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A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some such stories are exaggerations of actual events, fish stories ('the fish that got away') such as, "that fish was so big, why I tell ya', it nearly sank the boat when I pulled it in!" Other tall tales are completely fictional tales in a familiar setting, such as the American Old West or the beginning of the Industrial Age. Tall tales are often told so as to make the narrator seem to have been a part of the story. They are usually humorous or witty. The line between myth and tall tale is distinguished primarily by age; many myths exaggerate the exploits of their heroes, but in tall tales the exaggeration looms large, to the extent of becoming the whole of the story.

Rabelais' giant, Pantagruel, sleeps after his encounter; curious onlookers surround the sea serpent he has vanquished. Woodcut by Gustave Doré

[edit] American tall tales

The tall tale is 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 bi-annual speech contests optionally held by Toastmasters International public speaking clubs may include a Tall Tales contest. Each 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 and runner-up proceed 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 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 just telling a whopper.

Other subjects of American tall tales include:

Paul Bunyan's sidekick, Babe the blue ox, sculpted as a ten-meter tall roadside tourist attraction

• 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
• 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
• Calamity Jane - A tough Wild West woman*
• 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.
• 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
• Pecos Bill - legendary cowboy who "tamed the wild west"
• Molly Pitcher - A heroine of the American Revolutionary War*
• Alfred Bulltop Stormalong - An immense sailor whose ship was so big it scraped the moon

(*Asterisk indicates legendary figures who are known to be based on actual historical individuals.)

[edit] Similar traditions in other cultures

The Columnar basalt that makes up the Giant's Causeway; in legend, a fine set of hexagonal stepping stones to Scotland, made by Finn mac Cumail

Similar storytelling traditions are present elsewhere.

• The Cumbrian Liars, a United Kingdom association who follow in the seven-league footsteps of Will Ritson.^[1]
• A brown bear coating himself in baking soda to be acceptable to humans as a polar bear, a young boy selling frozen words, and a woman whose voice cuts through a giant tree to release oranges that light the Polar night are all tales told by a Pomor elder in the Soviet animation film Laughter and Grief by the White Sea.
• French Canadian tales of Big Joe Mufferaw include the story of him putting out a forest fire with spitballs. Perhaps disappointingly, it required five, but then, he was fifty miles away.
• The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel by the French writer Rabelais told the tale of two giants; father and son.
• Legends of Fionn mac Cumhaill also known by many other British Isles' names including Finn MacCool, have it that he built the Giant's Causeway as stepping-stones to Scotland, so as not to get his feet wet; and that he also once scooped up part of Ireland to fling it at a rival, but it missed and landed in the Irish Sea — the clump became the Isle of Man and the pebble became Rockall, the void became Lough Neagh.

[edit] Australian tall tales

The Australian frontier similarly inspired the types of tall tales that are found in American folklore. The Australian versions typically centre around a mythical station called The Speewah.

The heroes of the Speewah include:

• Big Bill - The dumbest man on the Speewah who made his living cutting up mining shafts and selling them for post holes
• Crooked Mick - A champion shearer who had colossal strength and quick wit.
• Crocodile Dundee-"Thats not a knife, now thats... thats a knife"

Another folk hero in Australian folklore is The Man from Snowy River - A hero (created by author Banjo Patterson) whose bravery, adaptability, and risk-taking could epitomise the new Australian spirit.

[edit] Canadian tall tales

[edit] German tall tales

[edit] Mythical heroes

Heroes whose impossible feats were the focus of their myths include:

• Heracles or Hercules, Greek and Roman, respectively; the twelve fictional labors assigned to him by King are the source of the phrase, 'Herculean feat'
• Wisakedjak: hero of Algonquian legend who flooded the world; anglicized to Whiskey Jack.
• Mayan hero twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque used a combination of cunning and superpowers in numerous tests by the Mayan lords of death.

[edit] Modern-day tall tales

On this Allman Brothers Band album cover, a giant peach dwarfs the flatbed truck carrying it; a tribute to tall tale postcards

[edit] Tall tales in visual media

Early 20th century postcards became a vehicle for tall tale telling in the US.^[2][3] Creators of these cards, such as the prolific Alfred Stanley Johnson, Jr.,^[4] and William H. "Dad" Martin, usually employed trick photography, including forced perspective, while others painted their unlikely tableaus,^[3] or used a combination of painting and photography in early examples of photo retouching.^[5]. The common theme was gigantism: fishing for leviathans,^[6][3] hunting for^[7][3] or riding^[8][9] oversized animals, and bringing in the impossibly huge sheaves.^[10][3] An homage to the genre can be found on the cover of the Eat a Peach album.

[edit] See also

• Big Joe Mufferaw
• Baron Münchausen
• Chuck Norris Facts - Tall tales about Chuck Norris.
• Conspiracy theory
• Folk tale
• Fairy tale
• Legend
• Myth
• Pseudoscience
• Urban legend
• 2012 phenomenon
• Superstition

[edit] References

Folklore portal

[edit] Further reading

• Brown, Carolyn. (1989). The Tall Tale in American Folklore and Literature. Knoxville, TN: University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 0-87049-627-1.

[edit] External links

• American Tall Tales
• Tall Tales, Whoppers and Lies - Audio Recording