The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County - wikipedia The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County First edition ( published by Charles Henry Webb ) `` The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County '' is an 1865 short story by Mark Twain. It was his first great success as a writer and brought him national attention. The story has also been published as `` Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog '' ( its original title ) and `` The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County ''. In it, the narrator retells a story he heard from a bartender, Simon Wheeler, at the Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California, about the gambler Jim Smiley. The narrator describes him : `` If he even seen a straddle bug start to go anywheres, he would bet you how long it would take him to get to wherever he 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. '' The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches is also the title story of an 1867 collection of short stories by Mark Twain. It was Twain 's first book and collected 27 stories that were previously published in magazines and newspapers. Contents 1 Publication history 2 Plot Summary 3 Translations 4 Adaptations 5 Short story collection 6 See also 7 References 8 External links Publication History The Angels Hotel Twain first wrote the title short story at the request of his friend Artemus Ward, for inclusion in an upcoming book. Twain worked on two versions, but neither was satisfactory to him -- neither got around to describing the jumping frog contest. Ward pressed him again, but by the time Twain devised a version he was willing to submit, that book was already nearing publication, so Ward sent it instead to The New York Saturday Press, where it appeared in the November 18, 1865 edition as `` Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog ''. Twain 's colorful story was immensely popular, and was soon printed in many different magazines and newspapers. Twain developed the idea further, and Bret Harte published this version in The Californian on December 16, 1865 ; this time titled `` The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County '', and Smiley 's name was changed to Greeley. Further popularity of the tale led Twain to use the story to anchor his own first book, which appeared in 1867 with a first issue run of only 1,000 copies. The first edition was issued in seven colors ( with no priority ) : blue, brown, green, lavender, plum, red, and terra - cotta, and is sought after by book collectors, as it fetches thousands of dollars at auctions. In the book version, Twain changed Greeley back to Smiley. Plot summary The narrator is sent by a friend to interview an old man, Simon Wheeler, who might know the location of an old acquaintance named Leonidas W. Smiley. Finding Simon at an old mining camp, the narrator asks him if he knows anything about Leonidas ; Simon appears not to, and instead tells a story about Jim Smiley, a man who had visited the camp years earlier. Jim loves to gamble and will offer to bet on anything and everything, from horse races to dogfights, to the health of the local parson 's wife. He catches a frog, whom he names Dan'l Webster and for three months, trains it to jump. When a stranger visits the camp, Jim shows off Dan'l and offers to bet $40 that it can out - jump any other frog in Calaveras County. The stranger, unimpressed, says that he would take the bet if he had a frog, so Jim goes out to catch one, leaving him alone with Dan'l. While Jim is away, the stranger pours lead shot down Dan'l's throat. Once Jim returns, he and the stranger set the frogs down and let them loose. The stranger 's frog jumps away while Dan'l does not budge, and the surprised and disgusted Jim pays the $40 wager. After the stranger has departed, Jim notices Dan'l's sluggishness and picks the frog up, finding it to be much heavier than he remembers. When Dan'l belches out a double handful of lead shot, Jim realizes that he has been cheated and chases after the stranger, but never catches him. At this point in the story, Simon excuses himself to go outside for a moment. The narrator realizes that Jim has no connection to Leonidas and gets up to leave, only to have Simon stop him at the door, offering to tell him about a one - eyed, stubby - tailed cow that Jim had owned. Rather than stay to hear another pointless story, the narrator excuses himself and leaves. Translations Upon discovering a French translation of this story, Twain back - translated the story into English, word for word, retaining the French grammatical structure and syntax. He then published all three versions under the title `` The Jumping Frog : in English, then in French, and then Clawed Back into a Civilized Language Once More by Patient, Unremunerated Toil ''. In `` Private History of the ' Jumping Frog ' Story '', Twain recounts some background to the tale -- in particular, his surprise to find that the story bore a striking resemblance to an ancient Greek tale. He wrote : Now, then, the interesting question is, did the frog episode happen in Angel 's Camp in the spring of ' 49, as told in my hearing that day in the fall of 1865 ? I am perfectly sure that it did. I am also sure that its duplicate happened in Boeotia a couple of thousand years ago. I think it must be a case of history actually repeating itself, and not a case of a good story floating down the ages and surviving because too good to be allowed to perish. Later, however, in November 1903, Twain noted : When I became convinced that the `` Jumping Frog '' was a Greek story two or three thousand years old, I was sincerely happy, for apparently here was a most striking and satisfactory justification of a favorite theory of mine -- to wit, that no occurrence is sole and solitary, but is merely a repetition of a thing which has happened before, and perhaps often... By - and - by, in England, after a few years, I learned that there had n't been any Greek frog in the business, and no Greek story about his adventures. Professor Sidgwick ( in his textbook for students learning to translate English texts into Greek, Greek Prose Composition, p. 116 ) had not claimed that it was a Greek tale ; he had merely synopsized the Calaveras tale and transferred the incident to classic Greece ; but as he did not state that it was the same old frog, the English papers reproved him for the omission. He told me this in England in 1899 or 1900, and was much troubled about that censure, for his act had been innocent, he believing that the story 's origin was so well known as to render formal mention of it unnecessary. But in A. Sidgwick 's `` Note To The Thirteenth Edition '' ( 1907 ), among `` hearty... thanks for... help received '', Prof. Sidgwick still failed to acknowledge his use of the Twain tale. Adaptations Lukas Foss composed The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, an opera in two scenes with libretto by Jean Karsavina, based on Twain 's story. The opera premiered on May 18, 1950, at Indiana University. The story was also adapted as a scene in the film The Adventures of Mark Twain ( 1985 ), in which Mark Twain retells the story in short to Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, and Becky Thatcher. Short story collection The short story collection The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches, Twain 's first book, contains 27 short stories and sketches. It was released by the American News Company in 1867 under the editorship of Twain 's friend Charles Henry Webb. Privately, to his colleague Bret Harte, Twain wrote it was `` full of damnable errors of grammar and deadly inconsistencies of spelling in the Frog sketch because I did not read the proofs ''. After its May release, the book suffered from lackluster sales. The collection included : `` The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County '' `` Aurelia 's Unfortunate Young Man '' `` A Complaint about Correspondents, Dated in San Francisco '' `` Answers to Correspondents '' `` Among the Fenians '' `` The Story of the Bad Little Boy Who Did n't Come to Grief '' `` Curing a Cold '' `` An Inquiry about Insurances '' `` Literature in the Dry Diggings '' `` ' After ' Jenkins '' `` Lucretia Smith 's Soldier '' `` The Killing of Julius Caesar ' Localized ' '' `` An Item which the Editor Himself could not Understand '' `` Among the Spirits '' `` Brief Biographical Sketch of George Washington '' `` A Touching Story of George Washington 's Boyhood '' `` A Page from a Californian Almanac '' `` Information for the Million '' `` The Launch of the Steamer Capital '' `` Origin of Illustrious Men '' `` Advice for Good Little Girls '' `` Concerning Chambermaids '' `` Remarkable Instances of Presence of Mind '' `` Honored as a Curiosity in Honolulu '' `` The Steed ' Oahu ' '' `` A Strange Dream '' `` Short and Singular Rations '' See also Frog jumping Translation References ^ Jump up to : Twain, Mark ( 1867 ). The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, and Other Sketches. New York : C.H. Webb. Republished by Oxford University Press ( 1997 ), ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 511400 - 3. Jump up ^ Mark Twain ( November 18, 1865 ). `` Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog ''. The Saturday Press. pp. 248 -- 249. ^ Jump up to : `` Mark Twain in The Californian, 1864 -- 1867 ''. Twainquotes.com. Retrieved July 28, 2009. Jump up ^ `` The Celebrated Jumping Frog ''. Royal Books. Jump up ^ Twain, Mark ( 1903 ). The Jumping Frog : in English, then in French, and then Clawed Back into a Civilized Language Once More by Patient, Unremunerated Toil. Books.google.com. Retrieved 2016 - 10 - 08. Jump up ^ Twain, Mark. `` Private History of the ' Jumping Frog ' Story ''. The Internet Archive. Jump up ^ Twain, Mark & Strothman, F. ( Illustrator ). The Jumping Frog : In English, Then in French, and Then Clawed Back into a Civilized Language Once More by Patient, Unremunerated Toil ( MCMIII ed. ). New York and London : Harper & Brothers, Publishers. pp. 64 -- 66. CS1 maint : Uses authors parameter ( link ) Jump up ^ Sidgwick, A. ( 1907 ). `` Note to the Thirteenth Edition ''. Introduction to Greek Prose Composition with Exercises ( 13th ed. ). London : Longmans, Green & Co. Jump up ^ `` The Jumping Frog Of Calaveras County ''. USOpera.com. Jump up ^ Messent, Peter. The Short Works of Mark Twain : A Critical Study. Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001 : 10. ISBN 0 - 8122 - 3622 - X Jump up ^ Nissen, Axel. Bret Harte : Prince and Pauper. University Press of Mississippi, 2000 : 83. ISBN 1 - 57806 - 253 - 5 Jump up ^ Muller, John. Mark Twain in Washington, D.C. : The Adventures of a Capital Correspondent. Charleston, SC : The History Press, 2013 : 73. ISBN 978 - 1 - 60949 - 964 - 8 External links Wikisource has original text related to this article : The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County LibriVox recording read by Rodney Nelson, 00 : 14 : 06 Problems playing this file ? See media help. Online text at the Electronic Text Center at the University of Virginia Library Books That Grow leveled book version Twain 's `` Private History of the ' Jumping Frog ' Story '' Stephen Railton 's Mark Twain in His Times project Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum Images of First Edition ( 1867 ) Official Web site for JUMP - a documentary on the history of Calaveras County 's Jumping Frog Jubilee The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County study guide, themes, quotes, character analysis, teaching guide The Jumping Frog public domain audiobook at LibriVox 88 Days in the Mother Lode : Mark Twain Finds His Voice - Documentary film about Twain hearing the story during a stay in Angels Camp Mark Twain Bibliography Novels The Gilded Age : A Tale of Today The Adventures of Tom Sawyer The Prince and the Pauper Adventures of Huckleberry Finn A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur 's Court The American Claimant Tom Sawyer Abroad Pudd'nhead Wilson Tom Sawyer, Detective Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc A Double Barrelled Detective Story A Horse 's Tale The Mysterious Stranger Hellfire Hotchkiss Short stories `` The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County '' `` Cannibalism in the Cars '' `` General Washington 's Negro Body - Servant '' `` My Late Senatorial Secretaryship '' `` Some Learned Fables for Good Old Boys and Girls '' `` A Literary Nightmare '' `` A Murder, a Mystery, and a Marriage '' `` The Invalid 's Story '' `` The Great Revolution in Pitcairn '' `` 1601 '' `` The Stolen White Elephant '' `` Luck '' `` The Million Pound Bank Note '' `` Those Extraordinary Twins '' `` The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg '' `` A Dog 's Tale '' `` Extracts from Adam 's Diary '' `` The War Prayer '' `` Eve 's Diary '' `` Captain Stormfield 's Visit to Heaven '' `` My Platonic Sweetheart '' `` The Private Life of Adam and Eve '' `` Advice to Little Girls '' `` The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine '' Short story collections Mark Twain 's ( Burlesque ) Autobiography and First Romance Sketches New and Old A True Story and the Recent Carnival of Crime Punch, Brothers, Punch ! and Other Sketches Mark Twain 's Library of Humor Merry Tales The £ 1,000,000 Bank Note and Other New Stories The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories The Curious Republic of Gondour and Other Whimsical Sketches The Washoe Giant in San Francisco Plays Is He Dead ? Colonel Sellers Colonel Sellers as a Scientist Essays `` The Awful German Language '' `` Advice to Youth '' `` English As She Is Taught '' How to Tell a Story and Other Essays `` Concerning the Jews '' `` A Salutation Speech From the Nineteenth Century to the Twentieth '' `` To the Person Sitting in Darkness '' `` To My Missionary Critics '' `` Edmund Burke on Croker and Tammany '' `` What Is Man ? '' `` Queen Victoria 's Jubilee '' `` The United States of Lyncherdom '' `` Fenimore Cooper 's Literary Offenses '' Letters from the Earth Non-fiction Territorial Enterprise letters Letters from Hawaii The Innocents Abroad Roughing It Old Times on the Mississippi A Tramp Abroad Life on the Mississippi Following the Equator Is Shakespeare Dead ? Autobiography of Mark Twain Mark Twain 's Notebook King Leopold 's Soliloquy The Private History of a Campaign That Failed Mark Twain 's Weapons of Satire The Bible According to Mark Twain Christian Science Speeches `` Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism '' `` Votes for Women '' Places and events Conception Birthplace Historic Site State Park Boyhood Home and Museum Mark Twain Cave Mark Twain in Nevada Territorial Enterprise Sagebrush School Mark Twain House, Hartford, Connecticut Stormfield Publisher, Ulysses S. Grant 's memoirs Twain -- Ament indemnities controversy In popular culture Mark Twain Prize for American Humor Mark Twain Tonight ! The Adventures of Mark Twain ( 1944 film ) The Adventures of Mark Twain ( 1985 film ) Mark Twain : The Musical Family Olivia Langdon Clemens ( wife ) Susy Clemens ( daughter ) Clara Clemens ( daughter ) Jean Clemens ( daughter ) John M. Clemens ( father ) Orion Clemens ( brother ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Celebrated_Jumping_Frog_of_Calaveras_County&oldid=816900096 '' Categories : Short stories by Mark Twain History of Calaveras County, California American folklore Fictional frogs and toads Fictional characters from California Calaveras County, California 1865 short stories Works originally published in American newspapers California Gold Rush in fiction Animal tales Short stories set in California Hidden categories : CS1 maint : Uses authors parameter Articles with hAudio microformats Articles with LibriVox links Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikisource Français 日本 語 Português Русский Edit links This page was last edited on 24 December 2017, at 14 : 24. About Wikipedia

Question: where does the celebrated jumping frog take place
Answer: at the Angels Hotel in Angels Camp, California