This is a short story about a little pumpkin who was very afraid of the dark.

You can find the original story on this site:

https://authorshcooper.com/2018/09/24/the-tiny-pumpkin-a-childrens-story/

It had been a long day, but a good day. The churchyard had been filled with kids and their parents and so many pumpkins!

There had been hayrides and face painting and even jack o’lantern carvings. Now the sun was starting to go down and it was time for the families to go home. One by one, the grinning pumpkins were carried away by their humans, until everyone had gone.

Everyone, that is, except the tiny pumpkin who had been given two big, triangle eyes and a wide smile.

She’d been so happy when a little girl had picked her from the patch. Surely this was going to be her family! The little girl had held her in her lap all day, and the tiny pumpkin had liked her very much.

Hoo

But then the little girl had gotten sleepy and her dad put the tiny pumpkin on the ground and they’d left the churchyard. The tiny pumpkin waited and waited for them to come back. How silly of them to have forgotten her!

The gate at the front of the churchyard creaked shut. A shiver went up the tiny pumpkin’s stem, but she said, “My family will come back for me. I must be brave and wait.”

“Hoo,” replied the owl from a branch overhead. 

It was big and had round, yellow eyes that were watching the tiny pumpkin.

The tiny pumpkin shivered again.

She didn’t like the nighttime. It was scary to be by herself! Where was her family? Why had all the other pumpkins been picked, but not her? She squeezed her eyes shut and began to cry a tiny cry.

“What’s wrong, tiny pumpkin?” Someone asked.

She jumped as only a surprised pumpkin can and opened her eyes. A ghost was floating in front of her. He was white as a sheet and she could see through him.

“I’m scared of the dark,” she said. “And everyone has left me!”

“Have they?” The ghost asked. He looked surprised.

“Yes,” she said. “I’m all alone!”

“You don’t seem alone to me, tiny pumpkin! The shadows have come to keep you company. Don’t you see them?”

“Yes,” the tiny pumpkin replied slowly.

“And the wind is whistling for you. Don’t you hear it?” The ghost cupped a hand around his ear.