Time to Tell the Stories

The world is made of stories.
Think about it. If you look at it the right way, everything is a story. The story of how the universe behaves is physics. The story of how fire warms the hands is thermodynamics. And the tale of what has happened is history.
Now history is fairly interesting in itself. Its many intricacies, twists and turns and coincidences make it more fascinating than many detective stories. Every place has a history. But weaving in and out and around the history, twining through it, is something even more fascinating; legend. The legends of a place are what the people remember, what we tell each other. History is what has happened; legend is what people have loved and hated, honored and fought for. History is the body of a time and place, but legend is the soul.
Our country, young as it is, is filled with legends and stories, stories of great heroes and great deeds. When our European ancestors left their homes and lands, they left behind their roots, the culture that had made them whole. They arrived in a land that had no place for them. Far from home, far from their kin, they were alone and adrift, without codes to live by or alliances that had once identified them.
We as humans need a sense of cohesion and identity. And our ancestors found it by telling stories that revolved around their new lifestyles.
Out of these many stories rose great focal points of legend. Men and women like Jhon Henry Roustabout, king of the Rail Road, Annie Christmas of the Longshore Men, Old Stormalong, King of the New England Sea, Pecos Bill of the West and Wild Molly who ruled the land beneath the Rio Grande. These are the Tall Tales, the gods of their trades and the men who shaped the codes of conduct across the country. These new gods rubbed shoulders with their elders, the Manitou, the gods of the many American tribes; Raven, Rabbit, Coyote, Grandmother Spider and Old Man Thunder, to shape the landscape of our American dreams and legends.
Sadly, many of the Tall Tales are being forgotten as our world changes. The Internet videos take the place of tale-telling. But only if we let it.
Each month, I intend to post about one of our great Tall Tales. These stories are meant to be told, and they'll be written in read-aloud style. You're welcome, in fact you're encouraged to print them out, tell them aloud, introduce them to new audiences. You're welcome to tell me stories too; send me your tales at otterchild@gmail.com, and I'll post them here online. Because this is how stories stay alive: through telling.
So let's sit down.I have a tale for you...