Little Blue Ox - [Fearsome Critter]

Benny The Little Blue Ox. - [Fearsome Critter] - (Latin: Taurus Azureus,  Minor.) - aka: 'Bunyans Calf.' 

• About this critter: Of course you all have heard of Babe the Big Blue Ox; Ol'Pauls sidekick, closest pet, and his busom-ist of buds, but "Benny" was of course, Babe the Blue ox's smaller, weaker, sickly, younger sibling. Well, some say they're related; others refuse to admit that there is any relation what-so-ever or that the two being born side by side is mere hearsay! (Neither of them would have anything to do with Lucy though, that much is for certain.) My Point is; don't conflate the two!

Legend has it that Little Benny was supposedly purchased from a farmer in Bangor Maine and that the poor calf was so undernourished that it barely weighed two tons! When Paul moved him to his North Dakota camp up near Devils Lake, the air did him real good! The calf had a very healthy turn around; every time Paul looked back at him he was two feet taller! Paul made sure that the calf was fed a steady diet of buffalo milk and pancakes which benny took a liking to. - The next day the barn was missing; it seems that Benny had suddenly grown so large that he had out grew the barn house in a single night!

Unfortunately, The little blue ox was far less a of work animal & refused to haul much of anything unless there was snow on the ground. (so of course, Pauls men got to painting the mountain side.) Much like babe, Benny had developed a mania for pancakes, however; Unlike babe, the calf suffered from Gluttony, The foolish young calf, couldn't get enough and one day in a manic state, he attacked the cook shanty and eating all of their supplies, including an entire red-hot stove, which caused indigestion and a massive methane explosion! - Poor little bennys parts where scattered across South Dakota...Some say that at the Calves funeral, Paul quietly said "Bye-son" with a single profound tear in his eye.

• History: Benny is another Yarn from W. B. Laughead's Red River Lumber Company pamphlets which where produced & printed across papers[1922 onwards] these where supposedly compiled from oral myths and tall tales from lumber jacks across the states. [though some insist its all manufactured fakelore and thus does not count [to say such things about any cultures folklore IS PRETTY LAME & BORING!! in my opinion.] - Simultaneously; stories of Benny can also be found in Charlles E Browns [1921] folklore pamphlets as well. - Stories of Benny are quite short far and few between, and like much of pauls lore where soon elaborated on, embellished & expanded on over time. - To say the least, Benny is generally not remembered as fondly or as well as the iconic Big blue ox; Babe, as such the lore for the character has largely fallen to the wayside, and has nearly been forgotten by the public today. - W. B. Laughead's story & illustrations of Benny are as follows:

"BECAUSE he was so much younger than Babe and was brought to camp when a small calf, Benny was always called the Little Blue Ox although he was quite a chunk of an animal. Benny could not, or rather, would not haul as much as Babe nor was he as tractable but he could eat more.

Paul got Benny for nothing from a farmer near Bangor, Maine. There was not enough milk for the little fellow so he had to be weaned when three days old. The farmer only had forty acres of hay and by the time Benny was a week old he had to dispose of him for lack of food. The calf was undernourished and only weighed two tons when Paul got him. Paul drove from Bangor out to his headquarters camp near Devil's Lake, North Dakota that night and led Benny behind the sleigh. Western air agreed with the little calf and every time Paul looked back at him he was two feet taller.

When they arrived at camp Benny was given a good feed of buffalo milk and flapjacks and put into a barn by himself. Next morning the barn was gone. Later it was discovered on Benny's back as he scampered over the clearings. He had outgrown his barn in one night.

Benny was very notional and would never pull a load unless there was snow on the ground so after the spring thaws they had to white wash the logging roads to fool him.

Gluttony killed Benny. He had a mania for pancakes and one cook crew of two hundred men was kept busy making cakes for him. One night he pawed and bellowed and threshed his tail about till the wind of it blew down what pine Paul had left standing in Dakota. At breakfast time he broke loose, tore down the cook shanty and began bolting pancakes. In his greed he swallowed the red-hot stove. Indigestion set in and nothing could save him. What disposition was made of his body is a matter of dispute. One old timer claims that the outfit he works for bought a hind quarter of the carcass in 1857 and made corned beef of it. He thinks they have several carloads of it left.

Another authority states that the body of Benny was dragged to a safe distance from the North Dakota camp and buried. When the earth was shoveled back it made a mound that formed the Black Hills in South Dakota."

... Lets not be too silly at the end there: The "Black Hill Mounds" are an archaeological site, which at the time of Laughead's writing would likely have been more or less freshly discovered, and where quite the mystery at the time. – Unfortunately; due to rumours & stories of "Treasure" being buried, The site had been damaged over the years; in all tragic likeliness the mounds where actually more likely an Ancient Native Burial site. (Skulls, bones, arrow heads & other such things have been found by archeologists in the 60's-80's - [You can read more about the site on Texas beyond history over here.]) -

All of that aside; There's really not much more to say about poor Benny. The calf makes virtually no appearances in modern media, has largely fallen out of the public consciousness perhaps because of his tragic end? - Perhaps two giant oxen where just too many. - [The closest nod in modern pop culture i could find is maybe Dora's Blue bull of the same name which could be a nod towards this lore? but it seems more than likely coincidental!]

Never the less; i'll end this with a fun fact about real 'blue bison' although babe and benny are indeed fictional, that hasn't stopped some silly Alaskan Archaeologists & Museums from naming their 36-Million year old giant frozen bison after them! – Discovered in permafrost in 1979 by gold miners, Supposedly the Fairbanks researchers tried some of her neck meat at a dinner party. Another case of truth being stranger than fiction.

[April 27, 1984.]

[Art sticker by samkalensky part of my Fearsome Critters collection of stickers follow and support for many more]