What Stumped The Blue-Jays by Mark Twain, 1880
The magic trick:
The local-yocal narrator just spinning a yarn for us
Another Mark Twain amusement here for you today. This one is taken from his travelogue A Tramp Abroad.
I used to think this kind of Twain was clever and funny. Now it feels so performative it’s difficult to take it seriously – or even stomach.
Nevertheless…
We can see the narrator here setting up the story to good effect. He spends the first third of the text talking broadly about bluejays – how they can talk, how they act like humans, etc. etc. It sets the mood for the reader that this is an old-fashioned yarn. This is some guy just talking to us about things he’s observed.
With that local-yocal vibe established, he then goes into the particulars of the story.
And that’s quite a trick on Twain’s part.
The selection:
You may call a jay a bird. Well, so he is, in a measure – because he’s got feathers on him, and don’t belong to no church, perhaps; but otherwise he is just as much a human as you be. And I’ll tell you for why. A jay’s gifts, and instincts, and feelings, and interests, cover the whole ground.
A jay hasn’t got any more principle than a congressman. A jay will lie, a jay will steal, a jay will deceive, a jay will betray; and four times out of five, a jay will go back on his solemnest promise.
The sacredness of an obligation is a thing which you can’t cram into no bluejay’s head.
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