Pecos Bill

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Pecos Bill is a mythical American cowboy, immortalized in numerous tall tales.

He was invented in the 20th century and is said to have lived during, and been a highly important figure in, the taming of the Western frontier. He embodied idealised cowboy virtues in a series of superhuman feats. He is credited as having been raised by coyotes near the Pecos River after falling from a wagon as a baby. On his return to humanity he invented the lasso, tamed and rode a cyclone, used a rattlesnake as a whip, could rope an entire herd at one go, used the entire Rio Grande to water his ranch, and performed other similar feats. He rode a horse called Lightining (or known in some stories as Widow-maker) and dated a girl called Slue-Foot Sue.

Slue-Foot Sue would be the love of his life, whom he would later have to shoot. After marrying Sue she insisted that she ride Widow-Maker, and she did. Widow-Maker then threw Sue and due to the hooped dress she was wearing she began to bounce (so high that she even hit her head on the moon). After she bounced for days Pecos-Bill realized that she would starve to death, so he put her out of her misery by shooting her. Though it is said that Bill was married many times, he never did recover from the loss of Sue.

The stories were written by Edward O'Reilly in the Saga of Pecos Bill, published in 1923. He was a late addition to the "big man" idea of characters like Paul Bunyan or Iron John.

An animated short within Melody Time featured the character.

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