Американдық халық ертегісі – Пол Баньян және көк мүкірі Баб

Giant lumberjack in American folklore

Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack and folk hero in American and Canadian folklore. His tall tales revolve around his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox, his pet and working animal. The character originated in the oral tradition of North American loggers, He has been the subject of various literary compositions, musical pieces, commercial works, and theatrical productions.

There are many hypotheses about the etymology of the name Paul Bunyan. Much of the commentary focuses on a French Canadian origin for the name. Phonetically, Bunyan is similar to the Québécois expression "bon yenne!" expressing surprise or astonishment. The English surname Bunyan is derived from the same root as "bunion" in the Old French bugne, referring to a large lump or swelling. Several researchers have attempted to trace Paul Bunyan to the character of Bon Jean of French Canadian folklore.

K. Bernice Stewart, a student at the University of Wisconsin, was working contemporaneously with Laughead to gather Paul Bunyan stories from woodsmen in the Midwest. Stewart was able to make a scholarly anthology of original anecdotes through a series of interviews. He published these anecdotes in short pamphlet format for the use of students of folklore. Much of his research was financed through the government funded Wisconsin Writers' Program. (in Laughead's version, Paul Bunyan towers over trees, while in the earlier folktales Bunyan had been extraordinarily tall and strong, but of human proportions). Laughead attributes the creation of several American landscapes, landmarks and natural wonders to Paul Bunyan. by their footprints. Later writers made up more details and exploits, such as the creation of bodies of water including Lake Bemidji (which has a shape somewhat resembling a giant footprint when viewed from above). Later authors, and possibly tourist agents, would add other geographic features to those Paul Bunyan was supposed to have created. Stories about Bunyan credited him with creating the Grand Canyon by pulling his ax behind him, and Mount Hood by putting stones on his campfire. In 1958, Walt Disney Studios produced Paul Bunyan as an animated short musical. In it, Paul competes with his axe in a tree chopping contest against a steam powered mechanical saw. The feature starred Thurl Ravenscroft, perhaps best known as the voice of Tony the Tiger for The Kellogg Company, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. "Three Tall Tales", a 1963 episode of The Magical World of Disney, is an animated three part anthology. The third part is the tale of Paul Bunyan. In the 1995 Disney film Tall Tale, Paul Bunyan is played by Oliver Platt. Contrary to the usual image of Bunyan's gigantism, Platt's Paul is depicted as a man of average height, but compensated with a "larger than life" personality consistent with the film's "over the top" nature. In 2007, Marybeth Lorbiekci and Renée Graef married Paul to Lucette Diana Kensack, a giant Meti woman who teaches Paul to be a forester, replanting the forest after logging, in Paul Bunyan's Sweetheart. In 2017, an animated film based loosely on the folktale titled Bunyan and Babe was released, starring John Goodman as Paul Bunyan.

Commentators such as Carleton C. Ames, Marshall Fitwick, and particularly Richard Dorson cite Paul Bunyan as an example of "fakelore", a literary invention passed off as an older folktale. They point out that the majority of books about Paul Bunyan are composed almost entirely of elements with no basis in folklore, especially those targeted at juvenile audiences. Modern commercial writers are credited with setting Paul Bunyan on his rise to a nationally recognized figure, but this ignores the historical roots of the character in logging camps and forest industries. From 1865 to 1875, Fournier worked for the H. M. Loud Company in the Grayling, Michigan area. and this is occasionally repeated in other accounts. Stewart and Watt acknowledge that they have not yet succeeded in definitively finding out whether Bunyan was based on an actual person or was wholly mythical. They have noted, however, that some of the older lumberjacks whom they interviewed claimed to have known him or members of his crew, and the supposed location of his grave was actually pointed out in northern Minnesota. Throughout the better part of the 20th century, Paul Bunyan's name and image continued to be used to promote various products, cities, and services. Across North America, giant statues of Paul Bunyan were erected to promote local businesses and tourism. A significant portion of these were produced from the 1960s through the 1970s by the company International Fiberglass as part of their "muffler man" series of giant fiberglass sculptures. Many cities through which the trail passes sell Paul Bunyan trinkets and novelty items. The Bemidji Blue Ox Marathon (started in 2013) runs along the Paul Bunyan State Trail, around Lake Bemidji and past the Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox statues. The Bemidji statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe, the blue ox, appear in the Fargo television series. His statue is also briefly shown in the film Fargo from 1996. The statue of Paul Bunyan located in Bangor, Maine is regularly mentioned in the novel It by Stephen King.