Paul Bunyan and Babe

Part One · A Very Big Baby

When Paul Bunyan was born, the doctor needed a ladder. Paul was already as big as a cow! Paul did not fit in a crib or a wagon.

So his mother put him in a boat at sea. When Paul rocked, the ocean went slosh, slosh, slosh.

Enormous waves crashed onto the shore. That is how tides began, they say. Paul ate forty bowls of oatmeal every single morning.

Soon the whole town ran out of oats. "Paul," said the mayor, "go live in the woods." Suddenly, Paul sneezed.

Ah-ah-ah-CHOO! Ten pine trees flew up high. They landed in the next state.

Soon Paul was a giant lumberjack. His beard was as thick as a bush. A family of sparrows lived in it.

They paid no rent. One winter, the snow fell down blue. Paul went out to look.

In a blue drift, he heard a tiny moo. It was a baby calf, as blue as the sky.

She was shaking, so Paul tucked her in his coat. "Your name is Babe," he said. Babe ate and ate.

Her snack was a haystack. Her lunch was a haystack. Soon she was as wide as a barn.

Part Two · Babe and the Camp

Paul and Babe marched into the biggest forest ever. Paul looked up at the gigantic pines. "Time to get to work!" he said.

Paul built a tremendous logging camp. The lumberjacks came to chop the trees. Babe pulled the heavy logs down to the river.

One road had too many bends. It looked like a snake that lost a race. Paul tied a rope to it, and Babe pulled.

The road came out straight! Now the road was so short, some was left over. Paul rolled it up and used it as a rug.

Paul's boots were so enormous, they left holes. The rain filled the holes. Now they are lakes, and children swim in them.

The lumberjacks were always hungry. Cook Sam made a pancake as wide as a pond. But the griddle was too enormous to grease.

So the boys tied bacon to their boots. They skated over the griddle. Sizzle, slide, sizzle, slide!

That day, the pancakes tasted a little like feet. Nobody minded. Babe ate a whole stack of pancakes in one bite.

She licked her lips. Then she hiccuped, and every pine tree shook. One night, a mosquito flew into camp.

It was as enormous as a goose! It bit Paul on the toe. "OW!" yelled Paul, and the whole camp jumped.

Paul was not afraid of thunderstorms or grizzly bears. But that mosquito? That was another story.

Babe gave one huge moo. The mosquito zoomed off and hit a cloud. When the work was done, Paul sat down to rest.

He dragged his axe behind him. It dug a long, long ditch. That ditch is the Grand Canyon, or so they say.

Paul looked at it and said, "Oops." Paul and Babe still walk in the woods at night.

If you hear a big moo, give a wave. And hold on to your pancakes.