The main character of a tall tale, the hero, must possess some kind of unbelievable skill or trait. In the American tall tale, the hero is almost always male and he brags heavily about his skills and abilities. He often challenges other characters throughout the tale to prove his superiority and may have a companion or two. However, he also makes fun of himself and is generally light-hearted. Because most tall tales are centered on the experiences of the American frontier, the hero's dialect and behaviors resemble those of men during this time period.
Tall tales are centered on a central conflict, or struggle, that the hero must resolve. The way the hero goes about resolving this conflict becomes the story. The tale outlines all of the events that lead the hero to the conflict. Then it describes how the hero makes the decision to resolve the conflict and how it is resolved. The story includes familiar historical people and places like past presidents and names of well-known towns.
All tall tales contain extreme exaggeration and humor. The characters, the speech and even the details are exaggerated. This is a major characteristic of the story form. Along with exaggeration, the tale must contain humor. It's meant to be funny and light-hearted, but with a message or a lesson on life.
There are several well-known tall tales. The story of Davy Crockett, for instance, is centered on a 3-year-old boy who kills a bear. Then there's the story of Pecos Bill, who's raised by wolves and creates the Grand Canyon. John Henry was a slave with a beautiful voice and a ferocious appetite and was the strongest, fastest and most powerful steel driver out of 1,000 men. One of the most familiar tall tale characters is Paul Bunyan. As a baby, he was so large it took five storks to deliver him to his parents. He had to wear his father's clothes after one week and had lungs strong enough to rid a pond of all its frogs in just one blow.