# ID this Twain story? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 19, 2002, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643 "2002-08-19T21:00:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643/1 "2002-08-19T21:00:49Z")
I was talking to a friend of mine, who remembered having seen as a child a TV verson of a Mark Twain story. As it turns out, I had seen it too, but have been unable to figure out which story it was based on. All I remember is that it’s about a guy from the future who helps out a kid who is a printer’s apprentice. The show started with a big glowing ball floating down to earth. Can anyone ID this? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643/2 "2002-08-19T21:22:46Z")
Time travel + Twain sounds like _A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court_ to me, but the “printer’s apprentice” part doesn’t sound right. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643/3 "2002-08-19T21:24:35Z")
This sounds to me like a TV adaptation I saw of “The Mysterious Stranger”; a Twain tale that has a few differring versions and I don’t believe was ever published during his lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643/4 "2002-08-19T22:48:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eutychus \* > a TV adaptation I saw of “The Mysterious Stranger”; a Twain tale that has a few differring versions from the _Masterplots II_ database, the first paragraph of the plot summary: > [@](#): > > In sleepy Eseldorf, in the Middle Ages, three boys–Theodor, Nikolaus, and Seppi–meet a mysterious stranger who is young, handsome, beautifully dressed, and so charming that everything is more exciting in his presence-- yet unknown to them, the dashing newcomer is Satan incarnate. With his breath he lights the pipes the boys are not supposed to be smoking and provides them each with the fruit of his choice. He entrances them by making a crowd of finger-sized men and women and a most cunning castle, but because the living figures are noisy, he crushes two of them heartlessly and then mashes the more than five hundred little people like flies. Sound familiar? ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643/5 "2002-08-19T23:01:28Z")
I had actually thought for sure that I remembered the TV show as being described as “The Mysterious Stranger,” but I read the book recently and it seemed totally different. I specifically remember a scene involving a print shop, with the stranger (who was from the future, not the Devil) using his special powers to help them meet an impossible deadline. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643/6 "2002-08-19T23:52:52Z")
Is [this](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0084374) it, Ben? ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643/7 "2002-08-20T00:00:45Z")
This has gotta be it. As I said, there were various versions of the story and this was just one of them. Here’s a nice site that explains how the various versions came about : [“The Mysterious Stranger” by Professor Revilo P. Oliver](http://www.revilo-oliver.com/rpo/Mysterious_Stranger.html) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643/8 "2002-08-20T00:33:38Z")
Eutychus, that was informative, but honestly, the bits about how the Jews got Roosevelt elected so he could sell out America to the Communists makes me want to take a shower…🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643/9 "2002-08-20T00:40:58Z")
Yeah … take a lot of it with a grain of salt, but the first part of it at least gives a fairly decent overview. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643/10 "2002-08-20T01:24:01Z")
Well that was a weird little essay. All the master-race stuff was most enlightening. I will have to do some research to figure out who the “Great War Criminal” was who “made the United States an apanage of the Judaeo-Communist empire”. Roosevelt I guess? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643/11 "2002-08-20T02:25:59Z")
I read this Mark Twain story years ago…it was about this frog, that could jump real good, and was celebrated for it, and I think it took place in Calaveras county. Can anyone ID that one? ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2002, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643/12 "2002-08-20T04:09:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Can anyone ID that one? Was the frog from the future? ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643/13 "2002-08-21T03:45:36Z")
Based on the imdb link and the cover photo, it looks like it was indeed _The Mysterious Stranger,_ based on some of the printer-heavy material which didn’t end up in the finished version. Now I think I’ll have to read the parts that didn’t make it into the finished book. And now I must tell my story about “The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” After reading the story in literature class, one of my classmates had the following dialogue with the teacher: “But why did he feed the frog buckshot?” “So that the frog couldn’t jump as high.” “But, like, why not put weights on the frog’s feet, or something?” “Because then people would see it!” “Why weren’t people supposed to see it?” You know, I’m really glad I’m no longer in high school… ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643/14 "2002-08-21T04:11:03Z")
…And then there was the one about the guy who got a really, really heavy check. I guess it was so that it wouldn’t bounce. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/id-this-twain-story/124643/15 "2002-08-21T04:14:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CaveMike \* > \*\*Was the frog from the future? \*\* No, the Frog was Satan.