in the city and be made into pumpkin pies. That was about the worst thing that could happen to a pumpkin.
Every October, Farmer Jones opened his pumpkin patch to the children so they could pick their pumpkins for Jack-o-lanterns. That morning every pumpkin in the patch tried to look his best as they waited for the children. Wilber tried to puff himself up so he would look bigger, but it was no use. Every pumpkin in the patch knew he was the littlest pumpkin of all. They whispered behind Wilber’s back that he would never be chosen to be a Jack-o-lantern.
At ten o’clock that morning Farmer Jones opened the gate to his farm and a group of children rushed in. At first there were only a few dozen children, but by noon there were hundreds of children with their parents walking slowly up and down the rows of pumpkins searching for their perfect Jack-o-lantern.
Child, after child passed Wilber without even giving him a second look. Wilber was wishing, “Pick me!” “Pick me!” “Oh, pleeeease, pick me!” But none of the children picked Wilber to be their Jack-o-lantern. One little boy bent down and was going to pick Wilber when his mother said, “Billy, not that one, it is too little, let’s find a nice big fat one.”
By three o’clock that afternoon all Wilber’s brothers and sisters had been chosen by children to be their Jack-o-lanterns, but little Wilber was still there on the vine, alone and feeling so sad! Oh, how he wished he were bigger so he could be a Jack-o-lantern too.
Deep in his heart Wilber knew he could be a great Jack-o-lantern. Even though he was little he knew he could be real scary if he tried. Or he could be a happy Jack-o-lantern. Or he could even be a cute Jack-o-lantern. Wilber knew that being a good Jack-o-lantern depended more on ones’ attitude than ones’ size.
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