Do you recognize these characters and the story that goes with em? Do you think of Paul and Babe as real, or do you think Paul Bunyan stories are probably the origin of the term "tall tale"? Can you listen to one with a straight face, and do you have a favorite story?
My dad, Mike Hesch, was famous for his ability to tell a "story". Some of his favorites were re-told after his funeral, in March 1980, and it was hard to tell what the tears were from at that point. Dad loved making people laugh.
When we were kids, he told us his own tall tales about
der große schwarze Bär. We never translated that name, we just knew he was a huge bear who did a lot of the same things Paul Bunyan did, only with a twist--the Grosse Schwarze Bear usually won somehow, or bested an opponent with cleverness or even deceit.
We thought he was wonderful, of course! We heard our share of Paul Bunyan stories, too, but they'd often kinda blend into GSB stories...lol
This all came back to mind this morning when Larry found
The Marvelous Exploits of Paul Bunyan online, printed by a lumber company in 1922 and "published for the amusement of our friends". It reminded us both of a Paul Hesch we'd found in Brainerd. He played Paul Bunyan in the 50s at the Brainerd summer festival, and really looked the part. See if you can tell these men apart:
☺ ♥ ☺ ♥ ☺
Added later: Our second cousin Julie gave me this publicity photo/postcard of Paul in Brainerd--I think I like that ▲ one better...Whew!
"One of my patients (whose family has MN connections) told me that his great aunt Esther Shephard wrote the original Paul Bunyan book in the 20's. It was reissued in 2006. All the original illustrations are found in the book as well".
