A/N: Fair warning, there's more of the historical story retellings than the Titans acting the scenes out compared to last time. If you don't want to read about Tall Tales with only a light sprinkling of the Titans throughout, you may ignore this chapter. The next should be different.
In the orphanage, all of the kids were sitting in front of a theatrical stage that the Titans have rebuilt for another taste of theater. Up front were the Tween Titans, even older than the last time by 2 years.
"I can't believe that the Teen Titans are doing this for us again!" The 13-year-old Lizzie cheered, excited for this to start.
"Ugh, do we have to?" Lynn sighed, now at 15. "I didn't like the first time around so much."
"Are you ever going to grow up from your moody phase?" Steve asked annoyed, 16 years old now. "I hope you'll be shaping up when we become the Teen Titans somewhere around next year."
"I don't mind these." Sophie spoke up, not as scared or shy as she was now that she's 12 years old. Devrie buzzed with approval, sitting at 14 years old. The lights dimmed as Nightwing, dressed as Daniel Boone, walked onto the stage.
"Ho there, everybody! It's me, Daniel Boone, the famous American frontiersman! Let me tell you a few tall tales that are similar to the fairytales that we've told before, but different. Exaggerated stories about larger than life characters that inspire us to believe in the unbelievable! like about the story of the giant lumberjack, Paul Bunyan, and his giant blue ox!"
"Many years ago, Paul Bunyan was born in the northeastern American state of Maine. His mother and father were shocked when they first saw the boy. Paul was so large at birth that five large birds had to carry him to his parents." Raven, who turned herself into a big baby physically, was carried by five duplicates of her soul-self to the expecting parents of Cyborg and Jinx in country clothes.
"Whoa, check out the size of this baby!" Cyborg exclaimed as he took the baby Raven in his arms.
"I busted my hips for this child?!" Jinx was just as perplexed.
"When the boy was only a few weeks old, he weighed more than 45 kilograms. As a child, Paul was always hungry." Baby Raven glowed black as she advanced her age to that of ten years old, now also in country clothes. "His parents needed 10 cows to supply milk for his meals. Before long, he ate 50 eggs and 10 containers of potatoes every day." Raven used her magic to suck up all of the above like she were Kirby, making the children audience laugh.
"Young Paul grew so big that his parents did not know what to do with him. Once, Paul rolled over so much in his sleep that he caused an earthquake." Raven, getting into bed slept while tossing and turning, while Cyborg shook the stage underneath to simulate the shaking. "This angered people in the town where his parents lived. So, the government told his mother and father they would have to move him somewhere else." Beast walked up to Cyborg and Jinx, saying,
"Yo, he's causing major disruptions! He out of here, fools!"
"As a boy, Paul helped his father cut down trees. Paul had the strength of many men. He also was extremely fast. He could turn off a light and then jump into his bed before the room got dark. Maine is very cold for much of the year. One day, it started to snow. The snow covered Paul's home and a nearby forest. However, this snow was very unusual. It was blue. The blue snow kept falling until the forest was covered." Raven then started making it snow, while the light had a filter put on to turn everything blue. "Paul put on his snowshoes and went out to see the unusual sight. As he walked, Paul discovered an animal stuck in the snow. It was a baby ox." Raven picked up the blue ox doll. "Paul decided to take the ox home with him. He put the animal near the fireplace. After the ox got warmer, his hair remained blue."
"Paul decided to keep the blue ox and named him Babe. Babe grew very quickly. One night, Paul left him in a small building with the other animals. The next morning, the barn was gone and so was Babe. Paul searched everywhere for the animal." Raven scratched her head, wondering where the ox had gone, until a giant one dropped behind her, startling the half-demon. "He found Babe calmly eating grass in a valley, with the barn still on top of his back. Babe followed Paul and grew larger every day. Every time Paul looked, Babe seemed to grow taller."
"In those days, much of North America was filled with thick, green forests. Paul Bunyan could clear large wooded areas with a single stroke of his large, sharp axe." Raven displayed this by using a plastic axe to knock over cardboard cutouts of trees. "Paul taught Babe to help with his work. Babe was very useful. For example, Paul had trouble removing trees along a road that was not straight. He decided to tie one end of the road to what remained of a tree in the ground. Paul tied the other end to Babe. Babe dug his feet in the ground and pulled with all his strength until the road became straight." Beast, as an ox with blue lighting, pulled until said road was straight on the stage.
"In time, Paul and Babe the Blue Ox left Maine, and moved west to look for work in other forests. Along the way, Paul dug out the Great Lakes to provide drinking water for Babe. They settled in a camp near the Onion River in the state of Minnesota." This was depicted with Raven holding her nose next to a fake river filled with onions, smiling and shrugging. The kids and some of the Tween Titans laughed. "Paul decided to get other lumberjacks to help with the work. His work crew became known as the Seven Axemen. Each man was more than 2 meters tall and weighed more than 160 kilograms. All of the Axemen were named Elmer." Raven walked past cardboard cutouts of large axemen, greeting each one,
"Elmer, Elmer, Elmer. Elmer's glue. Elmer Fudd. Elmer. Elmer."
"That way, they all came running whenever Paul called them. The man who cooked for the group was named Sourdough Sam. He made everything -- except coffee -- from sourdough, a substance used in making sourdough bread. Every Sunday, Paul and his crew ate hot cakes. Each hot cake was so large that it took five men to eat one. Paul usually had 10 or more hot cakes, depending on how hungry he was. The table where the men ate was so long that a server usually drove to one end of the table and stayed the night. The server drove back in the morning, with a fresh load of food. Paul needed someone to help with the camp's finances. He gave the job to a man named Johnny Inkslinger. Johnny kept records of everything, including wages and the cost of feeding Babe. He sometimes used nine containers of writing fluid a day to keep such detailed records."
"Paul always gave Babe the Blue Ox a 35-kilogram piece of sugar when he was good. But sometimes Babe liked to play tricks. At night, Babe would make noises and hit the ground with his feet. The men at the camp would run out of the buildings where they slept, thinking it was an earthquake." Beast, still in ox form, stomped his hooves, similarly shaking the stage.
"Paul Bunyan and Babe left their mark on many areas. Some people say they were responsible for creating Puget Sound in the western state of Washington. Others say Paul Bunyan and Babe cleared the trees from the states of North Dakota and South Dakota. They prepared this area for farming. Babe the Blue Ox died in South Dakota."
"Oh no! Blegh!" Beast fell over, tongue hanging out while Raven cried for him.
"One story says he ate too many hot cakes. Paul buried his old friend there. Today, the burial place is known as the Black Hills. Whatever happened to Paul Bunyan? There are lots of stories. Some people say he was last seen in Alaska, or even the Arctic Circle. Another tradition says he still returns to Minnesota every summer. It says Paul moves in and out of the woods, so few people ever know that he is there." Raven, Beast, Cyborg and Jinx bowed as the curtains closed.
"Wow, Paul Bunyan sounds so big and strong." Sophie commented.
"Yeah, imagine the size of that ox, too." Steve agreed. Nightwing continued the show.
"On to our next tall tale, of a big, tall and strong railroad man. An African American man named John Henry was the hero of former slaves and the people who built the railroads. He was known for his strength." The curtains pulled open to reveal Cyborg, who wore his holorings to appear completely human, holding a sledgehammer. "Railroads began to link the United States together in the nineteenth century. The railroads made it possible to travel from one side of the country to the other in less than a week. Before then, the same trip might have taken up to six months. Railroad companies employed thousands of workers to create the smooth, flat pathways required by trains. John Henry was perhaps the most famous worker. He was born a slave in the southern United States. He became a free man as a result of America's Civil War. Then, he worked for the railroads. Confirming details of John Henry's life is not possible. That is because no one knows or sure if he really lived. This is one of the things that makes his story interesting. However, John Henry is based, in part, on real events. Many people say he represents the spirit of growth in America during this period."
"By the time John Henry was a young man, he was one of the best steel-drivers in the country. He could work for hours without missing a beat. People said he worked so fast that his hammer moved like lightning." Cyborg slammed his sledgehammer down on the spikes of a fake railroad on the floor. "John Henry was almost two meters tall. He weighed more than ninety kilograms. He had a beautiful deep voice, and played an instrument called a banjo. John Henry married another steel-driver, a woman named Polly Ann. They had a son. John Henry went to work as a steel-driver for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, or C-and-O. The company asked him to lead workers on a project to extend the railroad into the Allegheny Mountains. The workers made good progress on the project until they started working near Big Bend Mountain in West Virginia. The company's owners said the mountain was too big to build a railroad around it. So the workers were told they had to force their drills through it. This meant creating a tunnel more than one-and-one half kilometers long. The project required about one thousand laborers and lasted three years. Pay was low and the work was difficult. The workers had to breathe thick black smoke and dust. Hundreds of men became sick. Many died." Beast, Raven, Jinx and Starfire fell to a paper mâche portrayal of the mountain.
"One week, he did his own work and that of several other steel-drivers. He worked day and night, rarely stopping to eat. The men thanked John Henry for his help. He just smiled and said,
"A man ain't nothing but a man. He has just got to do his best." Cyborg told the audience, nodding with a wink.
"John Henry was the strongest and fastest man involved in the project. He used a hammer that weighed more than six kilograms. Some people say he was able to cut a path of three to six meters a day. One day, a salesman came to the work area with a new drilling machine powered by steam. He said it could drill holes faster than twelve men working together. The railroad company planned to buy the machine if it worked as well as the salesman said. The supervisor of the workers dismissed the salesman's claims." Beast said,
""I gots the bests steel-driver in the country. His name is John Henry, and he can beats more than twenty of them men workings together."
"The salesman disputed the statements. He said the company could have the machine without cost if John Henry was faster. The supervisor called to John Henry. He said,
"Yo Henry, this fool doesn'ts think you can drill faster. How 'bouts a race?"
"John Henry looked at the machine and saw images of the future. He saw machines taking the place of America's best laborers. He saw himself and his friends unemployed and standing by a road, asking for food. He saw men losing their families and their rights as human beings."
"I ain't going to let no machine take our jobs!" Victor proclaimed.
"His friends all cheered. However, John Henry's wife Polly Ann was not happy." Starfire, holding a baby doll in clothing, tried to warn Cyborg,
"Competing against the machine will be the death of the you," she said. "You have me as the wife and of the child. If anything happens to you, we will not ever smile again."
"John Henry lifted his son into the air. He told his wife,"
"A man ain't nothing but a man. But, a man always has to do his best. Tomorrow, I will take my hammer and drive that steel faster than any machine."
"On the day of the big event, many people came to Big Bend Mountain to watch. John Henry and the salesman stood side by side. Even early in the day, the sun was burning hot. The competition began. John Henry kissed his hammer and started working." Cyborg did indeed kiss his sledgehammer as he worked through. At first, the steam-powered drill worked two times faster than he did. Then, he started working with a hammer in each hand. He worked faster and faster. In the mountain, the heat and dust were so thick that most men would have had trouble breathing. The crowd shouted as clouds of dust came from inside the mountain. The salesman was afraid when he heard what sounded like the mountain breaking. However, it was only the sound of John Henry at work. Polly Ann and her son cheered when the machine was pulled from the tunnel. It had broken down. Polly Ann urged John Henry to come out."
"Okay husband, you can come out now!"
"But he did not hear her. He kept working, faster and faster. He dug deep into the darkness, hitting the steel so hard that his body began to fail him. He became weak, and his heart burst. John Henry fell to the ground. There was a terrible silence. Polly Ann did not move because she knew what happened. John Henry's blood spilled over the ground. But he still held one of the hammers."
"I beat them," he said. His wife cried out,
"Do not the leave me!"
"Bring me a cool drink of water,"
"Then he took his last breath. Friends carried his body from the mountain. They buried him near the house where he was born. Crowds went there after they heard about John Henry's death. Soon, the steam drill and other machines replaced the steel-drivers. Many laborers left their families, looking for work. They took the only jobs they could find. As they worked, some sang about John Henry." The curtains closed, on such a bittersweet end.
"Dang. To think something like that might've happened to such a great guy." Steve sweated. Devrie sounded like she was crying, despite this being a children's tall tale. Lizzie and Sophie held her hands.
"They sure do know how to build up men of the past to be extraordinary." Lynn pondered. "And given that superheroes and villains are real, who is to say that these people aren't, even if they're a bit hard to believe." He thought about this while the Titans took a 15 minute break.