The Useless Pumpkin

This specific pumpkin grew up strong and healthy in a beautiful backyard.

As a little girl, she dreamed of being someone of value and would feel horrified when her sisters, the other pumpkins, were taken away to be served at the boss's table.

She would get pale with fright whenever someone showed up, hoping not to be the chosen one.

Over time, she became a beautiful pumpkin with a vibrant hard orange peel. She was in the prime of her physical condition and she felt proud of herself.

Whenever someone showed up looking for a delicious pumpkin to make a stew or a sweet treat, she would shiver, terrified, hiding from those experienced pruning hands, and say:

- I’m not going to feed anyone! That’s preposterous!

When a child emerged on a cold winter night looking for a pumpkin to play with she would snuggle behind some big leaves trying to go unnoticed.

And when she saw one of her sisters on the top of the fence, her mouth, nose and eyes mouth lit up by a candle, trying to frighten the unwary, she would shake her head, saying:

- I will never lend myself to that role. What a shame!

Her sisters, resigned and aware of their condition, would tell her:

- This is our destiny. What will our lives be like if we are not somehow useful? Who will do our job?

But the beautiful pumpkin, shaking her hair of bunches of leaves, would reply:

- Not me. I want another life for me. I will not lend myself to being devoured. Let alone serve as a scarecrow to anyone.

The others would go silent, realising that there was no use talking, because she would not change her mind.

Some time passed. Of that crop of pumpkins few remained. Each one had been sent to its destiny, and the last ones, which were no longer very good, were fed to the pigs.

But that pumpkin, had hidden herself so well in the middle of the vegetation, taking advantage of a hole in the ground, that she went unnoticed.

One day, a servant started to clean the land for new planting and found her well hidden, dirty with soil and spoiled by worms.

He called his boss and asked:

- Look what I found! This old, dirty, ugly pumpkin! What will we do with it?

The boss looked at her with disgust and answered with contempt:

- Throw it in the trash! The way it looks, it is not even good enough to feed the pigs. It is a pity, but it cannot be used.

And the poor pumpkin, who had so desired a different fate, was thrown in the garbage, full of regret and sorrow for the opportunity she had missed.

She came to understand, after all, that we all have a task to fulfil, and hers was to serve people.

Humiliated, for she was very proud, in the midst of the refuse of the trash can, she wept and pleaded so much for a new opportunity that God answered her request.

After a while, her seeds fell to the ground and underwent a transformation.

And anyone who passed by that pile of garbage could see a beautiful, strong, healthy plant that had sprouted, breaking the soil.

And our little plant became a beautiful pumpkin tree that, filled with happiness, saw her fruit being born tender and soft, for the new life that the Lord had given them.

AUNT CELIA

Translation:
Johnny Silveira / silveirajohnny@yahoo.com