No.107 Winnie's Amazing Pumpkin

Winnie the Witch ate lots of vegetables. She liked broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and parsnips. She really liked peas, carrots, beans, potatoes and spinach. But she loved pumpkin. She loved pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin scones with pumpkin seeds on top. But most of all, she loved roast pumpkin. Wilbur, her big black cat, liked pumpkin soup if it had lots of cream stirred in. Every Saturday morning Winnie would jump onto her broomstick, Wilbur would jump onto her shoulder and they would zoom off to the farmers' market to buy their vegetables. That was easy. But it wasn't so easy coming home. It is hard to balance on a broomstick with a cat, pumpkins, and lots of other vegetables. Oopps! Brussels sprouts and tomatoes rained down on the market. Splat! Squelch! Blithering broomstick! shouted Winnie. And then she had a good idea. I'll grow my own vegetables, she said. So Winnie dug a big vegetable patch in her garden. Wilbur helped. She planted lots and lots of vegetables. She watered the plants and pulled up the weeds. Wilbur helped. But the plants grew very slowly. And, when they did grow, the caterpillars and snails and rabbits ate them. Oh dear, said Winnie, gardening is hard work. I'll try a spell to help my garden grow. She waved her magic wand, shouted Abracadabra! and nothing happened. Bother! Said Winnie, that didn't work. I'll go and look in my big book of spells. Winnie went inside just a minute too soon. Outside, the spell began to work. Inside, it was very dark. Winnie tripped over Wilbur. I'm sorry Wilbur, said Winnie, I didn't see you. It's so dark, there must be a storm on the way. She looked out of the window. It wasn't a storm. It was Winnie's garden. The vegetables were growing so fast they covered all the windows. I'd better go out and stop the spell, Winnie said. But the door wouldn't open. An enormous cabbage was in the way. Winnie rushed upstairs, climbed out of the bathroom window, and slid down a giant beanstalk. Wilbur climbed down behind her. This is fun, he thought, until he met a giant caterpillar. Everything in Winnie's garden was enormous, gigantic, stupendous! A beanstalk was growing up into the clouds. The cabbages were as big as cows. The rabbits were bigger than cows. An immense pumpkin vine was curling around Winnie's house. And there, on the roof was a huge pumpkin. Oh no, shouted Winnie. The pumpkin will squash my house! She waved her magic wand, but just as she shouted... Crash! The gigantic pumpkin crashed to the ground. Winnie's enormous stupendous garden shrank back to the way it was before. But the pumpkin that had broken off the vine was still a massive, monstrous, amazing pumpkin. Winnie chopped a doorway into the pumpkin. She made pumpkin pies, pumpkin scones, pumpkin soup with cream for Wilbur and an enormous dish of roast pumpkin. But there was still lots of pumpkin left. So she put a notice on the gate: free pumpkin. Help yourself. People came with bowls and baskets and even wheelbarrows. And soon the pumpkin shell was empty. What shall I do with the pumpkin shell? wondered Winnie. It would make a good house, but I already have a house. One of my friends once changed a pumpkin into a coach. But that wad for a special occasion. And the horses might be a problem. Then Winnie had a wonderful idea. Yes , she said, that's exactly what it looks like. She said, of course. She waved her magic wand, stamped her foot shouldered, Abracadabra! And there, in Winnie's garden, was a bright orange helicopter. So now, when Winnie and Wilbur go to the market, Winnie can buy as many pumpkins as she likes. Snd flying home in a helicopter is lots of fun!