The Mysterious Stranger and Other Stories [Penguin]

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut

The Stolen White Elephant

Luck

The ?1,000,000 Bank-Note

The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

The Five Boons of Life

Was It Heaven? Or Hell?

The Mysterious Stranger



The Mysterious Stranger and Other Stories unites nine of master American humorist Mark Twain's most accomplished works. From tall tales of con men's tricks, such as the classic that brought him instant fame, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County," to a man with no money (other than a ?1,000,000 banknote that no one can cash), to an expos? of greed and hypocrisy in perhaps his greatest short story, "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg," Twain showcases his notorious humor--skewering policemen, clergymen, politicians, bankers, and others--and displays his changing attitude toward human nature. The finale is the novella The Mysterious Stranger, a rarity for Mark Twain in which he turns his sardonic, freewheeling wit on eternal evil in a distant time and place — and conjures a memorable, tormenting conclusion.