How well do you know your folklore heroes? Part 3: Pecos Bill

~"Waaaaaaahooooooooooooooooooooooo!" ~Pecos Bill

No one in my family is from west of the Mississippi originally, but I am proud to say that they had all heard of Pecos Bill and were even able to describe him with good attention to detail. I first learned about him as a kid reading stories in a Bob Jones Christian curriculum reading book, and picked up the image of him from the pictures in the book: he was young, had no mustache, blonde hair, wore a cowboy hat, a red shirt and blue jeans, carried a lasso, and rode a mustang called Widowmaker. I'd never heard of or seen any films about the life and legend of Pecos Bill, but apparently there is a film, so check it out, you Western-cowboy-folklore-lovers, you.

"I'm a ring-tailed roarer. I can draw faster, shoot straighter, ride harder and drink longer than any man alive. I ride cyclones and I wrestle... I'm the rip-snortinest cowboy that ever rode north, south, east or west of the Rio Grande. I'm Pecos Bill." ~Pecos Bill (Tall Tale, 1995)

What does he look like?

Dad: He's 25. A cartoon character - big cowboy hat, bowlegged, always riding big animals.

Mom: Maybe in his 40s. Has a pistol in each hand. A big handle-bar mustache. Wild dark eyes.

Sarah: 40. He has a long mustache, a cowboy hat, a lasso. I picture him as being short.

Hannah: He's in his 30s. Has a mustache, a cowboy hat, cowboy get-up - you know, plaid shirt, boots, spurs, chaps. He also has a horse, Widow Maker.

Why is he famous?

Dad: I really don't know.

Mom: He was in the Pony Express. He's associated with the Wild West, the Indian wars.

Sarah: I don't know. He's a tall tale. He lassoed a whirlwind.

Hannah: I dunno. He's just a tall tale. I think he caught a gang of criminals.

Was he real?

Dad: No.

Mom: I don't know. Probably.

Sarah: No. I don't think so.

Hannah: No. Maybe. Well, he probably was.

"Just 'cause it's a tall tale don't mean it ain't true." ~Jonas Hackett (Tall Tale, 1995)

Pecos Bill, alas, was not a real person. He is a legendary cowboy of the American West, said to have lived in the region of Texas and New Mexico in the late 19th century (he was first written about in 1923 by Edward O’Reilly). Pecos, New Mexico, and the Pecos river are named after him. There are many tall tales about the superhuman strength of Pecos Bill: he was raised by coyotes, he used a rattlesnake for a whip, he wrestled with bears, and he could lasso and ride anything under the sun, including a cyclone, a mountain lion, and a wild horse named Widow Maker which he tamed. I wasn't able to find any references of him fighting Indians, working in the Pony Express, or catching criminals, but keep searching! There's also a very nice website here with lots of stories, one of which claims that he died at a ripe old age in New Mexico. The site is also an excellent example of how the tall tale should be told, i.e. in a twangy Texan accent.