1a. What happens to Bill when he falls out of the wagon?
2a. How does Bill react when he encounters the cowboy?
3a. What about Slue-Foot Sue impresses Bill?
1b. How believable do you think this is? Explain your answer.
2b. Why does he believe he is not human? Why does he change his mind so easily?
3b. Why do Sue and Bill make a good couple?
4a. What inventions and feats is Bill supposedly responsible for? In what ways do people react to these actions? How do they respond to Bill's personality?
4b. Why do you think Pecos Bill is such a popular Wild West character?
5a. What purpose does this story serve? Under what circumstances might this story best be appreciated?
5b. How is a contemporary hero like Superman similar to Pecos Bill?
Tall Tale. What geographical feature is attributed to the actions of Pecos Bill?
Personification. What different examples of personification can you find in "Pecos Bill"? What purpose do these examples serve? How would the story be different without them?
1. Imagine yourself in the Wild West. Write the lyrics for a verse of a cowboy song.
2. Write the wedding vows that Pecos Bill and Slue-Foot Sue might have said to one another.
3. Write a paragraph explaining how Pecos Bill was responsible for creating the Rocky Mountains.
Synonyms. A synonym is a word that means the same or nearly the same as another word. Use a dictionary or thesaurus to find a synonym for each of the following words.
1. buoyant:
2. malevolent:
3. supple:
4. tuft:
5. inglorious:
6. croon:
7. implore:
8. pandemonium:
9. serene:
10. overexertion:
Review: Parts of a Sentence. For each of the sentences below, indicate the simple subject(s), verb(s), and completer(s) (if any are present). Then identify the kind of completer. Write DO if the completer is a direct object, IO if it is an indirect object, PA for a predicate adjective, PN for a predicate noun, or PP for a predicate pronoun.
1. Pecos Bill was an early Western hero.
2. An early Western hero was he.
3. A coyote pack adopted Bill.
4. They gave Bill really good care.
5. Bill wasn't really a varmint.
6. Bill made a guitar and wrote many western songs.
7. Can you play the guitar?
8. Bill and Widow-Maker tamed a cyclone.
9. Slue-Foot Sue married Bill later.
10. Pecos Bill grew old.
