Tall Tales
Some folklore experts have credited the French-Canadians for starting tall tales. Others
attribute the tales to a Western logging company during the early 20th century. Still
others consider it a European import. Each group of workers- loggers, cowboys, railroad
and steel workers- had its own tall tale hero. In those days, before TV and movies, people
depended on storytelling for entertainment. After a long day's work, people gathered to
tell each other funny tales.
Having a superhuman hero with the same job somehow made their lives easier. Perhaps it
gave them strength or courage to do their difficult and dangerous work.
Easier - Throughout history people have told and written stories about their heroes. A tall
tale is a special kind of hero story because the heroes of tall tales are 'larger than life'.
They are bigger or stronger than real people, even when the tall tale is based on a real
person. Tall tale heroes solve problems in funny ways that are hard to believe
Harder - A tall tale is a uniquely American story form that features (1) a larger-than-life
or superhuman main character with a specific task, (2) a problem that is solved in a
humorous or outrageous way, (3) exaggerated details that describe things larger than they
really are, and (4) characters who use everyday language. Many tall tales are based on
actual people or on a composite of actual people. Exaggeration is the major element in
tall tales.
To review, a tall tale is a story that has these features:
A larger-than-life or superhuman main character with a specific job.
A problem that is solved in a funny way.
Exaggerated details that describe things as greater than they really are.
Characters who use everyday language.
Paul Bunyan
Few characters of American folklore carry the stature
of Paul Bunyan. This legendary hero of lumberjacks
possessed strength, speed, and skill that matched the
vastness of North American.
According to legend, Paul Bunyan and his giant blue ox, Babe, left many a mark on the
landscape, receiving credit for creating Puget Sound, the Grand Canyon, and the Black
Hills, among others.
The Bunyan legend probably grew as the tales about him grew, bringing a new meaning
to the term "tall story." Stories about Bunyan and Babe first circulated through the
logging camps of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, where loggers first heard and
then retold the fables, adding local or personal embellishments.
The Birth of Paul Bunyan
retold by
S. E. Schlosser
Now I hear tell that Paul Bunyan was born in Bangor, Maine. It took five giant storks to
deliver Paul to his parents. His first bed was a lumber wagon pulled by a team of horses.
His father had to drive the wagon up to the top of Maine and back whenever he wanted to
rock the baby to sleep.
As a newborn, Paul Bunyan could hollar so loud he scared all the fish out of the rivers
and streams. All the local frogs started wearing earmuffs so they wouldn't go deaf when
Paul screamed for his breakfast. His parents had to milk two dozen cows morning and
night to keep his milk bottle full and his mother had to feed him ten barrels of porridge
every two hours to keep his stomach from rumbling and knocking the house down.
Within a week of his birth, Paul Bunyan could fit into his father's clothes. After three
weeks, Paul rolled around so much during his nap that he destroyed four square miles of
prime timberland. His parents were at their wits' end! They decided to build him a raft
and floated it off the coast of Maine. When Paul turned over, it caused a 75 foot tidal
wave in the Bay of Fundy. They had to send the British Navy over to Maine to wake him
up. The sailors fired every cannon they had in the fleet for seven hours straight before Paul
Bunyan woke from his nap! When he stepped off the raft, Paul accidentally sank four war
ships and he had to scramble around scooping sailors out of the water before they
drowned.
After this incident, Paul's parents decided the East was just too plumb small for him, and
so the family moved to Minnesota.
Frozen Flames
retold by
S. E. Schlosser
One winter, shortly after Paul Bunyan dug Lake Michigan as a drinking hole for his
blue ox, Babe, he decided to camp out in the Upper Peninsula. It was so cold in that there
logging camp that one evening, the temperature dropped to 68 degrees below zero. Each
degree in the camp thermometer measured sixteen inches long and the flames in the
lanterns froze solid. No one, not even Paul Bunyan, could blow them out.
The lumberjacks didn't want the bunkhouse lit at night because they wouldn't get any
sleep. So, they put the lanterns way outside of camp where they wouldn't disturb anyone.
But they forgot about the lanterns, so that when thaw came in the early spring, the
lanterns flared up again and set all of northern Michigan on fire! They had to wake Paul
Bunyan up so he could stamp out the fire with his boots.