Paul Bunyan

Some people say that Paul Bunyan wasn't much taller than an ordinary house. Others say he must have been a lot taller to do all the things he did, like sticking trees into his pockets and blowing birds out of the air when he sneezed. Even when he was a baby, up in Maine, he was so big he knocked down a mile of trees just by rolling over in his sleep.

Paul liked to flash a sky-bright axe over his head. He loved the smell of wood when it was cut and the look of its sap gleaming like honey. He didn't chop trees down in any ordinary way. With four strokes he would lop all the limbs and bark off a tree, making it a tall, square post. After he had squared up miles of forest in a half-hour, he would take an axe head and tie a long rope to it. Then he would stand straddle-legged and swing the axe in a wide circle, yelling, "TIMBER-R-R-R!" With every swing and every yell, a hundred trees would come whooshing down.

Paul and Babe, the blue ox, logged all over the timber country from Maine to Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Paul hired many men to help him. These luberjacks liked Paul Bunyan, because he was always good to them and made sure that they had plenty of food.

The lumber crews like pancakes the best...