She’d said He needed adventure in his life. What fun could he possibly have if he spent all his time inside and alone? Not much. He naively followed her into the lands of mystery. After all, what could it hurt? A lot, it turns out. What a fool he’d been to trust a girl of such mystery.

When his back was turned she gobbled him up in one bite! Another boy undone by her charms.

But what goes around comes around, they say, and she too was eaten. Not by another person, however. No, no, my friend, she met her fate within the stomach of a monstrous pumpkin that came to life each year to feast on the souls of the guilty. Or something of that sort. They didn’t get a chance to talk much, so who knows.

You might think that would be the end of it. But the boy was determined to live. With a mighty effort he burst forth from the monster pumpkin, leaving the girl who had previously eaten him magically unharmed. Somehow.

She made pumpkin soup with the remains.

It was pretty good.