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Johnny Appleseed - A friendly folk-hero who traveled the West
planting apple trees because he felt his guardian angel told him to
Tony Beaver - A West Virginia lumberjack and cousin of Paul
Bunyan
Pecos Bill - legendary cowboy who "tamed the wild west"
Daniel Boone - Blazed a trail across Cumberland Gap to found the
first English-speaking colonies west of the Appalachian Mountains
Aylett C. (Strap) Buckner - A Native American-fighter of colonial
Texas
Paul Bunyan - huge lumberjack who eats 50 pancakes in one minute
Davy Crockett - A pioneer and U.S. Congressman from Tennessee
who later died at the Battle of the Alamo
Febold Feboldson - A Nebraska farmer who could fight a drought
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
John Henry - A mighty steel-driving African American
Iron John of Michigan. Also a hero, with incredible powers, of the
German folk tale Iron John
Calamity Jane - A tough Wild West woman
Casey Jones - A brave and gritty railroad engineer
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
Molly Pitcher - A heroine of the American Revolutionary War §
Alfred Bulltop Stormalong - An immense sailor whose ship was so
big it scraped the moon
Tall Tales Heroes
Pecos Bill
Pecos Bill could ride any thing. Nothing could throw him. Pecos
Bill was only thrown once in his whole career as a cowboy. He was
thrown off of a tornado in Kansas. It was the biggest tornado
you ever would see. It turned the sky green and black. In China
the farmers even woke from the loud roar of the tornado. He
pushed the tornado to the ground and jumped on its back. It
went all the way down to Texas. The Tornado found that it
wasn’t going to get the cowboy off its back. It rained itself out
by heading west toward California. It washed out the Grand
Canyon from all of the water it made. Bill fell off when the
tornado was down to practically nothing. Bill had hit the ground
so hard that it made the land sink to sea level. People called that
spot Death Valley. That is how rodeo got started but cowboys
usually stick to bulls these days.
THE END
Paul Bunyan Tall Tale!
Paul Bunyan is a lumberjack. Paul Bunyan had two very giant colorful
animals. There was a purple cow named Lucy and a blue ox named Babe.
He liked to make many trees into lumber so the town’s folk could use
it. Lumber work was very tiring and Paul’s 7 axmen were very hungry.
His chef Sourdough Sam made flapjacks and then the crew fought
over them every day. Paul had thought of a way to get them to stop
fighting. He would make the world’s biggest flapjack. The pan for the
flapjack needed lots of iron. So Paul claimed an iron cave and named it
Bunyan mine. Geese, ducks, chickens and loons from all over came to lay
eggs for the pancake batter. Sam scared the fouls to lay all of their
eggs for the pancakes. Sam had a son named Biscuit Slim who was a
champion bike rider. The pancakes were being made in a huge lake.
Biscuit Slim rode an enormous eggbeater on the lake to mix the batter.
Paul’s girlfriend got blueberries to make blueberry flapjacks. They got
maple syrup from trees by having bees stick their noses into the trees.
Everyone sat at Paul's two-mile long dining table. The pancake was cut
with Paul’s giant axe. Biscuit Slim rode his giant eggbeater around the
table to serve the flapjacks. Then everyone got to eat.
THE END
Johnny Appleseed
John Chapman, otherwise known as Johnny Appleseed spent 49 years
of his life planting apple seeds. He was born in Massachusetts on
September 26, 1774. He created apple orchards in the following
places: Illinois, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. Some of the
trees still bear fruit even after 200 years. Everywhere Johnny went
he made friends. He made friends with Indians, settlers, and even the
animals.
Johnny wanted a world were no one was hungry. He slept out doors and
walked around barefoot. Everywhere he went he planted apple seeds.
He melted snow with his feet for drinking water. His hat was a tin pot
and his clothes were made out of sacks. He used his tin hat for
cooking. Once when Johnny fell asleep, a rattle snake had tried to bite
him in his foot but his skin was as tough as an elephant’s hide.
John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed) died in 1845. That was the first
time he had been sick in over 70 years!
THE END
John Henry
John Henry was born in the 1840's as a slave. He was freed after the war.
No one truly knows if John Henry ever really existed. He was a railroad
constructer and worked all day from 6-5. His story is told through song.
Many different people have recorded John Henry's song. He was born
either in North Carolina or Virginia; no one truly knows. He grew to be six
feet tall and weighed 200 pounds, which was a giant in that time. He was a
good banjo player and had a wonderful baritone voice. Some consider his
song a good protest anthem. He died in his 30's.
THE END