CHAPTER 5: BILL VS NUEVA MÉXICO CASCABELA GRANDE

 

Art By Robert G. Leffingwell

Now before we start this tale, I have some important things to say and mention, both to set the scene, and cause I forgot to mention this earlier, as only now does this particular tidbit become really relevant.

So first off, The now relevant tidbit, we all know by now that Bill grew up being raised by his Papog and Mamog, Coyote and Badger, but that doesn't mean Bill isn't aware of his other set of parents, his Pee-Pa and Mee-Ma. 

Now one reason why he knows they exist is honestly cause of Bill's stubborn and immaculate memory, his mind being a maze for information and labyrinth for knowledge.

Like, quite seriously, once knowledge goes in, it's very hard for it to slip out of Bill's noggin, But, unfortunately, by that same measure, it's also sometimes hard for that knowledge to come to the surface, and might take him some thinking, and pondering, and jogging, and thinking some more before he remembers something, with him sometimes getting lost in his own head.

But the other reason why he remembers his Pee-Pa and Mee-Ma, comes from a very important memento, an heirloom of sorts, a gift that helped jog Bill's memory, and allowed those precious memories buried deep in Bill's mental labyrinth, to come front and center in his waking mind.

Ya see, shortly after fishing Bill out of the Pecos River, Coyote went back for potential clues to the whereabouts of Bill's biological ma and pa, And In doing so managed to fish out a bottle, the 31st bottle of Pecos delight, Bill's Pee-Pa's drink and the thing Bill is in part named after.

So Bill's Papog, assuming correctly that the bottle belonged to Pecos's Pee-Pa, gave it to young Bill as a gift one year, perhaps on his 10th birthday, or maybe after his defeat of the Monsquitos, I forget specifically when, But that's besides the point, since The important thing about this gift is that, immediately upon seeing the blue glass of the bottle, it began causing Bill to regain all kinds of memories of his original family, and Bill quickly treasured that haint blue bottle, and what was contained within, both metaphorically and literally.

Cause the 31st bottle of Pecos delight wasn't an empty one, and to Bill what was contained in the bottle, not only helped him remember his birth family completely, something the young Bill would cherish as truly invaluable, but was also liquid ambrosia, The most delicious and nutritious drink he ever did drunk.

Although In truth, it was probably the rankist most disgusting drink to ever be concocted.

Remember a good portion of this drink is made up of rattlesnake heads and poorly made moonshine, so it being vile enough to kill a roach or put cyanide to shame is to be expected, and to Bill, it was absolutely delicious.

But instead of guzzling the whole thing up in one go, like he did to 30 other bottles identical to this one when he was no more than a newborn, Bill would only take microscopic sips from the glass, in order to make sure the drink lasted as long as possible, especially since Bill had no idea how to make it and wanted to preserve it, savor it for as long as possible.

Bill also carried The bottle around with him, practically everywhere he went at this point, mainly as a good luck charm and, potentially, maybe even a way to find his Pee-Pa and Mee-Ma, or a brother, or a sister, as likely they'd know the drink as well as he would, and wouldn't die to it immediately.

Now onto the second thing, That being the when of this story, with this tale happening shortly after Bill's defeat of the Monsquitos.

Bill was on patrol, strolling, Or I should probably say prowling around the area he called home, looking to see if there were any Monsquito stragglers that needed to be dealt with.

When he started hearing a commotion from over a particularly sizable hill, the commotion wasn't hootin and a hollering as was usual for commotions, but instead nighing, whining and a thunderous HISS.

So quickly but quiet like, Bill ran up and peaked over the hill only to be met with a truly horrifying, grotesque and bone chilling sight to any man of sense.

It was the king of all rattlers, some even called him the father of all serpents and prime of their ilk, the half a mile long, gargantuan serpent known far and wide, as the Nueva México Cascabela Grande.

Although Bill wasn't too sure about The critter before him being the "father of all snakes", seemed like a bit of theatrical exaggeration to the nonplussed Bill, The King of Rattlers Bill could buy, but big papa o snakes, just seemed a bit far-fetched, especially with him remembering that time he met his distant Uncle Quetzalcoatl, such a card that feathered feller, But was he the papa o snakes, or the papa of all rattlers, how is Bill related to him again, Or wait, was the papa o snakes that Satan feller Bill heard a bit about when he was a baby and his Pee-Pa Read a bit from that hefty ass book that's seemed to literally be held together by hopes and prayers, that poor, poor book.

Anyways, Bill snaps himself out of his intense bout of thought and focus is back on the giant serpent, which wasn't just making noise on its own or to be a nuisance as sometimes big things like to do.

No, it was harassing a small critter, so Bill using his Hawk eyes, focused in on the diminutive little critter shivering before the massive snake.

Bill saw it was a quite small, very young horse, no more than a foal, skinny as a pole and rattling with fear at the mighty snake that loomed before him.

The giant snake hissing and faking lunges at the small horse, eliciting shrieks and terrified recoils from the tiny thing, This fear seemed to amuse the mighty rattler, a rattler mind you that would make even the largest python look no bigger than a worm by comparison.

That tore it for Bill, this "father o rattlers" was about to meet his match, and learn a painful lesson for picking on The helpless.

But quickly Bill took a deep breath, held his horses and thought for a moment, and realized he should approach the situation with a bit more diplomacy than he might otherwise.

Given he just learned a lesson about using his brain Rather than his muscles all the time, maybe the big critter could be reasoned with.

Bill: AYOOOOO HA.

Bill hollered, making his presence known as he bolted his way down to the massive beast and miniscule critter, Bill running up to the Nueva México Cascabela Grande, and looking the monster dead in the eyes, bill started talking, trying his best to be all diplomatic like.

Bill: naw what 'cha think ur doin' 'ear Cascabela, harassing and frightening this little guy.

The Nueva México Cascabela Grande only responded to Bill with a ear shattering, soul wrenching, angry HISS, quickly following this with a thwip of it's tail at Bill, sending bill flying miles and miles away, but of course This only irritated Bill, and with the boy being as tough as he is, he quickly got up from the crater he formed upon impact, and bolted back to the vicious serpent.

But this time, Bill approaches the Cascabela without alerting the beast of his presence, he slowly slinks up behind the serpent. 

For a moment he thinks about using his bow, but he decides it would be unnecessary.

With Bill quickly and skillfully sizing up the genuine level of threat he's currently dealing with, ultimately deciding that "Using even one arrow on him would be overkill", and so with the element of surprise on his side, Bill grabbed the big critter's tail.

The Cascabela notices this and turns to bill, fangs bared, venom dripping from the multiple foot long incisors, with its lightning fast reflexes, powerful canyon creating body, venom that could cause a rock to become sludge, The creature who in all intents and purposes is the devil of the prairies, a horrifying menace that is feared across the land by all of its people for very good reasons, prepared in moments to strike at The kid who dares to bother him.

But Upon meeting the gaze of the young boy who had caught him by the tail, The serpent seemed to be put into a near catatonic state of abject fear and dread, the snake shriveling back as fire almost seems to bellow from Bill's eyes as he looks the serpent dead on, right in the eyes, before he made something important known to the serpent.

Bill: I hope you know Mr Cascabela, I tried to settle this here commotion with ma brain and tried talking ya down, and ya were vicious, so instead of dealing with my words Mr Cascabela, your bout to deal with my fists.

And without missing a beat Bill picked the serpent up and began flailing it about as if it were as light as twine, the Nueva México Cascabela Grande was being used as a makeshift giant lasso and whip by the small Bill, Bill knocking over mountains, slamming the Cascabela into the ground to create canyons, and even performing every lasso trick known to man, Bill even inventing a few of his own.

As Bill was doing this he noticed a strange magic that enveloped the Cascabela began to crack, which helped him realize why this critter, this serpent in particular, was so big and strong.

So Bill, having had his fun, finally let the snake go after slamming it to the ground one last time, causing a mighty, loud, and earthquaking thud.

For a moment, the snake thought it was all over, and felt relief, but, unfortunately for him, and fortunate for everyone else, Bill had one more thing he had to do to make sure this bully wouldn't continue his reign of terror.

So Bill as fast as he could, ran up to the snake's head and gave one swift, strong, and devastating chop to the monster's chompers while it was still dazed and confused.

And so, the Nueva México Cascabela Grande lost all of its teeth, on top of it transforming back into its true form, no king, no father, but the small and now toothless Rattlesnake, who promptly slithered off, as fast as he could, in fact it was in such a hurry that it ended up taking a lesson from some of its distant kin and Rattlesnake bit on to its own tail and started to roll away even faster, like a Hoop Snake.

Now Bill being a strange one, and of course not wanting to let anything go to waste, and having the same strange taste and super stomach as his Pee-Pa, wanted to use the venom of the Nueva México Cascabela Grande for something special.

So in the blink of an eye, Bill grabbed all the still massive teeth from the Nueva México Cascabela Grande that were sent flying by his mighty chop.

Then he started squeezing the venom from the teeth into his Lucky bottle of alcohol, to add an extra bit of punch to the concoction, ya know, this bottle being the previously mentioned 31st bottle of his Pee-Pa's panther piss booze, Pecos Delight.

And I know what you're asking now, as I ramble about Bill messing with his alcohol, "what about the baby horse", well, all I'm going to say is that baby horse and Bill, were about to start growing an absolutely beautiful friendship.

(authors/scribe's note: This chapter was a fun one to write, really got to show off Pecos's personality more with his rambling thoughts and physical might.

Now when I wrote the last note I had completely forgotten about splitting this story into two chapters with this first one covering the fight with the Nueva México Cascabela Grande And the next one detailing one of the most important characters to Pecos Bill lore and introducing them.

Also I feel like this story in some ways might have more going on on an analytical, metatextual level, Like ascribing certain characters in this chapter as a representation of certain things or this being an oversimplification of real world events but that metatexual narrative is somewhat lost upon me.

Don't get me wrong I think I can tell a little bit about it but this feels like one of those stories that's been told over and over again in my family to such a degree where that original meta narrative has been lost or rewritten several times to the point of being somewhat difficult to decipher.

But I do remember the majority of retellings of this story I've been told over the years, including that bit about Quetzalcoatl, although I expanded it a tad and mixed it together with another character that's often brought up at that part instead of Quetzalcoatl, that being Satan, both showing up in later Pecos Bill stories most notably Satan debuting I believe a chapter or so from now.

So yeah I feel like there's definitely more under the surface of the story, and there's definitely multiple ways to interpret it but personally my favorite way and granted the simplest way to interpret this story is as Pecos fighting a bully who thinks he's hot when really he's the king of nothing, you know.

Also this isn't the last appearance of rattlesnake, He shows up in one more story as a prominent antagonist but that's all I'll give away right now

Addendum: So I had forgotten about something writing the story down due to being focused on getting it done and getting to the next story in Pecos's series or ventures, What might that be? Well after Rattlesnakes defeat, He doesn't just quickly slither away but bites his own tail and becomes a hoop snake, sometimes in the retellings my family would refer to this as the birth of the hoop snake, while other times it's just rattlesnake taking a note from his kin and I decided to go with the ladder interpretation for this written account, So now we're rereading this if you notice an addition or change, That's why.

Edit: as of October 6th 2023 I changed the title image of this chapter from the original one which was an excerpt from a Jack A. Warren Pecos Bill strip to instead the one seen now by Robert G. Leffingwell, Notably this one comes from a comic strip that does not star Pecos Bill But instead of recounts a tall tale that has striking similarities to this story as well as the earliest version of this story I was able to find in written record, The strip is one called T'aint So! And recounts a photographer story dealing with a rattlesnake the size of multiple mountain ranges with the strip being from the first issue of The Funny Pages [originally referred to as The Comics Magazine] and the strip itself I've decided to archive on the site and can be found through THIS LINK)

CHAPTER 4: BILL VS THE MONSQUITOES

 

Art by Jack A. Warren

So, first and foremost, what are Monsquitoes.

Well Monsquitoes are mosquitoes that are the size of buzzards, travel in swarms in the hundreds of thousands, and have suckers that can go through just about anything, from the toughest varmint's hide, to even diamond, that is of course, if it means they get to suck some blood.

Now the extra special bad thing about the Monsquitoes, is unlike other critters of the natural world, who are created by divine power and work in harmony with each other, the Monsquitoes were formed from some bad medicine by man's hands from a long, long time ago.

These people didn't know what they were doing, and thus, they were devoured by their own creations, which soon spread across the world, the almost demonic varmints laying dormant for long, long periods of time in between they're grotesque feedings, with these feedings being gluttonous, brutal, swift and vicious.

As such, unlike other critters who are harmonious with the land, and are cooperative in an ecosystem, the Monsquitoes are a terror, a blight, And dare I say, a scourge on the land And whatever domain they encroach upon.

So Coyote and Badger, knowing the danger that these critters posed to the land, and seeing Bill quickly become a brave and clever warrior, decided that Bill's first big mission as a guardian of the lands would be to deal with the Monsquitoes.

Of course Bill, having a great amount of ego, confidence, excitement, and enthusiasm for his first real mission, accepted this task without a second thought, and was off on his hunt for the swarm, confident that this task would be a cakewalk.

It was not a cakewalk.

So after a day or so of searching, Bill had found the swarm, Its numbers being so high to blot out the sun as they flew above the prairies, but this did not deter Bill as he was ready to initiate his first plan of attack.

This plan of attack being, of course, running at the swarm head on screaming a war cry as he challenged them nasty critters with only his brute strength, "surely" Bill thought "these glorified butterflies would be nothing but bug paste against my fists of iron and awesome might".

Of course this plan, let's say to be nice, just didn't work out, there were too many of the critters and not enough of Bill, and for every 5 bugs Bill was able to punch with one hefty swing, 35 more would end up piercing his skin with them steel suckers.

So quickly, Bill packed his metaphorical tail between his legs, and bolted out of there at the speed of light, and when he found cover and the adrenaline wore off, he found himself in quite a bit of agonizing pain.

He looked at his body and found himself covered from the top of his head to the tips of his toes in large, lumpy bite marks that were intensely sore and still leaking.

Despite this setback, Bill was not deterred, he was stubborn and knew the kind of havoc these things could bring, especially having just been at the receiving end of their painful power, he couldn't allow these critters to hurt the land he had grown up on, and his family that still lived on that land, so Bill went back to the drawing board and came up with a new plan.

Bill began fashioning some rope out of some fibrous plants he was able to find, and he then found some nicely sized and shaped rocks, and using the rope he made, he tied rocks onto his body, from the top of his head, to the tips of his toes.

Creating a sort of makeshift caveman like armor, but after this he was left with some unused rocks and rope, quickly though, he got creative, and thinking about how cool it'd be, he turned them leftovers into a makeshift flail like weapon.

He then, In a stroke of pure stubborn stupidity, basically repeated his first plan, running in, fists raised, screaming at the top of his lungs a war cry, but this time, with a protective shell and a badass weapon, Bill would be safe and adequately armed to deal with the threat.

Right?

Unfortunately the sang "second verse same as the first" proved to be very apt to describe this situation, although maybe this "second verse" might have been just a tad bit worse.

As Bill was not only still pierced repeatedly by them nasty critters, he would also end up hitting himself repeatedly with the poorly thought out rock flail, which he had no idea how to use effectively and just thought looked cool, and that by using it, it would make him look more "badass". 

So Bill again was sent packing by the beasts and felt absolutely, fundamentally, humiliated and worthless.

Bill: How could these damn bugs overwhelm and beat me, the mighty Pecos Bill, maybe I ain't so mighty after all, maybe all of that praise was just courtesy from Mamog and Papog, maybe I ain't as great as I thought, I done failed all my family, friends, everyone, they're all gonna die, and it's all my fault.

Bill pouted, even beginning to cry as he fell into quite the dark place, but during this frustration driven, mental self deconstruction, Bill remembered something Coyote had told him.

Coyote: Where brute force may fail, cleverness shall prevail.

He also remembered something Mama Badger said.

Badger: Those who only follow the rule of cool, tend to be the types who drool, also if anyone ever talks shit about you, and makes you feel bad, I'll impale them on a cactus, and if you start doing it to yourself, I'll make that part of you a different person and do it to them.

That last part made Bill giggle, and now he really remembered, he wasn't just some mindless marauder or fists with a body attached, He also done got a head with quite the brain in it that he was not using to its fullest, He was sacrificing his clever mind for the sake of looking badass and solving the problem purely with his strength, letting his machismo driven ego take the reins which done made a fool out of him.

Even when a bit of his cleverness was able to peak out from behind his massive ego, this being his second plan with him thinking and making body armor, that ego of his made him not think the whole plan through, and ended up with him making unnecessary things that just looked cool, and running in half cocked.

That's how he ended up repeatedly and accidentally bludgeoning his balls with a rock on a rope as a bunch of giant mosquitoes sucked out his blood from almost every angle.

So Bill got to thinking, and plotting, and scheming, he switched up the perspective and how he was looking at the situation, and soon, began gathering materials and finding what he needed.

He found the narrowest, thinnest and straightest canyon he could find, then he grabbed the stone flail from his last attempt to fight the Monsquitos, and then found himself a nice tree, soon fashioning himself a bow and one arrow from the tree and former flail, and placed the bow and arrow at the end of that narrow canyon.

Then, he found the Monsquitoes, and enacted his genius plan.

As the swarm flew around in the air, all the critters buzzing about, sniffing the air, trying to figure out the right direction to go for their next meal, it soon collectively noticed a loud thing on the ground.

It was none other than Bill, in his birthday suit, running about hooting and a hollerin his war cry, holding his fists in the air like he had done before, in other words, he was acting like a loud, overly macho, idiot.

The Monsquitoes seeing such a site, saw only a defenseless meal that was practically, no, literally asking for it, it was irresistible and they, With literally no hesitation, started a dive towards their prey, practically putting on bibs as they prepared to dine.

Exactly what Bill wanted them to do.

So Bill bolted, not so fast that he would immediately lose the critters, like he had twice before, but just fast enough so they couldn't catch him and would be enticed to chase.

Keeping this pace, he quickly and steadily led those nasty varmints to the canyon he had found, and Bill got to where he left his bow, grabbed it, aimed it, waited a moment for all the Monsquitos to be in sight, and fired it.

All 100,001 Monsquitoes were downed with one arrow, in almost an instant, as the arrow hurdled through the air like a lightning bolt, the critters didn't know what hit em.

So Bill, fully realizing what he had just done, quickly celebrated, said a prayer, and collected up every last one of them varmints, and took them back to Badger and Coyote, who were impressed and proud of what their boy had accomplished.

Not more than a day after this, a celebration was held, with all the critters of the land and sky coming to congratulate their nephew for his victory, and partake in the feast of Monsquitos.

Surprisingly the blood suckers tasted quite good when barbecued, and would probably be considered something like lobsters of the land to our modern taste buds, I've also heard they tasted like chicken but with an exoskeleton. 

Anyways, that's all besides the point, where was I.

Oh yeah.

So Bill's Mamog and Papog had prepared gifts as a reward for their boy's hard work.

Badger had taken the nasty suckers that could pierce through just about anything from the Monsquitoes, fashioning each one of them into sucker arrows for her boy, and Coyote, taking the bow and original arrow his boy crafted, enchanted them, the bow became unbreakable, and the arrow, well now that one arrow could track a target.

So now with these sucker arrows, Bill could shoot them at practically any target and have the arrows pierce right through, and then, if'en that target has fluids inside it, the arrow will automatically begin sucking those fluids out, like a tap.

He also now had a special arrow that could home in on practically any target Bill could think of.

This all on top of the bow he would be shooting with being practically indestructible.

Needless to say, this whole experience was a learning one for Bill, Bill having been tremendously humbled and greatly educated by it, and the gifts he got after all was said and done, he was indescribably thankful for each one, preceding to give his parents one of his famous, back cracking bear hugs as thanks.

So ends the story of Bill vs the Monsquitos.

(Authors/scribe's note: this chapter is pretty straightforward, one with a relatable lesson and struggle for Pecos and the first of many Pecos vs blank stories,

Pecos's struggle twords the middle with feeling useless and stuff is something I personally find quite relatable, and it wouldn't surprise me if this part was added by my mom to give me a personal hero that struggled somewhat similar to how I struggled, with feeling worthless and like a big old fool,

But Bill works through it, is clever and finds a solution,

Anyways, I think that's all I got to say on this chapter, next chapter we get introduced to a character integral to Bill's mythos)

CHAPTER 3: LEARNING THE WAYS

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

And so, baby Bill began his new crazy life with his new crazy family, being taught the divine medicines from Coyote and Badger, learning the magic of the world and how to use them, what plants did what, how to practice ceremony, the dos and don'ts of things and the like.

Coyote, the master of trickery and mischief, taught Bill about being clever, using his mind to befuddle and confuse, figuring out how to make traps and tactics that could be both humorous or harmful or something in the middle, depending on what he wanted or needed.

While Badger was the master of healing and protecting, taught Bill about being kind, how to heal or hurt things with what could be found in the world around him, and how to judge a situation and approach it with whatever it called for, whether that be a careful hand or a fierce fist.

But he wasn't just taught things by his new ma and pa but all the aunts and uncles of the forest around his new home.

He learned how to bite from Beaver, putting those steel like chompers of his to good use, he eventually got to the point where he could chew through rocks no sweat, although them black stones he found deep in the cave he called home did a number on his stomach, ended up that was coal he done ate and eventually when the coal came out the other end, well it wasn't exactly coal no more, and if he went into the world of man he'd be a very wealthy feller let's just say.

After that he learned wrestling and how to use his strength from Bear, quickly learning how to use his opponent's weight and force against them, as well as how to fight and just normally function with his immense strength, most notably mastering the bear hug and granite grip.

This being a thing where if Bill liked ya you could tell from a hug or a shake, like if he was indifferent to your existence he would give ya a normal shake or hug, and if he liked ya he'd give a squeeze that had the perfect amount of force behind it, you know, just enough the crack one's back or really feel the pressure on your hand, but if he didn't like you, well best case your not walking again or you still have your arm with a broken hand at the end of it.

He would also learn a bit about strength from Buffalo, but endurance was the major thing he'd learn from the giant beast and walking flesh tank of wisdom.

For hours every day Bill and Buffalo would square up and charge each other, with Bill and Buffalo everytime ending up head to head and nose to nose, pushing at each other's bodies until one would yield or buckle under the continuous and immense force of the other.

At the beginning more often than not Bill would be the first one to buckle of course, ending up pushed over onto his ass, his endurance and stamina wasn't there yet ya see, but very quickly this would begin to change as Bill would last longer and longer.

These tests of endurance going from lasting minutes a try, to hours and even days, until Bill eventually had the endurance and toughness to beat Buffalo in these tests.

Bill gained such an immense level of endurance that for one entire month he ended up holding a boulder a loft, this thing was 3 times his size, and he held it all the way above his head, and by the end of the month he had forgotten that he was even holding it.

From there he learned how to jump from Rabbit, with him using his spindly and light body but strong legs Pecos took to this Like, Well a hare to hopping, soon he was jumping so high Badger worried he would wallop his head on the sun or moon.

Although he never exactly did get that high, it was high enough for Badger to worry about the boy, but then again Badger always did call Bill her "bouncing baby Bill", something Coyote would always bring up in the conversations they'd have while Bill was jumping about and showing off to his Mamog and Papog.

Coyote would tease her about it whenever she got worried about Bill hopping so high, sometimes Rabbit would even join in Coyote's teasing, this teasing always to Badgers chagrin, and ultimately it would always be repaid with a knock to the head, sometimes to Rabbit when he was in reaching range, but always to Coyote as he cackled.

Speaking of funny stories that end with pain and humor, when he learned how to run fast from Antelope, he got so fast that when a new moon was happening, and the night dark as can be, and the sun began to rise he would challenge himself to race its rays, keeping pace with the morning's beams of light and even surpassing them at one point, this leading bill to run face first into a cactus, and that was not pretty I tell you what, for both Bill and especially the cactus, poor thing stood no chance.

After that is when he was taught about how to slow down and appreciate things from Turtle, as well as the strength of stillness and knowing how to step back from something, just stopping and looking around at everything, basking in the world he was surrounded by.

This eventually led to him learning how to see further and better from Hawk, and with this super sight he was noticing all sorts of details he hadn't before about the world around him, from the intricacies of the smallest critter to the details on the furthest mountain on the horizon.

He even was able to look upon the heavens at night and see the stars play, shift and, disappear in real time, instantly seeing minute and major changes in them that it would take the normal folk thousands upon thousands of years to even see the beginning of, sometimes he even felt like he could almost see through things like the walls of a cave or trunk of a tree.

And from Hawk he would meet other birds like Blue Jay, Owl, Eagle, Robin, Hummingbird, Woodpecker and even Crow.

The ladder of which he'd later find out had a rivalry with Coyote and later Pecos would have his own spat with Crow, but those are stories for later.

Anyways he met the other birds and they taught him the magic of music, Woodpecker with his rhythm, Hummingbird with her humm, Blue Jay and Robin with there whistle, Owl and Eagle with there mighty screeches and crow mimicking sounds he had heard folks on the trail make, all of these different sounds coming together with the natural sounds of the earth in a beautiful harmony, that Bill only felt right to add to with lyrics.

And after this he got to know Eagle who taught Bill of healthy pride and how to commune with the spirits of the sky world, often ending up riding and even surfing on Eagle's back, this all starting after Eagle caught Pecos before a potential crash landing Bill had after jumping a little to high and losing confidence in his landing skill, later Bill would even perfect this bird surfing skill with a little advice from Crow. 

Hell, he even learned a little bit on how to regrow parts from Lizard, him learning this after losing his pinky in a ruff landing, Bill immediately noticing the missing digit, and then freaking out before getting approached by Lizard, who showed Bill how he could regrow his tail, ripping off the tail he had to demonstrate, Bill seeing this then grabbed this tail and put it where his pinky used to be, and, low and behold at worked.

And when it was all said and done, the pinky was functional but a bit funky, with it being a tad shorter and scalier than the original it replaced and a lightish pink skin color compared to the rest of Pecos tanish skin, with it remaining this pink color for the rest of his life.

This for Pecos being the first of many scars he'd get in his long life, and a scar he held with pride, as he, soon after regrowing the finger, proudly bolted home to show his Mamog and Papog.

Not remembering that Mamog Badger was afraid of something exactly like this happening, or how long he'd exactly been away from home, as it had been a day and a half.

So when Pecos got home he was met with a rapid fire of emotions from Badger going from livid, to worried, to livid and then to hugging him so hard, Pecos finally knew exactly how others felt when he hugged them, and during all of this Coyote laughed himself senseless.

After this Coyote and Badger decided to try teaching Bill how to shape shift, seeing how he already showed himself to be able to mold his body a bit with him replacing a finger and all.

But unlike many of the things Bill had attempted and succeeded at, and despite the ease and elegance Badger and Coyote showed in they're demonstrations, explaining to Bill in detail how it's done.

Shapeshifting just seemed like the one thing Bill could not conquer, the one mountain he couldn't exactly climb, every time he tried he'd only strain himself, him even getting to the point where he ended up giving himself a hernia after trying too hard one day.

Coyote and Badger seeing that Bill wouldn't stop trying till he'd end up killing himself or worse, decided to make a compromise of sorts, if Bill couldn't shape shift, then he could still make folks change back into their true forms if they had shape shifted.

So they taught him a special magic, a powerful attack that would cause any being who had shapeshifted to immediately turn back into their true form, Bill went on to perfect this technique in the form of his patented True Self Chop, a chest chop that would reduce or sometimes even transform anybody into their true form.

And so eventually, Bill at the age of 12 was ready to deal with his first true challenge, a task given to him by his Mamog and Papog to deal with a horrendous pest sweeping through the area, seriously, these things made the locusts of Egypt look like a bunch a ladybugs.

This dreadful pest of course being the blood sucking swarm known as the Monsquitoes.

(author's/scribe's note: This chapter is the first that's leaving off on a proper cliffhanger and in general is more of a compilation of various different smaller stories that my family would tell about Pecos growing up with Coyote and Badger compiled into one full chapter.

With this chapter focusing on Bill mostly just learning the basic stuff as the more complex or nuanced things are saved for their own chapters.

Also important to note that there is actually a song for this chapter, specifically for the part where Pecos learns how to sing and about the magic of music from the birds, however it's been years since my mom has sung it, so it's probably going to take a while for her to remember and me to write it down or archive it.

so that'll be a separate post from this one, so be on the lookout for that, When it does eventually come out you'll be able to find an edit to this article with a link to it, Also it should include recordings of my mother singing the song as examples of how it sounds)

 

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