There are so many Paul Bunyan stories out there. When I did a tall tales meeting last year, I needed to put something together for them with just a few of the Paul Bunyan stories. I wanted it to be enough to give them a sense of the folklore, but not so much that it would be overwhelming for the variety of reading proficiency in the den.
The Story of Paul Bunyan
From the day he was born, everyone knew Paul Bunyan would be special. He was so big that it took three storks to carry him to his parents. By the time he was one week old he was already so big that he was wearing his father’s clothes.
Paul always wanted to be a lumberjack. When he was growing up, instead of playing with balls and toys, he played with a saw and an ax. When he was one year old, Paul’s father gave him a blue ox named Babe to have as a pet.
Paul and Babe headed out west for a while. Paul was tired after the long journey and started dragging his ax behind him. That is how the Grand Canyon was formed.
One winter, Paul and Babe were in Michigan. Babe was thirsty, so Paul dug out Lake Michigan to make a drinking hole for Babe.
One night at the logging camp in Michigan, it got so cold that the flames in the lanterns froze solid. They couldn’t blow out the flames and the light was keeping the lumberjacks awake. So they moved the lanterns outside of camp where nobody could see them, but they forgot about them. When spring came and the flames thawed, they started a big fire all over Michigan. Paul Bunyan had to stomp out the flames with his giant feet.
