Paul Bunyan

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These are books about America,

its history, its geography, and its heroes

But it takes a big book like this one

to tell the story of American folklore.

The tall tales about men

doing big things in a big country.

Men like Captain Stormalong,

Joe Magarac,

John Henry,

Pecos Bill,

and the fellow

who towers above them all,

Paul Bunyan.

North America was a great big land

With a great big job to be done

Ajob that needed a great big man

Paul Bunyan was the one

Hey, Paul

Hey, Paul

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

He's 63 axe-handles high

With his feet on the ground

And his head in the sky

Hey, Paul

Hey, Paul

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

My name is Cal McNab,

lumberjack by trade.

Reckon I was the first person in our part

of the country to see Paul Bunyan.

Our town was cut

right out of the big timber

on the coast of Maine.

Should have known something unusual

was gonna happen that night.

A southeastern come up

and the wind howled so.

Thought it was gonna blow our town

right off the map.

Come daylight, I took a look

to see what was left of the place.

I spotted an odd-looking craft

on the beach.

That's where the howling

was coming from.

Hey, Ma, what in the world

do you suppose that is?

The howling roused the whole town

and everybody rushed down

to investigate.

I never saw anything like it.

Looks like a big cradle.

Now, be careful, Cal.

Well, I'll be hornswoggled, a baby.

And it's a whopper.

The whole town adopted him

and named him Paul Bunyan.

Everybody pitched in

to supply his needs.

They held sewing bees and

knitting circles to make his clothes.

Feeding him

wasn't any small job either.

I led the singing

to put him to sleep at night.

One, two...

Good night

Sleep tight

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

You're only ten axe-handles high

But you'll get bigger by and by

Good night

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

It wasn't long before Paul

was big enough to go to school.

He was a bright boy and never tardy.

Good morning, Paul.

Good morning, children.

Now, everyone be seated.

Will the first pupil to work the sum

of five plus two rise and show the answer.

That is correct, Paul.

But for heaven's sake,

don't raise the roof.

School's out! School's out! Yeah!

The boys would head

For the swimming hole

- Just as soon as their studies had ceased

- Come on, Paul.

Even though young Paul

Was sometimes last

He surely never was least

- Hey, Paul

- Here he comes.

Paul Bunyan

Though he loved to swim

What a time he had

What a problem, me, oh, my

When his front was in the water

Oh, his back was high and dry

How about a dive, Paul?

Hey, Paul

Hey, Paul

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

Christmas was a big event in our town.

We had our tree in the town square

on account of Paul.

I handed out the presents.

You kids ready?

Well, here's something for Johnny,

for Susan and for Paul...

Here's a gift from the whole town.

A double-bladed axe.

Paul took to cutting timber

like a duck takes to water.

Afore long, our sawmills

had enough timber to last a lifetime.

That opened plenty of new farmland.

And our town grew so fast

it got to crowding Paul.

So one morning,

we weren't too surprised

to find a note in the square.

"And plenty of room.

Love, Paul. P.S. I'll write soon."

We're gonna miss that boy.

I am Chris Crosshaul,

straw boss of a logging crew

in the Middle West.

I will never forget

the first time I saw Paul Bunyan.

I was topping trees one morning.

I looked up

and there stood

the biggest man I ever saw.

With my double-blade axe

And my hobnail boots

I go where the timber's tall

When there's work to be done

Don't mess around

Just sing right out for Paul

- Hey, Paul

- I'm coming, boys.

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

He's 63 axe-handles high

With his feet on the ground

And his head in the sky

Hey, Paul

Hey, Paul

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

Well, he picked up his axe

And he chopped a tree

Clean down with his forward swing

Got him another

When his axe swung back

That timber cuttin' thing

He kept on a-choppin' the live-long day

And then when it was night

He walked back over the stumps he'd cut

And stomped them out of sight

- Thanks, Paul

- Why, it's nothing.

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

Well, sir,

Paul cleared that country so quick,

farmers had their crops

in the first week.

So Paul headed west

for the big woods and more room.

He hadn't gone far

when he ran into the worst blizzard

this country ever saw.

It was so cold even the snow was blue.

When Paul built a fire,

the flames froze.

While he was building a second fire

to melt the first one,

he heard a low moo.

He looked all around,

and there, under a fog bank, he found

a big ox frozen

just as blue as the snow.

Now, that ox was mighty grateful

for being rescued.

They hit it right off

and became real pals.

Paul named him Babe.

The two of them headed west

but the storm got worse

and they got so lost.

Well, sir, they left

lots of tracks behind them.

And come spring,

those tracks filled with water

and this area became known

as the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

With winter over,

Paul and Babe went right to work.

They logged off

North and South Dakota,

dug the Missouri River

to float the logs to the sawmills,

and then, so they could look the country

over and see what else to do,

they built Pikes Peak.

Now, that was a fair day's work

even for Paul.

So next morning,

he overslept a little bit.

Babe wanted him to get up.

Hey!

What's the idea? You big blue ox!

Now, watch it! Watch it!

Cut it out, Babe.

Well, one little shove led to another.

And the first thing you know

they was roughhousing

all over the countryside.

Then Paul and Babe

got into a big tug of war.

They piled dirt and rocks so high,

it formed a range of mountains.

Today, they are called

the Grand Tetons.

Well, sir, all this horseplay...

I mean, oxplay.

made Paul and Babe kind of dirty.

So Paul looked the countryside over

and got together with Babe.

And before long,

he had built them a shower bath.

They went off and left it running.

And today, Paul's shower bath

is called Yellowstone Falls.

Shot Gunderson is my name.

I'm river foreman of a timber camp

near the Oregon Trail.

My outfit was mighty discouraged

the day Paul Bunyan arrived.

We were getting

plenty of timber in the river,

but we couldn't move it to the sawmills,

because the river was so crooked.

Paul looked the situation over

careful-like

then he harnessed Babe with a yoke,

hitched on a big anchor,

and threw it in at the head of the river.

Giddyup, Babe!

Well, Paul and Babe

They heaved and hauled

And the job was quickly done

They pulled that crooked river out

As straight as the barrel of a gun

Hey, Paul

They're on their way!

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

He's 63 axe-handles high

With his feet on the ground

And his head in the sky

Hey, Paul

Hey, Paul

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

Paul Bunyan

Now the country began to prosper.

Yep, civilisation had arrived

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