Mighty Men of American folklore - Paul Bunyan

" Well he rode throught the woods on his big blue ox , he had fists as large as chopping blocks at 500 pounds and NINE feet tall...that's PAUL "

That's the way the song went that country music legend Bobby Bear wrote. My Dad used to play that song on Sunday mornings to wake the kids up early so we'd get up and get ready for church. Mom would have pancakes ready or oatmeal and my Dad would be walking around singing along...." Talk about women the man is so lusty he needs a woman every hour just to keep from getting rusty , Talk about drinking the man is so mean he never drank nothing but kerosene a 5 gallon can and that aint all...for Paul "

Well there are many tales and stories surrounding Paul Bunyan about his size and logging and lumberjacking skills as he could swing his giant axe and take down a dozen trees in one fell swoop. Some stories he's a giant and he can tear out trees like weeding in a garden. Nobody ever really mentioned just how big Paul was except Bobby Bear.

He'd take a stack of flapjacks and swallow it in one bite. He had a pet named Babe...Babe was a giant blue ox...the only creature on earth who could give him a run for his money in a friendly wrestling match. He'd take on entire logging camps and swat away 2 dozen men in one smack nobody could take him down. He was a Mighty mighty giant of a man.

As Bobby's song went... Paul one day decided he did not want to live anymore " I'm gonna lay right down and die! " because he'd seen everything and done it all and this world was no longer exciting for him and he wanted to see what the DEVIL had going on down in HELL. SO he dug himself a giant hole and drank 25 gallons of kerosene and instructed his pals to bury him in as he willed himself to die. " So late one night when you hear a ghostly wail like someone chopping on the Devil's tail...that's Paul !"
Well as it turns out Paul got bored in HELL too...he burst out of the ground some weeks later where his friends buried him and called on Babe who came running and the two of them waltzed off in the mountains never to be seen or heard from again. Well he's still out there folks.

This tale like so many others was inspired by a real man too. A man named Paul BonJean...a French Canadian a giant of a man who really existed in themid to late 1800's. Paul was almost as true to the legend as anyone can be. He drank moonshine whiskey he made himself that was so strong nobody else could touch it...it was used sometimes instead of kerosene. He loved women too...he wenched and whored and had sired many a bastard child up in them there woods. He loved to fight too...six , 8 , 12 men could not bring him down but he fought for fun and recreation he never hurt anybody he just like to toss people around and laugh heartily while swigging moonshine from an oversized jug in one hand while dispatching opponents with the other. Sounds like enough to start a legend around. One day he had enough with the toying around of his lesser opponents and saw an ox in someones field...he charged it head on and wrestled that ox bringing it to the ground... got him good too as he was thrown in the air and tossed about like he'd never been tossed around by anything ever before. Wrestling the ox became a daily routine as the ox was the only competition he ever had. He was a champion logger and a big drinker and yes he loved his women. He'd done it all and had all the people in town hail and regard him as a hero of heroes. Then one day...he came walking down the street with that ox...on a leash. Thus...was a legend born.

Now I see a few comparisons here...to HERCULES. The BULL of MINOS...WOMEN , WRESTLING , DRINKING a fun loving HELL RAISER. If this story is true and the legend and myth were created around a real guy like this...I believe it. Paul Bunyan...SON OF HERCULES!

Mighty Men of American folklore - John Henry

Mighty Men of American folklore - John Henry

I'm just going to go with my heart here. I have always been fascinated with tales of the Mighty and Giant like powerful Heroes of American folk lore. John Henry the steel drivin' man was one of them. This Myth may be based on a real individual or it may not be. I'll leave you to determine this for yourselves.

Back in the olden days when Rail road crews were laying track across the land men had to carve out moutains by hand. Crews and crews of men with pick axes and sledge hammers would dig and dig out mountains and tunnels for the railroad until one day some dude come along and he got a steam engine pile driving machine and he wants to make things easier on men and leave all the smashing and crashing to his machine. But this is going to put men out of work and a lot of guys are simply none too happy with the prospect of losing their job. SO...in a challenge the DRIVERS ( That's what the men were called that did all the sledge and axe work ) put their biggest and mightiest and strongest DRIVER up to the task of banging out a tunnel in a race of MAN vs MACHINE !

With nothing but a hammer in each hand JOHN HENRY showed up to work that day ready to rip into a mountain. The race was on as the Steam driven pile driving modified locomotive and the Mighty JOHN HENRY the STEEL DRIVING MAN went toe to toe. The story goes...JOHN HENRY beat that steam engine that day but...he then expired and died collapsing while holding onto both his hammers in his blistered and bloody fists. The starin was just too much for him as he was more than likely dehydrated exhausted and probably had several broken blood vessels in his heart and brain from exerting his mighty muscles for so long a period of time while facing off against the MACHINE. Just the story alone is amazing. Can a man actually triumph is such a fashion?

It's been said that according to legend the myth was derived from an actual living breathing person. This man was a convicted criminal and put to work on the railroad as part of his penalty. But his hard work and mighty frame had people in awe as he wielded two hammers to do his work just like the legend says. So much so that a legend was built around him. The John Henry of myth was a former slave who had gotten work at the railroad because of his size and strength. There are stories and films and songs about him and you can look up all the particulars on the web if you're so inspired. But Mighty men like this....I do believe did and do exist. This legend is a truly inspired one in that it encompasses all the elements of a trail of HERCULES ~ JOHN HENRY ...a MIGHTY SON OF HERCULES!