Paul Bunyan - American

My name is Babe, and I’m a big, strong ox the color of the summer sky. My best friend in the whole wide world is a giant lumberjack who is even bigger than me! He has a beard as bushy as a squirrel's tail and a laugh that sounds like rumbling thunder. We live in the great, green forests of North America, where the trees are so tall they tickle the clouds. Every morning, the air smells like fresh pine needles and damp earth, and the birds sing us a wake-up song. But our days aren't for relaxing; we have big work to do, jobs so huge that only a giant and his blue ox can handle them. People say we helped shape the land, making rivers and mountains with our giant footsteps and powerful tools. This is the famous myth of my friend, the one and only Paul Bunyan.

Paul is the kindest and strongest lumberjack you’ll ever meet. His axe has a handle made from a whole redwood tree, and when he swings it, the wind whistles a happy tune. One time, on a day so hot the leaves on the trees were curling up, I got terribly thirsty. My tongue felt like a dry, dusty road. Paul saw me panting, so he dug five giant holes with the heel of his boot and filled them with cool water just for me. People now call them the Great Lakes. Another time, we were walking through a very twisty, bumpy canyon. Paul’s giant axe scraped along the ground behind him. He didn't even notice, but it carved the canyon into a big, beautiful ditch that folks today call the Grand Canyon. It was amazing. Lumberjacks, the people who chop down trees for wood, first told our stories. After a long day of hard work, they would sit around a crackling campfire, under a blanket of sparkling stars. To make their tough jobs seem more fun and less tiring, they would make up amazing stories about Paul and me. They’d say Paul could clear an entire forest in one morning or that his cook made pancakes so big they used a frozen pond as a griddle. These stories, called tall tales, were so silly and exaggerated they made everyone laugh. They helped the lumberjacks feel strong and happy, just like Paul.

A Legend as Big as America
The stories of Paul Bunyan were more than just silly tales to make people giggle. They helped people imagine how a big, new country like America was built. They were about working hard, being clever, and changing the world around you to make something new and wonderful. The lumberjacks saw giant forests and huge mountains, and they needed a hero big enough to handle them. That hero was Paul. Even though Paul and I are from stories, our spirit of adventure lives on. Whenever you see a giant statue of a lumberjack by the side of the road, or hear a story that sounds just a little too amazing to be true, you’re feeling the fun of a tall tale. The legend of Paul Bunyan reminds us all to dream big, work together, and believe that even the biggest jobs can be done with a good friend by your side.