All About Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox - This is America - VOA

VOA - This is America - 5 Feb 2015 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 1st 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 20th 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. Many years ago, Paul Bunyan was born in the northeastern American state of Maine. His mother and father were shocked when they 1st saw the boy. Paul was so large at birth that 5 large birds had to carry him to his parents. When the boy was only a few weeks old, he weighed more than 45...