“_Eh, Bébé!_” he chuckled. “_Eh, Bébé! Sacre bleu! Bon bleu, mon
cher!_” Bébé raised his eyelids with astonishment upon hearing this
cave-shaking chuckle, revealing large, bulging orbs which were of even
a heavenlier blue than his silken hair. Such affection and intelligence
shone in his eyes that Paul Bunyon wished he would keep his eyes
opened. But Bébé was weary and weak, and he closed them again.
He is hungry, thought Paul Bunyon; and he went out to find him food.
None of the animals he knew about could supply milk for such a calf as
this blue Bébé. But he was newborn and his parents should be somewhere
in the neighborhood. Paul Bunyon stepped up on the cliff over which
Bébé had bounced when he fell into Tonnere Bay. From here a wide swath
of smashed timber ran straight up the side of the tallest Northern
mountain. It was here that Bébé had made his thunderous roll of the
night before.
Six strides brought Paul Bunyon to the mountain-top. One of its jagged
peaks was broken off, showing where Bébé had stumbled over it and
fallen. Then Paul Bunyon followed the calf tracks down the land side of
the mountain. For two hours he trailed them, but they grew fainter as
he went on, and in the Big Bay country the last fall of the blue snow
had covered them. Paul Bunyon now had no doubt that Bébé’s mother had
been frightened by the strange color of the snow and that his blueness
was a birthmark. Like Niagara and the fauna of the forest, the parents
had stampeded, forgetting the little one. It was no use to search for
them.
Paul Bunyon circled back through the forest and gathered a great load
of moose moss before he returned to the cave. This rich food would
meet the lack of milk. Bébé was asleep before the fireplace when Paul
Bunyon returned, and he still slumbered while his friend prepared him
some moose moss soup. But when a kettle full of steaming odorous food
was set before him, he opened his eyes with amazing energy and sat up.
It was then that Bébé first showed the depth and circumference of his
natural appetite, an appetite which was to have its effect on history.
He drank most of the moose moss soup at three gulps, he seized the rim
of the kettle in his teeth and tilted it up until even the last ten
gallons were drained out of it; then, looking roguishly at Paul Bunyon
the while, he bit off a large section of the kettle rim and chewed it
down, switching his pretty tail to show his enjoyment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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