The Simpsons

Simpsons Tall Tales (CABF17)

Plot Synopsis

"The Simpsons Tall Tales" was the season finale of season 12.  In this episode, the Simpsons hop a train and meet a hobo onboard.  After the family befriends him, the hobo begins relating three "Tall Tales" to while away the time.  The first tale is an updated version of the Paul Bunyan legend, with an enormous Homer playing the giant.  The second tale is about both Johnny Appleseed and settlers crossing the U.S. on the Oregon Trail, with Lisa in the part of "Lisa Appleseed."

The third tale takes on the "legend" of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, which is not a Tall Tale, as the hobo suggests, nor is it a book by Mark Twain, as Lisa suggests.  Rather, the episode concerns itself with several of the characters and places in Twain's universe, especially Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn in two of Twain's most famous works, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

• click here to watch Lisa and the hobo talk about the "Tall Tales."     

Huck Finn (Nelson the bully) and Tom Sawyer (Bart Simpson) open up the episode with a play on the familiar whitewashing episode from Tom Sawyer.  When Huck shows off for Becky (Lisa Simpson), they meet and touch hands.  Judge Thatcher (Homer Simpson) notices and forces the two to get married.  Huck escapes matrimony by substituting a pig for himself.  Huck and Tom escape to a raft with the town in hot pursuit.  The pair decide to stop and get supplies in town, and the townspeople nearly catch them.  They get back to the river and eventually find refuge on a riverboat.  Finally, the boys get kicked out, caught, and hanged by the townsfolk.