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The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain: Summary | Short Story
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
ABOUT THE STORY
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain
This story "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" was written by Mark Twain, an American author. It was first written in 1865. This story was Mark Twain's first major success and made him famous across the country. The story's original title was "Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog". This story tells us about a gambler named Jim Smiley. The narrator describes a story he heard from Simon Wheeler, a bartender at the Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California. Jim Smiley was very interested in betting on anything in the world, such as predicting how fast a bug could move. If someone bet, he would follow that bug to Mexico to make sure he knows his destination and travel time.
FULL PLOT SUMMARY
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain
The narrator of the story starts by saying that a friend from his back East asked him to visit someone named Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley. To find out more, the narrator goes to talk to an old man named Simon Wheeler. The rest of the story is about the result of that particular visit. The narrator thinks that Leonidas W. Smiley might not be a real person. He guesses that his friend mentioned this name with a purpose because this name would make Simon Wheeler think of another person named Jim Smiley, and he would launch a long story about him. And that's exactly what happens.
The narrator discovers Simon Wheeler. Wheeler is napping close to the stove in a tavern in Angel’s Camp, a mining town. After waking Wheeler up and greeting him, the narrator questions him about Leonidas W. Smiley. When Wheeler hears the name, he takes the narrator to a peaceful corner in the tavern and starts talking about it. The narrator observes that throughout the entire story that follows, Wheeler doesn't show much emotion. He always speaks in a calm and steady voice.
The narrator mentions that Wheeler doesn't find the story he's telling funny at all. Actually, Wheeler takes the story very seriously and regards the men in the story as heroes. The narrator thinks this is silly, but he doesn't try to stop Wheeler from telling the whole narrative.
Wheeler starts by talking about a man named Jim Smiley, who arrived in Angel’s Camp around the winter of 1849 or spring of 1850. What makes Jim Smiley stand out is that he would challenge anyone in the world to a bet about anything. If someone hesitated to take the bet, Smiley would change the terms just to get them interested in the bet. He enjoyed betting a lot because he was very lucky and usually won. His favourite bets mostly involved animals, like horse races and fights between dogs, cats, and even chickens.
Jim Smiley didn't just bet on regular things. He would bet on strange and unusual stuff. For example, he might bet on which bird out of two would be the first to fly off a wire and which speaker speaking at a town meeting was the best at speaking. He also bet on the destination and travel time of a random straddle bug, following it all the way to Mexico just to find out the result. On one occasion, Parson Walker's wife was very sick, and it seemed like she might recover, but Jim Smiley bet with Walker that she would still die.
To support his habit of betting, Jim Smiley had a series of animals that he used for placing bets. One of them was very weak and sickly, with various health problems. Even though the mare looked like a mess and started racing slowly, the horse would get a burst of energy at the end and usually win, if just barely. Another animal was a dog named Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson seemed very lazy most of the time. But when Smiley put him into a fight and bet on him, Andrew Jackson suddenly became tough and aggressive. He'd even let the next dog bully him and beat him up so that people would bet against him.
Then, Jim Smiley got a frog and planned to train it. For the next three months, Smiley kept on teaching the frog how to jump really high. He trained the frog to jump so high that it would do somersaults in the air and land on its feet. Smiley had the belief that, with the right education, the frog could do anything. He named the frog Dan’l Webster. He started teaching it to catch flies. Dan’l Webster became so good at catching flies. Smiley only needed to say, “Flies, Dan'l, flies!” and the frog would jump up. It would snatch a fly with its tongue and land back on its feet, looking humble.
Dan’l Webster was really good at jumping from a sitting position. He could jump higher than any other frog. Jim Smiley was so proud of his frog. He bet on him whenever he got the chance. Those people who had been to many places said Dan’l Webster was the best jumping frog they had ever witnessed.
One day, Jim Smiley was sitting in the camp with a little lattice box holding Dan’l Webster. A stranger came over and asked him what was inside. Smiley informed him that it was a frog. The stranger inspected the frog and asked what it was good for and could do. Smiley informed him that the frog could jump higher than any frog in Calaveras County. He also bet the stranger forty dollars on it.
The stranger didn't think anything special about the frog. He didn't have a frog of his own, but he would take an interest in the bet if he did. Smiley promised that he'd get a frog for the stranger. Finally, the stranger agreed. Smiley handed the box to the stranger and went to the swamp to catch a frog. While Smiley was away, the stranger took Dan’l Webster, opened his mouth, and filled him with quail shots.
Jim Smiley came back with a frog from the swamp. He lined both frogs up for the jumping contest. As Smiley counted to three, both men tapped their frogs to make them jump. The new frog jumped ahead, but Dan’l Webster only seemed to try without moving. Smiley was confused to see that and provided the stranger with the forty dollars as promised. As the stranger left the place, he still said that he didn't see anything special about that frog.
Smiley stared at Dan’l Webster and tried to figure out what was going on. He saw that the frog looked a bit baggy. When he picked up the frog, he was surprised to find Dan’l Webster heavy—like five pounds! When Smiley turned the frog upside down, it burped out all the lead pellets inside. Suddenly, Smiley realised what had happened and got really angry. He moved here and there to search for the stranger but couldn't find him.
At this point, Simon Wheeler pauses his story about Jim Smiley because he hears someone calling him from outside. He asks the narrator to stay still while he checks what's going on. Being fed up and realising that he won't learn anything about Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, the narrator decides to leave. Just as he reaches the door, Wheeler enters inside. Wheeler quickly starts another story about Jim Smiley. This time, he starts with the story of Smiley and a one-eyed cow with a tail stump like a banana. Annoyed with the story, the narrator interrupts Wheeler. He tells him that he doesn't want to hear more about Jim Smiley, and he finally leaves the place.
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