Mark Twain called the Lion Monument “the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world.” And while it is not the only moving piece of sculpture I’ve seen, [The Pietà comes to my mind.], the lion’s face conveys unquenchable grief and despair. But for what? The loss of Swiss Guards at the Tuileries Palace in 1792? The fact that the statue’s sponsor Karl Pfyffer von Altishofen was in Lucerne on leave at the time and not with his martial brothers?

Is it the loss of the French Monarchy that was restored in 1815? Is it survivors’ guilt? There is no doubt the monument was meant to honor the fallen Swiss Guards, but it seems as if it should be something more than the remnant of a lost battle.

When his brothers fell in 1792, Pfyffer was not there. When his uncle died in the battle, Pfyffer was safe in Lucerne. French Revolutionaries executed Louis XVI in 1793 while Pfyffer and other surviving Swiss Guards returned to duty fighting for different kings. In 1801, a year before Napoleon made himself First Consul for Life, Pfyffer’s regiment disbanded, and the disillusioned soldier went home to Lucerne.

In honor of his fallen comrades, Pfyffer began to transform his family’s sandstone quarry into an English Garden. He surrounded the remaining cliff face with a pool of water, and began to imagine a monument carved out of the rock.

In 1815 Napoleon suffered his final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, and the Congress of Vienna redrew the map of Europe once again. Louis XVIII became the restored King of France. Switzerland gained formal recognition as an independent confederation of states.

Two years later, the Swiss Federal Diet compiled a list of fallen and surviving Swiss Guards who had taken part in battles involving France. The Diet awarded the 389 surviving Swiss Guards a commemorative medal engaved Treue Und Ehre — Loyalty & Honor.

Pfyffer seized the moment to envision a monument to his fallen comrades. He published “An account of the bearing of the regiment of Swiss Guards on August 10, 1792″ in 1819, organized a subscription for funds, and began designing. A lion lays dying with his front paw resting on a shield decorated with French fleur-de-lys to represent Louis XVI. The shield cannot protect itself and relies on the lion, just as the king had to rely on the Swiss Guard. The second shield has the Swiss Cross.

Pfyffer persuaded Bertel Thorvaldsen, a Danish sculptor living in Rome, to create the design models. Thorvaldsen had never seen a lion. Pfyffer wanted the lion to be dead. Thorvaldsen refused, and the two agreed the lion would be depicted dying with the shaft of a spear in his back.

Luka Thorn, a local stonemason, did the actual sculpting. Some say Thorn thought Pfyffer didn’t pay him a sufficient fee, and that in retaliation, Thorn made the lion look more like a boar. [Personally, I don’t see the resemblance.] The monument is 10 meters long and six meters high with an inscription below listing the names of officers who died at Tuileries Palace.

The monument, dedicated to Helvetiorum Fedei ac Virtuti [to the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss], was unveiled on August 10, 1821. King Frederick VIII of Denmark observed that “no more fitting, more beautiful memorial could be imagined.”

Immediately, Swiss Liberals denounced the Lion Monument. At a time when an independent Switzerland was being born, the statue was a symbol of former close ties with France and counter-revolutionary ideals.

Yet, the Lion Monument was also movingly beautiful and an immediate tourist attraction now visited annually by over 1 million people.

In 1880 Mark Twain observed that “the commerce of Lucerne consists mainly in gimcrackery of the souvenir sort; the shops are packed with Alpine crystals, photographs of scenery, and wooden and ivory carvings. I will not conceal the fact that miniature figures of the Lion of Lucerne are to be had in them. Millions of them. But they are libels upon him, every one of them.

“There is a subtle something about the majestic pathos of the original which the copyist cannot get. even the sun fails to get it; both the photographer and the carver give you a dying lion, and that is all. The shape is right, the attitude is right, the proportions are right, but that indescribable something which makes the Lion of Lucerne the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world , is wanting.” — Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad.

And so, the lion continues to weep, touching hearts that know nothing of Swiss Guards and French kings, but recognize despair when they see it.

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Illustrations

Europe. Attribution Gunasekhar Karri, 2010.

Lithograph. Lion Monument. 1840.

Dying Lion Statue in Lucerne by A. Savin, 2022.

Postcard of Lion Monument, 1900.

Lion Monument. Photo by Author. 2023.

Olivier Pauchard. “The Lion of Lucerne: The Controversial Tourist Attraction. Swissinfo. Aug. 7, 2021.

Kira Kofoed. “The Dying Lion.” Thorvaldsen’s Museum Archives. 2013.

Mark Twain. Chapter 26, A Tramp Abroad. The Literature Network.

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This is a story about jumping frogs, a mining camp, and an unknown American writer later known as Mark Twain. During the winter of 1864-1865 Twain accepted an invitation from the Gillis brothers to stay with them at their cabin at the top of Jackass Hill in Tuttletown, a mining town in Calaveras County. Jackass Hill, by the way, was named for the pack train jackasses that carried cargo to and from the mines and rested on the hill at night.

Beyond listening to the jackasses sing, California mining towns featured limited entertainment options, primarily drinking and gambling on just about anything. On one occasion, Twain and his friend Steve Gillis went to nearby Angel Camp, a town located between Yosemite and Lake Tahoe. While in town, the men visited the bar at Angels Hotel, where Twain overheard a story about frogs. Shortly thereafter, Twain published The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.

The Story

The story is about a man named Jim who loved to gamble. One day, he caught a frog, named it Daniel Webster, and taught it to jump. A stranger came into town and stopped at the saloon. Jim put Daniel in a box, went to the saloon, and after engaging the stranger in conversation, showed him Daniel and bet $40 that Daniel could out-jump any other frog in the county. When the stranger pointed out that he didn’t have a frog he could compare to Daniel, Jim left the saloon to catch one. While Jim was gone, the stranger poured lead shot down down Daniel Webster’s froggy throat. When Jim came back, the two men set their frogs at the starting point. The stranger’s frog immediately leapt into the air, but Daniel didn’t move. Jim couldn’t believe it. The stranger collected his $40 and left. Meanwhile, Jim examined Daniel and discovered he had been tricked. The story was Mark Twain’s first big success.

The Competition

In 1928 Angels Camp celebrated its first paved streets with an international frog jumping contest. Since then, the annual event usually occurs the third weekend in May.* Protective rules limit the number of jumps a frog can take during a day. As an endangered species, the California red-legged frog is not allowed in the competition. And no artificial substances can be given to the frog.

For the contest, the frog is placed on an 8-inch lily pad and encouraged to jump as far as possible. Once the frog is on the lily pad, its handler can’t touch it. Each frog has three jumps in a row, and the distance is combined for the final score. About 3,000 frogs compete during the first three days, and the top 50 contestants go on to the finals.

Participants in the Longest Jumping Frog Contest can win $750. If the frog breaks the 1988 record of 21 feet 5.75 inches set by Rosie the Ribeter, the owner wins $5000. Winners also receive a brass plaque in the downtown Angels Camp Frog Hall of Fame and a trophy.

How far can a frog jump?

Of course, some people come for the fun and decide they would like to complete. They rent frogs provided by the fair. These frogs, on average, jump three feet. However, frogs with jockeys jump, on average, five feet. Frog jockeys catch their own frogs and take care of them for a short time before the competition.

Researchers from Brown University took advantage of the Frog Jumping Contest to rate the maximum jumping performance of bull frogs. Over four days, the research team videoed 3124 bull frog jumps. They discovered that the jockey frogs consistently jumped further than the rental frogs, but why?

Data collection demonstrated that frog jockeys kept their frogs at a regulated temperature of -20 degrees Fahrenheit, while rental frogs merely stayed in a shaded area. This meant meant the body temperature of rental frogs was higher. Another difference was one of technique. A frog jockeys rubs the frog’s legs, before dropping it on the lily pad from a short height. Finally, frog jockeys lunge after the frog which may frighten the frog into a longer jump.

If all this information about frog jumps make you wonder how the creatures make their famous leaps happen, you might enjoy this brief video of how a frog jumps.

*The International Frog Jumping Contest has only been cancelled twice: in 1933 during the Great Depression, and last year, due to COVID-19.

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The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Illustrations

“Couple of Jackasses” by Imnop88a.

Mark Twain Cabin, Sonora, Tuolumne County CA.

Mark Twain 1867.

Angels Camp Mercantile.

Three pictures of Frog Jumping Contest at the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee 2016 at the Angels Camp Fairgrounds. By Frank Schlenbur.

Calaveras County Fair & Jumping Frog Jubilee.

Nicola Stead. “Motivating Your Frogs.” Journal of Experimental Biology. Vol. 216. Issue 21. Nov 2013.

The post Jumping Frogs In Calaveras County first appeared on Sandra Wagner-Wright.