The tall tale has become a fundamental element of
American folk literature. The tall tale's origins are seen in the
bragging contests that often occurred when the rough men of the
American frontier gathered. The tales of legendary figures of the
Old West, some listed below, owe much to the style of tall tales. The semi-annual speech-contests held by
Toastmasters International public-speaking clubs may include a tall-tales contest. Each and every participating speaker is given three to five minutes to give a short speech of a tall-tale nature, and is then judged according to several factors. The winner proceeds to the next level of competition. The contest does not proceed beyond any participating district in the organization to the international level. The
comic strip Non Sequitur (1992–present) sometimes features tall tales told by the character Captain Eddie; it is left up to the reader to decide if he is telling the truth, exaggerating a real event, or fabricating a story entirely.
About real people Some stories are told about exaggerated versions of real people: •
Johnny Appleseed – a friendly folk-hero who traveled the
West planting apple trees because he felt his guardian angel told him to •
Blackbeard spawned various tall tales surrounding his involvement with piracy from 1717 to 1718 •
Johnny Blood – an American football player whose reputation for wild behavior was as well known as his on-field play •
Jim Bowie – A Kentuckian frontiersman,
Texas Ranger, and land speculator who fought for the Texan cause in the
Battle of the Alamo. He is known for the
Bowie knife which he used to disembowel opponents. •
Daniel Boone – blazed a trail across
Cumberland Gap to found the first English-speaking colonies west of the
Appalachian Mountains •
Davy Crockett – a
pioneer and U.S. Congressman from Tennessee who later died at the
Battle of the Alamo •
Mike Fink – the toughest boatman on the
Ohio and
Mississippi rivers, and a rival of Davy Crockett. Also known as the King of the Mississippi River
Keelboatmen. •
Peter Francisco – American Revolutionary War hero •
John Henry – a mighty steel-driving
African American •
Calamity Jane – a tough Wild-West woman •
Jigger Johnson (1871–1935), a
lumberjack and
log driver from
Maine who is known for his numerous off-the-job exploits, such as catching
bobcats alive with his bare hands, and drunken brawls •
Casey Jones – a brave and gritty
railroad engineer •
Nat Love, also known as "Deadwood Dick", was born a slave in Tennessee in 1854. Tales of his adventures after emancipation, as a cowboy and as a Pullman porter, gained such fantastical elements as to be considered tall tales •
Sam Patch – an early 19th-century daredevil who died during a jump on Friday the 13th •
Molly Pitcher – a heroine of the
American Revolutionary War About imaginary people ,
Babe the blue ox, sculpted as a ten-meter tall roadside tourist-attraction Subjects of some American tall tales include legendary figures: •
Paul Bunyan – huge lumberjack who eats 50 pancakes in one minute, dug the
Grand Canyon with his axe, made
Minnesota's
ten thousand lakes with his footprints, and also has a blue ox named Babe who made the Mississippi River •
Tony Beaver – a
West Virginia lumberjack and cousin of Paul Bunyan •
Pecos Bill – legendary cowboy who "tamed the wild west" •
Cordwood Pete – younger brother to lumberjack Paul Bunyan •
Febold Feboldson – a
Nebraska farmer who could fight a drought •
Mose Humphrey; a brave NYC firefighter •
Johnny Kaw, a fictional
Kansan whose mythological status itself was in one sense a figment, in that it was created recently, in 1955. Adherents of this assessment deem such stories
fakelore. •
Joe Magarac – a
Pittsburgh steelworker made of steel •
Alfred Bulltop Stormalong – an immense sailor whose ship was so big that it scraped
the Moon ==Australia==