Today is American Folklore Day! To celebrate this special folklore day the tale of Paul Bunyan and the Frozen Flames comes to mind.
Paul Bunyan was a larger than life folklore hero who had a gigantic blue ox named ‘Babe.’ Journalists of the day in 1910 would post stories of him in the newspapers.
He represented the hardworking lumberjacks of Michigan.
One cold and frosty winter, Paul Bunyan dug out a large drinking hole we now call Lake Michigan for his blue ox he called ‘Babe.’
After travelling a fair bit, Paul reached the Upper Peninsula where he settled in at a logging camp for the night. The temperature plumeted over night to a brutal cold temperature of 68 degrees below zero! The camp thermometer measured each degree sixteen inches long, freezing the lantern flames to ice. The lumberjacks and Paul Buyan couldn’t blow out the flames because they were too big.
Not wishing to disturb anyone with too much light at night, the tired lumberjacks placed their lanterns a ways from their camp. Unfortunately, they clean forgot about their lanterns, so when the thaw arrived in the early spring, the flames of the lanterns melted and aflamed again!
They had to wake up the monster of a man Paul Bunyan to stomp out with his big boots the flames that set the whole North Michigan on fire!
Val is a writer of enchanted tales, folklore and magic. Once chased by Vampire Pumpkins! 