The Little Orange House Story

The Little Orange House

Once upon a time, a very small witch was walking alone through the streets on Halloween night. The cold wind blew dry leaves all around her feet. The little witch was frantically searching for a house to spend Halloween in, but she couldn’t find one.

Suddenly, a piece of orange paper came swirling down with the wind and landed right in front of her. She picked it up, looked at it closely, and said:

"I shall make myself a little house from this piece of orange paper!"

She folded the paper in half. Then she took out her scissors (she always carried a pair in her pocket) and snipped off the two top corners to make a roof. (See Image A.)

"This will do just fine," she said, smiling at her new house. "But I will need a door."
With her scissors, she cut out a door. Since witches always wear pointed hats, she cut a special tall, pointed door. (See Image B.)

The little witch stepped through the door into her little orange house. But oh! It was very dark inside. She quickly hurried back out.

"I will need some windows to let in the light," she said. She cut a front window and a back window, snipping carefully through both sides of the folded paper. (See Image C.)

Now the house looked wonderful — with a roof, a door, and windows all finished. Just as the little witch started to go inside, she saw a tiny ghost floating down the windy path.

The little ghost stopped in front of the house — and the witch saw she was crying.

"Why are you crying?" asked the little witch kindly.

The tiny ghost sniffled and answered:
"It is cold and windy. It is getting dark. And I have no place to spook this Halloween."

"You may spend Halloween with me in my new house," said the kind little witch.

"Oh, thank you!" said the happy ghost as she peeked in through the window. "This is a very nice house."

"But first," said the witch, "I will need to make you a little door of your very own."
She took her scissors again and snipped a tiny little door. (See Image D.)

The two new friends went inside — the tiny ghost through her tiny door, and the witch through her special pointed door. All night long they played happily together inside the little orange house.

And if you’d like to peek inside to see what they made that night — just open up your folded paper and … Surprise!

The little house has turned into a jack-o’-lantern!