Pumpkin Jack

This is the story of Pumpkin Jack.
His eyes were green and his hair was black.
He grew up in the town of Hackensack,
So goes the story of Pumpkin Jack.

Jack was a trickster, good as can be.
He carried his pranks out with wonderful glee.
Now people were fine with one, two, or three,
But Jack carried out much more than that, so you see.

Now, Hackensack was ruled by a Queen.
Her hair was black and her eyes were green.
Not to say she was particularly mean,
but on sticking her neck out for others, she wasn't too keen.

So, it can be understood when,
Complaints about Jack's pranks began,
To come to her from letters the townspeople did send,
She replied "on their own, these problems will mend".

However, one day, Jack made a tremendous mistake,
And sent to the Queen a giant prank,
By baking her a lovely cake,
Which, inside, he'd hid a vicious snake.

Just when the Queen was about to take her first bite,
Out popped the snake, giving her a fright.
A guard quickly snatched the snake and took it out of sight,
And the Queen finally decided to do what was right.

She sent her best knight, on his fastest steed,
To Jack's small hut, among the forest trees.
His axe in hand, and his conscious not so free,
He thought of his mission with a frightening glee.

Jack did not know what to expect, when he opened the door,
And next thing he knew, his body lied dead on the floor.
He knew it would rise nevermore,
And he would never commit the pranks he'd had in store.

However, Jack concocted a plan, for when Death arrived.
A devious plot, his mind had just contrived.
And when Death came for him, he responded, ever so sly,
"Come and rest, you look so tired."

Death accepted the offer, sat in a chair and shut his eyes,
And awoke to a nasty surprise.
For in Jack's hands, his scythe did lie,
With a smile on Jack's face, and a glimmer in his eye.

"I am perfectly willing," said Jack "to make a trade."
"Give me eternal life, and I shall relinquish your spade."
Death tried several other offers, but Jack would not cave,
And Death was forced to play by the rules Jack had laid.

However, the joke was on Jack, as he would learn.
For once he got back his body, he felt he had earned.
He discover he'd been granted eternal life, as for it he had yearned,
But his body could still be harmed, and so his head, in Hell, will now burn.

That is the story of Pumpkin Jack.
Death chopped off his head with a bloody hack.
So now, Jack walks forever, a carved pumpkin attached to his neck,
So goes the story of Pumpkin Jack.