Jack's incredibly tall and skinny figure is made from
tree limbs and jointed with wooden pegs. He has a large carved
jack-o'-lantern for a head, which is where he gets his name (unlike most jack-o'-lanterns, the
pumpkin seeds and other pumpkin guts were not removed so it substitutes for his brain). Jack was made by a little boy named
Tip 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. When Mombi saw Jack, she almost smashed him to pieces. Instead, 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 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: Although Jack Pumpkinhead would not get tired from walking, his joints would still wear out. To remedy this, Tip created the
Sawhorse to serve as Jack's mode of transportation. By the end of the second Oz book, Tip, who was originally born Ozma, is changed back into a female by the same magic that made him male. Jack notes that he no longer has a father. In the fifth Oz book
The Road to Oz (1909), 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.
Princess Ozma, now recognized as his mother, carves new heads for Jack when necessary. The old heads are buried in a graveyard on his property. In the sixth Oz book
The Emerald City of Oz (1910), it is revealed that Jack designed a five-storey, jewel-encrusted, corn-shaped mansion for the
Scarecrow to live in. ==In Thompson and Neill==