Tall Tales were born from various combinations of

Tall Tales were born from various combinations of historical facts, the storytelling of ordinary people, and the imaginations of professional writers.

Tall Tales were very popular among American settlers in the early 1800 s. Ø People told tall tales about “larger than life” characters with extraordinary abilities. Ø As the stories were repeated, the details became more exaggerated. Ø Tall Tale heroes often brought about easy, impossible solutions to dangerous real-life situations.

Tall Tales were originally word-of-mouth stories The more the story was told, the more fantastic it became!

The key to a TALL TALE is

METAPHORS • Describes one thing as if it is another • Compares two rather unlikely things to create a picture • Does not use “like” or “as” The train is a dragon that roars through the dark. -William Wordsworth

SIMILES • A comparison between two things • Uses the words “like” or “as” to make the comparison My love is like a red, red rose. -Robert Burns

Elements of Tall Tales

The story has many exaggerations in it. Paul Bunyan was so large, he used wagon wheels as buttons. Paul Bunyan’s blue ox, Babe, was forty-two ax handles tall.

The main character has a problem to solve. Well, the new railroad was moving along right quick, thanks to the mighty John Henry. But looming right smack in its path was a mighty enemy - the Big Bend Mountain.

The main character is bigger than life and has super-human abilities. Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier, knew every tree and killed a bear when he was only three!

The plot of the story is usually impossible and sometimes funny. Pecos Bill’s wild horse, Widow Maker, bucked his wife Slue-Foot Sue so high, she touched the moon!

In the end, the main character solves a problem and can overcome any obstacle! Pecos Bill came upon a place where the fellers bit nails in half for fun. Pecos Bill jumped off his cougar, wiped his mouth with a prickly pear, and asked, "Who's the boss around here, anyhow? " "I was, " said a man about seven foot tall and wide, "but you are now, stranger!"

Tall Tales include lots of action! A laundress moved to Charleston following the Civil War and was awakened at the stroke of twelve each night by the rumble of heavy wheels passing in the street. "What you are hearing is the Army of the Dead. They are Confederate soldiers who died in hospital without knowing that the war was over. Each night, they rise from their graves and go to reinforce the weakened Southern forces. " From “The Army of the Dead” – a Southern Tall Tale

American Tall Tales were born to make the American experience more bearable. Each group of workers – loggers, cowboys, steel workers, soldiers, etc. – 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 the courage to do their difficult and sometimes dangerous work.