Paul Bunyan (film)

Did You Know?

• The short was inspired after Walt Disney met with Les Kangas of Paul Bunyan Productions.
• Supporting animator on the project included Lee Hartman.
• DTV sets clips of the short to Annette Funicello's Tall Paul and it is featured in an episode of Sing Me a Story with Belle.

Plot

After a violent windstorm on the coast of Maine, lumberjack Cal McNab discovers a giant cradle washed ashore containing a giant baby boy. The lumbering town adopts the child and names him Paul Bunyan. One Christmas, the townspeople give Paul a double-bladed axe, which he uses to chop down timber. His work clears land for the town's expansion, but Paul becomes too large for the settlement and decides to move out west.

In the Midwest, Paul continues clearing land for farmers. During a fierce blizzard, he rescues a giant ox that had been flash-frozen and turned blue from the cold; Paul adopts the ox and names him Babe. Paul clears trees from North Dakota and South Dakota, digs the Missouri River to float logs downstream, builds Pike's Peak as a lookout, creates the Grand Tetons while playing roughly with Babe, and makes Yellowstone Falls as a shower bath. Paul's efforts open the American west to trade.

A salesman named Joe Muffaw urges the loggers to modernize by using steam-powered chainsaws and a steam train, arguing that his machines can outperform Paul and Babe. The two men hold a tournament to see who can create the highest pile of lumber. Paul and Babe walk off into the sunset, never to return. One man records the legend for posterity, and some say the Aurora Borealis is Paul and Babe playfully wrestling in the snow.