MP 3 ( 7 . 21 MB ) Children ’ s Story : ' Paul Bunyan ' Share ThisDiggYahoo ! BuzzFacebookdel . icio . usStumbleUponFAITH LAPIDUS : Now , the Special English program , AMERICAN STORIES . ( MUSIC ) Today we tell a traditional American story called a “ tall tale . ” A tall tale is a story about a person who is larger than life . The descriptions in the story are exaggerated – much greater than in real life . This makes the story funny . Long ago , the people who settled in undeveloped areas in America first told tall tales . After a hard day ’ s work , people gathered to tell each other funny stories . Each group of workers had its own tall tale hero . Paul Bunyan was a hero of North America ’ s lumberjacks , the workers who cut down trees . He was known for his strength , speed and skill . Tradition says he cleared forests from the northeastern United States to the Pacific Ocean . Some people say Paul Bunyan was the creation of storytellers from the middle western Great Lakes area of the United States . Other people say the stories about him came from French Canada . Early in the twentieth century , a writer prepared a collection of Paul Bunyan stories . They were included in a publication from the Red River Lumber Company in Minnesota . It is not known if the stories helped the company ’ s sales , but they became extremely popular . Here is Shep O ’ Neal with our story about Paul Bunyan . ( MUSIC ) SHEP O ’ NEAL : Many years ago , Paul Bunyan was born in the northeastern American state of Maine . His mother and father were shocked when they first saw the boy . Paul was so large at birth that five large birds had to carry him to his parents . When the boy was only a few weeks old , he weighed more than forty - five kilograms . As a child , Paul was always hungry . His parents needed tens cows to supply milk for his meals . Before long , he ate fifty eggs and ten containers of potatoes every day . Young Paul grew so big that his parents did not know what to do with him . once , Paul rolled over so much in his sleep that he caused an earthquake . This angered people in the town where his parents lived . So , the government told his mother and father they would have to move him somewhere else . Paul ’ s father built a wooden cradle -- a traditional bed for a baby . His parents put the cradle in waters along the coast of Maine . However , every time Paul rolled over , huge waves covered all the coastal towns . So his parents brought their son back on land . They took him into the woods . This is where he grew up . As a boy , Paul helped his father cut down trees . Paul had the strength of many men . He also was extremely fast . He could turn off a light and then jump into his bed before the room got dark . ( MUSIC ) Maine is very cold for much of the year . one day , it started to snow . The snow covered Paul ’ s home and a nearby forest . However , this snow was very unusual . It was blue . The blue snow kept falling until the forest was covered . Paul put on his snowshoes and went out to see the unusual sight . As he walked , Paul discovered an animal stuck in the snow . It was a baby ox . Paul decided to take the ox home with him . He put the animal near the fireplace . After the ox got warmer , his hair remained blue . Paul decided to keep the blue ox and named him Babe . Babe grew very quickly . one night , Paul left him in a small building with the other animals . The next morning , the barn was gone and so was Babe . Paul searched everywhere for the animal . He found Babe calmly eating grass in a valley , with the barn still on top of his back . Babe followed Paul and grew larger every day . Every time Paul looked , Babe seemed to grow taller . In those days , much of North America was filled with thick , green forests . Paul Bunyan could clear large wooded areas with a single stroke of his large , sharp axe . Paul taught Babe to help with his work . Babe was very useful . For example , Paul had trouble removing trees along a road that was not straight . He decided to tie one end of the road to what remained of a tree in the ground . Paul tied the other end to Babe . Babe dug his feet in the ground and pulled with all his strength until the road became straight . ( MUSIC ) In time , Paul and Babe the Blue Ox left Maine , and moved west to look for work in other forests . Along the way , Paul dug out the Great Lakes to provide drinking water for Babe . They settled in a camp near the onion River in the state of Minnesota . Paul ’ s camp was the largest in the country . The camp was so large that a man had to have one week ’ s supply of food when walking from one side of the camp to the other . Paul decided to get other lumberjacks to help with the work . His work crew became known as the Seven Axemen . Each man was more than two meters tall and weighed more than one - hundred - sixty kilograms . All of the Axemen were named Elmer . That way , they all came running whenever Paul called them . The man who cooked for the group was named Sourdough Sam . He made everything -- except coffee -- from sourdough , a substance used in making sourdough bread . Every Sunday , Paul and his crew ate hot cakes . Each hot cake was so large that it took five men to eat one . Paul usually had ten or more hot cakes , depending on how hungry he was . The table where the men ate was so long that a server usually drove to one end of the table and stayed the night . The server drove back in the morning , with a fresh load of food . Paul needed someone to help with the camp ’ s finances . He gave the job to a man named Johnny Inkslinger . Johnny kept records of everything , including wages and the cost of feeding Babe . He sometimes used nine containers of writing fluid a day to keep such detailed records . The camp also was home to Sport , the Reversible Dog . one of the workers accidentally cut Sport in two . The man hurried to put the dog back together , but made a mistake . He bent the animal ’ s back the wrong way . However , that was not a problem for Sport . He learned to run on his front legs until he was tired . Then , he turned the other way and ran on his back legs . ( MUSIC ) Big mosquitoes were a problem at the camp . The men attacked the insects with their axes and long sticks . Before long , the men put barriers around their living space . Then , Paul ordered them to get big bees to destroy the mosquitoes . But the bees married the mosquitoes , and the problem got worse . They began to produce young insects . one day , the insects ’ love of sweets caused them to attack a ship that was bringing sugar to the camp . At last , the mosquitoes and bees were defeated . They ate so much sugar they could not move . Paul always gave Babe the Blue Ox a thirty - five kilogram piece of sugar when he was good . But sometimes Babe liked to play tricks . At night , Babe would make noises and hit the ground with his feet . The men at the camp would run out of the buildings where they slept , thinking it was an earthquake . When winter came , Babe had trouble finding enough food to eat . Snow covered everything . Ole the Blacksmith solved the problem . He made huge green sunglasses for Babe . When Babe wore the sunglasses , he thought the snow was grass . Before long , Babe was strong and healthy again . One year , Paul ’ s camp was especially cold . It was so cold that the men let their facial hair grow very long . When the men spoke , their words froze in the air . Everything they said remained frozen all winter long , and did not melt until spring . Paul Bunyan and Babe left their mark on many areas . Some people say they were responsible for creating Puget Sound in the western state of Washington . Others say Paul Bunyan and Babe cleared the trees from the states of North Dakota and South Dakota . They prepared this area for farming . Babe the Blue Ox died in South Dakota . one story says he ate too many hot cakes . Paul buried his old friend there . Today , the burial place is known as the Black Hills . Whatever happened to Paul Bunyan ? There are lots of stories . Some people say he was last seen in Alaska , or even the Arctic Circle . Another tradition says he still returns to Minnesota every summer . It says Paul moves in and out of the woods , so few people ever know that he is there . ( MUSIC ) FAITH LAPIDUS : You have just heard the story of Paul Bunyan . It was adapted for Special English by George Grow . Your narrator was Shep O ’ Neal . Join us again next week for another American story , in Special English , on the Voice of America . This is Faith Lapidus .