CHAPTER 2: LOST N FOUND

Art by Powell? And taken from a issue of nature boy comics

 So the day came, Pee-Pa had come to the decision to move him and his family all the way across Texas, some folks say he was looking for fortune, others say he was looking for a better life and some even say that he was just adventurous and possibly looking for a new thing to fight, ultimately though, this resulted in Pecos's family in its entirety uprooting and moving on their way.

So Pecos, his siblings, his Mee-Ma and Pee-Pa hitched up their wagon and began their long journey, but, less then a day into the journey they were passing the Pecos River, and his father gave a holler.

Pee-Pa: KIDS LOOK, that eright there is the Pecos River, the thing Little Bill was named after.

So all the kids looked for a second, and quickly lost interest and went back to ruff housing, playing and just doing what they were doing, all except Bill, who was mesmerized by the glistening river, so mesmerized in fact that he was soon staring at the twisting line of shimmering water across the landscape with almost his entire body out of the wagon, didn't take much to knock Bill out of the cart and send him tumbling without anyone the wiser as the wagon hit a rock and Bill went a rolling.

So Bill began bouncing down, down and down, until finally, Little Bill fell into the river, now Bill was a tough little dude as drinking them thirty bottles of hard alcohol had shown, but that river might have just been tougher, Bill was swimming as hard as he could but to no avail, truly, the situation looked hopeless as Bill began blacking out and sinking in the inhospitable torrents and undercurrent of the rushing river, as it tried to claim the poor baby.

Until from above Bill, came a shadow, that shadow nipped baby Bill by the scruff of his neck and quickly took him to shore, and when Bill got to dry land once more and began breathing again, he was able to see his savior.

It was a coyote, which was odd, considering that Bill could have sworn he saw a man be the one who grabbed him, but Bill wasn't too concerned about that, just grateful to be breathing again, then the coyote spoke.

Coyote: Hello little guy, my name is Coyote, it seems like you got yourself into quite a bad situation, so I decided to help ya out of it, say, mind telling me your name little guy.

Bill gave Coyote a strange look, cocked head and all, but soon pointed to the river and back to himself, not exactly having the whole speaking thing down yet.

Coyote: Hmmm, that river, that river has had many names over the years but I'm guessing your name is the same as the things most recent name, so, nice to meet you Pecos.

Coyote was met with a giggling happy Pecos who began clapping his hands together at the mention of his name.

Coyote: Alright then, Little Pecos, do ya know where your kin is?

Pecos stopped clapping and began looking around upset as can be, he had been so preoccupied with the moment that he had nearly forgotten about his family, as he looked around nothing looked familiar to where he had been, the only thing he saw that he really recognized was the river which little did Bill know, didn't just nearly drown him but swept him far away from where his families wagon was, so quickly panic for Baby Bill turned to sadness as Bill began to cry.

Of course this worried Coyote, but Coyote quickly hatched an idea in that clever brain of his.

Coyote: No wait, don't cry little Pecos, I gotta idea, how about I take you in, ya heard me right, I'll take you in as one of my own little one, and help keep you safe till I find your kin, is that ok with you.

Soon Coyote's worries were no more as Bill slowly stopped sobbing and looked at coyote with his big green eyes, and quickly before Coyote could even see it coming, the old trickster was being given a massive hug by the infant, a hug so strong that it could easily crack a red wood in two as Bill said his first words.

Little Pecos: Papag.

And so, Coyote took the young Bill as his adopted son, but after that back cracking hug coyote knew Bill was going to be a handful and a half, but he only had one hand to spare, so he would have to find someone else to assist him in raising this wild child, and he knew just the friend to help.

Badger: So this here is the little one you were talkin bout.

Now Badger was fierce to a fault, oftentimes quite abrasive and even down right mean, not knowing when to back down and rarely the one to be up for shenanigans and nonsense, which made her close friendship with the cackling trickster Coyote all the more strange, hell a little bit of Coyote's tricksterness rubbed off on Badger, even if she didn't like to admit it.

Among her many ferocious traits was another kind of fierceness though, that being of course a fierce maternal instinct and protective streek, this being something Coyote was all to aware of given how long they had been friends, and this was something Coyote was counting on when introducing baby Pecos to his old friend.

Coyote: yup, Pecos here was bout to drown in the Pecos, Pecos the river that is, not the baby, but I was able to nab him before that happened.

Badger: So Little guy's name is Pecos, be honest, did you just start calling him that cause that's where ya found him.

Coyote: no ma'am, little tyke told me himself by pointing at the river when I asked his name.

Badger: Pecos.

Badger said as she got close to the baby to get a closer look at him, Pecos was cute but clearly scraped up, banged up and exhausted from the day's events.

Badger: Poor baby, we'll be sure to get ya all better and start teachin' all ya need to know.

And at that moment Bill outstretched his arm which Badger met with a paw and Bill said his second word.

Little Pecos: Mamog.

Badger quickly replied to this by swaddling up the baby in a hug, and from that day forward, Bill had new parents that would raise and teach him everything that he would come to know as if he was one of their own.

And while on there way to what would become there home, a small cave in a rocky and wooded area near a stream and at the base of a mountain, Mamog and Papog were walking and talking about Bill, only referring to him as Pecos, this somewhat frustrated Bill, so Bill wanting to make sure his full name was known by his new parents summoned all the talking power he could and spoke his third and fourth words.

Bill: Pecogs Billb.

While pointing at himself and riding atop Coyote, the two looked at him, Badger beaming with joy at her baby's third and fourth words and Coyote quickly deduced what little Bill was trying to say.

Coyote: So your name ain't just Pecos after all, alright then, Pecos Bill, nice to finally know your full name.

Badger: My Bouncing Baby Bill.

Coyote: Our Bouncing Baby Bill.

Bill beamed with pride, chest puffed out at this acknowledgement, but soon after that he yawned and fell right asleep up on Coyote's back, as the sun began to set, and the group made it to their new home and finally, the three of them ended their first day as a newfound family, snuggled up in a cozy cave.

Now you might be wondering, what about Pee-Pa and Mee-Ma, aren't they freaking out at the loss of their youngest.

You'd think that but surprisingly that ain't exactly the case, as Pee-Pa and Mee-Ma upon discovering Bill was gone, they did start to panic, but, all of the sudden, a calmness came over them, it felt as if some sort of Divine comfort was placed on their souls and they quickly made peace with this loss, as deep in there guts, they both knew Pecos was ok, and that they'd see him again, and that he, was going to thrive where he was, and everything was exactly how it needed to be.

(authors note: this is the first story that really deviates from any of the publicly known and original Pecos Bill stories that I am aware of, granted it still shares the same bones as a lot of those stories, but the meat of my family's version is fundamentally different, with Bill being taken in by not just any ordinary coyote but the Coyote of Indigenous myth, as well as the inclusion of Badger.

Now upon starting this project I wasn't as aware or familiar with stories involving Badger or badgers from native folktales or mythology as I was with the stories of Coyote, but after doing some research I discovered a handful of recorded stories as well as The symbolism some tribes ascribed to Badger or the badger.

With some of the symbolism I was able to find connected to badgers including things like being protectors, being hardworking and being connected to medicine, things the badger in my family's Pecos Bill stories definitely shows off with her maternal instincts and helping Bill in later stories make things, but having him work hard to get those things made, which I thought was pretty cool after making that connection.

Although I haven't been able to really dig into or read any of the stories involving Badger or badgers from indigenous folktale or myth yet due to either, the stories being contained in a book that I haven't gotten around to getting or been able to purchase, or for some stories that I have been able to find already available free online I end up getting distracted with other research I'm doing. 

Like on days I plan to sit down and actually read those stories I end up getting distracted with tangents of other mythological tales, golden age superheroes or other such things, but at some point I will get around to reading them and getting the books, It's just a matter of time and patience you know.

Also I feel it's interesting that Badger was chosen by my family to be Coyote's counterpart in the parenting of Bill, given how badgers and coyotes work together to hunt in real life.

I wouldn't put it past my family to be somewhat aware of this and include this dynamic as a direct nod to that real life dynamic, especially since to my knowledge my grandpa worked with coyotes to some degree and Might have been aware of it from seeing it happen in real life.

Overall one of the most interesting things I've had to do with this project is not just remembering these stories and talking to family members about these stories as a part of my research, but also independently researching the potential influences for these stories. 

It's like a mix between genealogy, archeology and a puzzle.

Figuring out how this folktale influenced that, uncovering some forgotten or obscure myth that connects to this, finding the one strange puzzle piece which at first seems like it wouldn't fit anywhere but as more pieces are put into place it becomes more and more clear how this strange piece fits into the grand scheme of things.

And while figuring this all out I'm also realizing and figuring out parts of myself in a way, really connecting to my heritage, all of it and the family ties I didn't exactly know I had, the kind of connections that wouldn't show up on any genealogy test cause these family ties were not made with blood but friendship and love.

Anyways I think that's what I got to say about this particular chapter and the interesting things I noticed about it while researching and writing it down)

CHAPTER 1: BILLS BIRTH

 

Art by Powell? And taken from a issue of nature boy comics

Now our story here starts a long time ago, not too far ago but just far enough, and at this time, on this stormy day, a child was born after hours upon hours of labor, a man nay a legend came into this world with a full set of steel teeth that could bite like a gator, a full head of red hair that no one say for himself or his Mee-Ma could cut, and overall a rowdy disposition.

Pa or Pee-Pa Bill as he was sometimes called was a no nonsense tough as nails former bar brawler, who was also a bit of a chuckle nut and prankster, he fathered 19 children with his wife, Ma or Mee-Ma Bill, a kind hearted but strong as a buffalo, giant of a woman who dwarfed most men she met, including her husband, and with the new baby Bill this make the kid count a even 20, 20 rampaging rugrats that the two parents would have to deal with.

So Bill was just a newborn baby, a newborn that was soon up and walking around on two legs, quickly after that he was getting into all kinds of trouble, with baby bill snooping around were he really shouldn't have been, all of this before he even got a proper name beyond just Baby Bill.

So one day, little Baby Bill ended up sneakily wandering down into the cellar while pa and ma were preoccupied with his siblings, walking about when he stumbled upon his old feller's panther piss, a set of at least 30 home made bottles of hard as diamonds and as poor as a hobo alcohol, some of the ingredients of this hellish concoction include but aren't limited to, rattlesnake heads, gunpowder and of course water from the Pecos River which gave his father's alcohol its name, that of course being PECOS DELIGHT.

Baby Bill being the wild and curious child he was of course sat down and drank a bottle, quite liking the taste he then drank another, and another, and another and soon enough, every single last bottle of the stuff was poured directly into the new borns gullet.

Eventually, feeling a mighty thirst himself, given how all day he was wrangling 19 other kids, Bill's Pee-Pa went down to the cellar in search for some of his booze, but instead of his 30 bottles neatly tucked into a corner, he found Bill, lying down for a nap and snoozing peacefully, in the middle of the room, 29 empty bottles strewn all about and around him, with the 30th bottle still clutched in the new borns tiny but still strong grip.

Now the logical or sensible response to finding your newborn asleep after drinking 30 bottles of quite honestly anything would be worry or panic, or some mix of the two, but Bill's Pee-Pa being a wild man himself instead felt something else, he felt unbridled pride in his boy, seeing that the kid was already so strong like his Mee-Ma, tough as nails like his Pee-Pa, and had a curiosity all his own when only the day before last he was still in his Mama's belly, so Pee-Pa picked little Bill up waking him in the process and told em.

Pee-Pa: Son, from this day on, ay think ay'm gonna call you Pecos, Pecos Bill, on account of them thirty bottles ya done drank up, and I can feel it in ma gut that yr destined fer bigger things, yr a wild child and a miracle o the Lord who ain't gonna let anythin hold him back cuz a just how ornery and curious ya are, yr gonna go far, I can feel it in me gut I tell ya what.

And so, that's how Baby Bill got his name, Pecos Bill, and from that day onward his goal was certain without him really comprehending it quite yet, he'd become the rootinest tootinst, toughest most curious and strong cowboy of the old west, who would time and time again prove the impossible possible and not be held back by nothin, ultimately this all being done for the betterment of all, detriment to none and to the highest good, whether again, he realized it or not.

Hell he'd even end up fighting against all sorts of things in this pursuit, even Destiny herself, but that's a story for later.

(Note: not a lot to talk about with this story, it's my family's version of the birth of bill, of course it's been told to me various different ways over the years and this is a mixture of the composite memory of all those retellings aswell as a little input from my mom about how the story went, notably there is a variant of this story where Pecos as a baby almost drinks the Pecos River dry and that's how he got his name, but I preferred the Pecos Delight story so that's the one I told here)

Welcome, now what in Gods green earth is this blog

This is my family's version of the Pecos Bill story, a story held up by oral tradition and usually told non linearly with tails being randomly told from time to time, sometimes they'd be told one after the other on long car trips, or maybe one as a part of seasonal tradition like for Halloween or Christmas. 

With all these stories being past down from generation to generation with damn near everyone adding something to the story, wether they be parent or child, aunt or uncle, cousin or blood brother.

do to all this, when reading this blog/story keep in mind that it's a reflection of a family that's diverse and quite complicated on top of how, to my knowledge, this is the first time my family's story of Big Bill has been put to paper or even put in some sort of chronological order, with this whole thing being my first proper attempt at this Herculean task.

Also some of these stories I had to reconstruct somewhat from a mixture of my memory and researching The mythological influence that might have inspired them due to the family members originally coming up with the stories either passing or me just not being in contact with them.

So a great deal of blood sweat and tears has gone into this and again there might be hiccups and potential mistakes but hopefully This will keep my families stories alive and inspire others to record their own family's tall tales and preserve those ever important oral traditions

Also once I'm done writing the whole Epic down I do want to put together a proper book and release it through Amazon or some such, have a physical record of this story beyond the digital world