Pecos Bill is a cowboy hero of the American Southwest. He was the legendary inventor of roping, branding, and other cowboy skills. He also invented the six-shooter and train robbery and taught broncos how to buck.
According to legend, Pecos Bill was born in eastern Texas during the 1830’s. He used a bowie knife as a teething ring and played with bears and other wild animals. During a trip west, Bill fell out of the family wagon near the Pecos River in Texas. He became lost and was raised by coyotes. When Bill grew up, he had tamed all the wild animals in the West. He rode a mountain lion and used a rattlesnake as a whip and became known as the West’s king of beasts.
To win a bet, Pecos Bill once rode an Oklaoma cyclone without a saddle. When the great twister came, he gave a loud whistle, and every rattlesnake in Texas rushed up to him. Bill made them into a huge lasso. He threw the lasso into the clouds and it dropped right over the top of the cyclone. He held onto his lasso and managed to sit on the cyclone’s back. The cyclone could not shake him off its back. The cyclone to cry and its tears became rain. The rain fell so heavily that it created the Grand Canyon. Bill crashed in California, and the force of his fall created Death Valley. There are several versions of Bill’s death. In one, he laughed to death after a man from Boston asked him silly questions about the West.（英语故事带翻译www.lyy5.com ）
翻译：
佩克斯•比尔是美国西南部的牛仔传奇人物。据说是他最先使用套索套牲口，最先用烙铁在牲口身上做标记，还创造了许多别的牛仔技术。他还发明了转轮手枪、抢劫火车的方法，甚至还会教烈马尥蹶子把骑手甩下去。
据说佩克斯•比尔于19世纪30年代出生在得克萨斯东部。一般人家的孩子出牙时咬些胶皮玩意儿，而比尔咬的却是一把猎刀。跟他一起玩耍的，是熊和别的野兽。他家西迁时，走到得克萨斯的佩科斯河附近，他从马车上掉下来，成了没爹没娘的孩子，由丛林狼喂养大。成人后，他驯服了西部所有的野兽。他用山狮当坐骑，用响尾蛇做鞭子，成了大名鼎鼎的西部百兽之王。
有一次为了打赌，佩克斯•比尔不用鞍子就骑上了一般俄克拉何马的旋风。旋风来时，他吹了一声口哨，得克萨斯的所有响尾蛇都匆忙赶来。比尔将它们首尾相连，做成一个巨大无比的套索，设法骑到旋风的背上。旋风甩不掉他，就开始哭了，泪水成了瓢泼大雨。雨水成了洪水，在地上冲出一道沟来，这就是大峡谷。风住了，比尔从天上掉下来，在地上砸出一个大坑，这就是死谷。至于佩克斯•比尔是怎么死的，有几种不同的说法。据其中一种说法，当一个来自波士顿的人问他有关西部的问题时，这个愚蠢的问题可笑之极，他笑得一口气没上来，就这么死了。
题外话：这个故事颇能反映边民或牛仔的特点。他们顽强、凶悍、好斗、喜欢吹牛，讲些不着边际的故事，又不乏幽默感。他们崇拜有本事的强者，对于强者所干的非法勾当，他们的态度相当暧昧。因为边疆地区法律鞭长莫及，适者生存。比如，他们对抢劫银行、拦截火车的大盗杰西•詹姆斯就颇有好感，有歌颂他的著名歌谣为证。
