by Angélica Santi
Now, everyone knows Pecos Bill was the best,
The neatest cowboy in all the West.
But Bill was also the tidiest, cleanest,
The plain best dressed
Hombre to wear a well-pressed vest
Of buckskin on his manly chest.
Pecos Bill was the best,
The best in the West.
(from “Pecos Bill Cleans Up the West)
Throughout history people have told stories about their heroes. In America, tall tales were first told by settlers who made their homes in the American wilderness. According to the Oklahoma Children’s Theatre,
A tall tale is a special kind of hero story because the heroes of tall tales are "larger than life". They are bigger or stronger than real people. They solve problems in ways that are hard to believe. This makes tall tales fun to read. Each group of workers-cowboys, loggers, railroad and steel workers-had its own tall-tale hero. Having a superhuman hero with the same job somehow made their lives easier. Perhaps it gave them strength or courage to do their difficult and dangerous work. (Oklahoma Children’s Theatre, 2006)
Pecos Bill, a heroic cowboy born in the 1830’s out of the imagination of southwestern people, is one of the most famous American legends that passed on through generations in the oral tradition. As many oral tall tales from an unknown author it was later retold by S. E. Schlosser, an American author who loves storytelling and has produced and developed a website devoted exclusively to American Folklore. Among the most beloved folk characters, Pecos Bill is a favourite to many of those people who dared to venture into the wild. “The Birth of Pecos Bill” in particular, tells the story of Bill, a young cowboy, who is born the last of eighteen children to a Texas pioneer. As soon as he learns to crawl, he has the misfortune to fall down from his parents’ wagon when they are crossing the Pecos River. He is brought up by coyotes and truly believes he is one of them. He grows to be so tough a baby that he uses a knife as a teething ring and also plays with other wild animals. Sixteen years later he is found by his brother, who has to convince him that he is human. Having achieved that, they return to civilization. In later tales, he takes part in many adventures,
“…teaching gophers to dig postholes, killing snakes by feeding them mothballs filled with red pepper and nitroglycerin, and roping whole herds of cattle at a time. He rode everything in the West, including a mountain lion and a cyclone. He invented the branding iron to stop cattle rustling and the cowboy song to soothe the cattle.”(as cited in “Pecos Bill”, The Handbook of Texas Online, 2011)
Bill’s story continues to develop and he even gets married to a girl called Slue-Foot Sue, who is as determined as him. To end the saga, Pecos Bill's death is controversial. Whether he dies drinking a mixture of fishhooks with whiskey and nitroglycerin or laughing at men who called themselves cowboys he still exists in cowboy folklore as an extreme example of resistance, courage and creativity to solve problematic situations that develop in cowboys’ typical lives. Although the standard way of thinking about tall tales and legends is that they are part of children’s literature, this particular saga is starred by a teenager-like character, a typical feature of Young Adult Literature. It can be used in the ESL classroom to raise awareness of traditions and values, simultaneously entertaining readers. This well-known hero can be inspiring to teenagers who are always looking for a role-model while having fun.
Folklore, tall tales and YAL
Defining Young Adult Literature is not an easy task. The dean of the College of Education and Human Development at Radford University, Robert C. Small studied the books that attracted teenagers during 1920s-1950s and was able to summarize some characteristics that appear in them. According to Small (as cited in Herz and Gallo, 1996), some characteristics that are unique to Young Adult Novels are:
• The main character is a teenager.
• The main character is the centre of the plot.
• The teenage main character is usually perceptive, sensitive, intelligent, mature and independent.
• The actions and decisions of the main characters are major factors in the outcome of the conflict.
In “The Birth of Pecos Bill”, he is sixteen years old when he is found by his brother [after having fell down from his parents’ wagon when he had just learnt to crawl]
“Pecos Bill plumb forgot all about his real family, until the day he turned sixteen and his older brother came along... The ol' cowpoke took one look at Pecos Bill and knew he'd found his long-lost brother...” (Lines 17-21)
Holly Koelling, a referent in YA literature points out that most teenagers at 16 have not yet constructed an image of themselves, that’s why they experiment mood changes and can have sudden reactions. According to her, they can
“often place themselves in the hero’s role and fantasize about it, which can produce an idealism that leads to a positive action in life or an idealism that mistakenly produces a sense of strength and immunity to the consequences of life… they can be emotionally mercurial, rapidly changing from a mature calm to juvenile display…”(Koelling, 2004)
Depicting a typical reaction of a teenager, Pecos Bill does not agree with his long-lost brother at once. He refutes the claim that he is his brother more than once,
“‘See here, ain't you Pecos Bill, my little brother?’ demanded the cowpoke of Pecos Bill when he came jumping over a giant log to run about in the field and howl at the full moon.
‘Don't think so,’ said Pecos Bill. ‘I'm a coyote! Listen to me howl!’ Pecos Bill let out a horrendous shout and scampered about the field on all fours. He scared the herd so bad that the long horns almost stampeded.
‘You stop that!’ Bill's brother shouted after he got the cattle calmed down. ‘And tell me this; how come you ain't got a long bushy tail if you're a coyote.’
That was a tricky question. Pecos Bill thought about it for a long time.
‘I got fleas,’ he volunteered. ‘And I howl at the moon!’
‘Everybody in Texas has fleas and howls at the moon. That ain't no excuse,’ said his big brother. ‘Anyhow, you can walk upright like a normal person and you can talk too. That ain't what a coyote does.’
‘I guess you're right,’ said Pecos Bill.” (Lines 22-35)
Pecos Bill’s actions are also essential in the resolution of the various conflicts that develop in the story, as this passage demonstrates,
“Pecos Bill began to realize that the cowboys needed some new tricks to help them cope with them stubborn longhorns…so Pecos Bill invented the branding iron…Then he noticed that the other cowboys were having trouble making the wilder cows behave… so he invented the lasso to help them tame the wild cows.”
The sensitivity and drive that Bill shows by inventing these devices can be very appealing to teenagers, as it is acknowledged in Small’s work, as well as the fact that by inventing them Bill is helping his cowboy friends to solve many conflictive situations I the different stories.
Considering the points stated above, “The Birth of Pecos Bill” can be considered YAL literature as it contains many features that make it appealing to teenagers.
Traditional Values and Cultural Awareness
“A tall tale, by definition, is a story that the narrator himself does not believe but which is supposed to fool the naïve listener. In the United States, tall tales were passed on to the city dweller in a straight-faced manner for the purpose of presenting ‘true’ pictures of life in the nineteenth century Wild West... Tall tales achieve their comic effect by illustrating the incongruity between sober narration and fantastic and exaggerated elements in the stories themselves. They often feature two protagonists whose character traits are frequently interchangeable: the Roarer, a bragging, swearing, hard-drinking brawler; and the Yankee, a quick-thinking trader who is a rogue beneath a bland exterior. Although most of these stories feature a hero, some of them merely describe phenomena, such as corn that grows so fast it knocks people down, or food that rains down from the sky. An essential trait of tall tales--and all folk literature--is their diffusion. These tales are spread from one generation to another by word of mouth, and eventually, they are recorded” (as cited in Kotarba, 2001)
Folklore and tall tales often provide opportunity for discussion and thinking, and also for comparison, both with another story or historical event or with a current situation a student is undergoing. Young (2004) indicates that "traditional literature has served to educate about the creation of the world, the history of its people, and the moral values a particular culture holds dear…In the past, traditional stories were once presented to adult (and sometimes child) audiences, but they have become a major part of children's literature during the 19th and 20th centuries…. The criterion for selecting a traditional tale might depend on the reader or audience who would be enjoying the tale…” (as cited in Rice, A and Liang, A.).
The dialogues in “The Birth of Pecos Bill” depict the traditional way in which pioneers used to speak. For example,
"See here, ain't you Pecos Bill, my little brother?"
…
"You stop that!"…"And tell me this; how come you ain't got a long bushy tail if you're a coyote."
…
"I got fleas," he volunteered. "And I howl at the moon!"
"Everybody in Texas has fleas and howls at the moon. That ain't no excuse," ... "Any how, you can walk upright like a normal person and you can talk too. That ain't what a coyote does."
…
"'Course I'm right. I'm your big brother and I outta know,"...
"It's about time you stopped foolin' around on the prairie and became a cowboy like all the rest of us."
There is also a cultural connection through the different events that occur in the story. An example of this is that Pecos Bill is raised by coyotes, a species that is typical of the southwestern region. He also invents the branding iron and the lasso to help the cowboys deal with the stubborn bulls, which are everyday activities for the people living in the same region.
Literacy Development through YAL
It is a common belief that YAL “has the potential to soften the resistance of students who have decided that they have no need of literature, or for that matter, no need of school”(White, 2000). In order to get students to read anything, teachers should be able to choose the most motivating pieces of literature that fit within their curriculum design. Taking that into account, a successful result can be expected as adolescents often react in a positive way to literature that fits within the YA rationale (Featherstone, 2009).
Discussion
Covering many of the standard YAL characteristics, the use of “The Birth of Pecos Bill” with pedagogical purposes will offer an excellent opportunity to engage adolescents in reading for pleasure as well as exploring values and traditions because it provides action and entertainment, using a young character to depict customs and regional traditions.
Many of the activities that Pecos Bill is engaged in, such as dealing with messy bulls or helping cowboys in their daily routine, depict in a humorous way the typical harsh life that southwestern people had to go through at the beginning of the nineteenth century. To reflect upon this will give students an opportunity to relate to History, when comparing the different ways of life then and now, or to Geography, while talking about the different animals that inhabit this region as well as its climate and topographical characteristics. It can also be used to point out the different values that are portrayed in the story: courage, creativity, assertiveness, independence, and the not-so-good attitudes, such as the lack of fear.
Essentially, by being entertaining and packed with action, “The Birth of Pecos Bill” can be an interesting story to be used in the ESL classroom. Encompassing YA literature features, an enjoyable and stimulating character and curricula-connected content this story can become a useful tool for teachers and an inspiration to students.
References
- Featherstone, Kate (2009). “The Transforming Power of Young Adult Literature”. The ALAN Review, Volume 37, Number 1, p. 7-11.
- Handbook of Texas Online "PECOS BILL," at http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/lxp01. Retrieved October 8, 2011. Texas State Historical Association.
- Koelling, H. (2004) Make sense of teens as growing people and as readers. Classic Connections: Turning Teens onto Great Literature. Westport CT.
- Kotarba, Polly (2001). “American Tall Tales: Values and Videos” at http://hti.math.uh.edu/curriculum/units/2001/02/01.02.04.pdf. Retrieved October 12, 2011. Houston Teachers Institute.
- Oklahoma Children’s Theatre, “Pecos Bill and the Ghost Stampede” at http://www.okchildrenstheatre.com/Pecos Bill.pdf. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
- Rice, Amie, Liang, Angel, “Choosing High Quality Children's Literature/Traditional Literature” at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Choosing_High_Quality_Children's_Literature/Traditional_Literature. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
- White, Elaine J. (2000). "Young Adult Literature as a Key to Literacy." The ALAN Review, Volume 27, Number 3, p. 52-54.
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