Paul Bunyan
Paul Bunyan is a mythical lumberjack in tall tales.
A lumberjack of huge size and strength, Paul Bunyan is an old folkloric character in the American psyche. It is said that he and his blue ox, Babe, were so large their footsteps created Minnesota's ten thousand lakes. Babe measured 42 axe handles and a plug of chewing tobacco between his horns. He was found during the winter of the blue snow; his mate was Bessie, the Yaller Cow.
Like many myths, this explains a physical phenomenon. Bunyan's birth was strange, as are the births of many mythic heroes, as it took seventeen storks to carry the infant (ordinarily, one stork could carry several babies and drop them off at their parents' home). Paul and Babe dug the Grand Canyon by dragging his axe behind him. He is a classic American "big man" who was popular in 19th century America as an exemplar of a minority group.
The myth of Paul Bunyan can be traced back to James MacGillivray, a reporter for the Detroit News. He collected the stories from actual lumberjacks, and began disseminating the legend with the July 24, 1910 printing of Bemidji, Minnesota and Del Norte County, California. Statues of Bunyan exist in Bangor, Maine; Brainerd, Minnesota; Shelton, Washington; and Portland, Oregon. Bunyan is depicted on the world's largest wood carving, at the entrance to Sequoia National Park in California. There is a group called the Mystic Knights of the Blue Ox in Bayfield, Wisconsin.
Paul Bunyan has at least four towns vying for being considered his home: the abovementioned Bemidji, Brainerd, and Shelton; and Westwood, California.
Other Big Men
See also
