The Legend of Baby Bunyan

The Rocky Mountains breed tough people.  It's a hard life, trying to tame the frontier.

In so much wilderness, a baby is bound to be pretty wild, too.

In a bare little cabin, deep in the woods, a child was born.  His parents have him an ax and an ox named Blue.

The day after he was born, Baby Bunyan, and Blue the ox ate a breakfast of 20 eggs, a pound of oatmeal and a gallon of milk. 

Later that morning, Baby Bunyan sharpened the blade on his ax.  "Time to get some work done.  I bet I can clear this valley in a day or two."

"This is a good place to start."  And in a minute or two, he'd chopped the tree to a pile of firewood.

He trued up this blade again.

"Another good tree."  And Baby Bunyan chopped it down in just another minute.

Seeing his ax still looked sharp, he chopped down a few more.

"I could do this all day.  What do you think, Blue?"  Blue lowed, happily.

Before the morning was gone, he'd felled a dozen trees. 

And had enough firewood to last into next winter.  

The next day, Baby Bunyan had an idea for a big project.

"Come on, Blue, let's get some good wood to build a raised bed for a garden.  My mom is going to need to grow a lot of food.  I'm getting bigger everyday!"

He sharpened his ax.

Baby Bunyan and Babe hunted the forest for the tallest trees.  "Thesr look like good oned," he said when he saw a stand of hundred year old pines, as tall as mountains.

The two of them made quick work of it, cutting the trees into long logs.

"I think we have enough logs.  Blue, do you think you can haul them into place?"

Blue bellowed, which Baby Bunyan took to mean agreement.

"I'll get this log harnessed.  Then, when I say 'Pull', you pull.  I'll help, too.  Okay, Blue?"  

Blue lowed, and settled got ready to dig in his heels.

"Ready?  Pull!!"

Blue pulled.  Baby Bunyan heaved. 

"That's it, Blue!  We're doing it!"

They spent the day moving logs made from the huge pines, forming a large square. 

"Good job, Blue!  That's the last one," he said, as Blue slid the giant log into place.

"Mom is going to be so excited."

After a long week's worth of work, Baby Bunyan and Blue took a rest. "We did a good job. Didn't we, Blue?"  The ox grunted, and bumped happily into Baby Bunyan's leg.

 After drinking a gallon of apple juice, they sat on the porch of that cabin, sang songs, and enjoyed telling stories back and forth

The End.