1. CHARACTERISTICS OF A FOLK or TALL TALE
SIXTH GRADE
ESL
L. NABULSI

2. Definition of a Folk Tale
A tall tale is a story that has these features:
A larger-than-life, or superhuman, main character with a specific job.
A problem that is solved in a funny way.
Exaggerated details that describe things as greater than they really are.
Characters who use everyday language.

3. Origins of the Folk Tale
people depended on storytelling for entertainment. After a long day's work, people gathered to tell each other funny tales.
Origins in ORAL literature

4. Samples of Folk Tales Robin Hood Pecos Bill Paul Bunyon Daniel Boon
John Henry

5. Characteristics of Folk Heroes
A larger-than-life, or superhuman
main character with a specific job.
Characters who use everyday language.

6. Helpers of Folk Heroes Usually animals Special Weapon Special Friend
Babe, the Blue Mule
Special Weapon
King Arthur’s Excalibur
Special Friend
Little John, friend of Robin Hood

7. Antagonist of Folk Hero
Can be a person
Can be a event in nature
Can be an evil spirit

8. AMERICAN FOLK HEROES

9. Paul Bunyan
There have been few characters of American folklore with the stature of Paul Bunyan. This legendary hero of lumberjacks throughout American possessed strength, speed, and skill that matched the vastness of North American.
According to legend, Paul Bunyan and his giant blue ox, Babe, left many a mark on the landscape, receiving credit for creating Puget Sound, the Grand Canyon, and the Black Hills, among others.
Some folklore experts have credited the French-Canadians for starting the tales. Others attribute the tales to a Western logging company during the early 20th century. Still others consider it a European import.
All agree, however, that Bunyan legend probably grew as the tales about him grew, bringing a new meaning to the term "tall story." Stories about Bunyan and Babe first circulated through the logging camps of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, where loggers first heard and then retold the fables, adding local or personal embellishments.

10. Johnny Appleseed
For forty-nine years, John Chapman ("Johnny Appleseed") roamed the American wilderness, devotedly planting apple trees. The reason for John's mission is unknown, although it's said he dreamed of a land covered with blossoming apple trees; of a land where no one went hungry because apples were plentiful.
John's gentleness and courage were legendary even in his own time. He walked alone in the wilderness, without gun or knife. He chopped down no trees, and killed no animals. He was respected and appreciated by the Native American tribes and the new settlers alike.
John lived very simply. He slept outdoors, walked barefoot and ate berries. He made his clothes from sacks and wore a tin pot for a hat (and to cook with). John made his drinking water in winter by melting snow with his feet. Even the people of his time were amazed at his endurance.

11. Pecos Bill
a legendary cowboy folk hero. According to legend, coyotes raised Pecos Bill after he fell from his parent's wagon. It was during his early years with the coyotes, that Pecos Bill befriended wild animals.
His relationships with those animals carried into adult life. He chose riding a mountain lion instead of a horse. When he did change mounts, Bill naturally selected a horse no one else could ride and named him Widow Maker. When it came to weapons, he nearly always chose a whip - not made of braided rawhide, but a live rattlesnake.
The only woman to catch Bill's fancy was Slue-Foot Sue, whom he met as she rode a catfish the size of a whale down the Rio Grande. This was; of course, before Pecos Bill drained the Rio Grande to water his ranch during and enduring drought.

12. John Henry
The legend of John Henry came about during the railroad boom era of the early 1800s. John Henry, according to legend, "was a steel-driving African-American man," who could hammer railroad spikes faster than anyone, and loved it. This Paul Bunyan-like character was born full-sized (over eight feet tall!) and went to work on the railroad when he was only three weeks old. Eventually, John Henry is challenged to compete against a steel-driving machine, to see who is better, man or machine... John Henry wins, but collapses, dead, at the finish line. John Henry "didn't really die... just stopped livin' in his Mammy's shack, and started livin' in the hearts of men, forever and a day." The point is, as John says, a man can do anything  if he puts his mind to it.

13. Writing a Folk Tale
Step One - Create a hero using the characteristics of such a hero. Exaggeration is the key.
What do you want to exaggerate about this hero? Use the story pattern to help in writing your own Tall Tale.
___________________was the ________________________________
(Name of tall tale hero) (describing words like: toughest, smartest)
man/woman in the state of ______________________ . Everyone for
(state name)
miles around knew ______________________ and loved to tell and
(hero's name)
retell of his/her amazing feats.

14. Create a Situation
Step Two - Now you need an adventure for your tall tale hero. Once again, the key is to EXAGGERATE. The main event of a tall tale is not something that can happen in real life.

15. Create the Problem ____________ and loved to tell and
Everyone for miles around knew __________(hero's name)
____________ and loved to tell and
retell of his/her amazing feats. Now one day _____________________(hero's name)
went to visit ________(2nd character)__________ . __________________ . (2nd character's name)
Was having big problems with __________________________________

16. Create the Solution
Step Three: Using exaggeration create an unbelievable solution to the problem that is unrealistic.
_______ explained his/her problem.
That was all it took. 
Right away,
______________________

17. Conflicts of Folk Hero
Man verses man - hero opposing another person perhaps in a contest
Man verses nature - exaggerated weather condition; animal
Man verses society - element bringing social change, social concept or moral
Man verses self - test of courage, strength, skill, endurance

18. Settings of Folk Tales
Time - at the time of the narrator (Narrator is always an admirer of the folk hero. We see the folk hero through the eyes of an admiring narrator).
Place - where the folk hero can prove himself through his work
Place and time are associated with his job.

19. Symbols in Folk Tales Weapon/tool of work Animal helpers
Objects related to power and strength

20. Practice Fuji Flyer Yakota Air Base possible problems
Mechanic who can spin the propellers with his arms
Lift planes up to the ___sphere
Pilot who can fly faster than ____
Air controller who can blow a plane back on course
Yakota Air Base possible problems
Earthquake
Typhoon
Invasion