It was or it wasn't. Once upon a time there was a man and a woman who were poor and only had a simple house. Behind the house was a garden where they grew pumpkins and sold them at the market.
Once the woman went into the garden and harvested pumpkins. They were beautiful, ripe pumpkins, large and small. She sighed and said: "Oh, if only I had a child, even if it was just a pumpkin."
Soon after, the woman became pregnant and when the time came to give birth, she gave birth to a pumpkin.
The woman exclaimed in amazement: "Dear God, you have taken me at my word and so I will accept this pumpkin as a child!"
She took good care of her pumpkin child, washed and nursed it and sang songs to it in the evenings:

My pumpkin, my happiness
Gift from heaven!
Hoppli, Hoppla!

In the morning, before she went out into the garden and to the market, she put the pumpkin on the windowsill in the sun.
When she came back in the evening, the house had been cleaned, the laundry done and the most delicious meal cooked. "Who did all the work?" the woman asked. But no one knew anything, and her husband was also very surprised.
This happened every day. What they didn't know was that as soon as the pumpkin was alone, the shell opened and a beautiful girl came out, cleaned, washed, cooked and sang cheerful songs. Before her parents returned, she slipped back into the pumpkin, the shell closed and no one knew about the secret.
Once, however, the king's son passed by the house. He heard a voice that was so beautiful that he was completely enchanted. He went closer and saw a beautiful young woman, the likes of which he had never seen before.
He went to the house every day and one day he saw the girl slip into the pumpkin and disappear inside.
From then on, the young man could no longer sleep. His heart could not rest and finally he went back to the house, knocked on the door and asked: "Please give me your pumpkin"
The woman said: "But this is my pumpkin child, I'm not giving it away! I'll give you another pumpkin."
But the young man did not give in and so the woman tearfully fetched the pumpkin and gave it to the king's son.
He said: "Pumpkin girl, come out!"
But nothing happened.
"Pumpkin girl, come out, I want to marry you!"
Again nothing happened. Then the king's son took his sword and shouted: "Pumpkin girl, come out or I'll end my life!"
Suddenly the pumpkin opened and the young woman climbed out. She was so beautiful that her mother sang in amazement:

My pumpkin, my happiness
A gift from heaven!
Hoppli, Hoppla!

The young man embraced the pumpkin girl. Soon there was a big wedding feast, they all moved into the royal palace together and lived happily ever after for many years.

Fassung Djamila Jaenike, nach: «La fille-gourgette», in: N. Zoghaib, La Fille aux cendres. Contes du Liban, Paris 2010, englische Fassung Lysander Jaenike © Mutabor Märchenstiftung.ch