The Legend of Paul Banyan

January 19th 2011
Wednesday

The first week after his birth, on a lumber wagon as a bed, Paul Bunyan takes a nap. But, he suddenly rolls and destroys four square miles of a significant timberland. His parents are at their wits end. Not to cause more difficulty, his parents start building a raft and put it on the coast of Maine. Every movement creates a 75 feet tidal wave. Thousands of British sailors are needed and it takes seven hours straight to wake him up. Again, while he tries to stand up, four war ships are crushed. Fortunately, Paul can save sailors whom are about to drown. Because of all misery he creates for the people and living creatures, his parents think that East is too plumb small for their child deciding to move to Minnesota.

Paul Bunyan is a legend in Canadian and United States folklore. He is gigantic and extremely strong. Everything that he chooses to have grows in big proportions like his blue massive bull which he calls him Babe the Blue Ox. He does impossible things. Grand Canyon, Puget Sound, St. Lawrence River and many other natural things are created by him. These unrealistic stories provoke this question; where do they come from?

In fact, these stories originate from Papineau rebellion of 1837. A muscular brave ordinary lumberjack fought fiercely against young English Queen in Saint-Eustache, Quebec, Canada. He could murder many British soldiers and became a chief of a logging camp. Then, people started making up some stories about him. Some also added some new details to previous stories. Such stories are called “Tall tales”.

According to folklorists, Paul Bunyan was not a folk hero. Rather he was the intentional creation of journalists and advertisers who wanted to promote lumber industry. So, instead of calling it folklore, they think such stories are “Fakelore.”

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Comments

Nafis January 21, 2011 13:23

Dear Nida, I'm so glad you liked it. Since you, Zahra , Monika and Martin like such stories, I will write more about it. I found some great stories which are so meaningful and delicate.
Nafis January 21, 2011 13:22

Dear Zahra, I'm so glad you find the blog informative. I also like such stories and they are so nice and show people's beliefs and ideas. There are a lot of great stories about Canada and I will tell you more since you like it. They are very nice and meaningful.
Nafis January 21, 2011 13:20

Dear Monika, thank you so much for reading the blog and thanks for your encouragement. I'm glad you liked it.
nida January 20, 2011 20:57

Wonderful!

Thanks Nafis for sharing this tall tale with us. It was really interesting and I enjoyed it a lot. Actually I always like to read such stories.
Zahra January 20, 2011 20:52

Very interesting information ! Thanks dear Nafis for sharing with us.

I learned lots of new things from this post. I'd never heard of such a legend.

Meanwhile I learned lots of new vocabulary and expressions such as, lumberjack, to be at one's wits' end, logger, fakelore, etc.

I agree with Monika; it's good to have such blog posts like yours where we can find historical and real facts. We can become familiar with other cultures, too.

Thanks a million for sharing with us.

Have a beautiful time

:)
Monika January 20, 2011 17:05

To tell the truth,I didn't really know,who he was,I've just heard of Benjamin Britten's operetta,composed with the same title.

Thanks to you I'm "enlightened" now.

I think it is a good idea to write some historical based blogs sometimes,it is so interesting,and I'm eager to learn more about American and Canadian history and legends,etc.

Thank you Nafis:)
Nafis January 20, 2011 14:18

Dear Monika, did you know him before?
Monika January 20, 2011 14:13

Thanks for sharing the story of Paul Banyan here,Nafis,I learnt something new about him:)
Nafis January 20, 2011 13:15

Thanks a lot dear Martin. Glad you liked it..

This reply was deleted.