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00:00 [THEME MUSIC]
00:03 [THEME MUSIC]
00:06 [THEME MUSIC]
00:10 [BUZZER]
00:11 [THEME MUSIC]
00:15 [THEME MUSIC]
00:43 These are books about America, its history, its geography,
00:48 and its heroes.
00:50 But it takes a big book like this one
00:52 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,
01:04 Pagus Bill, and the fellow who towers above them all,
01:08 Paul Bunyan.
01:09 [MUSIC - "NORTH AMERICA"]
01:12 North America was a great big land
01:15 with a great big job to be done.
01:18 A job that needed a great big man.
01:20 Paul Bunyan was the one.
01:23 Hey, Paul.
01:24 Hey, Paul.
01:25 Paul Bunyan.
01:27 Paul Bunyan.
01:28 He's 63, axe handles high, with his feet on the ground,
01:33 and his head in the sky.
01:34 Hey, Paul.
01:35 Hey, Paul.
01:36 Paul Bunyan.
01:37 Paul Bunyan.
01:39 Paul Bunyan.
01:42 My name is Carol McNabb, lumberjack by trade.
01:47 Reckon I was the first person in our part of the country
01:49 to see Paul Bunyan.
01:52 Our town was cut right out of the big timber
01:54 on the coast of Maine.
01:56 Should have known something unusual
01:58 was going to happen that night.
01:59 A sow Easter come up, and the wind howled so,
02:02 thought it was going to blow our town right off the map.
02:05 Come daylight, I took a look to see what was left of the place.
02:10 [HOWLING]
02:12 I spotted an odd looking craft on the beach.
02:15 That's where the howling was coming from.
02:18 Hey, Ma, what in the world do you suppose that is?
02:21 The howling roused the whole town,
02:23 and everybody rushed down to investigate.
02:26 Never saw anything like it.
02:28 Looks like a big cradle.
02:29 Now, be careful, Cal.
02:34 [SCREAMING]
02:40 Well, I'll be hornswoggled.
02:43 A baby, and it's a whopper.
02:45 The whole town adopted him and named him Paul Bunyan.
02:55 Everybody pitched in to supply his needs.
02:58 They held sowing bees and knitting circles
03:01 to make his clothes.
03:04 Feeding him wasn't any small job either.
03:07 [MUSIC PLAYING]
03:10 I led the singing to put him to sleep at night.
03:15 One, two.
03:17 (SINGING) Good night.
03:19 Sleep tight, Paul Bunyan.
03:23 Paul Bunyan.
03:24 You're only 10x handles high, but you get bigger by and by.
03:31 Good night.
03:33 Good night.
03:34 Good night.
03:37 Paul Bunyan.
03:39 Paul Bunyan.
03:42 [SCREAMING]
03:45 It wasn't long before Paul was big enough to go to school.
03:52 He was a bright boy and never tardy.
03:54 Good morning, Paul.
03:55 Good morning, children.
04:00 Everyone be seated.
04:03 [FART]
04:05 Will the first pupil to work the sum of 5 plus 2
04:08 rise and show the answer?
04:12 [FART]
04:13 Eek!
04:15 That is correct, Paul.
04:17 But for heaven's sake, don't raise the roof.
04:21 School's out!
04:22 School's out!
04:23 Yay!
04:24 (SINGING) The boys would head for the swimming pool
04:26 just as soon as the studies had ceased.
04:28 Good morning, Paul.
04:29 Though young Paul was sometimes last,
04:32 he surely never was least.
04:34 Hey, Paul!
04:35 Here he comes!
04:37 Paul Bunyan!
04:39 Though he loved to swim, what a time he had.
04:42 What a problem he-- oh, my.
04:44 [SPLASH]
04:47 When his front was in the water, oh, his back was high and dry.
04:53 How about a dive, Paul?
04:58 Hey, Paul!
05:00 Hey, Paul!
05:01 Paul Bunyan!
05:03 Paul Bunyan!
05:04 Christmas was a big event in our town.
05:09 We had our tree in the town square on account of Paul.
05:13 I handed out the presents.
05:15 You kids ready?
05:17 Well, here's something for Johnny, for Susan, and for Paul.
05:22 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:24 Here's a gift from the whole town.
05:27 A double-bladed axe.
05:29 Paul took to cutting timber like a duck takes to water.
05:35 Before long, our sawmills had enough timber to last a lifetime.
05:43 That opened plenty of new farmland.
05:46 And our town grew so fast it got to crowding Paul.
05:52 So one morning, we weren't too surprised to find a note in the square.
05:57 "And plenty of room. Love, Paul. P.S. I'll write soon."
06:06 We're going to miss that boy.
06:08 [MUSIC PLAYING]
06:10 I am Chris Crosshall, straw boss of a logging crew in the Middle West.
06:20 I will never forget the first time I saw Paul Bunyan.
06:24 I was chopping trees one morning.
06:26 I looked up, and there stood the biggest man I ever saw.
06:31 With my double-bladed axe and my hobnail boots, I go where the timber's tall.
06:37 When there's work to be done, don't mess around.
06:40 Just sing right out for Paul.
06:42 Hey, Paul!
06:43 I'm coming, boys!
06:44 Paul Bunyan!
06:46 Paul Bunyan!
06:47 Paul Bunyan!
06:50 He's 63, axe handle's high, with his feet on the ground and his head in the sky.
06:55 Hey, Paul!
06:56 Hey, Paul!
06:57 Paul Bunyan!
06:59 Paul Bunyan!
07:00 Well, he picked up his axe and he chopped a tree clean down with his forward swing.
07:10 Got him another with his axe, long back, that timber-cutting thing.
07:15 He kept on a-choppin' the limb one day, and then when it was night,
07:20 he'd walk back over the stumps he'd cut and stomp them out of sight.
07:25 Thanks, Paul!
07:26 What?
07:27 Nothing!
07:28 Paul Bunyan!
07:29 Paul Bunyan!
07:31 Well, sir, Paul cleared that country so quick,
07:35 farmers had their crops in the first week.
07:38 So Paul headed west for the big woods and more room.
07:45 He hadn't gone far when he ran into the worst blizzard this country ever saw.
07:50 It was so cold, even the snow was blue.
07:54 When Paul built a fire, the flames froze.
07:59 While he was building a second fire to melt the first one, he heard a low moo.
08:10 He looked all around, and there, under a fog bank,
08:15 he found a big ox, frozen just as blue as the snow.
08:38 Now that ox was mighty grateful for being rescued.
08:42 They hit it right off and became real pals.
08:50 Paul named him Babe.
08:53 The two of them headed west, but the storm got worse, and they got so lost.
09:03 Well, sir, they left lots of tracks behind them, and come spring,
09:08 those tracks filled with water, and this area became known as the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes.
09:15 With winter over, Paul and Babe went right to work.
09:20 They logged off north and south Dakota,
09:23 dug the Missouri River to float the logs to the sawmills,
09:27 and then, so they could look the country over and see what else to do,
09:33 they built Pike's Peak.
09:35 Now, that was a fair day's work, even for Paul.
09:43 So next morning, he overslept a little bit.
09:46 Babe wanted him to get up.
09:49 Hey! What's the idea, you big blue ox?
09:58 Now, watch it, watch it!
10:02 Cut it out, Babe!
10:05 Well, one little stuff led to another.
10:10 And the first thing you know, they was roughhousing all over the country side.
10:22 [horse neighing]
10:25 [laughing]
10:28 Then, Paul and Babe got into a big tug of war.
10:35 They piled dirt and rocks so high, it formed a range of mountains.
10:42 Today, they are called the Grand Tetons.
10:47 Well, sir, all this horseplay, I mean oxplay, made Paul and Babe kind of dirty.
10:55 So, Paul looked the country side over and got together with Babe.
11:00 And before long, he had built them a shower bath.
11:04 They went off and left it running.
11:09 And today, Paul's shower bath is called Yellowstone Falls.
11:14 [music]
11:17 Short Gunderson's my name. I'm river foreman of a timber camp near the Oregon Trail.
11:23 My outfit was mighty discouraged the day Paul Bunyan arrived.
11:27 We were getting plenty of timber in the river, but we couldn't move it to the sawmills because the river was so darn burned crooked.
11:34 Paul looked the situation over careful like.
11:37 Then he harnessed Babe with a yoke, hitched on a big anchor, and threw it in at the head of the river.
11:44 [yelling]
11:47 [music]
11:49 Well, Paul and Babe, they heaved and hauled, and the job was quickly done.
11:54 They pulled that crooked river out as straight as the barrel of a gun.
11:59 Hey, Paul!
12:00 They're on their way!
12:02 Paul Bunyan! Paul Bunyan!
12:05 He's 63, axe handles high, with his feet on the ground and his head in the sky.
12:10 Hey, Paul!
12:12 Paul Bunyan! Paul Bunyan! Paul Bunyan!
12:18 [music]
12:20 Now the country began to prosper.
12:22 Yep, civilization had arrived in the great northwest, and with it came the prophets of progress.
12:29 Now just move in a little closer, boys.
12:31 Yes, sirree, right in this box is the invention that's going to revolutionize the logging business.
12:38 If you'll step over to the nearest tree, I'll demonstrate.
12:41 With my double-blade axe and my half-nailed boots, I go where the timbers talk.
12:47 Tunderation! What's that?
12:50 Yes, sir, boys. Just turn on the steam and let 'er go.
12:54 [steam engine]
12:59 Hey there! Who are you? And what the Sam Hill's that thing?
13:04 Me? I'm Joe Maffaw, and this thing is the latest model of the handy-dandy steam saw.
13:10 Now, Bub, if you'll just step aside, I'd like to cut this tree down.
13:15 [steam engine]
13:20 [coughing]
13:23 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.
13:35 There's the latest invention for hauling timber, a steam loki.
13:40 [steam engine]
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.
13:50 Huh! Is that so? You with your newfangled contraptions.
13:55 You with your big axe and old foggy way.
13:58 I'll show you what I can do with this axe.
14:01 I dare you to try it.
14:02 Ha! Looks like a toy to me.
14:04 Toy, huh? I'll show you.
14:07 [steam engine]
14:12 There was only one way to settle it.
14:16 I was appointed judge. This contest will last one hour.
14:21 Then I'll measure the stacks of timber and declare the winner.
14:25 You fellas ready?
14:27 Ready!
14:29 Ready!
14:30 [gunshot]
14:31 [steam engine]
14:44 [music]
14:51 [music]
15:09 The race looked dead even. When I went to measure the stacks, they looked dead even too.
15:17 Well, I shinnied up Paul's stack first.
15:22 Pull the measuring chain, Todd.
15:25 For Paul, 240 feet. Even.
15:30 Yay! Hooray for Paul!
15:35 There was a half, 240, I think.
15:39 For Joe, 240 feet.
15:45 And one quarter inch.
15:47 Oh!
15:49 Yippee!
15:53 For Paul! For Paul Bunyan!
16:01 Yep. The machine that beaten man.
16:05 But don't you folks feel sorry for Paul and Babe.
16:08 I hear they're up Alaska way and mighty happy.
16:12 Lots of room up there, you know.
16:14 And those northern lights you see in the sky, well, that's Paul and Babe having a lot of fun.
16:22 Oxing around, knocking the aurora borealis out of the countryside.
16:28 [laughing]
16:34 [music]
16:35 Hey Paul! Paul Bunyan!
16:40 He's 63, axe handles high, with his feet on the ground and his head in the sky.
16:45 Hey Paul! Paul Bunyan!
16:53 [music]
16:59 [BLANK_AUDIO]