Who Says Hello Win

Long ago, the nights after the fall harvest were dreadfully boring. All the field works in the farm were completed, and the tools were washed, shined and put away. The farmers retired early to their bed, blew out their candles, and let their fire died early in the wood stove. The whole village was silent, dark, and cold. Not a soul stirred.

The children were also in bed, bundled tightly into their blanket. But their eyes were wide open, fastening onto the various dark forms in their bedroom, following the slight fluttering and rustling of the white lace curtain, horror stricken. They could not sleep, and dared not to move out of the safety of their cocoon. Only their imagination took flight and escaped.

In one such night, a boy decided to hold on tight to his fantasy and flew with it out of his window, snagging the whole length of the white muslin with him, which dangled over his shoulder like a cape and transformed him into a sort of ghost-like figure. Once freed from the confinement of his dark bedroom and its various dark forms, he was also delivered from the grasp of his unnamed fear.

Passing each quiet house in the village, the boy thought of stopping by the bedroom window of all his friends, and calling them out to join him in his fantastical flight.

At first, the children refused to leave the cocoon of their safety. They admired the boy's ghostly look, but could not decide to follow him into the unknown darkness, until the boy dared them: "If you only ring the bell of your neighbor's house and say hello to whoever comes out, I'll let you have all the candies that I've got."

One by one, the children joined the flying boy to their neighbor's house to win the dare. At each new house, they told their friend: " Who says hello win."

Over the years, the one night dare became a yearly tradition called Halloween. The boy who had started the dare was now an old spirit, free and fearless.  ¶ 11:16 PM