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FunTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:07 [Music]
00:14 [Music]
00:21 [Music]
00:28 [Music]
00:35 [Music]
00:42 These are books about America.
00:46 Its history, its geography, and its heroes.
00:50 But it takes a big book like this one to tell the story of American folklore.
00:55 The tall tales about men doing big things in a big country.
00:59 Men like Captain Storm Along, Joe McGarrick, John Henry, Pagus Bill,
01:05 and the fellow who towers above them all, Paul Bunyan.
01:10 [Music]
01:13 North America was a great big land with a great big job to be done.
01:18 The job that needed a great big man, Paul Bunyan was the one.
01:23 Hey Paul, Paul Bunyan.
01:29 He's 63, axe handles high, pretty speed on the ground, and he's head in the sky.
01:34 Hey Paul, Paul Bunyan.
01:43 My name is Carol McNabb, lumberjack by trade.
01:47 Reckon I was the first person in our part of the country to see Paul Bunyan.
01:52 Our town was cut right out of the big timber on the coast of Maine.
01:56 Should have known something unusual was going to happen that night.
02:00 The southeaster come up and the wind howled so that it was going to blow our town right off the map.
02:08 Come daylight, I took a look to see what was left of the place.
02:13 I spotted an odd looking craft on the beach.
02:16 That's where the howling was coming from.
02:18 Hey Ma, what in the world do you suppose that is?
02:22 The howling roused the whole town and everybody rushed down to investigate.
02:27 Never saw anything like it.
02:29 Looks like a big cradle.
02:33 Now be careful, Carol.
02:38 [Screams]
02:42 Well I'll be hornswung.
02:44 A baby, and it's a whopper.
02:49 The whole town adopted him and named him Paul Bunyan.
02:57 Everybody pitched in to supply his needs.
03:00 They held sewing bees and knitting circles to make his clothes.
03:06 Feeding him wasn't any small job either.
03:15 I led the singing to put him to sleep at night.
03:18 One, two.
03:20 [Singing]
03:43 [Screams]
03:49 It wasn't long before Paul was big enough to go to school.
03:52 He was a bright boy and never tardy.
03:55 Good morning, Paul.
03:59 Good morning, children.
04:00 Now everyone be seated.
04:05 Will the first pupil to work the sum of five plus two rise and show the answer.
04:13 [Screams]
04:16 That is correct, Paul.
04:17 But for heaven's sake, don't raise the roof.
04:21 [Singing]
04:24 The boys would head for the swimming pool just as soon as the studies had ceased.
04:29 Come on, Paul.
04:30 And though young Paul was sometimes last, he surely never was least.
04:34 Hey, Paul, here he comes.
04:37 Paul Bunyan.
04:40 [Singing]
04:54 Come on, dive, Paul.
04:59 [Singing]
05:07 Christmas was a big event in our town.
05:10 We had our tree in the town square on account of Paul.
05:14 I handed out the presents.
05:16 You kids ready?
05:18 Well, here's something for Johnny, for Susan, and for Paul.
05:25 Here's a gift from the whole town.
05:29 A double-bladed axe.
05:33 Paul took to cutting timber like a duck takes to water.
05:40 Before long, our sawmills had enough timber to last a lifetime.
05:45 That opened plenty of new farmland.
05:48 And our town grew so fast it got to crowding Paul.
05:54 So one morning, we weren't too surprised to find a note in the square.
06:02 "And plenty a room. Love, Paul. P.S. I'll write soon."
06:08 We're gonna miss that boy.
06:10 [Music]
06:17 I am Chris Crosshall, straw boss of a logging crew in the Middle West.
06:22 I will never forget the first time I saw Paul Bunyan.
06:26 I was chopping trees one morning.
06:29 I looked up, and there stood the biggest man I ever saw.
06:34 With my double-bladed axe and my hobnail boots, I go where the timber's tall.
06:40 When there's work to be done, don't mess around. Just sing right up for Paul.
06:45 Hey, Paul! I'm coming, boys!
06:47 Paul Bunyan! Paul Bunyan!
06:50 He's sixty-three, axe handle's high, with his feet on the ground and his head in the sky.
06:56 Paul! Hey, Paul! Paul Bunyan! Paul Bunyan!
07:01 [Music]
07:05 Well, he picked up his axe and he chopped a tree clean down with his forward swing.
07:11 Got him another with his axe, slung back that timber-cutting thing.
07:16 He kept on a-choppin' the limb one day, and then when it was night,
07:21 he'd walk back over the stumps he'd cut and stomp them out of sight.
07:26 Thanks, Paul!
07:27 You're welcome.
07:28 Paul Bunyan! Paul Bunyan!
07:32 Well, sir, Paul cleared that country so quick, farmers had their crops in the first week.
07:39 So Paul headed west for the big woods and more room.
07:46 He hadn't gone far when he ran into the worst blizzard this country ever saw.
07:51 It was so cold even the snow was blue.
07:56 When Paul built a fire, the flames froze.
08:01 While he was building a second fire to melt the first one, he heard a low moo.
08:11 He looked all around, and there, under a fog bank,
08:16 he found a big ox frozen just as blue as the snow.
08:22 [Music]
08:39 Now that ox was mighty grateful for being rescued.
08:44 They hit it right off and became real pals.
08:52 Paul named him Babe.
08:55 The two of them headed west, but the storm got worse, and they got so lost.
09:04 Well, sir, they left lots of tracks behind them, and come spring, those tracks filled with water,
09:11 and this area became known as the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes.
09:16 With winter over, Paul and Babe went right to work.
09:21 They logged off north and south Dakota, dug the Missouri River to float the logs to the sawmills,
09:29 and then, so they could look the country over and see what else to do, they built Pike's Peak.
09:36 Now, that was a fair day's work, even for Paul.
09:44 So next morning, he overslept a little bit.
09:47 Babe wanted him to get up.
09:54 Hey, what's the idea, you big blue ox?
09:59 Now, watch it, watch it.
10:02 Ha ha ha ha ha, cut it out, Babe. Ha ha ha ha ha ha.
10:07 Well, one little stuff led to another.
10:17 And the first thing you know, they was roughhousing all over the country side.
10:24 Then Paul and Babe got into a big tug of war.
10:37 They piled dirt and rocks so high, it formed a range of mountains.
10:44 Today, they are called the Grand Tetons.
10:48 Well, sir, all this horseplay, I mean oxplay, made Paul and Babe kind of dirty.
10:56 So, Paul looked the country side over and got together with Babe.
11:01 And before long, he had built them a shower bath.
11:08 They went off and left it running. And today, Paul's shower bath is called Yellowstone Falls.
11:15 Short Gunderson's my name. I'm river foreman of a timber camp near the Oregon Trail.
11:24 My outfit was mighty discouraged the day Paul Bunyan arrived.
11:28 We were getting plenty of timber in the river, but we couldn't move it to the sawmills because the river was so dad-burn crooked.
11:35 Paul looked the situation over careful like.
11:38 Then he harnessed Babe with a yoke, hitched on a big anchor, and threw it in at the head of the river.
11:45 Gee up, Babe!
11:48 Well, Paul and Babe, they heaved and hauled, and the job was quickly done.
11:55 They pulled that crooked river out as straight as the barrel of a gun.
12:00 Hey, Paul! They're on their way! Paul Bunyan! Paul Bunyan!
12:06 He's sixty-three, axe-hand goes high, with his feet on the ground and his head in the sky.
12:11 Hey, Paul! Hey, Paul! Paul Bunyan! Paul Bunyan! Paul Bunyan! Paul Bunyan!
12:19 Now the country began to prosper. Yep, civilization had arrived in the great northwest, and with it came the profits of progress.
12:29 Now just move in a little closer, boys.
12:32 Yes, sirree, right in this box is the invention that's gonna revolutionize the logging business.
12:38 If you'll step over to the nearest tree, I'll demonstrate.
12:42 With my double-blade axe and my half-nailed boots, I go where the timber's tall.
12:47 Thunderation! What's that?
12:51 Yes, sir, boys. Just turn on the steam and let 'er go.
12:54 Hey there! Who are you? And what's the Sam Hill's that thing?
13:04 Me? I'm Joe the Fall, and this thing is the latest model of the handy-dandy steam saw.
13:11 Now, Bub, if you'll just step aside, I'd like to cut this tree down.
13:21 Up here we cut timber with a big axe, like this one, and we haul it with a big axe, like that one.
13:31 Look, Bub, you gotta get with the times. Become modern.
13:36 There's the latest invention for hauling timber, a steam loki.
13:41 With this steam saw and that engine, I can cut and haul more timber than you and that blue ox ever thought of.
13:51 Is that so? You with your newfangled contraptions.
13:55 You with your big axe and old foggy ways.
13:59 I'll show you what I can do with this axe.
14:01 I dare you to try it.
14:03 Looks like a toy to me.
14:05 Toy, huh? I'll show you.
14:13 There was only one way to settle it.
14:17 I was appointed judge.
14:20 This contest will last one hour.
14:23 Then I'll measure the stacks of timber and declare the winner.
14:27 You fellers ready?
14:29 Ready!
14:30 Ready!
14:32 [music]
14:52 Hey, Paul! Keep playing, Paul!
14:54 Paul Bunyan! Yeah, Paul!
14:57 Cut that timber so that it's hard to beat that city slicker now.
15:02 Hey, Paul! Get 'em, Paul!
15:04 Paul Bunyan! Yeah, Paul!
15:07 [gunshot]
15:10 The race looked dead even.
15:12 And when I went to measure the stacks, they looked dead even, too.
15:18 Well, I shinnied up Paul's stack first.
15:23 Hold the measuring chain, Todd.
15:26 For Paul, 240 feet, even.
15:31 Yeah! Hooray for Paul!
15:36 Give us a hand before you go, too.
15:39 For Joel, 240 feet...
15:46 and one quarter inch.
15:48 Paul!
15:50 Yippee!
15:54 For Paul!
15:58 For Paul Bunyan!
16:02 Yep, the machine that beaten man.
16:06 But don't you folks feel sorry for Paul and Babe?
16:09 I hear they're up Alaska way and mighty happy.
16:13 Lots of room up there, you know.
16:16 And those northern lights you see in the sky...
16:19 well, that's Paul and Babe having a lot of fun.
16:23 Oxin' around, knocking the Aurora Morialis out of the countryside.
16:29 [laughing]
16:35 Hey, Paul!
16:38 Paul Bunyan!
16:41 He's 63, axe handles high, with his feet on the ground and his head in the sky.
16:46 Hey, Paul!
16:49 Paul Bunyan!
16:54 [music]
17:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]