Lost Chapters
Paul Bunyan & Babe: Emerald Character
No. Paul Bunyan is a folklore character, not a real person. He grew out of logging camp storytelling in the Great Lakes region, and then became a national figure in the 1910s and 1920s through printed tales and advertising for the Red River Lumber Company.
- Cost
- 8 crystals
- Type
- Character · Free Spirit
- Power / Health
- 7 / 8
- Color
- Emerald (Frontier & Explorers)
- Rarity
- Uncommon
- Set
- Liberty & Lightning (Set 1)
- Keywords
- Double Chapter
On play: if you control Collin (Leader or character), your Rebels get +1/+1.
Supersized folklore featuring a lumberjack so massive his footprints became Minnesota's 10,000 lakes.
The real history
Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack of American folklore who, in the stories, can fell whole forests and is usually pictured with Babe the Blue Ox. He is not a historical person.
The tales are said to have begun as stories told by loggers in North American camps, especially around the Great Lakes, where many Scandinavian, German and Irish immigrants worked. Early printed versions appeared in newspapers and lumber trade journals in the early 1900s. Scholars disagree about how much came from real camp storytelling and how much was added later by writers and advertisers.
What is clear is how he became famous. In 1914 a former lumberjack turned advertising writer named William B. Laughead produced a booklet for the Red River Lumber Company, Introducing Mr. Paul Bunyan of Westwood, California, to promote the company's lumber and its move to California. It included the first known picture of Paul Bunyan as a character. The company reprinted and expanded the tales in 1916 and 1922, and Laughead created or built up companions such as Babe the Blue Ox and the camp clerk Johnny Inkslinger. The tall tales then spread across the country through books and magazines.
Today Paul Bunyan is better known than most real lumberjacks. Statues and attractions honor him in Minnesota, including statues in Bemidji and Paul Bunyan Land in Brainerd. He is a good example of a tall tale that became a mascot.
Sources
- Tall Tales and Lumber Sales, Forest History Society
- Paul Bunyan (folklore character), MNopedia, Minnesota Historical Society
In the game's story
In the game's invented story, Paul Bunyan arrives at the edge of the Deckle Wilds with an axe the size of a rowing boat and a blue ox named Babe, who backs the Inkwash up for a mile when she lies down to cool off. Nobody in Dogear Crossing has a building big enough for him, so he sleeps in the market square. After he fells a quarter-mile of the Wilds to build a cabin and has a tense meeting with the Wildkin council, he apologizes and now plants ten trees for every one he cuts.
How the card plays
Paul Bunyan & Babe costs 8 crystals and is a 7/8 Un-common Emerald Free Spirit. He has Double Chapter: when he hits an enemy Leader, that Leader loses 2 Life cards instead of 1. On play: if you control Collin, whether Leader or character, your Rebels get +1/+1.
At 8 crystals he is a late-game finisher, so build up your board first. A 7/8 body is hard to kill, and Double Chapter ends games fast once a charge connects with a Leader. The Rebel bonus only matters if you control Collin and have Rebel characters on the field.
The Circus The Circus gives Free Spirits +1/+1, making him an 8/9. John Henry, Master of Machine John Henry gets stronger for each other Free Spirit you control. Susan B. Anthony Susan B. Anthony is a Rebel who gets +1/+1 from his bonus and gives your Rebels +0/+1 herself.
- Playable in decks led by Amelia Earhart, and by any Traveler Leader whose colors include Emerald.
- In the Earhart starter deck (1 copy). Deck code:
LC2-Ax8CIAEhASIBIwIkAiUBJgEnASgCKQEqAisBLAEtAS4BLwEwATEBMgEzATQBNQE2ATcBOAE5AToBOwE8AT0BZQJ0Anuc - A deck holds up to 3 copies of this card.
Questions about Paul Bunyan
Who first made Paul Bunyan famous?
William B. Laughead, an advertising writer for the Red River Lumber Company, published Paul Bunyan booklets in 1914, 1916 and 1922. They helped turn a logging camp tale into a national figure.
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