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Whether it was diverting the Rio Grande River to water his ranch, rustling a tornado, or riding on the back of a mountain lion, Pecos Bill had a way to seperate himself from all other cowboys in the Southwest. If it was impossible, this larger-than-life legend was going to be take the challenge and win.

He was even credited for creating the "cowboy way of life." It seemed there was nothing Pecos Bill couldn't do. And for that reason, he was the ultimate cowboy in which all other cowboys were measured by.

And that's the truth! With the exception that all of his exploits were exaggerated.

In truth, Pecos Bill is an enduring character of the great American tall tales, a folktale that often "stretched" the truth or exaggerated the abilities of its heroes. Pecos Bill was part of the Western mythology of the late 1800s and early 20th century.

He was also an Americanized form of age-old mythological characters. Pecos Bill was part Hercules, part Beowulf, mixed in with the ideal American cowboy who personified courage, strength and humor.

PECOS BILL'S ORIGINS

It was originally thought that Pecos Bill got his start as a campfire tale told by cowboys from Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. The stories changed with each telling; Pecos Bill became more super-human and stuck in more extravagant and "exaggerated" situations.

However, the legend of Pecos Bill didn't really take off until Edward O'Reilly started writing about him in 1916. The first stories appeared in The Century Magazine. Later, these stories were collected and reprinted in the book, Saga of Pecos Bill (1923).

There is controversy over Pecos Bill's origin. O'Reilly claimed he heard the tales from cowboys. In 1950, American folklorist Richard M. Dorson claimed that O'Reilly invented the stories (In fact, Dorson referred to Pecos Bill as an example of "fakelore" - described as inauthentic, manufactured story meant to be presented as a traditional and genuine folklore).

Folklore or fakelore: the story proved to be extremely popular. Its use of exaggeration, a man with super-human strength and wit, humor and the frontier spirit of the American west, became a winning formula for O'Reilly and other writers who would add more stories to Pecos Bill's growing saga.

Among the most notable of stories borrowing O'Reilly's creation was James Cloyd Bowman's Pecos Bill: The Greatest Cowboy of All Time (1937). This particular book won the prestigious children literature award, Newbery Honor in 1938.

O'Reilly and cartoonist Jack "Alonzo Vincent" Warren later teamed up to create a cartoon strip that ran between 1929 and 1938 - the year O'Reilly died. Warren continued the stories under a comic strip called Pecos Pete in which Pecos Bill gets amnesia and assumes a new name.

Soon the silver screen discovered the affable cowboy of legends. In 1948, Disney featured him in its Melody Time animated shorts. In 1995, Disney made a live action film called "Tall Tales." The film featured several tall tale characters such as Paul Bunyan, the blue ox Babe, and John Henry. The part of Pecos Bill was played by Patrick Swayze (and, yes, he rides a tornado in it).

THE "LIFE" OF PECOS BILL

Pecos Bill's life story has been formed over the years, by O'Reilly and the various writers, cartoonists, and filmmakers. Details about his birth, family life, his formative years, as well as the love of his life have emerged.

Pecos Bill was born in the 1830s in Texas. He came from a very large family and was the youngest of 18 children! Everybody knew there was something different about this kid. As a baby he used a bowie knife as a teething ring and made wild animals his playmate as a toddler (Weiser, 2010).

A turning point in his life came rather early. His parents and siblings were crossing the Pecos River in a full and cramped covered wagon. Suddenly, Bill fell out and was swept away by the strong currents.

Frantically, the family searched for the boy, only to come to the realization that dear, sweet Bill was no more. However, this was not so, for down the stream, Little Bill was rescued by coyotes. They'd also raise him until, by chance, Pecos Bill's brothers would find him.

His journey back into the human world was not easy. First, his brother had to convince him he wasn't a coyote. Second, he had to relearn the ways of humans. However, this is Pecos Bill; not only did he join civilization he became a shining example of it. He became the ultimate cowboy.

His feats were many. First he tamed the horse Widow-Maker. The horse got its name because no man alive could stay on him. Also, it was said that he loved to eat dynamite. Of course, Pecos Bill made him his horse, even changing his name to Lightning (another story states he rode a mountain lion, as well).

His other feats - which were meant to explain natural phenomena - was digging the Rio Grande or making the Painted Desert so colorful. Also, let's not forget he rode a tornado like a bronco and used rattlesnakes for a lasso (some accounts claim he invented the lasso, branding iron, and cowboy songs to soothe the cattle).

Pecos Bill had a romantic interest. Her name was Slue-Foot Sue who was said to have ridden a giant catfish down the Rio Grande. Pecos proposed to her after literally shooting all the stars from the sky except for one which would become the Lone Star of Texas.

Widow-Maker/Lightning became jealous upon learning of this courtship. So, when Slue-Foot Sue insisted on sitting on the horse, the jealous horse responded by bucking her off. Sue landed on her bustle and started to bounce incredibly high, eventually hitting her head on the moon (here, the stories vary. Possibly, the most interesting version was the one in which Pecos Bill realized that he would have to lasso her to bring her down. She had been bouncing for days and was on the verge of starving when Pecos Bill decided to rescue her).

Eventually, the inevitable came. Even someone with super-powers like Pecos Bill has a fatal vulnerability. In this case (at least one version, told by S.E. Schlosser) Bill confronted a newly transplanted Boston man in New Mexico who attempted to dress up like a cowboy by wearing "lizard skin boots, a shiny brass belt buckle, a new pair of blue jeans and a huge ten gallon hat with no speck of dust on it."

Pecos Bill laughed himself to death.

LEGACY

Folklore, fakelore, tall tale or modern mythology: Pecos Bill has endured, and has become a favorite tale to tell around campfires, reading circles, or on the silver screen. In the long run, his beginning may not matter. The stories of Pecos Bill will always astound his audience. And, that's the truth.

RESOURCES

Schlosser, S.E. (retrieved 2010 "The Death of Pecos Bill:" American Folklore: http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/pecos-bill/

Weiser, Kathy (2010): "American Lore and Legends: Pecos Bill - A Legend of Frontier Spirit": Legends of America: http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ah-pecosbill.html

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Whether it was diverting the Rio Grande River to water his ranch, rustling a tornado, or riding on the back of a mountain lion, Pecos Bill had a way to seperate himself from all other cowboys in the Southwest. If it was impossible, this larger-than-life legend was going to be take the challenge and win.

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Walt Disney's Merrie Melodies Pecos Bill

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Because he is awesome

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PECOS BILL | The Handbook of Texas Online| Texas State Historical Association (TSHA)

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All copyrighted materials included within the Handbook of Texas Online are in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 related to Copyright and "Fair Use" for Non-Profit educational institutions, which permits the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), to utilize copyrighted materials to further scholarship, education, and inform the public.

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A long time ago, down in Texas, there was plenty of room and even more sky. Only a few pioneers lived out there. One of those folks was Pecos Bill, the youngest of 13 children.

Bill was always different. When he was born he refused to drink his mother's milk, so she had to feed him the milk of a mountain lion. Little Bill played with wild bear cubs. He was real friendly with all the animals.

One day when Bill was just a baby, his father packed up the whole family, and they set off to move to the Pecos River. Well, what happened was that their wagon was crossing a dry streambed when suddenly it hit a big rock. Little Bill flew right out of that wagon. He landed so hard that he lost all his breath, so he couldn't cry out. No one in the family saw him fall; they just traveled on.

For a while little Bill sat there in the dry streambed, looking around. Then, in the distance, he spied a pack of coyotes.

The coyotes looked at Bill, and he looked at them. These coyotes had never seen a human baby before and didn't know quite what to think. The pack moved closer until one of the females trotted right up to Bill and offered him a piece of deer meat. Bill didn't want to hurt her feelings, so he began to chew. And that made the coyotes feel kindly toward Bill. That day they welcomed him into their pack.

For many years Bill lived with the coyotes. He ran with them, and at night he curled up beside them in their dens. When the full moon rose in that big sky, Bill and the coyotes howled through the night.

By the time Pecos Bill was 10 years old, he could outrun and out-howl any coyote. He never saw any other human beings. Pecos Bill believed he was a coyote.

He might have believed that forever, but one day a cowboy happened by. The cowboy stopped his horse and stared down at the strange-looking boy, clothed in fur. He leaned over and asked, "What's your name, son?"

Bill didn't understand human language, so he didn't say a word. The cowboy tossed Bill a plug of tobacco. Bill chewed it and just stared up at him.

Pretty soon the cowboy decided Bill needed him, so he stayed. He taught Bill to talk like a human, and he tried to prove to Bill that he really wasn't a coyote.

At first Bill didn't believe him. "I can howl," he said.

"All Texans can howl," the cowboy said, "but boy, you don't have a bushy tail. You got to have a bushy tail to be a real coyote."

Finally Bill saw that the cowboy was right, and he knew he had to leave. So he said goodbye to his coyote family. Then he straddled a mountain lion and rode with the cowboy to join the other cowboys at the ranch.

As they rode across the desert prairie, Bill caught a rattlesnake. Whoosh, in a second he turned that rattlesnake into a rope. He threw that rattlesnake rope right out there and caught a few Gila monsters with it. "This here is a lasso," he said to the cowboy. And that was just the first of Bill's many inventions.

The minute he arrived at the cowboys' ranch, he slid off his mountain lion and walked up to the biggest cowboy there. He showed him his rattlesnake rope. The big cowboy looked down at little Bill and said, "I was boss before, but now I think you are."

And that's how Pecos Bill took over. He taught the cowboys almost everything they know today. He invented spurs for them to wear on their boots, and he taught them how to round up cattle, and he taught them how to drive those cattle clear across the range.

One night, feeling a little lonely for the old days, he strode out to the corral. He was thinking about his friends, the coyotes. When the moon came up, Bill started to sing the way the coyotes had taught him, except this time he made up some human words to go along so that the cowboys would understand.

And after that the cowboys always sang songs. They sang about the lonesome prairie, about the Texas sky, about the wind whistling through the tall, dry grass, and about other cowboy things.

Pecos Bill wanted a horse. For a long time he watched the son of White Mustang, the Ghost King of the Prairie. This young mustang had a wild spirit and could run faster than any horse Bill had ever seen. Fact is, he was the only horse Bill couldn't outrun. Bill wanted that horse bad, so finally he rigged up a huge slingshot and climbed right in. Then he shot himself high over the cactus. He landed, splat, in front of the horse.

Now that mustang was so surprised, he stopped. But he had been running so fast that his hooves stuck in the mud. Bill leaped onto the mustang's back and yanked on his golden mane and pulled him free. And off they flew.

Bill rode that horse a whole week long, in and out of the canyons. Finally he promised he would never place a bit in the mustang's mouth and also that no other human being would ever sit in the mustang's saddle. From that day on Bill and that mustang were partners.

Bill named his horse Widow-Maker. Together they traveled the prairies, starting new ranches and helping out on long cattle drives. Sometimes they holed up with a band of coyotes and sang late into the night.

Then came the year of the terrible drought. The land shriveled up. The coyotes even stopped howling, their throats were so dry. "Hey, Bill," the cowboys said, "You have to help us bring some rain down here."

Bill looked up at that big hot sun. He saw whorls of dust spinning up from the hard yellow earth. And then one day he saw a tall, whirling tower flying over in Oklahoma. Bill climbed up on Widow-Maker's back and chased that cyclone. A bolt of lightning struck the ground and quivered just long enough for Bill to grab hold. Then it whipped him right into the sky. When Bill was high as the top of the cyclone, he jumped onto its spinning shoulders.

Everyone from miles around was looking up and watching by then. They watched Bill wrap his legs around the cyclone's belly and squeeze so hard the cyclone started to pant. Then Bill swung his lasso around the cyclone's neck and pulled so hard the cyclone began to choke, spitting out all the rain that was mixed up inside of it.

Down below, the coyotes and the jackrabbits and the lizards and the snakes lifted their heads and caught the sweet falling rain. The cowboys whooped with delight and held out their pans to catch the drops. Everyone cried out praises for Pecos Bill and Widow-Maker. And forever afterward, Pecos Bill was famous all over the Southwest.

Tell Me a Story Archives

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PECOS BILL AND THE CYCLONE (a tale from the American Southwest), Tell Me a Story

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A long time ago, down in Texas, there was plenty of room and even more sky. Only a few pioneers lived out there. One of those folks was Pecos Bill, the youngest of 13 children. Bill was always different.