Tall Tale

The tall tale is a fictional, exaggerated, humorous folk narrative, often told in the first person or as an account of the experiences of a relative or friend. It contains an increasingly implausible series of events, usually related to the weather, rural life, or traditional male occupations. Other names for the tall tale include lie, tall story, windy, whopper, long bow, and yarn. The act of telling a tall tale may be called tall-talking, lying, or leg-pulling. These terms suggest that the tall tale is a deliberately dishonest narrative, which it is; yet its primary purpose is entertainment. It thrives in oral performance, especially with a skillful teller and an appreciative audience. As an example of traditional folk humor, it has significant artistic value and can be appreciated for its method of presentation as well as for the tale itself.

Tall tales evoke the improbable. “The Wonderful Hunt” is a well-known example that recalls the adventures of a hunter who has such remarkable luck that a single shot from his rifle kills both birds in the air and animals on the ground. When he wades into the water to get his game, even his boots fill up with fish. “The Split Dog” describes a dog that was cut in half and stitched back together with its back legs upside down. In another tale, the weather is so cold that people who speak to each other have to wait until spring for their words to thaw out and be heard. This entry discusses how tall tales are constructed, how they flourished on the American frontier in the 1800s, and how tall-tale images became popular as postcards in the 1900s.

An Artistic Construction

The tall tale progresses deliberately, with each new plot detail building on the statement that preceded it. The teller may begin his narrative in a serious manner, setting the scene with a description of an ordinary activity, such as fishing. For example, a man is fishing with several friends in a small boat. He throws out his line and feels a tug of tremendous force. After [Page 748]a struggle of several days, he reels in a fish so big that there is no room for anyone else in the boat. The tale concludes by stating the fish is so big that its scales are used to make shingles for a four-room house. This final description signals the climax of the narrative. Increasingly outrageous exaggerations have been piled on top of each other in a perpendicular fashion until the “tall” tale, a perilous structure, cannot support them. At this point the narrative’s credibility collapses, and the audience responds with laughter, even if they had been fooled, briefly, when it began.

An 18-foot-tall statue of Paul Bunyan, the giant lumberjack, and his gigantic companion, Babe the Blue Ox, in Bemidji, Minnesota. Tall tales about Paul and Babe circulated around lumberjack camps in the 1860s and were later popularized by American newspapers. The tales were used in promotional brochures by the Red River Lumber Company during the early 20th century. According to one tale, Paul excavated the Grand Canyon when he accidentally dragged his pickax behind him.

Source: Bobak Ha’Eri/Wikimedia Commons.

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