What ever happened to the skill of Boasting?
I have always been fascinated with the characters portrayed in American folk tails. How these individuals described themselves and the world around, these exaggerations were artfull in their boasting.
Del Gue:
I ain't never seen'em, but my common sense tells me the Andes is foothills, and the Alps is for children to climb! These here is God's finest scupturings! And there ain't no laws for the brave ones! And there ain't no asylums for the crazy ones! And there ain't no churches, except for this right here! and there ain't no priests excepting the birds. By God, I are a mountain man, and I'll live'til an arrow or bullet finds me. And then I'll leave my bones on this great map of the magnificent...
Jeremiah Johnson 1972
Pecos Bill:
I'm a ring-tailed roarer. I can draw faster, shoot straighter, ride harder and drink longer than any man alive. I ride cyclones and I wrestle...
...I'm the rip-snortinest cowboy that ever rode north, south, east or west of the Rio Grande. I'm Pecos Bill.
Tall Tales 1995
Who where some other folk heroes that were described using a flair and knack for bragging? What where their boasts?
John Henry
Paul Bunyan
Mike Fink
Jim Bowie
Others?
