Pecos Bill is probably the most famous American tall tale character. A tall tale is a story that can be true or invented but is anyway hard to believe. Pecos Bill is a story about the adventures of a cowboy who was raised by coyotes.
With time, this boy understood that he is not an animal but a human, and he got a chance to change his life with coyotes and continued his life with people. The first stories about Pecos Bill were written by Edward O’Reilly and published in 1917.
Since then, lots of writers presented their ideas as for the facts of Bill’s biography, and almost every plot attracts readers’ attention in its own way.
Stephen Krensky is one of the authors who present his version of the Bill’s story. The summary of his work will be presented in this paper.
To my mind, this Pecos Bill tall tale version touches numerous psychological aspects that help to improve children’s lives and their comprehension of this world. Pacos Bill is the story that teaches not to be afraid of difficulties, be friendly, and not to envy people.
Nowadays, there are lots of variations of Bill’s story. The summary of all those stories is the same. A boy was lost by his parents in the process of traveling and was found and grew up by coyotes, and then became one of the most powerful and famous cowboys among people.
However, many writers cannot come to the same conclusion concerning the matter of Bill’s death. Some of the stories tell that Bill laughed himself to death when he saw another cowboy in very strange and funny clothes. Other stories inform that he “washed down a meal of barbed wire with nitroglycerin”.
After reading the story about this cowboy, I cannot but admire the courage of this person, his desire to live and develop. To my mind, the legend of Pecos Bill is one of the most powerful from the psychological aspects, because it teaches the reader to accept the situation as it is, but not try to change it in accordance with personal preferences.
Of course, it is just a fiction, but still, even grown-ups can find much interesting in it. When a little boy finds himself around the coyotes, he does not scare and does not cry. Such a reaction causes respect for coyotes, and they accept him as a member of their own family.
If we look closer at this story, it is possible to realize that any respect may be gained in much more difficult situations, which happen to people. It is necessary to demonstrate one’s power and will.
Along with Paul Bunyan, John Henry, Joe Magarac and others, Pecos Bill is a very famous American tall tale character. The adventures of this fictional cowboy are described and shown in numerous books, movies, and cartoons.
In summary, Bill’s stories make up a significant part of child literature that may become educative for grown-ups. Numerous interpretations of the story prove how significant the story of Bill is for modern society. That is why people should pay more attention to literature for kids to become an important part of this world.
