After cleaning up the dinner dishes, the guide was expected to entertain his guests with stories, many of which were very tall tales. Certain guides were known for their talents. For example, Martin M. Moody, a pioneer of Tupper Lake, New York, was known as a famous guide, hotel proprietor, and teller of tall tales.
Some of the stories were collected by Aber and King in their book, Tales From an Adirondack County. Long remembered was "Captain Parker's" tale of awakening from a nap one day to see a ferocious panther swimming dangerously over his head. Instantly alert, the guide fired two useless shots in the air. The panther turned out to be a huge black punkie comfortably ensconced in his eyebrows and enjoying tasty nourishment from his upper lid.
Often guests chimed in with the stories of their own. A.F. Tait, the noted artist of the Adirondacks, told of the time Captain Parker took the wrong fork of the stream while guiding him into the inlet of Shallow Lake. After struggling for hours in the depthless channel, they reached a dismal swamp and were forced to return. Back at the stream's junction, Captain Parker placed a guide post with rudely inscribed sign, "Take this stream to Shallow Lake." Intentionally or not, the sign pointed in the wrong direction. Immediately, a party of men followed the sign's advice and were forced to spend the night in the swamp.
