Editing Tall tale

{{Short description|Unbelievable story}}
{{Other uses|Tall Tales (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
A '''tall tale''' is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some tall tales are [[exaggeration]]s of actual events, for example [[wikt:fish story|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 set in a familiar setting, such as the [[Europe]]an [[countryside]], the [[American frontier]], the [[Frontier|Canadian Northwest]], the [[Outback|Australian outback]], or the beginning of the [[Industrial Revolution]].

Events are often told in a way that makes the narrator seem to have been a part of the story; the tone is generally good-natured. [[Legend]]s are differentiated from tall tales primarily by age; many legends exaggerate the exploits of their heroes, but in tall tales the exaggeration looms large, to the extent of dominating the story.

==United States==
The tall tale has become a fundamental element of [[Folklore of the United States| 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 semi-annual speech-contests held by [[Toastmasters International]] public-speaking clubs may include a tall-tales contest. Each and every 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 proceeds 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 (comic strip)| ''Non Sequitur'']] (1992–present) 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 fabricating a story entirely.

===About real people===
Some stories are told about exaggerated versions of real people:
*[[Johnny Appleseed]] &ndash; a friendly folk-hero who traveled the [[West]] planting apple trees because he felt his guardian angel told him to
*[[John McNally (American football)|Johnny Blood]] &ndash; an American football player whose reputation for wild behavior was as well known as his on-field play
*[[James Bowie |Jim Bowie]] &ndash; A Kentuckian frontiersman, [[Texas Ranger Division |Texas Ranger]], and land speculator who fought for the Texan cause in the [[Battle of the Alamo]]. He is known for the [[Bowie knife]] which he used to disembowel opponents.
*[[Daniel Boone]] &ndash; blazed a trail across [[Cumberland Gap]] to found the first English-speaking colonies west of the [[Appalachian Mountains]]
*[[Strap Buckner|Aylett C. "Strap" Buckner]] &ndash; an [[Native Americans in the United States|Indian]] fighter of [[History of Texas#Republic of Texas (1836–1845)|colonial Texas]]<ref>
{{cite web
|title = Buckner, Aylett C.
|url = http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbu09
|work = [[Handbook of Texas Online]]
|publisher = [[Texas State Historical Association]]
|access-date = August 23, 2011
}}</ref>
*[[Annie Christmas]] &ndash; a Louisiana [[keelboat]] captain, who in real life was white, but in folklore and tall tales was turned into an [[African-American]] supernaturally strong woman who defied the gender norms of the time.
*[[Davy Crockett]] &ndash; a [[American pioneer | pioneer]] and U.S. Congressman from Tennessee who later died at the [[Battle of the Alamo]]
*[[Mike Fink]] &ndash; the toughest boatman on the [[Ohio River|Ohio]] and [[Mississippi River|Mississippi]] rivers, and a rival of Davy Crockett. Also known as the King of the Mississippi River [[Keelboat|Keelboatmen]].
*[[Peter Francisco]] &ndash; American Revolutionary War hero
*[[John Henry (folklore) |John Henry]] &ndash; a mighty steel-driving [[African American]]
*[[Calamity Jane]] &ndash; a tough Wild-West woman
*[[Jigger Johnson]] (1871–1935), a [[lumberjack]] and [[log driving|log driver]] from [[Maine]] who is known for his numerous off-the-job exploits, such as catching [[bobcat|bobcats]] alive with his bare hands, and drunken brawls<ref>''Appalachia'' Appalachian Mountain Club, 1964.</ref><ref>Monahan, Robert. "Jigger Johnson", ''New Hampshire Profiles magazine'', Northeast Publications, Concord, New Hampshire, April, 1957.</ref>
*[[Casey Jones]] &ndash; a brave and gritty [[railroad]] engineer
*[[Nat Love]], also known as "Deadwood Dick", was born a slave in Tennessee in 1854. Tales of his adventures after emancipation, as a cowboy and as a Pullman porter, gained such fantastical elements as to be considered tall tales
*[[Sam Patch]] &ndash; an early 19th-century daredevil who died during a jump on Friday the 13th
*[[Molly Pitcher]] &ndash; a heroine of the [[American Revolutionary War]]
*[[Blackbeard]] spawned various tall tales surrounding his involvement with piracy from 1717–1718

===About imaginary people===
[[File:Klamath-CA-Babe.jpg|thumb|160px|right|Paul Bunyan's [[sidekick]], [[Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox|Babe the blue ox]], sculpted as a ten-meter tall roadside tourist-attraction]]
Subjects of some American tall tales include legendary figures:
*[[Paul Bunyan]] &ndash; huge lumberjack who eats 50 pancakes in one minute, dug the [[Grand Canyon]] with his axe, made [[Minnesota]]'s [[List of lakes of Minnesota|ten thousand lakes]] with his footprints, and also has a blue ox named Babe who made the Mississippi River
*[[Tony Beaver]] &ndash; a [[West Virginia]] lumberjack and cousin of Paul Bunyan
*[[Pecos Bill]] &ndash; legendary cowboy who "tamed the wild west"
*[[Cordwood Pete]] &ndash; younger brother to lumberjack Paul Bunyan
*[[Febold Feboldson]] &ndash; a [[Nebraska]] farmer who could fight a drought
*[[Johnny Kaw]], a fictional [[Kansas|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]] &ndash; a [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]] steelworker made of steel
*[[Alfred Bulltop Stormalong]] &ndash; an immense sailor whose ship was so big that it scraped [[the Moon]]
*[[Mose Humphrey]]; a brave NYC firefighter
*[[Honeydipper Dan]]; a 20 foot tall outhouse cleaner.

==Australia==
The Australian frontier (known as the bush or the outback) similarly inspired the types of tall tales that are found in American folklore. The Australian versions typically concern a mythical [[Station (Australian agriculture)|station]] called [[The Speewah]]. The heroes of the Speewah include:
*[[Rodney Ansell]] 
*[[Big Bill]] &ndash; The dumbest man on the Speewah who made his living cutting up [[mining]] shafts and selling them for post holes
*[[Crooked Mick]] &ndash; A champion [[Sheep shearer|shearer]] who had colossal strength and quick wit.

Another folk hero is [[Charlie McKeahnie]], the hero of [[Banjo Paterson]]'s poem "[[The Man from Snowy River (poem)|The Man from Snowy River]]", whose bravery, adaptability, and risk-taking could epitomise the new Australian spirit.

==Canada==
The Canadian frontier has also inspired the types of tall tales that are found in American folklore, such as: 
*[[French Canadian]] tales of [[Big Joe Mufferaw]], a giant of a lumberjack and woodsman from the [[Ottawa Valley]], loosely based on real-life lumberjack  [[Joseph Montferrand]]
*Johnny Chinook, a [[Métis people (Canada)|Métis]] cowboy and rancher in [[Alberta]].
*Sam McGee, the hero of Robert Service's poem, "[[The Cremation of Sam McGee]]" (1907)

==Europe==
[[File:Giant's Causeway (13).JPG|thumb|180px|right|The [[Columnar basalt]] that makes up the Giant's Causeway; in legend, a fine set of [[hexagonal]] stepping stones to Scotland, made by Fionn mac Cumhaill]] 
Some European tall tales include:
*[[Toell the Great]] was one of the great tall tales of Estonia.
*The [[Babin Republic]], in Renaissance Poland (1568), was a satirical society dedicated entirely to mocking people and telling tall tales.
*Juho Nätti (1890–1964), known as Nätti-Jussi, was a Finnish lumberjack known for telling tall tales; his stories have also circulated as folk tales and been collected in books.
*''[[The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel]]'' (16th century) by the French writer [[François Rabelais]] told the tale of two giants; father and son.
*The many farfetched adventures of the fictional German nobleman [[Baron Munchausen]], most prominently in the novel ''[[Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia]]'' (1785) by [[Rudolf Erich Raspe]] and the following German supplemented adaptation by [[Gottfried August Bürger]], are loosely based on [[Hieronymus Karl Friedrich, Freiherr von Münchhausen]] (1720−1797).
*Legends of the Irish mythological hunter-warrior [[Fionn mac Cumhaill]], also known as 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]], the pebble became [[Rockall]], and the void became [[Lough Neagh]].
*''[[Laughter and Grief by the White Sea]]'', a Soviet film, depicts tall tales of the [[Pomors]]. A Pomor elder describes several stories, including a [[brown bear]] coating himself in baking soda to be acceptable to humans as a [[polar bear]]. 
*The Cumbrian Liars, a United Kingdom association who follow in the [[Seven-league boots|seven-league footsteps]] of Will Ritson.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grizedale.org/lying/history/index.htm |title=Cumbrian Liars|website=grizedale.org}}</ref>
*"[[The Irish Rover]]" is a well-known Irish folk song about an implausibly large sailing ship with a fanciful cargo.
*Oskar, later known as "[[Unsinkable Sam]]," was a [[ship's cat]] that was supposed to have survived the sinking of three ships during WWII: the German [[German battleship Bismarck|''Bismarck'']] on 27 May 1941, [[HMS Cossack (F03)|HMS ''Cossack'']] on 27 October 1941, and finally [[HMS Ark Royal (91)|HMS ''Ark Royal'']] on 14 November 1941. While photographs exist of a ship's cat purported to be Oskar on HMS ''Ark Royal'', the historicity of this legend is debated.

==In visual media==
{{Main|Exaggeration Postcards}}
Early 20th-century [[postcard]]s became a vehicle for tall tale telling in the US.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/feature/talltales/ | title= Larger Than Life: Tall-Tale Postcards | date= 3 August 2012 | publisher = Wisconsin Historical Society}}</ref><ref name=MIstory>{{cite web | url= http://www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/extra/2008/janfeb/talltale_postcards.html | title= Storytelling Through the Mail: Tall Tale Postcards in Michigan | publisher= Michigan History Online | url-status= dead | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090708063731/http://www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/extra/2008/janfeb/talltale_postcards.html | archive-date= 2009-07-08 }}</ref> Creators of these cards, such as the prolific Alfred Stanley Johnson Jr.<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/results.asp?search_type=advanced&search_field1=creator&keyword1=johnson%2C+alfred&boolean_type1=and&search_field2=&keyword2=tall-tale | publisher= Wisconsin Historical Society | title= Wisconsin historical images, Keywords: "tall tale", Alfred Stanley Johnson, Jr.}}</ref> and [[William H. "Dad" Martin]], usually employed [[trick photography]], including [[forced perspective]], while others painted their unlikely [[wikt:tableau|tableaus]],<ref name= MIstory/> or used a combination of painting and photography in early examples of [[Photo manipulation|photo retouching]].<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=44509&qstring=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisconsinhistory.org%2Fwhi%2Fresults.asp%3Fsearch_type%3Dbasic%26keyword1%3DMammoth%2BStrawberries%26submit%3DSEARCH | title= Tall-tale Postcard: Mammoth Strawberries | date= December 2003 | publisher= Wisconsin Historical Society}}</ref> The common theme was [[wikt:gigantism|gigantism]]: fishing for [[leviathan]]s,<ref name= MIstory/><ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/results.asp?search_type=advanced&search_field1=&keyword1=exaggerated+postcards&boolean_type1=and&search_field2=&keyword2=Fishing&boolean_type2=and&search_field3=&keyword3=&subject_broad_id=&subject_broad=&decade=&genre=&genre_text=&wi_county_code=&wi_county_text=&added_within=&sort_by=date&submit_form=Search | publisher= Wisconsin Historical Society | title= Wisconsin historical images, Keywords: "tall tale", "fishing"}}</ref> hunting for<ref name= MIstory/><ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/results.asp?search_type=advanced&search_field1=&keyword1=exaggerated+postcards&boolean_type1=and&search_field2=&keyword2=hunting&boolean_type2=and&search_field3=&keyword3=&subject_broad_id=&subject_broad=&decade=&genre=&genre_text=&wi_county_code=&wi_county_text=&added_within=&sort_by=date&submit_form=Search | publisher= Wisconsin Historical Society | title= Wisconsin historical images, Keyword "hunting" }}</ref> or riding<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=44668&qstring=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisconsinhistory.org%2Fwhi%2Fresults.asp%3Fsearch_type%3Dbasic%26keyword1%3DHomeward%2BBound%26submit%3DSEARCH | title= Homeward Bound| date= December 2003}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullRecord.asp?id=44425&qstring=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wisconsinhistory.org%2Fwhi%2Fresults.asp%3Fsearch_type%3Dbasic%26keyword1%3DMan%2BRiding%2BSheep%26submit%3DSEARCH | title= Man Riding Sheep (1916)| date= December 2003}}</ref> oversized animals, and bringing in the impossibly huge [[wikt:sheaf|sheaves]].<ref name= MIstory/><ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/results.asp?search_type=advanced&search_field1=&keyword1=exaggerated+postcards&boolean_type1=and&search_field2=&keyword2=farm+produce&boolean_type2=and&search_field3=&keyword3=&subject_broad_id=&subject_broad=&decade=&genre=&genre_text=&wi_county_code=&wi_county_text=&added_within=&sort_by=date&submit_form=Search | publisher= Wisconsin Historical Society | title= Wisconsin historical images, Keyword "hunting" }}</ref> An homage to the genre can be found on the cover of the ''[[Eat a Peach]]'' (1972) album by [[The Allman Brothers Band]].

==See also==

*''[[Big Fish]]'' – [[Tim Burton]] movie relating the story of a dying man exaggerating the details of his life to his son 
*[[Bill Brasky]]
*[[Campfire story]]
*[[Chuck Norris facts]]
*[[Fairy tale]]
*[[Folklore]]
*[[Found manuscript]]
*[[Mythomania]]
*[[Snipe hunt]]
*[[The Most Interesting Man in the World]]
*[[Unreliable narrator]]
*[[Urban legend]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Further reading==
*Brown, Carolyn. (1989). ''The Tall Tale in American Folklore and Literature.'' Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee Press. {{ISBN|0-87049-627-1}}.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Tall tales}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070528050633/http://www.americanfolklore.net/tt.html American Tall Tales]
*[http://cdbaby.com/cd/markbinder2 Tall Tales, Whoppers and Lies &ndash; Audio Recording]

{{American tall tales}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Tall tales| ]]
[[Category:American folklore]]
[[Category:Australian folklore]]
[[Category:Canadian folklore]]
[[Category:English-language idioms]]
[[category:Adventure fiction]]
[[category:Imagination]]