Joyfully Retired

In this new-found love of mine for short stories, I’ve been looking at some of my old favorite authors to see what short stories they may have written. Mark Twain gave me some of my earliest story memories. His stories were favorite at our house when I was a kid. This one I associate with my dad.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

While visiting in Calaveras County (California), the narrator (I assume Mark Twain) called upon Simon Wheeler who told him the story of Jim Smiley.

Jim Smiley was a betting man of the first degree. He would bet on absolutely anything – horse races, chicken fights, dog fights, cat fights, anything. If there were two birds sitting on a fence he’d bet on which one would fly first. Fortunately for old Jim Smiley, he was lucky, “uncommonly lucky.” He was almost always flush with money and ready for a bet.

One day a stranger came to the county and got to talking with Smiley. He noticed that Jim had a frog in a cage and asked him about it. Jim Smiley was very casual about it with the stranger. The truth was Jim Smiley had been studying and working with that frog for three months. He knew his frog was an amazing jumper. He was looking for just the right person to bet with on this frog.

Jim Smiley told the stranger that his frog was an ordinary frog except that he could jump higher than any other frog in Calaveras County. The stranger was very skeptical. He was willing to bet $40 (a lot of money in those days) against Smiley’s frog but, he said he didn’t have a frog of his own.

Jim Smiley offered to go to the pond and get another frog for the stranger. He asked the stranger to hold on to his frog while he was gone. The stranger agreed to all of this. When Jim Smiley returned with a second frog they began their contest.

I’m not going to spoil the ending for you. Instead I’ll give you the link where you can read this short story for yourself. It’s here. I hope you enjoy the old-time language and wit of Mark Twain. This website has an excellent collection of all Mark Twain’s stories. It’s the American Literature site and the link will take you to short stories indexed by authors.

This short story was first published in The Saturday Press, Nov. 18, 1865. It was republished in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches (1867), by Mark Twain, all of whose works are published by Harper & Brothers.

If you’d like to read other bloggers who have posted short stories or if you’d like to join in, visit John at Book Mind Set.