How did Jimmy end up with Freddy the magic flute?

As any Saturday Morning Cartoons fan from the late 60's and early 70's can tell you, H.R. Pufnstuf was quite an adventure. Live action, puppets, dancing trees, good vs. evil. The story goes something like this: Jimmy has a magic flute named Freddy. The witch from Living Island (where everything is alive) wants the flute and tricks Jimmy into bringing his flute with him on her charmed boat. H.R. Pufnstuf gets in the way and thwarts her attempts to lay her hands on Freddy every episode.

After some fruitless interweb research, my question is: Did Sid and Marty Krofft, the producers of H.R. Pufnstuf, ever reveal the Jimmy/Freddy backstory prior to Jimmy's boat ride, or did they leave the tale open ended? If they did provide an answer, what was it??