Part 1: Capsule Summary

"The Californian's Tale" is a delightfully tragic story by Mark Twain about a man's encounter with an annual reenactment in deserted California town. The unnamed narrator lives in the deserted California countryside and stumbles upon Henry who invites the narrator into his beautiful home which he explains, had been decorated by his wife who was currently visiting her parents but would be returning shortly, on the night that Henry's wife is supposed to arrive home many people from the town gather together to celebrate her arrival, however, a few minutes before he estimated arrival time Henry's friends drug him and put him to sleep. As the friends are leaving the narrator turns to them confused, they quickly explain that Henry's wife has been dead for nineteen years and every year since they have reenacted this night because he has not been sane since her death.