The Story
Out in the wild, wide West — where the sky goes on forever and the coyotes sing to the moon — there was once a cowboy so extraordinary that people are still telling tales about him today.
His name was Pecos Bill.
When Bill was just a baby, his family was crossing Texas in a covered wagon when he bounced out over the side into the Pecos River. His family didn't notice for three days, and by then it was too late to go back. A pack of coyotes found baby Bill, raised him as their own, and taught him everything they knew about the wild Texas plains.
Bill grew up thinking he was a coyote. He howled at the moon, ran on all fours, and ate with the pack. He was perfectly happy until the day a cowboy came riding by.
"What are you?" asked the cowboy, staring.
"A coyote," said Bill.
"No you ain't," said the cowboy. "You got no tail and you walk on two legs when you forget yourself. You're a man." He held out his hand. "Come with me."
And so Pecos Bill became the greatest cowboy the West had ever seen. He invented the lasso. He invented the ten-gallon hat. He could ride anything alive — and some things that weren't.
One day, a tornado came screaming across Texas, big enough to knock down mountains. Every cowboy ran for cover.
Every cowboy except Pecos Bill.
He ran toward it, jumped onto its back, and rode it like a bucking bronco. He rode it from Texas to California, wringing rain out of it the whole way — which is how California got any rain at all. When he finally stepped off, the tornado was so tired it lay down and became Death Valley.
Pecos Bill just dusted off his hat and rode home.