Tall Tales From The Land Of Tall Timber

A collection of tall tales about the giant logger and Babe, his blue ox.

Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for Caxton Press Told on winter nights around bunkhouse stoves the tall tales of Paul Bunyan and his mighty blue ox Babe, have become part of the American myths known as tall tales. Read how Paul Bunyan digs out Puget Sound, Babe drinks the Grand Coulee river dry, and other tales that have made Paul Bunyan and Babe famous.

Life for most people is a stiff challenge. Seldom indeed are good jobs handed to one on a platter. You typically, train, study, and learn to pursue a path to perfection. When tackling the job of a Montana timber faller, I jumped in with both feet on the first day. This was truly a situation of live and learn as you go. I was blessed beyond belief to make it through each and every week. By keeping my nose to the grindstone and my eyes ever vigilant on my surroundings, I was able to survive countless encounters that were destined to cripple my career. In the end, I am still alive and smiling. Someone is surely watching over me.

The perfect addition to every family’s home library and just right for sharing aloud, American Tall Tales introduces readers to America’s first folk heroes in nine wildly exaggerated and downright funny stories. Here are Paul Bunyan, that king-sized lumberjack who could fell “ten white pines with a single swing”; John Henry, with his mighty hammer; Mose, old New York’s biggest, bravest fireman; Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind, who could “outgrin, outsnort, outrun, outlift, outsneeze, outsleep, outlie any varmint”; and other uniquely American characters, together in one superb collection. In the tradition of the original nineteenth-century storytellers, Mary Pope Osborne compiles, edits, and adds her own two cents’ worth—and also supplies fascinating historical headnotes. Michael McCurdy’s robust colored wood engravings recall an earlier time, perfectly capturing all the vitality of the men and women who carved a new country out of the North American wilderness.

Tall Timber Tales: Yarns and Accounts from the Backwoods- is a collection of short stories set in southwestern Oregon and the upper fringes of northwest California. Each narrative speaks to some element of life in timber dependent communities-at times, dying communities. The tales cover a span of several decades, from the early 1950s to present day, and are arranged to impart an understanding of time, mood and place. An included glossary hopes to acquaint the reader with the vernacular of the woods-logging terms and expressions commonly used by the folks who live there-along with regional dialects and colloquialisms peculiar to the area.