Read a tall tale about a very tall man!
Learning Objective: Students will identify ways in which this story is a tall tale.
Well howdy, lumberjack! You look like you’ve had a long day. Come warm up by my campfire. Here, sit on a log. Have some hot cocoa. I’ll tell you a story. It’s a tall tale about the greatest lumberjack ever. His name was Paul Bunyan. Paul Bunyan was taller than the tallest tree you’ve ever seen.
One Big Baby
Paul was born way up north, in Maine. He was huge, even as a baby. He ate 10 barrels of porridge every hour. If he didn’t eat enough porridge, the rumbling of his stomach would shake the whole house.
Paul grew and grew. Pretty soon he couldn’t fit through the doors of the house. He was bigger than his parents! Paul’s parents built him an enormous cradle. They put it outside in the forest. That’s the only place he would fit!
Whenever baby Paul sneezed—achoo!—all the birds in the forest would get blown from Maine clear over to California. When Paul’s parents rocked his cradle, the ground would shake and all the trees in the forest would fall down. Paul kept growing and growing.
One day, when he was a boy, he was playing by the ocean. He jumped in the water and caused a gargantuan splash. The splash was so big, it flooded the whole town. Well, I tell you, the people in the town were angrier than frogs in a beehive. They said, “That giant boy has got to go!”
So Paul got ready to leave home. His mother sewed him a huge red flannel shirt. His father gave him a gigantic ax. They packed 200 ham sandwiches for him to take on his journey. Paul picked up his parents in his enormous hand and said goodbye. Everyone cried. Paul’s mother wiped his tears with a tablecloth.
Babe the Blue Ox
Paul walked west. I tell you, he was sadder than a squirrel with no acorns. That was, until he met his best friend.
One chilly winter day, Paul was walking up a mountain. It was covered in snow. Then he saw something mighty peculiar. It was strange. There were four furry blue trees poking up out of the snow. Paul had never seen trees like that.
As he walked closer, the trees seemed to be whimpering. Paul tugged on one of them. The trees weren’t trees at all! They were the legs of an ox. The ox was giant, just like Paul! And it was upside down, with its legs in the air.
“My name is B-B-Babe,” the ox said. His teeth were chattering. “I was p-playing in the s-snow, but then I got s-stuck. Now I’m f-freezing,” Babe said.
“I can see that. You’ve turned blue!” Paul said. “I’ll help you get all warmed up.” Paul wrapped Babe in a giant wool blanket. He made a massive campfire. Soon Babe was as warm as a toasted marshmallow. But he was still bright blue. He stayed that way for the rest of his days.
I tell you, they were a funny pair, the giant man and the giant blue ox. But they were the best of friends.
A Pile of Pancakes
Paul and Babe kept on walking. Their legs were long, so they could walk a long way. They walked to the middle of the United States.
Have you heard of the Great Lakes? Well, those were made by Babe’s footprints. Have you heard of the Mississippi River? That was made when Paul got tired and dragged his ax along the ground.
Paul and Babe had been walking for weeks. Paul was as tired as a cat in the sun. He wanted to stay put for a while. So he set up a logging camp in Minnesota. A logging camp is where lumberjacks stay to chop down trees.
Paul was a smart fellow. He hired seven lumberjacks. They were all named Elmer. That way, when he needed help, he just yelled “Elmer!” and they all came running.
One morning, Paul, Babe, and the seven Elmers were very hungry.
“I’m so hungry, I could eat a horse,” said one Elmer.
“I’m hungry too. I’m famished!” said another.
“Me too!” said all the rest of the Elmers.
Well, Paul knew just what to do. He decided to make giant pancakes. He dumped 100 bags of flour into a nearby lake. The Elmers used canoe paddles to mix the flour with the lake water. Then Paul dumped in 300 eggs. The Elmers kept mixing.
Paul and Babe made a giant campfire. They took the metal roof off of a barn. That would be their pan.
“But how will we grease the pan?” Babe asked. “If we don’t grease the pan, the pancakes will stick to it.”
“Hmm,” Paul said. He stroked his beard. “I have an idea.” Paul went to the shed where the Elmers kept their ice skates. He took the blades off the ice skates. He put strips of bacon where the blades had been.
“Elmer!” Paul yelled. All the Elmers came running. They put on their ice skates with bacon on the bottom. They skated all around the pan, leaving trails of bacon grease behind them.
“Whee!” said the Elmers as they zipped by. Soon the pan was greased.
Then it was time to make the enormous pancakes. The Elmers took the pancake batter out of the lake with wheelbarrows. Then they poured it onto the pan. The pancakes sizzled. They smelled scrumptious. Babe licked his lips.
Paul flipped the pancakes with a big shovel. They were perfectly golden brown. The Elmers, Babe, and Paul sat down to a delicious, gigantic feast.
Heading Out West
I tell you, there were a lot of happy times at the logging camp. But soon the quiet forest got less quiet. Many people came out west on the railroads. They built cities. They built factories.
Paul and Babe couldn’t hear the babbling brooks or the wind in the leaves anymore. They knew it was time to go. They said goodbye to the Elmers. Then they went farther west. They cooked meals over volcanoes. They slept in canyons.
Nobody knows for sure where Paul Bunyan and Babe are now, but some say they are way out in Alaska. Some say if you see a twinkling star up in the Alaska sky, that might be the twinkle of Paul Bunyan’s eyes.
