The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
by Mark Twain
Twain's story was first published in The Saturday Press on Nov. 18, 1865. It was republished in The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches in 1867 by Harper & Brothers.
In compliance with the request of a friend of mine, who wrote me from the East, I called on good-natured, garrulous old Simon Wheeler, and inquired after my friend's friend, Leonidas W. Smiley, as requested to do, and I hereunto append the result. I have a lurking suspicion that Leonidas W. Smiley is a myth; and that my friend never knew such a personage; and that he only conjectured that if I asked old Wheeler about him, it would remind him of his infamous Jim Smiley, and he would go to work and bore me to death with some exasperating reminiscence of him as long and as tedious as it should be useless to me. If that was the design, it succeeded.
I found Simon Wheeler dozing comfortably by the barroom stove of the dilapidated tavern in the decayed mining camp of Angel's, and I noticed that he was fat and bald-headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his tranquil countenance. He roused up, and gave me good-day. I told him a friend had commissioned me to make some inquiries about a cherished companion of his boyhood named Leonidas W. Smiley--Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, a young minister of the Gospel, who he had heard was at one time a resident of Angel's Camp. I added that if Mr. Wheeler could tell me anything about this Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, I would feel under many obligations to him.
Simon Wheeler backed me into a corner and blockaded me there with his chair, and then sat down and reeled off the monotonous narrative which follows this paragraph. He never smiled, he never frowned, he never changed his voice from the gentle-flowing key to which he tuned his initial sentence, he never betrayed the slightest suspicion of enthusiasm; but all through the interminable narrative there ran a vein of impressive earnestness and sincerity, which showed me plainly that, so far from his imagining that there was anything ridiculous or funny about his story, he regarded it as a really important matter, and admired its two heroes as men of transcendent genius in finesse. I let him go on in his own way, and never interrupted him once.
"Rev. Leonidas W. H'm, Reverend Le--well, there was a feller here once by the name of Jim Smiley, in the winter of '49--or may be it was the spring of '50--I don't recollect exactly, somehow, though what makes me think it was one or the other is because I remember the big flume warn't finished when he first came to the camp; but any way, he was the curiousest man about always betting on anything that turned up you ever see, if he could get anybody to bet on the other side; and if he couldn't he'd change sides. Any way that suited the other man would suit him--any way just so's he got a bet, he was satisfied. But still he was lucky, uncommon lucky; he most always come out winner. He was always ready and laying for a chance; there couldn't be no solit'ry thing mentioned but that feller'd offer to bet on it, and take any side you please, as I was just telling you. If there was a horse-race, you'd find him flush or you'd find him busted at the end of it; if there was a dog-fight, he'd bet on it; if there was a cat-fight, he'd bet on it; if there was a chicken-fight, he'd bet on it; why, if there was two birds setting on a fence, he would bet you which one would fly first; or if there was a camp-meeting, he would be there reg'lar to bet on Parson Walker, which he judged to be the best exhorter about here, and he was, too, and a good man. If he even see a straddle-bug start to go anywheres, he would bet you how long it would take him to get to--to wherever he was going to, and if you took him up, he would foller that straddle-bug to Mexico but what he would find out where he was bound for and how long he was on the road. 
Lots of the boys here has seen that Smiley and can tell you about him. Why, it never made no difference to him--he'd bet on any thing--the dangest feller. Parson Walker's wife laid very sick once, for a good while, and it seemed as if they warn't going to save her; but one morning he come in, and Smiley up and asked him how she was, and he said she was considerable better--thank the Lord for his inf'nit' mercy--and coming on so smart that with the blessing of Prov'dence she'd get well yet; and Smiley, before he thought, says, Well, I'll risk two-and-a-half she don't anyway.'"
Thish-yer Smiley had a mare--the boys called her the fifteen-minute nag, but that was only in fun, you know, because, of course, she was faster than that--and he used to win money on that horse, for all she was so slow and always had the asthma, or the distemper, or the consumption, or something of that kind. They used to give her two or three hundred yards start, and then pass her under way; but always at the fag-end of the race she'd get excited and desperate-like, and come cavorting and straddling up, and scattering her legs around limber, sometimes in the air, and sometimes out to one side amongst the fences, and kicking up m-o-r-e dust and raising m-o-r-e racket with her coughing and sneezing and blowing her nose--and always fetch up at the stand just about a neck ahead, as near as you could cipher it down.
And he had a little small bull-pup, that to look at him you'd think he warn't worth a cent but to set around and look ornery and lay for a chance to steal something. But as soon as money was up on him he was a different dog; his under-jaw'd begin to stick out like the fo'-castle of a steamboat, and his teeth would uncover and shine like the furnaces. And a dog might tackle him and bully-rag him, and bite him, and throw him over his shoulder two or three times, and Andrew Jackson--which was the name of the pup--Andrew Jackson would never let on but what he was satisfied, and hadn't expected nothing else--and the bets being doubled and doubled on the other side all the time, till the money was all up; and then all of a sudden he would grab that other dog jest by the j'int of his hind leg and freeze to it--not chaw, you understand, but only just grip and hang on till they throwed up the sponge, if it was a year. Smiley always come out winner on that pup, till he harnessed a dog once that didn't have no hind legs, because they'd been sawed off in a circular saw, and when the thing had gone along far enough, and the money was all up, and he come to make a snatch for his pet holt, he see in a minute how he'd been imposed on, and how the other dog had him in the door, so to speak, and he 'peared surprised, and then he looked sorter discouraged-like, and didn't try no more to win the fight, and so he got shucked out bad. He gave Smiley a look, as much as to say his heart was broke, and it was his fault, for putting up a dog that hadn't no hind legs for him to take holt of, which was his main dependence in a fight, and then he limped off a piece and laid down and died. It was a good pup, was that Andrew Jackson, and would have made a name for hisself if he'd lived, for the stuff was in him and he had genius--I know it, because he hadn't no opportunities to speak of, and it don't stand to reason that a dog could make such a fight as he could under them circumstances if he hadn't no talent. It always makes me feel sorry when I think of that last fight of his'n, and the way it turned out.
Well, thish-yer Smiley had rat-tarriers, and chicken cocks, and tom-cats and all of them kind of things, till you couldn't rest, and you couldn't fetch nothing for him to bet on but he'd match you. He ketched a frog one day, and took him home, and said he cal'lated to educate him; and so he never done nothing for three months but set in his back yard and learn that frog to jump. And you bet you he did learn him, too. He'd give him a little punch behind, and the next minute you'd see that frog whirling in the air like a doughnut--see him turn one summerset, or may be a couple, if he got a good start, and come down flat-footed and all right, like a cat.
He got him up so in the matter of ketching flies, and kep' him in practice so constant, that he'd nail a fly every time as fur as he could see him. Smiley said all a frog wanted was education, and he could do 'most anything--and I believe him. Why, I've seen him set Dan'l Webster down here on this floor--Dan'l Webster was the name of the frog--and sing out, "Flies, Dan'l, flies!" and quicker'n you could wink he'd spring straight up and snake a fly off'n the counter there, and flop down on the floor ag'in as solid as a gob of mud, and fall to scratching the side of his head with his hind foot as indifferent as if he hadn't no idea he'd been doin' any more'n any frog might do. You never see a frog so modest and straightfor'ard as he was, for all he was so gifted. And when it come to fair and square jumping on a dead level, he could get over more ground at one straddle than any animal of his breed you ever see. Jumping on a dead level was his strong suit, you understand; and when it come to that, Smiley would ante up money on him as long as he had a red. Smiley was monstrous proud of his frog, and well he might be, for fellers that had traveled and been everywheres, all said he laid over any frog that ever they see.
Well, Smiley kep' the beast in a little lattice box, and he used to fetch him downtown sometimes and lay for a bet. One day a feller--a stranger in the camp, he was--come acrost him with his box, and says:
"What might be that you've got in the box?"
And Smiley says, sorter indifferent-like, "It might be a parrot, or it might be a canary, maybe, but it ain't--it's only just a frog."
And the feller took it, and looked at it careful, and turned it round this way and that, and says, "H'm--so 'tis. Well, what's he good for?"
"Well," Smiley says, easy and careless, "he's good enough for one thing, I should judge--he can outjump any frog in Calaveras county."
The feller took the box again, and took another long, particular look, and give it back to Smiley, and says, very deliberate, "Well," he says, "I don't see no p'ints about that frog that's any better'n any other frog."
"Maybe you don't," Smiley says. "Maybe you understand frogs and maybe you don't understand 'em; maybe you've had experience, and maybe you ain't only a amature, as it were. Anyways, I've got my opinion and I'll risk forty dollars that he can outjump any frog in Calaveras County."
And the feller studied a minute, and then says, kinder sad like, "Well, I'm only a stranger here, and I ain't got no frog; but if I had a frog, I'd bet you."
And then Smiley says, "That's all right--that's all right--if you'll hold my box a minute, I'll go and get you a frog." And so the feller took the box, and put up his forty dollars along with Smiley's, and set down to wait.
So he set there a good while thinking and thinking to his-self, and then he got the frog out and prized his mouth open and took a teaspoon and filled him full of quail shot--filled! him pretty near up to his chin--and set him on the floor. Smiley he went to the swamp and slopped around in the mud for a long time, and finally he ketched a frog, and fetched him in, and give him to this feller, and says:
"Now, if you're ready, set him alongside of Dan'l, with his forepaws just even with Dan'l's, and I'll give the word." Then he says, "One--two--three--git!" and him and the feller touched up the frogs from behind, and the new frog hopped off lively, but Dan'l give a heave, and hysted up his shoulders--so--like a Frenchman, but it warn't no use--he couldn't budge; he was planted as solid as a church, and he couldn't no more stir than if he was anchored out. Smiley was a good deal surprised, and he was disgusted too, but he didn't have no idea what the matter was, of course.
The feller took the money and started away; and when he was going out at the door, he sorter jerked his thumb over his shoulder--so--at Dan'l, and says again, very deliberate, "Well," he says, "I don't see no p'ints about that frog that's any better'n any other frog."
Smiley he stood scratching his head and looking down at Dan'l a long time, and at last says, "I do wonder what in the nation that frog throwed off for--I wonder if there ain't something the matter with him--he 'pears to look mighty baggy, somehow." And he ketched Dan'l up by the nap of the neck, and hefted him, and says, "Why blame my cats if he don't weigh five pounds!" and turned him upside down and he belched out a double handful of shot. And then he see how it was, and he was the maddest man--he set the frog down and took out after that feller, but he never ketched him. And----
(Here Simon Wheeler heard his name called from the front yard, and got up to see what was wanted.) And turning to me as he moved away, he said: "Just set where you are, stranger, and rest easy--I ain't going to be gone a second."
But, by your leave, I did not think that a continuation of the history of the enterprising vagabond Jim Smiley would be likely to afford me much information concerning the Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, and so I started away.
At the door I met the sociable Wheeler returning, and he buttonholed me and recommenced:
"Well, thish-yer Smiley had a yaller, one-eyed cow that didn't have no tail, only jest a short stump like a bannanner, and----"
However, lacking both time and inclination, I did not wait to hear about the afflicted cow, but took my leave.
You might also enjoy this interesting story about a trouble-making wager involving animals: W.W. Jacobs's Watch-Dogs.
Frequently Asked Questions about The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
What is "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" about?
The story uses a frame narrative: the unnamed narrator visits a tavern in Angel's Camp, a decayed California mining town, to ask about a man named Leonidas W. Smiley. Instead, the garrulous old Simon Wheeler corners him and launches into a long, deadpan tale about Jim Smiley, a man who would bet on absolutely anything — horse races, dog fights, cat fights, even which bird on a fence would fly first. Smiley's prize possession is a frog named Dan'l Webster, which he has trained to jump higher than any frog in Calaveras County. A stranger challenges Smiley to a bet, and while Smiley is out catching a frog for the stranger to compete with, the stranger fills Dan'l Webster with quail shot, making him too heavy to jump. The stranger wins the bet and disappears. Smiley discovers the trick too late. Wheeler begins a new story about a one-eyed cow, but the narrator escapes.
What is the theme of "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"?
The central theme is the conman getting conned — Jim Smiley, who has spent his life finding clever angles to win bets, is finally outmaneuvered by a stranger who uses an even simpler trick. This ironic reversal suggests that no one is too clever to be fooled. A deeper theme is the cultural clash between East and West. The frame narrator is an educated, formal Easterner who considers Wheeler's story a tedious waste of time; Wheeler is an unsophisticated Westerner who tells the tale with earnest sincerity. But Twain subtly reveals that Wheeler is the more skilled storyteller — and may even be deliberately trapping the narrator, just as the stranger trapped Smiley. The question of who is really fooling whom operates on every level of the story.
Why is "The Celebrated Jumping Frog" important in American literature?
Published in 1865, this was the story that made Mark Twain famous. It appeared in the New York Saturday Press and was immediately reprinted across the country, establishing the thirty-year-old Twain as a major new voice in American humor. The story's importance extends beyond its author's career: it helped legitimize vernacular storytelling as a serious literary form. By presenting Simon Wheeler's Western dialect and tall-tale tradition as equal to (or better than) the narrator's Eastern formality, Twain challenged the cultural hierarchy that placed Eastern literary culture above Western folk culture. This democratization of American voice — the idea that a barroom storyteller in a mining camp could be as artistically sophisticated as a Boston essayist — would become Twain's defining contribution to American letters.
What literary devices does Mark Twain use in "The Celebrated Jumping Frog"?
The frame narrative is the story's most important structural device — the educated narrator tells us a story about being told a story, creating two competing voices and value systems. Dialect and vernacular distinguish the two narrators: the frame narrator speaks in grammatically precise English while Simon Wheeler uses Western colloquialisms ("feller," "reg'lar," "warn't"). Hyperbole drives the tall-tale tradition: Smiley bets on everything from straddle-bugs to camp meetings, and Dan'l Webster can "whirl in the air like a doughnut." Dramatic irony powers the climax: the reader suspects the stranger's trick before Smiley discovers it. Deadpan humor — Wheeler's complete earnestness while telling an absurd story — is the story's signature comic mode, and it would become Twain's trademark technique throughout his career.
When was "The Celebrated Jumping Frog" published?
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County was first published on November 18, 1865, in the New York Saturday Press. was living in San Francisco at the time and had heard a version of the frog-jumping story during a visit to Angel's Camp in Calaveras County, California — a real gold-mining town. The story was an immediate sensation, reprinted in newspapers nationwide. It became the title story of Twain's first book, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches (1867). The Calaveras County Fair still holds an annual frog-jumping contest inspired by the story, making it one of the rare pieces of American fiction to generate a living tradition.
Who is Jim Smiley in "The Celebrated Jumping Frog"?
Jim Smiley is the story's folk hero — a man with an uncontrollable compulsion to gamble on anything and everything. He bets on horse races, dog fights, chicken fights, and camp-meeting sermons. He even follows a straddle-bug to Mexico to settle a bet. His genius lies in finding unexpected advantages: he trains a frog (Dan'l Webster) to out-jump any competitor and owns a bull pup (Andrew Jackson) that wins fights by grabbing opponents' hind legs. Smiley is "uncommon lucky" and almost always wins — until the stranger fills his frog with quail shot and beats him at his own game. Smiley represents the American trickster archetype: clever, resourceful, and endlessly inventive, but ultimately vulnerable to someone playing by even fewer rules.
Who is Simon Wheeler and why does he tell the story?
Simon Wheeler is the garrulous old man in Angel's Camp who traps the narrator in a corner and delivers the Jim Smiley story in a "monotonous narrative" without ever smiling or showing "the slightest suspicion of enthusiasm." His deadpan delivery is central to the story's humor — he treats the absurd tale as a matter of grave importance. The deeper question is whether Wheeler is genuinely oblivious to the story's comedy or deliberately wasting the narrator's time. The narrator suspects he was set up by a friend who knew Wheeler would "bore me to death with some exasperating reminiscence." If so, Wheeler is another trickster — trapping the Easterner with a story he can't escape, just as the stranger trapped Smiley with a loaded frog. Wheeler's apparent simplicity may be the most sophisticated performance in the story.
What happens to Dan'l Webster the frog?
Dan'l Webster is Jim Smiley's prize frog, trained to jump higher and farther than any frog in Calaveras County. When a stranger bets Smiley forty dollars that Dan'l is no better than any other frog, Smiley leaves to catch a competing frog from the swamp. While Smiley is gone, the stranger opens Dan'l's mouth and fills him with quail shot, making him impossibly heavy. When the contest begins, the stranger's ordinary frog jumps normally, but Dan'l "give a heave, and hysted up his shoulders — so — like a Frenchman, but it warn't no use — he couldn't budge." Smiley loses the bet. After the stranger leaves, Smiley picks up Dan'l, discovers he weighs five pounds, turns him upside down, and the frog "belched out a double handful of shot." Smiley chases the stranger but never catches him.
How does "The Celebrated Jumping Frog" use the tall tale tradition?
The story is a masterful example of the American tall tale — a folk narrative tradition characterized by outrageous exaggeration delivered with complete deadpan sincerity. Wheeler's account includes classic tall-tale elements: animals with near-human intelligence (the bull pup Andrew Jackson who wins fights through strategy, the frog who can "turn one summerset, or may be a couple" on command), improbable feats of dedication (Smiley following a straddle-bug to Mexico), and a trickster protagonist undone by his own cleverness. What makes Twain's use of the form revolutionary is the frame structure: by placing the tall tale inside a sophisticated literary frame, he elevated a folk tradition to art while simultaneously mocking the cultural snobbery that dismissed Western storytelling as beneath serious literature.
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