Peter, Peter pumpkin eater,

Had a wife but couldn't keep her;

He put her in a pumpkin shell

And there he kept her very well.

In the books that I've read, the verse never does say anything about her not being able to leave the pumpkin shell! Maybe she wanted to go and have her "hair and nails done or just to get out to go shopping or to catch up with that old friend . . ."

Our imagination can only wonder!