{"product_id":"legends-and-tales-of-the-american-west-isbn-9780375702662","title":"Legends and Tales of the American West","description":"From Davy Crockett, Wild Bill Hickok, and Calamity Jane to Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, and Frank and Jesse James, here are more than 130 colorful stories of the pioneers, cowboys, outlaws, gamblers, prospectors, and lawmen who settled the wild west, creating a uniquely American hero and an enduringly fascinating folk mythology.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this wonderfully boisterous treasury of tall tales, everyone and everything is larger than life and bragging is elevated into an art form.  Many of these stories are of real people and real events; more than a few, however, grew taller and funnier as they made their rounds from wagon train to campfire to rodeo to miners' quarters.  But even if it is far from established that Daniel Boone and Davy Crockett were able to kill three men with one bullet or subdue ferocious grizzly bears with their fists, they come vividly to life here as beloved characters who have become part of the fabric of the American imagination.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWith black-and white\u003ci\u003e illustrations throughout\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePart of the Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003eIt Ain’t Necessarily So  \/  xiii\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eForeword  \/  xv\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 1 — Ohio Fever  \/  3\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Devil and Major Stobo  \/  5\u003cbr\u003eThe Cheater Cheated  \/  9\u003cbr\u003eThe Wild Hunt  \/  12\u003cbr\u003eDreams  \/  14\u003cbr\u003eThe Skeleton Hand  \/  15\u003cbr\u003eThe Wild Hunter of the Juniata  \/  23\u003cbr\u003eThe Consequences of Not Letting a Man Have His Drink  \/  28\u003cbr\u003eThe Laughing Head  \/  31\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 2 — The Long Hunters  \/  35\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTarzan Boone  \/  37\u003cbr\u003eSwallowing a Scalping Knife  \/  42\u003cbr\u003eThat’s John’s Gun!  \/  43\u003cbr\u003eA Clever Runner  \/  44\u003cbr\u003eA Damn Good Jump  \/  45\u003cbr\u003eThe Warrior Woman  \/  49\u003cbr\u003eThe Corcondyle Head  \/  51\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 3 — Backwoodsmen  \/  55\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Irrepressible Backwoodsman and Original Humorist   \/  57\u003cbr\u003eGrinning the Bark Off a Tree  \/  60\u003cbr\u003eDavy Crockett on the Stump  \/  61\u003cbr\u003eThe Drinks Are on Me, Gentlemen  \/  61\u003cbr\u003eGouging the Critter  \/  62\u003cbr\u003eJim Bowie and His Big Knife  \/  63\u003cbr\u003eWon’t You Light, Stranger?  \/  69\u003cbr\u003eOhio Poem  \/  70\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 4 — Ring-Tailed Roarers of the Western Waters  \/  71\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Shooting Match  \/  75\u003cbr\u003eDid Such a Helliferocious Man Ever Live?  \/  77\u003cbr\u003eLike Father, Like Daughter  \/  80\u003cbr\u003eShe Fought Her Weigh in She-B’ars  \/  81\u003cbr\u003eHe Crowed and Flapped His Wings  \/  83\u003cbr\u003eA Fight Between Keelboatmen Averted  \/  84\u003cbr\u003eStranger, Is This a Free Fight?  \/  85\u003cbr\u003eThe Screaming Head  \/  85\u003cbr\u003eStopping Drinking for Good  \/  89\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 5 — Mountain Men  \/  91\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLittle Big Man  \/  95\u003cbr\u003eKit Carson and the Grizzlies  \/  100\u003cbr\u003eRun for Your Life, White Man!  \/  103\u003cbr\u003eOld Solitaire  \/  109\u003cbr\u003ePegleg Smith and Headless Harry  \/  121\u003cbr\u003eMind the Time We Took Pawnee Topknots?  \/  127\u003cbr\u003eLover Boy of the Prairies  \/  128\u003cbr\u003ePutrefactions  \/  135\u003cbr\u003eThe Injin Killed Me Dead  \/  137\u003cbr\u003eHeaven According to Old Gabe  \/  139\u003cbr\u003eDamn Good Shootin’  \/  141\u003cbr\u003eUncle Joe the Humorist  \/  146\u003cbr\u003eBa’tiste’s Nightmare  \/  147\u003cbr\u003eSong of the Voyageur  \/  150\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 6 — Timber!  \/  151\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bunyan and His Little Blue Ox  \/  153\u003cbr\u003ePaul Bunyan Helps to Build a Railroad  \/  157\u003cbr\u003eKidnapped by a Flea  \/  162\u003cbr\u003eThunder Bay  \/  167\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 7 — Gold! Gold! Gold!  \/  171\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTommy-Knockers  \/  173\u003cbr\u003eIt Had a Light Where Its Heart Ought to Have Been  \/  177\u003cbr\u003eHe Ate All the Democrats of Hinsdale County  \/  180\u003cbr\u003eA Golden-Haired Fellow  \/  184\u003cbr\u003eTreasures of Various Kinds  \/  185\u003cbr\u003eThe Missing Chest  \/  190\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 8 — Git Along Little Dogies  \/  195\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Saga of Pecos Bill  \/  197\u003cbr\u003eThe Taming of Pecos Bill’s Gal Sue  \/  203\u003cbr\u003eCoyote Makes a Texas Cowboy  \/  209\u003cbr\u003eThe Heart-Shaped Mark  \/  212\u003cbr\u003eThe Skeleton Bride  \/  215\u003cbr\u003eWestern Jack and the Cornstalk  \/  217\u003cbr\u003eBetter Move That Drat Thing!  \/  219\u003cbr\u003eBeing Afoot in Roswell  \/  220\u003cbr\u003eOutstunk the Skunk  \/  220\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 9 — They Died with Their Boots On  \/  221\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNo-Head Joaquín and Three-Fingered Jack  \/  225\u003cbr\u003eThe Headless Horseman of the Mother Lode  \/  232\u003cbr\u003eEl Keed  \/  235\u003cbr\u003eEl Chivato  \/  241\u003cbr\u003eHe Rose from the Grave  \/  244\u003cbr\u003eA Whale of a Fellow with a Gun  \/  248\u003cbr\u003eThe King of the Pistoleers  \/  255\u003cbr\u003eA Western Duel  \/  263\u003cbr\u003eThe Nuptials of Dangerous Davis  \/  264\u003cbr\u003eKilling Off the James Boys  \/  266\u003cbr\u003eTheme and Variations  \/  267\u003cbr\u003eThe Winchester Ghosts  \/  272\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 10 — Bucking the Tiger  \/  277\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA Hard Head  \/  279\u003cbr\u003eIndians Can Play Poker  \/  281\u003cbr\u003eJim Bowie Takes a Hand  \/  282\u003cbr\u003eThe Curly-Headed Little Boy  \/  284\u003cbr\u003eShall We Have a Drop?  \/  287\u003cbr\u003eColonel Tubbs Strikes It Rich  \/  289\u003cbr\u003eGood for Our Entire Assets  \/  294\u003cbr\u003eThe One-Eyed Gambler  \/  295\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 11 — Lady Wildcats of the Plains  \/  297\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBorn Before Her Time  \/  299\u003cbr\u003eHow Old Calam Got Her Name  \/  301\u003cbr\u003eCalamity Jane Meets a Long-Lost Lover  \/  305\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 12 — The Man Who Never Was  \/  309\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDeadwood Dick  \/  311\u003cbr\u003eDeadwood Dick and the Grizzly  \/  312\u003cbr\u003eDeadwood Dick to the Rescue  \/  315\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 13 — An’ That’s My Roolin’  \/  321\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Law West of the Pecos  \/  323\u003cbr\u003eAh Ling’s Hommyside  \/  325\u003cbr\u003eFining the Deceased  \/  328\u003cbr\u003eThe Hanging of Carlos Robles  \/  330\u003cbr\u003eRoy Bean’s Pet Bear  \/  332\u003cbr\u003eJudge Barker, Old Zim, and the One-Eyed Mule  \/  335\u003cbr\u003eEl Cuatro de Julio  \/  337\u003cbr\u003eA Drink’s Worth of Punishment  \/  337\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 14 — Sky Pilots  \/  339\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePreachin’ One Can Understand  \/  341\u003cbr\u003eThe Parable of the Prodigal Son  \/  345\u003cbr\u003eLissen to the Heavenly Poker Player!  \/  347\u003cbr\u003eHear What the Great Herd Book Says!  \/  349\u003cbr\u003eA Funeral Oration  \/  349\u003cbr\u003eA Black Hills Sermon  \/  350\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 15 — Critters  \/  353\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Valley of Headless Men  \/  355\u003cbr\u003eA loup-Garou, or a Windigo, or Maybe a Carcajou  \/  359\u003cbr\u003eThe Call of the Wild  \/  365\u003cbr\u003eThe Windigo  \/  369\u003cbr\u003eThe Great White Stallion of the West  \/  370\u003cbr\u003eUntil Judgment Day  \/  373\u003cbr\u003eEl Diablo Negro  \/  376\u003cbr\u003eSnake Yarns  \/  381\u003cbr\u003eA Rolling Snake Gathers No Moss  \/  383\u003cbr\u003eThe White Snakes  \/  385\u003cbr\u003eA Pair of Fine Boots  \/  386\u003cbr\u003eThe Young Man Who Wanted to Be Snakebit  \/  389\u003cbr\u003eThe Peg-Leg Cat  \/  391\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 16 — Mostly Lies  \/  393\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSomebody in My Bed  \/  395\u003cbr\u003eThe Weather  \/  397\u003cbr\u003eIt Gets Mighty Cold Around Here  \/  398\u003cbr\u003eTexican Liars  \/  400\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003eChapter 17 — Miracles, Saints, and Witches  \/  401\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Three Lost Daughters  \/  403\u003cbr\u003eThe Two Witches  \/  405\u003cbr\u003eThe Owl Witch  \/  406\u003cbr\u003eSan Isidro and the Angel  \/  407\u003cbr\u003eA Riddle  \/  409\u003cbr\u003eThe Many-Times-Killed Young Man  \/  411\u003cbr\u003eThe Caveman of the Hermit Peaks  \/  416\u003cbr\u003eThe Miracles of Chimayo  \/  420\u003cbr\u003eThe Miraculous Staircase  \/  424\u003cbr\u003eThe Hitchhiker  \/  427\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eSource Notes  \/  431\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eBibliography  \/  441\u003c\/i\u003e\"You'll never find a better guide than Richard Erdoes to lead you through the mosaic of the American frontier.  The whole pack of our legendary past is crammed into this treasure box. \u003cbr\u003e—Dee Brown, author of \u003ci\u003eBury My Heart at Wounded Knee\u003c\/i\u003eRichard Erdoes is co-editor of \u003ci\u003eAmerican Indian Myths and Legends\u003c\/i\u003e and the author of, among many other books, \u003ci\u003eLakota Woman; Lame Deer, Seeker of Visions; \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eSaloons of the Old West\u003c\/i\u003e.  He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.THE CHEATER CHEATED\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Traders to the Indians are part of the early West’s folklore. On the whole they were a sorry lot. As an eighteenth-century writer put it:\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe English manner of carrying on the Indian trade is this: the regular traders undertake twice of oftener each year journeys to the Indian villages, their Packhorses laden with Strowds, match coats, hats, looking-glasses, beads and bracelets of glass, knives, and all manner of Gawdy Toys and Knacks for children, as well as guns, flint, Powder, and Lead, and cags of potent Rum to be watered when they arrive to the Indian country. When there these traders live with the Indians, selling them goods in prospect of the season’s fur catch and often keeping one or more squaws as wives and are trusted by their neighbours for they are content or two or three centum profit . . . \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003eOther traders there are who frequently creep into the Woods with spirituous liquor and cheating trifles, after the Indian hunting camps, in the Winter season, and putting down several Cags before them, make them drunk selling their liquor at ten times its value, as the Indians will sell even their wearing shirt for inebriating liquors . . . These Traders are the most vicious and abandoned Wretches of our Nation, a set of Mean Dishonest mercenary Fellows . . . they even debauch the Indians’ young women, and even their wives, when the husbands are from home or drunk.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e But here is a tale of the cheater cheated.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e There was a Nipissing chief called the Red Owl, a mighty hunter and trapper, who brought enough meat to his wigwam to support several wives. His adobe was always filled with the choicest pelts of otter, beaver, fox, mink, and weasel.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e There also was a trader, Smith, or Miller, or, possibly, Cooper. Well, whatever his name, he was a mean liar and cheat who would have sold his own mother’s soul to the devil for two pieces of eight. One day this thieving swindler came to the Red Owl’s wigwam, pointing to a stack of prime beaver plews, saying, “I’ll have those.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “What you gimme for them?”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “How about this keg of whiskey, Chief? Strong as lightning.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “No whiskey,” said the Red Owl, who could not be bamboozled by an offer of rattlesnake piss.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Tell you what I’ll do for you, Chief,” said the trader, handing the Red Owl a small bag of coarse-grained powder. “I’m in a giving mood today. I’ll swap this for you beavers,”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “This little powder for big heap pelts?”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “These are seed grains, Chief. You plant ‘em in the soil and grow bushels of grains like these. You’ll never need to swap for powder again.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Let’s smoke calumet. You smoke’em calumet, you cannot tell a lie.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Sure, Chief, let’s smoke.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e They smoked the pipe and this Smith, or Miller, or Cooper, went off with the furs whistling a merry tune.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The Red Owl planted the powder grains. He cared for them tenderly. He watered them every day. But no plants heavy with powder grains every came up.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e A year later the same transfer came to the Red Owl’s wigwam. He had so many tricks up his sleeve that he had forgotten the one he played on this chief. He spread his wares.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “I take’um gun, lead, looking glass, two bags of beads, bolt red stuff, bolt blue stuff, coat with gold lace.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Fine, fine, Chief,” said the trader, rubbing his hands. “Now for all that stuff I want so and so much beaver, silver fox, red fox, ermine, otter, and musquash.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Me not have’um pelts. Took on one more wife. Young, plump, very active. No time for trapping. Come back in twelve moons. The Red Owl five mighty heap of pelts, beaver, silver fox, red fox, ermine, otter, and musquash.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Let’s smoke the calumet, Chief. When you smoke the calumet, you can’t lie. Right?”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Let’s smoke,” said the Red Owl.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Another year went by. Again this Smith, or Miller, or, possibly, Cooper appeared at the lodge: “Here I am, Chief, let’s have those furs you promised me.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “No furs for you!”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “What, you cheating, thieving red devil? Not furs?”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “No furs!”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “You miserable red varmint, you helliferous savage, you promised. We smoked the calumet!”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “No furs!”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Damn you, you painted godless heathen! Hand over the furs! Hellfire and brimstone! You promised!”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “White man,” said the Red Owl, grinning broadly, “you gave me bad of black powder, bag so little, like this. Told me to plant’um grain. Watch powder bushes grow. Tell chief never again gottum swap pelts for powder. Grains grow slow. Very slow. Come back sometime when bushes heavy with powder grains. Then chief pay with big heap beaver, silver fox, red fox, ermine and musquash.”\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “Damn your eyes!” said the trader.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And that’s how the cheater was cheated.The Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library","brand":"Pantheon","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46305037385957,"sku":"NP9780375702662","price":27.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780375702662.jpg?v=1767731274","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/legends-and-tales-of-the-american-west-isbn-9780375702662","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}