The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Stories

Mark Twain

Mar 2008 · Recorded Books · Narrated by Norman Dietz

About this audiobook

Jim Smiley was a betting man. He bet on horse races, dog-fights, cat-fights, even how long it took a straddle-bug to cross the border into Mexico. If there was a bet to be made, chances were the "uncommonly lucky" Smiley was behind it. So it seemed life easy money when a gullible stranger came to town and Smiley boasted to him that his pet frog-Dan'l Webster-could "outjump any frog in Calaveras County." But while Smiley was out scouting for the competition, the stranger came up with a plan to stop Dan'l-and Smiley-in their tracks. The publication of "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" in the Saturday Press in 1865, marked the beginnings of Mark Twain's remarkable literary career. This collection of eight stories upholds his title as America's greatest humorist and storyteller. Includes these stories; "A True Story"; "Jim Baker's Blue-jay Yarn"; "The Private History of a Campaign that Failed"; "Extracts from Adam's Diary"; "Eve's Diary"; "The 1,000,000 Bank-Note"; and "How to Tell a Story."

About the author

Mark Twain was born Samuel L. Clemens in Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835. He worked as a printer, and then became a steamboat pilot. He traveled throughout the West, writing humorous sketches for newspapers. In 1865, he wrote the short story, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, which was very well received. He then began a career as a humorous travel writer and lecturer, publishing The Innocents Abroad in 1869, Roughing It in 1872, and, Gilded Age in 1873, which was co-authored with Charles Dudley Warner. His best-known works are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Mississippi Writing: Life on the Mississippi, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. He died of a heart attack on April 21, 1910.