The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain is a short story that includes a tall tale, a jokester, and a prestigious narrator. Simon Wheeler was a simple, seemingly uneducated man. “I noticed that he was fat and bald-headed” (122). What could a narrator, far superior than he, learn from such from such a simple man? In the search for answers to who is Leonidas W. Smiley, the narrator was brought more useless information than he bargained for. Simon Wheeler was not serious when talking about Jim Smiley. Wheeler told the never ending story of Jim Smiley to the unsuspecting narrator for a good laugh. The Easterner was setting up his friend, the Narrator, to be fooled by Simon Wheeler. By telling the Narrator to ask him about Leonidas
