Pecos Bill Story More than a hundred years ago, in the Wild West, a child was born. That child was named Pecos Bill.

Now when Pecos Bill was still a baby, his parents were moving from one ranch to another. Bill was sound asleep in the back of their covered wagon when the wagon hit a bump. The bump bumped poor Bill out of the wagon and onto the hard desert ground. But Bill’s parents had no idea that their baby was missing and kept on riding.

Luckily, a family of coyotes found the boy and raised him as their own pup. By day, Pecos Bill learned to live on his own in the hot desert. Each night, after a long day of hunting, Bill and his coyote family howled at the moon. 

Once Pecos Bill had grown to be a man, he left his coyote family behind and went to live with people once again. Living the life of a cowboy, Pecos Bill had many, many adventures, some of which I’m about to tell you.Pecos Bill’s first great adventure was the time when he rode Widow-Maker. Widow-Maker was a horse, but not just any horse. You see, Widow-Maker was the roughest, toughest, meanest, strongest horse any cowboy had ever ridden — or tried to ride, anyway. Nobody had been able to stay on Widow-Maker. He was just too ornery.

Whenever a cowboy got up the gumption to climb onto Widow-Maker’s back, that big black stallion would buck and kick and thrash. He would snort and stomp and toss his head. And pretty soon, he would toss that poor cowboy right out of the saddle and onto the dry, dusty desert dirt.

Nope, no cowboy ever had what it took to ride old Widow-Maker. No cowboy, that is, except for Pecos Bill.One day Bill had watched Widow-Maker toss one cowboy after another onto the dirt and decided that he’d seen enough.

“Why don’t I show you boys how it’s done?” he asked, tightening his belt and jingling his spurs.

So Pecos Bill climbed onto Widow-Maker’s back and the rest of the cowboys held their breath, waiting for Widow-Maker to toss Bill just as he had tossed all the rest.

Widow-Maker bucked and kicked and thrashed. He snorted and stomped and tossed his head. That horse tried every trick he knew to toss this cowboy off his back. But Pecos Bill wasn’t tossed anywhere. Hanging on tight, Bill waited until Widow-Maker was all tired out. That crazy horse had met his match — and now he had a new master.Taming that ornery cuss Widow-Maker was not the only adventure that Pecos Bill had. You know how cowboys use a looped rope called a lasso?

One day, when Pecos Bill was out tending his herd of cattle, the cows started to stampede. The herd was getting away, and Bill realized that he had forgotten his lasso at home. Thinking quickly, Pecos Bill caught a few rattlesnakes, tied them together, and with this rattling, hissing lasso, Pecos Bill roped that whole herd of cattle just like that!

Another time when Pecos Bill was out tending to his cattle, he heard a roar come from the tumbleweed. Bill turned around to see a snarling mountain lion ready to sink its sharp fangs and claws into one of the cows.

Bill wasn’t about to let some mangy old kitty cat run off with one of his prized heifers, so he took out his lasso and roped that mountain lion just like he would a pony. Then he climbed on the angry cat’s back and began to whoop and holler.

“Whoopee! How do you like this, you dad-gum pussy cat?” Pecos Bill laughed. “You won’t be eating any of my cows now, will you? Yeehaw!”Yes, Pecos Bill had many, many adventures in the Wild West. And yes, he was just about the rootin-est, tootin-est cowpoke to ever climb into the saddle. There wasn’t a horse he couldn’t ride. There wasn’t a challenge that could stop him.But one day Pecos Bill met his match. Her name was Slue-Foot Sue.

Slue-Foot Sue was the prettiest girl this side of the Mississippi River. Her hair was as golden as Kansas wheat. Her cheeks were as rosy as an Arizona sunset.

Now Pecos Bill had never felt the slightest fear when riding an angry bull or facing a nest full of rattlers. But moseying up to Slue-Foot Sue to say hello made Bill more nervous than a jackrabbit in a wolf den. Luckily, Sue broke the ice and introduced herself to Bill. And before you know it, the two were married.

Married life didn’t do much to tame Pecos Bill, though. There was the one time that a blustery, twisting cyclone threatened to fly off with Bill’s herd of cattle. But just like he wouldn’t let a mountain lion touch one of his cows, Pecos Bill wasn’t about to let an old cyclone, either.

So Pecos Bill got out his trusty lasso and tossed it around the cyclone. Off the angry twister flew, determined to throw Bill south of the Rio Grande. But our hero held on tight, and soon that cyclone petered out. Pecos Bill had triumphed once again!And speaking of the Rio Grande, we all know what a long and winding river that is. Well, I’ve heard tell that Pecos Bill used the whole thing, that great big river that winds and stretches for as far as the eye can see, to water the crops he grew on his ranch! That Pecos Bill sure was a son of a gun!

Throughout his long and exciting life, Pecos Bill had many more adventures, with earthquakes and rattlesnakes, with growling grizzly bears and dashing desert hares, with stampeding steers and fleet-footed mule deer. He had so many wild and woolly adventures that it would fill this whole book just to tell a few of them.As the years passed, Pecos Bill and Slue-Foot Sue grew old and gray. Bill still tended his ranch and cattle, and he still rode old Widow-Maker, who had grown a little gray himself.

But after his long days of riding and working, Pecos Bill would feel a little more sore and tired than he had when he was a young cowpoke. So he was happy to sit with his beloved Slue-Foot Sue and watch the desert sun set on the fine spread that they called home. And that, my friends, is the story of Pecos Bill.

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