BABE
A tale that’s anything but blue.
You can’t talk about Paul Bunyan without his trusty sidekick and confidante, Babe. Legend has it that Paul stumbled upon baby Babe stuck in a snow drift during a frigid Minnesota (or Michigan or Maine or Wisconsin or Nova Scotia) winter. He took the teeny ox home, fed him and warmed him up, but Babe kept his newfound hue—because as we all know, snow is, and stains you, blue. Babe stayed with his adopted companion and grew with his legend.
As with Paul’s monolithic stature, the accounts of Babe’s size are often far-fetched and inconsistent. Some say 42 axe handles could fit between his eyes (as was the preferred means of measurement at the time). Some say it took a murder of crows a full day to fly between his horns (as was the preferred means of chronology and crow grouping at the time). But that’s not all! Babe was responsible for flowing the Mississippi river, stomping around Minnesota creating its 10,000 lakes, logging the Dakotas, and in real life, helped the town of Bemidji, Minnesota, out of the Great Depression through clever tourism marketing.
Babe is synonymous with the folklore of pretty much every woodsy area of the country from Portland to Duluth to Bangor and beyond, with towns debating over his true origins and ownership. Early writings of Paul Bunyan overlap narratively, from chronicles by the Duluth News, J.E. Rockwell, James MacGillivary, W.D. Harrigton, Stewart and Watt, and William Laughead. Each imbellished tales in their own way, cribbing from others and snowballing the lore. For instance, not all note Paul and Babe’s gigantism; not all mention logging; not all even mention Babe! Harrington, for instance, gave Bunyon a pink ox named Old Brinny, which we can all agree sucks.
Despite the tangled tales, Babe has made a truly lasting impression on Americana, with countless statues, landmarks, Disney films, comic books, literature, merchandise and more featuring his iconic image. It’s this affectionate appropriation, this enthusiastic yes-anding that has only made the legend grow. We all know Babe. And even though we might not all see the same color blue, we have agreed on what that general blue is—whether a particular version is ersatz or exceptional. Like all tall tales, we agree on the gestalt of him. The whole, mighty blue ox is greater than the sum of his many, many parts.
See you out there.
