Febold Feboldson is a Swedish American folk hero from the Great Plains. Stories published in the early twentieth century depicted him as a drought buster, a person who intentionally manipulated patterns of weather in order to alter ecosystems for human use and enjoyment. He first gained notoriety in Nebraska, but has since become a folk hero across the United States due to representations in various books, plays, and newspapers. Contemporary renderings of Feboldson remember him as much more than a drought buster; he was an extraordinary human capable of overcoming any obstacle for the sake of his community.
During the mid-nineteenth century, more than 300,000 people migrated across the United States amid the California gold rush. In the process many travelers settled in the Great Plains, which spreads across the flat, middle portion of the United States. Life on the Great Plains was hard, with hot summers and, depending on one’s location, a lack of abundant sources of water for drinking, farming, and sport. Inhabitants of the Great Plains quickly grew bored, lonely, and tired of these difficult living conditions and dreamed of moving elsewhere. In short, the Great Plains disenchanted its occupants.
Wayne Carroll, a lumber dealer from Nebraska, invented Feboldson in response to critics that decried life on the Great Plains as tough and unbearable. Carroll understood life on the Great Plains to be more prosperous and enjoyable than gossip suggested. He first published a story about Feboldson in 1923 in a Nebraskan newspaper then known as the Independent. Later stories appeared in the Gothenburg Times. He presented Feboldson as a mighty and determined Swede living in America who made peace with the harsh living conditions on the Great Plains. Carroll presented Feboldson as a Swede even though Febold was not a Swedish name. Furthermore, Carroll maintained this performance of authenticity and acted as if Feboldson’s tales were a part of genuine American folklore when, in fact, Carroll manufactured him for these specific newspapers.
In each story, Feboldson was a good man, wanting nothing more than to live a happy, stable life as a farmer on the plains. Artistic representations, like the one on the cover of Paul R. Beath’s Febold Feboldson: Tall Tales from the Great Plains, depict Feboldson as a large man with a firm and steady gait. Donning traditional farming garments and gear, Febold’s style and mannerisms matched his attitude; he was a hardworking, yet happy man, ready to take on life’s obstacles. These obstacles often involved typical struggles of life on the Great Plains, particularly relating to the weather.
Beyond appearances, Feboldson also harbored the extraordinary power to control the weather. In one tale about the drought buster, Feboldson sought to persuade Olaf Swenson and his family, who were passing through the Great Plains on the way to California, to make a home in Nebraska. Swenson and company claimed they could not live on the Great Plains because there was no rain. In response, Feboldson built a fire next to a lake, which caused the water to evaporate, form clouds, and vaporize. Unfortunately for Feboldson, the land was too hot, which prevented these clouds from producing rain. Instead, a thick layer of fog covered the Great Plains. Feboldson, relying upon his creative ingenuity, used a pair of large scissors to cut the fog into strips. He then disposed of it by burying it. The story continued with other outlandish setbacks until Feboldson finally produced the right conditions to convince the Swensons to stay on the Great Plains.
Stories about Feboldson, even when not written by Carroll, followed this narrative pattern. Feboldson would be presented with an obstacle, he would then challenge the natural world, other hindrances would arise that prevented quick success, but in the end he would assume his rightful position as a folk hero. Nebraskans loved this plot and stories about Feboldson soon circulated on regional and national circuits. As of the mid-twentieth century, Feboldson’s prairie antics on the Great Plains were commonly known and enjoyed by readers across the United States.
Jake Dionne
See also Drought Buster; Fakelore; Paul Bunyan; Tall Tales
Further Reading
Battle, Kemp P., ed. 1986. Great American Folklore: Legends, Tales, Ballads, and Superstitions from All Across America. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Beath, Paul R. 1962. Febold Feboldson: Tall Tales from the Great Plains. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Fredericks, Anthony D. 2008. American Folklore, Legends, and Tall Tales for Readers Theatre. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press.
Pound, Louise. 1943. “Nebraska Strong Men.” Southern Folklore Quarterly 7 (3): 133–143.
York, Carol B. 1980. Febold Feboldson, The Fix-It Farmer. Mahwah, NJ: Troll Associates.