Tall Tales

Tall tales are stories that feature larger-than-life characters and grossly exaggerated situations. Tall tales are deliberate “whoppers,” filled with hyperbole, that purposefully call attention to their outrageously implausible elements, which are conventionally related in a matter-of-fact fashion that suggest they are true. The more preposterous these tales, the better. In this respect, they are unlike the narratives of other fictional genres—such as fables and fairy tales, fantasy and science fiction, horror and urban legends—which include characters and events that challenge credibility, but which still invite their audiences to suspend disbelief.

Tall tales are included in the oral traditions of cultures throughout history and around the world, and their protagonists are consequently diverse: African shamans, Arabic merchants, Hasidic rabbis, Hindu adepts, Native American warriors, Taoist immortals, and Zen Buddhist monks, among others. In the United States, the protagonists are typically members of the working class, rather than affluent members of society, reflecting perhaps traditional American cultural ambivalence toward the wealthy. Like urban legends, tall tales are now disseminated not only from person to person but also via the mass and social media. In this way their narratives spread further and faster than was possible when they were exclusively shared via oral transmission.

The characters populating tall tales are most often fictive inventions, but some are based on real people—such as Johnny Appleseed, Daniel Boone, Davey Crockett, or Calamity Jane—who have story cycles that include, and often mix, established history and dubious legend with the hyperbolic elements associated with tall tales. At times it is difficult to separate fact from fiction in tall tales that feature historical figures. Some tale tales might better be regarded as legends, which may or may not be true but the veracity of which it is impossible to definitively confirm or deny. Such is the case with a tale told about Cornelius Darnell, a companion of Daniel Boone, who is reported to have jumped across a gorge and over the Little Miami River in order to elude capture by Shawnees, from whom he had escaped. The gorge, located near Yellow Springs, Ohio, is narrow where Darnell is said to have made his legendary leap, with a span of approximately 20 feet. While it is not probable that he leaped that distance, it is possible, especially given his incentive to do so.

Many of the heroes of American tall tales represent occupational types and/or regional identities. They reflect in a highly exaggerated way the aspirations and life experience of cowboys, lumberjacks, sailors, soldiers, and other manual [Page 878]laborers, as well as eccentrics like Johnny Appleseed who fit no standard occupational category. In doing so, they reflect and reaffirm shared communal values, such as hard work, physical strength, cleverness, and courage. These heroes do things bigger and better than is possible in “real life,” and their possessions are equally supersized.

A classic example is Alfred Bulltop (Old) Stormalong, a ship's captain who stood six fathoms (36 feet) tall, and whose vast vessel, the Courser, had masts so high they were hinged so that they could be lowered in order to avoid hitting the sun or moon. He once saved ships and their sailors by lifting them out of the ocean by himself and placing them onto his own giant ship during a hurricane. Another tall tale hero, Pecos Bill, is a cowboy from Texas who once lassoed a large tornado, which he rode like a big bucking bronco. The force of the water that poured out of the tornado as it tried to throw him is said to have carved out the Grand Canyon. Tall tales of this kind provide a humorous explanation for the origin of important geographic landmarks.

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