The Birth of Paul Bunyan - a Maine Tall Tale
Now I hear tell that Paul BunyanBunyan was born in Bangor,Bangor, Maine. It took five giant storks to deliverdeliver Paul to his parents. His first bed was a lumberlumber wagon, pulledpulled by a team of horses. His father had to drive the wagon up to the top of Maine and back wheneverwhenever he wantedwanted to rock the baby to sleep.
As a newborn,newborn, Paul Bunyan could hollar so loud he scaredd all the fish out of the rivers and streams. All the local frogs started wearinging earmuffsearmuffs so they would notwouldn't go deaf when Paul screameded for his breakfast.breakfast. His parents had to milk two dozendozen cows every morningmorning and night to keep his milk bottlebottle full and his mother had to feed him ten barrelsbarrels of porridgeporridge every two hours to keep his stomachstomach from rumblerumbling and knockinging the house down.
WithinWithin a week of his birth, Paul Bunyan could fit into his father's clothes. After three weeks, Paul rolled around so much during his nap that he destroyeded four square miles of prime timberland.timberland. His parents were at their wits' end! They decidedd to build him a raft and floateded it off the coast of Maine. When Paul turneded over, it causedd a 75 foot tidaltidal wave in the Bay of Fundy.Fundy. They had to send the BritishBritish over to Maine to wake him up. The sailors firedfired every cannoncannon they had in the fleet for sevenseven hours straight before Paul Bunyan woke from his nap! When he steppedstepped off the raft, Paul accidentallyally sank four warshipswarships and he had to scramblescramble aroundaround scoopinging sailors out of the water before they drowned.ed.
After this incident, Paul's parents decided the East was just too plumb small for him, and so the family movedmoved to Minnesota.Minnesota.
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Comprehension Clarify these words or phrases: hear tell, storks, deliver, lumber wagon, hollar, barrel, prime timberland, wits' end, tidal wave, fleet, incident, plumb small. Retell what has happened in this tall tale - who are the characters, what is the problem, how is the problem solved. List the examples of exaggeration used in this tall tale. Find the places mentioned in this tall tale, using a map of the United States. Make inferences about:
What prediction can you made about what might happen next? What question could you ask about this tall tale? Visualise these uses of descriptive language: hollar so loud; local frogs wearing earmuffs; stomach rumbling; wits' end; scramble around; scooping up sailors. Make a connection with this tall tale. What is the main idea or theme of this tall tale? What do you think the author is trying to tell us? |
Word Study Verb endings: What happens when we add s, ed or ing to: hear, drive, sleep, scare, wear, keep, feed, fit, decide, fire, wake, step, sink, scramble, decidee, move. Other affixes: What happens when we add prefixes and suffixes like al, ly, or to these words: accident, sail. What other words can you think of that end in -dge, like porridge? What two words make up these compound words: whenever, newborn, earmuffs, breakfast, timberland, warships. What two words are contracted here: wouldn't. Explain the possessive apostrophe in: wits'. |