The Pumpkin Giant was written by Mary E. Wilkins and was included in her 1892 collection of children stories, The Pot of Gold and Other Stories. I haven't actually read this collection, the version which I'm familiar with being a retelling by Ellen Greene, with the great illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman.
The Pumpkin Giant tells the story of a kingdom being terrorized by a terrible, pumpkin-headed giant who roams the countryside seeking plump little boys and girls to devour.
Meanwhile, not far from the giant's castle, there lives a poor potato farmer named Patroclus, his wife Daphne, and his son, Aeneas. They too are terrified, because Aeneas is as fat as Princess Ariadne, and rolls through the potato field the same way she rolls through the gardens. The difference is, they can't afford to hire 50 bodyguards, so fear the giant even more than the King. Daphne has the giant shakes so badly that she can't get out of bed.
Aeneas begins to wonder what a giant head would taste like, and one day while his father is away, rolls out to their ruined potato field, cuts open a giant's head, and samples it. He loves the taste, and ends up eating most of it. He then goes into the house and informs his mother what he's done. She panics, assuming that her son has been poisoned, as does Patroclus when he arrives home. When nothing bad happens by the end of the day, however, Aeneas announces that he's hungry and intends to eat more of the giant heads. He urges his parents to eat some as well and, hungry now that they have no potatoes, they do- and find it to be delicious. Daphne starts experimenting with cooking it, and eventually comes up with pumpkin pies. They harvest all the pumpkins and start cooking them. One day, the King is riding by with his entourage and smells something delicious. He sends one of his men to Patroclus' cottage to find out what it is, and is informed that it is pie made from giant's head. Astonished, the King orders his page to bring him one. He tastes it, and finds it absolutely delicious. He orders the frightened Patroclus to tell him about how they came up with these amazing pies, and Patroclus stammers out the whole story. Ashamed that he forgot to knight him, the King does so immediately. He makes Patroclus royal gardener and his family moves to the palace, where the gardens are uprooted and replanted with giant heads. Princess Ariadne and Aeneas become good friends, rolling about the pumpkin fields together. The next fall, Aeneas hollows out one of the pumpkins and carves a giant's face on it, putting a candle inside so that it looks just like the Pumpkin Giant. Ariadne likes it so much that he promises to make one for her every year.
Here dwelt the Pumpkin Giant once.
He's dead, the nation doth rejoice.
For, while he was alive, he lived
By e----g dear, fat little boys.