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Tall Tales Throughout history people have told and written stories about their heroes. A tall tale is a special kind of hero story because the heroes of tall tales are 'larger than life'. They are bigger or stronger than real people, even when the tall tale is based on a real person. Tall tale heroes solve problems in funny ways that are hard to believe. A tall tale is a story that has these features:
How did tall tales get started? Settlers who made their homes in the American wilderness first told tall tales. In those days, before TV and movies, people depended on storytelling for entertainment. After a long day's work, people gathered to tell each other funny tales. Each group of
workers-loggers, cowboys, railroad and steel workers-had its own tall-tale hero.
Having a superhuman hero with the same job somehow made their lives easier.
Perhaps it gave them strength or courage to do their difficult and dangerous
work. Paul
Bunyan
Johnny Appleseed There have been few characters of American folklore with the stature of Paul Bunyan. This legendary hero of lumberjacks throughout American possessed strength, speed, and skill that matched the vastness of North American. According to legend, Paul Bunyan and his giant blue ox, Babe, left many a mark on the landscape, receiving credit for creating Puget Sound, the Grand Canyon, and the Black Hills, among others. Some folklore experts have credited the French-Canadians for starting the tales. Others attribute the tales to a Western logging company during the early 20th century. Still others consider it a European import. All agree, however, that Bunyan legend probably grew as the tales about him grew, bringing a new meaning to the term "tall story." Stories about Bunyan and Babe first circulated through the logging camps of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, where loggers first heard and then retold the fables, adding local or personal embellishments. For forty-nine years, John Chapman ("Johnny Appleseed") roamed the American wilderness, devotedly planting apple trees. The reason for John's mission is unknown, although it's said he dreamed of a land covered with blossoming apple trees; of a land where no one went hungry because apples were plentiful. John's gentleness and courage were legendary even in his own time. He walked alone in the wilderness, without gun or knife. He chopped down no trees, and killed no animals. He was respected and appreciated by the Native American tribes and the new settlers alike. John lived very simply. He slept outdoors, walked barefoot and ate berries. He made his clothes from sacks and wore a tin pot for a hat (and to cook with). John made his drinking water in winter by melting snow with his feet. Even the people of his time were amazed at his endurance. Pecos Bill was a legendary cowboy folk hero. According to legend, coyotes raised Pecos Bill after he fell from his parent's wagon. It was during his early years with the coyotes, that Pecos Bill befriended wild animals. His relationships with those animals carried into adult life. He chose riding a mountain lion instead of a horse. When he did change mounts, Bill naturally selected a horse no one else could ride and named him Widow Maker. When it came to weapons, he nearly always chose a whip - not made of braided rawhide, but a live rattlesnake. The only woman to catch Bill's fancy was Slue-Foot Sue, whom he met as she rode a catfish the size of a whale down the Rio Grande. This was; of course, before Pecos Bill drained the Rio Grande to water his ranch during and enduring drought. The legend of John Henry came about during the railroad boom era of the early 1800s. John Henry, according to legend, "was a steel-driving African-American man," who could hammer railroad spikes faster than anyone, and loved it. This Paul Bunyan-like character was born full-sized (over eight feet tall!) and went to work on the railroad when he was only three weeks old. Eventually, John Henry is challenged to compete against a steel-driving machine, to see who is better, man or machine... John Henry wins, but collapses, dead, at the finish line. John Henry "didn't really die... just stopped livin' in his Mammy's shack, and started livin' in the hearts of men, forever and a day." The point is, as John says, a man can do anything if he puts his mind to it. Sources: |
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