Jack Pumpkinhead
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Jack Pumpkinhead is a character from the fictional Oz book series by L. Frank Baum. He first appeared in The Marvelous Land of Oz. Jack's tall figure is made from tree limbs and jointed with wooden pegs. He has a jack o'lantern for a head which is where he gets his name.
Jack was made by a little boy named Tip (Princess Ozma in the form of a boy) to scare his guardian, an old witch named Mombi. From Mombi's chest he took some old clothes for Jack; purple trousers, a red shirt, a pink vest with white polka dots, and stockings, to which he added a pair of his shoes. However, instead of being frightened, when Mombi saw Jack she almost smashed him to pieces, but then she decided to test her new Powder of Life on him. The powder worked and Jack came to life.
Jack is not known for his intelligence which seems to depend on the quality and number of the seeds in his pumpkin-head at that time. However he does manages to come up with random bits of wisdom and common sense often, For example, after bringing Jack to life, Mombi has the following exchange with him:
- Even Mombi was not without a curious interest in the man her magic had brought to life; for, after staring at him intently, she presently asked:
- "What do you know?"
- "Well, that is hard to tell," replied Jack. "For although I feel that I know a tremendous lot, I am not yet aware how much there is in the world to find out about. It will take me a little time to discover whether I am very wise or very foolish."
In The Road to Oz, Jack has settled in a large pumpkin-shaped house near the Tin Woodman's castle in Winkie Country. Jack spends much of his time growing pumpkins to replace his old heads, which eventually spoil and need to be replaced. Apparently, Princess Ozma carves new heads for Jack when necessary. The old heads are buried in a graveyard on his property. It should also be noted that Jack calls Ozma his mother. In The Emerald City of Oz it is revealed that Jack designed a five story, jewel-encrusted, corn-shaped mansion for the Scarecrow.
Jack had to wait until the 23rd Oz book to get a book named after himself along with the starring role. Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz was written by Ruth Plumly Thompson, the writer who continued the Oz books after the death of L. Frank Baum. In the book, Peter, (the little boy baseball pitcher from Philadelphia) while reminiscing about his previous visit to Oz, suddenly finds himself landing right into Jack Pumpkinhead's front yard in the Winkie Country. Peter and Jack set off together for the Emerald City, but take a wrong turn, ending up traveling through the Quadling Country.
Jack appears in the animated movie sequel Journey Back to Oz (which had a different outcome for the character), and the live-action movie Return to Oz.
Jack used the White Pearl in January 2006 to send himself from Oz to Earth. However, the effort smashed his head apart and he became inert. A little later, a company called Nighty Knights boxed Jack and his head up and sent it to the apartment shared by Gale and Alice Liddell. There, the Wizard of Oz gave him a new head and Jack accompanied Gale, Liddell and The Wizard up to Kansas, before joining Gale and Liddell in returning back to Oz(The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles#1 comic).
This article relating to the book "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz", the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" or one of their derivative works is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
