How did Tall Tales get started?
Settlers who made their homes in the American wilderness first told tall tales. In those days, people depended on storytelling for entertainment. After a long day’s work, people gathered to tell each other funny tales. Each group of workers—loggers, cowboys, railroad and steel workers—had its own tall-tale hero. Having a superhuman hero with the same job somehow made their lives easier. Perhaps it gave them strength or courage to do their difficult and dangerous work. For the people who worked in the logging industry cutting wood, Paul Bunyan was one of these tall tale heroes. Paul Bunyan was born in the cold, northern state of Maine. He grew very fast and soon was huge. In fact, when he was still a baby, he got too big for his house. His father build him a boat for a cradle and Paul slept in it, floating in the Atlantic Ocean. Paul’s father was a logger, or a lumberjack. He cut down trees and floated them down the river to the saw mills. Sometimes, the logs would pile up in the river
