The Last Lantern

Aunt Bramble
Wyrdlore Society

On Halloween night, when every other candle has guttered out, there is always one lantern left burning. You will find it at the end of the street, or by a gate, or on somebody's windowsill, still glowing when all the rest have gone dark.

Long ago in Ireland, people carved lanterns out of turnips, not pumpkins, and set a small coal or candle inside. They did this for a man called Jack. The story goes that Jack was clever, perhaps too clever, and when his time came, no door would open for him, not one way and not the other. So he was given a single ember, tucked inside a hollowed turnip, to light his way as he wandered.

When Irish families crossed the sea to America, they found pumpkins growing everywhere, bigger and softer to carve than turnips, and the lantern changed its shape but kept its purpose. People still cut a face into it, not to frighten anyone off, but so the light inside could be seen from every direction, so anyone out walking after dark would know where to look.

That is why, on this one night, somebody always keeps a lantern burning longest. It is lit for Jack, still finding his way. It is lit for anyone else out walking home late, down a lane they know well but which looks strange in the dark.

So if you pass a house tonight and see one pumpkin still glowing when the others have gone out, do not think the family forgot it. They left it exactly where it is, on purpose, shining its small orange light out into the street, in case somebody somewhere is still looking for the way home.

Aunt Bramble keeps the Society's stories for its smallest members. She has never been anywhere in a hurry, owns a very old coat with very deep pockets, and holds that a story does not have to be tidy to be true.

The rest of the season is gathered in Nights of the Dead.