The legends of Paul Bunyan were some of the young republic’s most famous tall tales, or exaggerated adventure stories.
First told by loggers in Wisconsin, these wild stories about the biggest, bravest, smartest lumberjack and his giant friend, Babe the Blue Ox, helped pass the time in logging camps, and they helped keep men’s minds off the dangers and loneliness of the lumberjack life. The stories were make-believe, but there was some truth in them, because after all, loggers did have to be brave and strong.
