For many days Paul Bunyon thought about these dreams as he gathered
moose moss for Bébé and seined fish from the bay for himself. And for
many nights he tried to dream again, but his sleep was the untroubled
sleep of the weary.
Bébé grew wonderfully as the weeks went by, and the moose moss made
him saucy as well as fat. His bulging blue eyes got a jovial look that
was never to leave them. His bellow already had bass tones in it. He
would paw and snort and lift his tail as vigorously as any ordinary ox
ten times his age. His chest deepened, his back widened, muscle-masses
began to swell and quiver under the fat of his shoulders and haunches.
The drifts of the beautiful unnatural snow melted away in streams of
blue water, and the marvelous color of this historical winter vanished,
but the glittering blue of Bébé’s silken hair remained. His tail brush
was of a darker blue; it looked like a heavily foliaged cypress bough
in purple twilight; and Bébé was proud of this wonderful tail brush
that belonged to him, for he would twist it from behind him and turn
his head and stare at it by the hour.
Now spring came and Paul Bunyon determined to start out with his blue
ox calf and try to find the meanings of his dreams. The bright warm
hours of these days gave him a tormenting physical restlessness;
and his imagination ranged through a thousand lands, playing over a
thousand activities. It was certainly the time to begin a Life Work.
Each day Paul Bunyon pondered his two dreams without finding
substantial meaning in them. The first one indicated that he should go
to Real America; and this Paul Bunyon finally resolved to do, hoping
that he would discover the Work that was meant for him and the blue ox
calf. He knew that he could not fare worse in that land, for few of
the fauna of his native country had returned with the spring, and Paul
Bunyon could not live well on a fish diet. Bébé’s growing appetite,
too, made some move a necessity, for the blue snow had killed the
moose grass, and moose moss was a dry food without nourishment in the
summer. The more Paul Bunyon thought about Real America, the better
he liked the idea of going there. Moose and grass, at least, were to
be found across the Border. And no doubt Real America was his Land of
Opportunity.
So one fine day Paul Bunyon and Bébé came down to the Border. The blue
ox calf frolicked with his master and bellowed happily when he saw
the green grass and clover on the hills of Real America. He was for
rushing over at once, but Paul Bunyon, the student, was not unmindful
of his duty to his new country; he would not enter it without fitting
ceremonies and pledges, though Bébé butted him soundly in resenting the
delay.
Now Paul Bunyon lifted his hands solemnly and spoke in the rightful
language of Real America.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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