For Pegasicorn



There have been many legends on how the Jack-O-Lantern became an iconic symbol for the Halloween season. Some believe the Legend of Stingy Jack, in which a ghostly figure roamed the land carrying a turnip with a burning coal. Others believe the Jack-O-Lantern helped lost souls find their way during All Hallow's Eve. As these stories added to the history of the Jack-O-Lantern, there is one that is not so well known, at least for the human world, but is a more familiar legend for the Forest dwellers.

The story goes that a long time ago a hunter named Jack lived deep in the wilderness, where he lived off the land. He was fortunate to have good soil to grow some crops, including pumpkins and gourds during the right season. He often heard wolves howling in the night, and would open his door to find them eating the crops he grew. Unnerved by this, the hunter would shoot at them and always miss, the wolves escaping while his crops lay destroyed.

One night, he ventured deep into the woods away from his house, and came across an ancient statue of a pagan idol much like those found in the Endless Forest. He was surprised to find it glowing a bright green light as he approached, and before he knew it he was on his knees groveling before the idol. That night he prayed the wolves would leave his crops alone or else suffer for destroying what was rightfully his.

The pagan idol ceased to glow immediately after the prayer was asked, and the man returned to his cottage and went to sleep. That night, he heard the howling of wolves, and running out the door, he was shocked at what he saw before him.

The wolves were certainly being punished for eating from the pumpkins, but not in the way the hunter had hoped for. Instead, the wolves were running around with the pumpkins stuck on their heads, howling as they could not find their sense of direction. The hunter admittedly began to laugh at the situation, but then a moment later felt sorry for the wolves' misfortune and decided to help them out. He approached with a knife and cut out eyeholes for them, even making goofy-looking noses and mouths so they could see better. He would discover that the wolves were actually missing their real heads - the pumpkins had become their actual heads this night! But the eyeholes helped them see, and they ran off into the night, a green glow emitting from within the hollow pumpkin heads they now wore.

The effect would always be reversed by the time the sun came up the next morning, and oddly enough, the happening would always occur on the same day at the very end of October. Wolves across the land would notice a strange pumpkin in the middle of the wilderness where they were, and they somehow could not resist approaching and biting it. Once bitten, the pumpkin would latch onto their head, making their real head vanish in the process. The wolves would then magically be given eyeholes and occasional nose and mouth holes, and would thus run through the wilderness, glowing green and continuing the tradition from Jack's prayer to the pagan idol. Not every wolf received the curse on Halloween night, but it is said that they experience it at least once in their lifetime.

This story is actually true, as it happened once to a resident of the Endless Forest. On Halloween Night, the Leowolf was unable to sleep and wandered off into the Birch Forest, trying to find somewhere nice and quiet to slow her restless mind. She passed by old stones and eventually slowed to a halt when she noticed something odd that didn't seem to belong. Right near the Blue Bowl was a pumpkin, growing alone by the large trees that surrounded the blue vegetation. The Leowolf looked around, hoping to find someone to ask if she was just imagining this strange thing being here, but the longer she stared at it, the hungrier she got. Slowly she approached the pumpkin, licking her lips, until she was right next to it. She tried to resist biting into it, as she was unsure if she'd even like the taste of pumpkin, but resisting was impossible, and the next moment she had bitten right into the side of the thing.

The Leowolf, now finding her appetite oddly appeased, began to back away when the pumpkin seemed to morph, turning into a liquid state where it began to latch onto her muzzle. She raised her eyebrow at this to begin with, thinking it was just an illusion at first, but when the oddly sticky pumpkin continued to grow along her head, she panicked and tried to run away from it. But it was too late - the pumpkin engulfed her head, glowing a bright green aura that made her real head vanish. She would struggle to get it off, but nothing seemed to work as she was blinded without eyeholes. Fortunately, after a minute, the pumpkin would magically carve eyes and a nose for her (though strangely it did not produce a mouth). The Leowolf was somehow able to see the world around her much like nightvision, as everything was bright green and glowing in her vision. And likewise, anyone that saw her would be astounded to see an odd glow trail out of her eye and nose holes, much like that of green flames that would blaze out and vanish into the air.

The Leowolf ran from this point on, seemingly endless without a sense of direction. She awoke every deer and fawn that saw her, most of which jumped in fright and fled the strange occurrence. The braver deer followed after the Jack-O-Leowolf, trying to catch her and figure out what exactly was going on. But she was incredibly agile and difficult to chase, eluding the deer and vanishing into the distance. The Leowolf would continue her run all throughout the night, until morning arose.

She woke up, feeling oddly well rested despite the strange event. Sitting up, she discovered that she was not only sitting very close to the pagan idols of the old Ruins, but that all around her were pumpkins and gourds that seemed to grow out of nowhere. She would not understand what this meant, but as the legend ends, the wolves were always rewarded after the night of Jack's curse, with plenty of pumpkins and gourds for them to eat in the morning.

So thus one legend is told that adds to the history of the famed Jack-O-Lantern. While reported sightings are rare, it is said that venturing into the woods on October 31st, it is possible to see a pumpkin-headed wolf running past the trees, glowing an eerie green glow that illuminates the surroundings.

The End