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.

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 ten 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.
STORYTELLER:
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.
STORYTELLER:
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.
STORYTELLER: 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.

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.

ع الطرح الرائع