| Slue-Foot Sue | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real Name |
Sue |
|
First Appearance |
Saga of Pecos Bill (1917) |
|
Original Publisher |
Western Folklore |
|
Created by |
Edward S. O'Reilly |
Origin[]
Slue-Foot Sue is a sweetheart cowgirl who rode a giant catfish down the Rio Grande. Pecos Bill was fishing with the pack when he saw her. Shake, Widow-Maker, and Slue-Foot Sue are as idealized as Pecos Bill.
After a courtship in which, among other things, Pecos Bill shoots all the stars from the sky except for one which becomes the Lone Star, Bill proposes to Sue. She insists on riding Widow-Maker before, during or after the wedding (depending on variations in the story). Widow-Maker, jealous of no longer having Bill's undivided attention, bounces Sue off; she lands on her bustle and begins bouncing higher and higher. Bill catches her, but then gets pulled with her. The town folks assumed both Bill and Sue were bounced away to another place or both ended up on the Moon where they stayed and were never seen again.
In James Cloyd Bowman's version of the story, Sue eventually recovers from the bouncing, but is so traumatized by the experience she never speaks to Pecos Bill ever again.
In a few other versions, Bill attempts, but fails, to lasso her, because of an interference by Widow-Maker who did not want her on his back again (or for that matter didn't want her coming between his and Bill's friendship), and she eventually hits her head on the Moon. After she has been bouncing for days, Pecos Bill realizes that she would eventually starve to death, so he lassos her with Shake the rattlesnake and brings her back down to Earth. Widow-Maker, realizing that what he did to her was wrong, apologizes and is forgiven.
In other versions, Sue could not stop bouncing, and Bill could not stop her from bouncing either, so Bill had to shoot her to put her out of her misery. Though it is said that Bill was married many times, he never loved the others as much as Sue, and the other relationships did not work out.
In the more popular versions, including many children's books, Bill and Sue reunite, and get married happily ever after.
Public Domain Appearances[]
All published appearances of from before January 1, 1930 are public domain in the US.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- Saga of Pecos Bill (1917)
Public Domain Comic Appearances[]
- Nature Boy #4