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The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

by Mark Twain

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Smiley's Frog Bet Loss and Its Irony

Summary:

In Mark Twain's "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," Jim Smiley's trained frog, Dan'l Webster, loses a jumping contest due to a stranger's trickery. Smiley, a habitual gambler confident in his frog's abilities, leaves Dan'l with the stranger while he fetches another frog. The stranger fills Dan'l with quail shot, making him unable to jump. The irony lies in Smiley's overconfidence and habitual gambling being outwitted by the stranger's cunning.

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What happens to Smiley's frog in "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"?

Jim Smiley's frog, Dan'l Webster, was a well-trained amphibian that Smiley used to enhance his winnings at gambling. Smiley had invested heavily in Dan'l. Although he was just a common bullfrog that Smiley had caught, Smiley spent three months "educating" him. When Dan'l had been fully trained, simply by giving him "a little pinch behind," Smiley could get Dan'l to jump "whirling in the air like a doughnut ... turn one summerset, or maybe a couple ... and come down flat footed and all right, like a cat." Smiley also trained Dan'l to catch flies on command. This advanced education didn't go to Dan'l's head, however, according to the story's narrator, Simon Wheeler: "You never see a frog so modest and straightfor'ard as he was, for all he was so gifted."

One day a stranger came to town, and Smiley invited him to put up a frog to jump against...

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Dan'l in a contest. The stranger said he would if he only had a frog; Smiley graciously offered to catch him one. That left Dan'l alone with the stranger, who "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." Loaded as he was with lead pellets, Dan'l was unable to jump; he just "hysted up his shoulders--so--like a Frenchman." Smiley had to pay off the stranger, who left quickly. Only then did Smiley pick Dan'l up and realize he weighed almost five pounds. Smiley turned Dan'l upside down, and the frog "belched out a double handful of shot." 

Simon Wheeler never told his listener whether Dan'l was able to continue his jumping career. 

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Why is Smiley's loss in "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" ironic?

Jim Smiley about whom Simon Wheeler tells the narrator, is a man who would bet on anything: 

"...he was the curiousest man about always betting on anything that turned up you ever see, if he could get any body to bet on the other side; and if he couldn't he'd change sides....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."

This gambler has acquired a frog that he has named Daniel Webster; and, since this frog has developed incredible jumping ability, he bets on it with anyone he can find.  So, with great confidence, Smiley shows his frog to a stranger in the camp, boasting that it can outjump any frog in Calaveras County, and saying he will risk forty dollars on its abilty. When the stranger says that he does not have a frog, Smiley eagerly offers to catch one for him in a nearby swamp if the stranger will hold the box containing Daniel Webster.  While Smiley is gone, however, the stranger pours quailshot into the belly of Daniel.  With the weight of the quailshot, he is unable to jump when the race begins with the newly acquired frog that Smiley has caught. Smiley, who has prided himself on his gambling expertise and his cleverness, ironically has been outsmarted by the stranger.

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