Once upon a time, many harvest moons ago, there existed a village named Harrow on the river Mongooney. Its residents were hard working farmers who resided in snug, little cottages.

A few men owned stores and the town had one blacksmith. Harrow’s richest family, the Jujubees, owned most of the land and made its fortune renting it out to the farmers.

Grampy Jack Jujubee not only ran his family but everything else within Doodle County. He made the laws, served as the judge, handed out punishments and was meaner than a junk yard dog. He made the farmers work 16 hours a day and forced the wives to bake pies and bread which he then sold to nearby villages. Grampy Jack also put the children to work, making them cut his grass, trim his shrubs, wash the 500 windows of his mansion and pick stones from the dirt streets of Harrow.

Grampy, and for that matter all the Jujubees, never smiled. Despite being wealthy, living on a fine estate, and having everything money could buy, they never smiled. The whole family was downright mean.

While their lives were miserable, the villagers at least had Halloween to look forward to every year. That was the one occasion when Grampy Jack gave the people goodies free of charge. He paid for the food and drink and candy and even allowed the people a day off from work. Eight year old Tiffany and her friends couldn’t wait for the day when they could play fun tricks on each other and dress up in colorful outfits.

The winner of the costume contest didn’t have to work for a week. However, Grampy Jujubee made it clear that if anyone played a trick on him or a family member there would be no Halloween.

That particular Halloween Eve the unthinkable happened. First, someone soaped all the windows on the mansion. Secondly, someone else placed in front of Grampy’s store a pumpkin with a huge frown and two little beady eyes carved on it.

That did it! Just before the fun was to begin, the old man gathered the town folk together and announced that there would be no Halloween this year or forever!

Tiffany and her friends were heartbroken. Before they left the town square to return home, they noticed the Jujubees smashing the pumpkin into a hundred pieces.

That night, while everyone slept, a strange purple-pink light emerged from the sky and focused like a flashlight on the broken pumpkin. Slowly, the pieces began to come together until there, standing in the middle of the square, was a huge person with a pumpkin face. PUMPKIN MAN!

In a flash, he ran toward the Jujubee mansion, making loud, screeching sounds which woke up Tiffany and the whole village. Pumpkin Man ran right through the door, up the stairs and into Grampy Jujubee’s room.

He grabbed the old man and dragged him outdoors. Grampy’s eyes were bugging right out of his mean head.

“Hear ye, hear ye,” shouted Pumpkin Man. “Grampy Jack Jujubee does not have the right to cancel Halloween. No one does!” He then turned toward the Jujubees and continued – “You do not deserve to be rich. You are mean, selfish people. From now on you will work with and live like everyone else. As for you, Grampy – since you have spent your whole life making people miserable, you will spend eternity making up for what you did.” Then, with a wave of his arm, he changed Grampy Jack into a smiley-faced pumpkin. Tiffany and her friends began to jump for joy.

“Meet Jack O’Lantern, my friends,” yelled Pumpkin Man. “To make sure that there will always be a Halloween and to remind you all of how important it is to be nice to other people, like your Tiffany always is, put a Jack O’Lantern in your window every year one week before Halloween Eve. The year you forget to do so will be the last one for Halloween. And Grampy Jack Jujubee will return to make your lives miserable once again.” With that, Pumpkin Man disappeared in a cloud of red-yellow dust.

Today, when you go trick or treating and show off your colorful outfits and collect a ton of candy, make sure you wave to each Jack O’Lantern you see. And like Tiffany, remember to be nice to others every day of your life. If you never forget why Jack O’Lanterns appear in windows, then you’ll always enjoy the happiness that Halloween brings.

Ray Lenarcic is a 1965 State University of New York at Fredonia graduate and is a resident of Herkimer.