Amongst the various types of yarn is the one, which is full of extreme exaggeration. The story is so far fetched as to be totally unbelievable. Usually, it is saved by its humour. And because it is so unbelievable one waits to see how far the exaggerations go. A good example are the Hexham Greys – mosquitoes which are so big, they can carry off a whole bullock team!! And there are plenty more yarns about the Speewah. But I will save them for "ron".

Paterson's "His Masterpiece" is another good example of an exaggerated yarn. It's very much along the lines I was talking about just now. It's just two pages long and though described as a short story, it may well be one that is based on something Paterson heard as a yarn. "Greenhide Billy" is a stockman on a Clarence River station and "admittedly the biggest liar in the district".

Often, Greenhide Billy holds court for the younger station hands giving them his worldly advice and telling them of his life outback. When a youngster asks Greenhide Billy about the big stations outback and how many acres they had, he scornfully replies "Acres be damned! Do you think we were blankedly cockatoo selectors? Out there we reckon country by the hundred miles. You orter say "how many thousand miles of country?" Then I'd understand you!" Furthermore, according to Greenhide Billy they reckoned the rainfall in the Territory by yards, not by inches. Billy had seen bigger droughts, better country, fatter cattle, faster horses and cleverer dogs than any other man on the Clarence River.

But Greenhide Billy's masterpiece was about a cattle rush, which got completely out of control. It was night-time, of course and Billy and his mate, Barcoo Jimmy were sound asleep. It had been a long day's ride. The cattle were quiet and all was at peace when the rush started. Well, not only had Billy accidentally started the rush by throwing a burning piece of wood out of the camp fire at a possum, that had fallen from a tree onto his head and woken him up and which was already now skeltering up another tree, but he had stopped the rush. Entirely on his own, riding a horse not even suited to rounding up cattle, he had single-handedly saved the day and the cattle in an incredible and spectacular ride that had gone on for hours and ranged far and wide across the countryside. At the end of this epic tale the young station hands and other workers sat in awe. But one dared to ask a question and asked Billy about his mate.

"How did your mate get on, Billy? I s'pose he was trampled to a mummy!"