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Išminčių dovanos
XIX a. Amerikoje gyvenimas virte verda. Greta turtuoliai ir vargšai, kasdienybė ir šventės, niekšiškumas ir pasiaukojimas. Šių nepamirštamų apsakymų veikėjai - ir kilnūs sukčiai, ir pardavėjos, svajojančios tapti aristokratėmis, ir romantiški kaubojai, laukiantys laimingo atsitiktinumo, pakeisiančio jų gyvenimą, arba provokuojantys tuos atsitiktinumus patys. JAV literatūros genijaus istorijos iš pirmo žvilgsnio labai paprastos, tačiau jose glūdi daug gyvenimiškos išminties.
O. Henry (tikrasis vardas Williamas Sydney Porteris, 1862-1910) - autorius, patyręs daug likimo smūgių: anksti liko be tėvų, sėdėjo kalėjime, neteko žmonos bei sūnaus. Vėliau jam nusišypsojo fortūna ir jis tapo vienu populiariausių trumpųjų apsakymų kūrėjų ir geriausiai mokamu JAV rašytoju. O. Henry - daugiau nei 300 apsakymų autorius.
320 pages, Paperback
First published December 10, 1905
1929 people are currently reading
35878 people want to read
About the author
O. Henry
2,733 books1,834 followersSuch volumes as
Cabbages and Kings
(1904) and
The Four Million
(1906) collect short stories, noted for their often surprising endings, of American writer William Sydney Porter, who used the pen name O. Henry.
His biography shows where he found inspiration for his characters. His era produced their voices and his language.
Mother of three-year-old Porter died from tuberculosis. He left school at fifteen years of age and worked for five years in drugstore of his uncle and then for two years at a Texas sheep ranch.
In 1884, he went to Austin, where he worked in a real estate office and a church choir and spent four years as a draftsman in the general land office. His wife and firstborn died, but daughter Margaret survived him.
He failed to establish a small humorous weekly and afterward worked in poorly-run bank. When its accounts balanced not, people blamed and fired him.
In Houston, he worked for a few years until, ordered to stand trial for embezzlement, he fled to New Orleans and thence Honduras.
Two years later, he returned on account of illness of his wife. Apprehended, Porter served a few months more than three years in a penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. During his incarceration, he composed ten short stories, including A Blackjack Bargainer , The Enchanted Kiss , and The Duplicity of Hargraves .
In 1899, McClure's published Whistling Dick's Christmas Story and Georgia's Ruling .
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he sent manuscripts to New York editors. In the spring of 1902, Ainslee's Magazine offered him a regular income if he moved to New York.
In less than eight years, he became a bestselling author of collections of short stories. Cabbages and Kings came first in 1904 The Four Million, and The Trimmed Lamp and Heart of the West followed in 1907, and The Voice of the City in 1908, Roads of Destiny and Options in 1909, Strictly Business and Whirligigs in 1910 followed.
Posthumously published collections include The Gentle Grafter about the swindler, Jeff Peters; Rolling Stones , Waifs and Strays , and in 1936, unsigned stories, followed.
People rewarded other persons financially more. A Retrieved Reformation about the safe-cracker Jimmy Valentine got $250; six years later, $500 for dramatic rights, which gave over $100,000 royalties for playwright Paul Armstrong. Many stories have been made into films.
His biography shows where he found inspiration for his characters. His era produced their voices and his language.
Mother of three-year-old Porter died from tuberculosis. He left school at fifteen years of age and worked for five years in drugstore of his uncle and then for two years at a Texas sheep ranch.
In 1884, he went to Austin, where he worked in a real estate office and a church choir and spent four years as a draftsman in the general land office. His wife and firstborn died, but daughter Margaret survived him.
He failed to establish a small humorous weekly and afterward worked in poorly-run bank. When its accounts balanced not, people blamed and fired him.
In Houston, he worked for a few years until, ordered to stand trial for embezzlement, he fled to New Orleans and thence Honduras.
Two years later, he returned on account of illness of his wife. Apprehended, Porter served a few months more than three years in a penitentiary in Columbus, Ohio. During his incarceration, he composed ten short stories, including A Blackjack Bargainer , The Enchanted Kiss , and The Duplicity of Hargraves .
In 1899, McClure's published Whistling Dick's Christmas Story and Georgia's Ruling .
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he sent manuscripts to New York editors. In the spring of 1902, Ainslee's Magazine offered him a regular income if he moved to New York.
In less than eight years, he became a bestselling author of collections of short stories. Cabbages and Kings came first in 1904 The Four Million, and The Trimmed Lamp and Heart of the West followed in 1907, and The Voice of the City in 1908, Roads of Destiny and Options in 1909, Strictly Business and Whirligigs in 1910 followed.
Posthumously published collections include The Gentle Grafter about the swindler, Jeff Peters; Rolling Stones , Waifs and Strays , and in 1936, unsigned stories, followed.
People rewarded other persons financially more. A Retrieved Reformation about the safe-cracker Jimmy Valentine got $250; six years later, $500 for dramatic rights, which gave over $100,000 royalties for playwright Paul Armstrong. Many stories have been made into films.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,071 reviews
November 30, 2021
This is a short and lovely story. The main theme here was love and the sacrifice you made for your loved ones. And this story will make us think again about all the false things we know about love and relationships. In the end, we all know the real meaning which is, to love is to sacrifice and you only sacrifice yourself only when you truly love someone.
September 27, 2021
Published in 1905, the gift of the Magi by O. Henry, tells of a young married couple, who, like most married couples starting out, have very little in the way of finances, so with Christmas almost upon them, they both have to come up with an idea to enable them to buy each other a gift. A sweet little story about love and sacrifice.
December 13, 2018
2018 update: I read it again. And got misty-eyed again.
Go read it. Here's a handy link: https://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_...
In this classic 1905 Christmas story, one of O. Henry's best and most famous (free online at Amazon and many other websites), we meet Della and Jim, a young married couple who are as poor as church mice.
All Della wants is to buy her beloved Jim a wonderful Christmas present ... but even after saving every penny for months, all she has is $1.87. A way to get enough money to buy him a present suddenly occurs to her. It will be a sacrifice, but she doesn't waver.
I don't know how many times I've read or heard this story. But I still found myself sniffing and wiping my eyes as I read the classic words:
Go read it. Here's a handy link: https://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_...
In this classic 1905 Christmas story, one of O. Henry's best and most famous (free online at Amazon and many other websites), we meet Della and Jim, a young married couple who are as poor as church mice.
All Della wants is to buy her beloved Jim a wonderful Christmas present ... but even after saving every penny for months, all she has is $1.87. A way to get enough money to buy him a present suddenly occurs to her. It will be a sacrifice, but she doesn't waver.
I don't know how many times I've read or heard this story. But I still found myself sniffing and wiping my eyes as I read the classic words:
But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest... Everywhere they are the wisest. They are the magi.May we all have more love in our hearts, and wisdom in the ways that matter most. Merry Christmas!
December 19, 2020
All I want for Christmas…
This is a well-known, poignant, and rather dated and sentimental short story demonstrating the generosity of love.
Della and Jim are newly married, and quite poor. Each is privately determined to buy a special gift for the other. The sacrifices they make prove pointless (at least in the short run), profound, and maybe amusing.
The title obviously refers to the Magi (aka Three Wise Men) who brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh to baby Jesus. However, I assume their gifts, though valuable and symbolic, did not dent their wealth much. The closer Biblical analogy is the parable of The Widow’s Mite (see Luke 21: 1-4). Nevertheless, O Henry makes a case for his Magi comparison:
“Let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.”
... is health and happiness - and normality
2020 festivities and gift-giving at Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Diwali, Christmas etc will be unusual and tinged with sadness, worry, and heartbreak. The continuing coronavirus pandemic and lockdown restrictions mean we won’t see all the loved ones we would normally see, even if they and we are alive and well.
Nine months of fluctuating restrictions has changed the ways we live, work, and think. It’s taught hard lessons about priorities: who and what we most value, compared with the things we can happily do without.
Meanwhile, many are struggling to survive, whether from direct or indirect consequences of the virus.
Image: Foodbank parcel of staples (Source.)
I don’t believe Jesus is my saviour or even the son of God. But this year, I feel that even as an atheist, I’m learning the true meaning of Christmas.
We plan a tiny gathering of five, rather than 17. We’ll have food and fun.
UPDATE 4:15pm on 19 December 2020: Much tighter lockdown. It will be just the two, or possibly three, of us. We have too much food and my parents-in-law will need to get more - and there are no online delivery slots available. Less mixing IS necessary here, but it's always imposed just too late.
Technology means we will see, chat, and play games with those we cannot meet in person. We’ve sent a few gifts: modest amusing ones, or necessary ones, and we are making and requesting donations to certain charities. No extravagant unwanted fripperies that will head straight to the loft, ebay, or regifting drawer. Next year, although I hope for a big gathering again, I want to continue this year’s gift-giving.
Discover the story
Read the original 1905 story free, on Gutenberg, HERE. It's only about 4 pages.
Alternatively, you can get the story from a four-cell comic, though some may think the language inappropriate:
This is a well-known, poignant, and rather dated and sentimental short story demonstrating the generosity of love.
Della and Jim are newly married, and quite poor. Each is privately determined to buy a special gift for the other. The sacrifices they make prove pointless (at least in the short run), profound, and maybe amusing.
The title obviously refers to the Magi (aka Three Wise Men) who brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh to baby Jesus. However, I assume their gifts, though valuable and symbolic, did not dent their wealth much. The closer Biblical analogy is the parable of The Widow’s Mite (see Luke 21: 1-4). Nevertheless, O Henry makes a case for his Magi comparison:
“Let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.”
... is health and happiness - and normality
2020 festivities and gift-giving at Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Diwali, Christmas etc will be unusual and tinged with sadness, worry, and heartbreak. The continuing coronavirus pandemic and lockdown restrictions mean we won’t see all the loved ones we would normally see, even if they and we are alive and well.
Nine months of fluctuating restrictions has changed the ways we live, work, and think. It’s taught hard lessons about priorities: who and what we most value, compared with the things we can happily do without.
Meanwhile, many are struggling to survive, whether from direct or indirect consequences of the virus.
Image: Foodbank parcel of staples (Source.)
I don’t believe Jesus is my saviour or even the son of God. But this year, I feel that even as an atheist, I’m learning the true meaning of Christmas.
UPDATE 4:15pm on 19 December 2020: Much tighter lockdown. It will be just the two, or possibly three, of us. We have too much food and my parents-in-law will need to get more - and there are no online delivery slots available. Less mixing IS necessary here, but it's always imposed just too late.
Technology means we will see, chat, and play games with those we cannot meet in person. We’ve sent a few gifts: modest amusing ones, or necessary ones, and we are making and requesting donations to certain charities. No extravagant unwanted fripperies that will head straight to the loft, ebay, or regifting drawer. Next year, although I hope for a big gathering again, I want to continue this year’s gift-giving.
Discover the story
Read the original 1905 story free, on Gutenberg, HERE. It's only about 4 pages.
Alternatively, you can get the story from a four-cell comic, though some may think the language inappropriate:
December 18, 2021
Broadly loved beautiful and heartfelt Christmas story about the meaning of giving gifts and reciprocity of love. The young newly-wed couple living in poverty in New York, Della and Jim, have no resources to give one another the Christmas present they would like to.
“Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn’t go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling—something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.”
Our protagonists find themselves in tension that is inevitable in life, the gap between the life we would like to live in our fantasy, and the life we can live in the reality that often consists of suffering.
“Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.”
The intensity of their love makes them sacrifice their most prized possessions to give make another happy. The duplicity of their sacrifices elevates the story from pure sentimentality to brilliant comic relief in an ironic twist. O.Henry uses irony to expose that the sacrifices they made are useless, but only in the material realm. The narrator calls the protagonists both foolish and wise, foolish in failed intention to give the perfect material gift to another in the conditions of poverty, and wise enough to make the symbolic gesture that represents the intensity and generosity of their love. The perfect gift is the one in which a person feels the love another person has for her.
Della and Jim are suffering, as all humans are, but they found the silver lining of suffering, in making the best they can from given circumstances, in not being bitter and resentful but loving and giving. They invested all they have in what is truly their most prized possession - the relationship they have with their partner.
“And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.”
Wonderful to read anytime but particularly at Christmas time.
“Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn’t go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling—something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.”
Our protagonists find themselves in tension that is inevitable in life, the gap between the life we would like to live in our fantasy, and the life we can live in the reality that often consists of suffering.
“Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.”
The intensity of their love makes them sacrifice their most prized possessions to give make another happy. The duplicity of their sacrifices elevates the story from pure sentimentality to brilliant comic relief in an ironic twist. O.Henry uses irony to expose that the sacrifices they made are useless, but only in the material realm. The narrator calls the protagonists both foolish and wise, foolish in failed intention to give the perfect material gift to another in the conditions of poverty, and wise enough to make the symbolic gesture that represents the intensity and generosity of their love. The perfect gift is the one in which a person feels the love another person has for her.
Della and Jim are suffering, as all humans are, but they found the silver lining of suffering, in making the best they can from given circumstances, in not being bitter and resentful but loving and giving. They invested all they have in what is truly their most prized possession - the relationship they have with their partner.
“And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.”
Wonderful to read anytime but particularly at Christmas time.
May 6, 2023
The ultimate story of love, generosity, temperance, and selflessness.
In this short book, an impoverished couple sacrifice their most treasured things to buy each other a Christmas present. However what they lack in material things they have an abundance stored away in the hearts chamber.
Touching, affecting, and sentimental.
‘Oh Henry’ this is a beautiful Christmas story or treat for any time but it is bit too short. More of a storyline could have been built around this theme and the underlying message. However, wonderfully written and all packaged in this beautiful cloth bound edition.
In this short book, an impoverished couple sacrifice their most treasured things to buy each other a Christmas present. However what they lack in material things they have an abundance stored away in the hearts chamber.
Touching, affecting, and sentimental.
‘Oh Henry’ this is a beautiful Christmas story or treat for any time but it is bit too short. More of a storyline could have been built around this theme and the underlying message. However, wonderfully written and all packaged in this beautiful cloth bound edition.
June 13, 2021
ONE DOLLAR AND EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS. That was all. She had put it aside, one cent and then another and then another, in her careful buying of meat and other food. Della counted it three times. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
Why do we give presents to each other, what is their significance? Perhaps they act as tokens to establish or affirm our relationships. Does it mean that our relationships are strong enough at the core that they require these physical emblems to emphasize our kinships? Probably we need to broaden our perspective and need to see it from a radical angle, though the presents represent our care, appreciation, and empathy for others but they also symbolize our desire to keep relationships with particular persons. So, could it be inferred from it that not giving a gift essentially means not wanting to have or continue a relationship? Well, it may not be as much true but our relationships work in an intriguing way, they are like our other daily requirements (such as energy, food, etc.), we need to work upon them regularly to keep them healthy and stimulating.
link: source
What about a perfect gift then? Could there be something like a perfect gift? Don’t we have to consider the various parameters on which it is dependent, economics, society, culture, religion, occasion, behavior, and our nature seem to affect our decisions for the presents? So could we say there could not be any set perfect gift, or could there be, at least in abstract terms. The story by O. Henry- The Gift of the Magi is an emotional, sentimental but far from superfluousness, inquiry about what could be said to be a perfect gift, through the life of a loving couple-Della and Jim.
As we know that various religions have influenced and direct our decisions for gifting our loved ones. In the same regard, there is a practice of giving gifts in celebration of Christmas in Christianity, it is supposed to be symbolic of the presentation to the gifts by ‘three wise men to baby Jesus. The title of the story alludes to magi which means these three wise men. Della, who like any other person from a middle or lower-middle-class family, finds herself in the dilemma of gifting her husband- Jim- on the occasion of Christmas, she has been working her way out by saving some amount every month to celebrate this particular day, however, to her utter dismay, finds herself with just one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy a gift for her beloved Jim. The sacrifices she might have made to live this moment with happiness and proud, fail to impress her piggybank to throw up something substantial.
Della desperately tries to make her way out of her existential soup to arrange money for the gift. What could she do, she doesn’t have the fortune of property, wealth, money, and inheritance at her disposal? She has to mend her ways of whatever is available to her, and is there something? The reader is thrown into this intense emotional psychological quandary, the sympathy of the reader oozes out from his/ her heart to commiserate the falling heart of our protagonist Della through metafiction bouts of the omnipresent narrator.
Eight dollars a week or a million dollars a year—how different are they? Someone may give you an answer, but it will be wrong. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. My meaning will be explained soon.
What follows is a beautiful romantic tragicomedy wherein Della decides to give away one of the most beloved features of herself or in a sense, a part of her body, the intriguing thing is that her husband likes this trait of her personality, more than anything else, is her husband also framing similar sort of sacrifice and surprise for her too? It digresses me to a strange point, in such a closely knitted relationship where we like attributes of each other’s persona, do we really have our solitary right on those facets of ourselves, isn’t it like that those people in such a relationship amalgamates into a coalesced being?
The omniscient and omnipresent narrator of the story manifests through its vigor and refers to these two loving people as ‘foolish children' but at the same time declares them as wise- the magi, since their relationship is not bereft of love. Eventually, we find that both lovers find themselves in a sort of anti-climax wherein irony of the life permeates through acerbic humor which does not ridicule their intention of gifting, rather emphasizes and accentuates it
link: source
The prose of the story is simple but the author used the surprise elements of the story with nuanced authority so that the reader always finds her/himself chasing the narrative though he/ she may get the illusion of guessing it, time and again. It explores and examines the themes of irony, love, respect, selflessness, and most importantly the process of gifting. The story ends with the narrator connecting directly with the reader once again, and transforming his view about them to acknowledge that the wisest men, they are magi
It may come across as a straightforward and uncomplicated romantic story to naïve and insensitive eyes but it demands a gradual absorption rather than skimming through the narrative as we say to read between the lines. The tale draws an important conclusion about the morality of gifting that perhaps it is not necessary to buy humungous exorbitant gifts which may cost your fortunes, rather what matters most is the intention of the people behind those gifts and probably in that way the ideal of perfect gift could be achieved, and every one of us irrespective of our social and economical background may achieve it, probably the ultimate way to celebrate Christmas.
It represents one of the best examples of irony in literature and the author has been able to do justice to portray the irony of life. It is my first story by O. Henry and I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend the story to everyone who wants to read.
Of all who give gifts, these two were the most wise. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are the most wise.
The story could be read at- https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/7256
Why do we give presents to each other, what is their significance? Perhaps they act as tokens to establish or affirm our relationships. Does it mean that our relationships are strong enough at the core that they require these physical emblems to emphasize our kinships? Probably we need to broaden our perspective and need to see it from a radical angle, though the presents represent our care, appreciation, and empathy for others but they also symbolize our desire to keep relationships with particular persons. So, could it be inferred from it that not giving a gift essentially means not wanting to have or continue a relationship? Well, it may not be as much true but our relationships work in an intriguing way, they are like our other daily requirements (such as energy, food, etc.), we need to work upon them regularly to keep them healthy and stimulating.
link: source
What about a perfect gift then? Could there be something like a perfect gift? Don’t we have to consider the various parameters on which it is dependent, economics, society, culture, religion, occasion, behavior, and our nature seem to affect our decisions for the presents? So could we say there could not be any set perfect gift, or could there be, at least in abstract terms. The story by O. Henry- The Gift of the Magi is an emotional, sentimental but far from superfluousness, inquiry about what could be said to be a perfect gift, through the life of a loving couple-Della and Jim.
As we know that various religions have influenced and direct our decisions for gifting our loved ones. In the same regard, there is a practice of giving gifts in celebration of Christmas in Christianity, it is supposed to be symbolic of the presentation to the gifts by ‘three wise men to baby Jesus. The title of the story alludes to magi which means these three wise men. Della, who like any other person from a middle or lower-middle-class family, finds herself in the dilemma of gifting her husband- Jim- on the occasion of Christmas, she has been working her way out by saving some amount every month to celebrate this particular day, however, to her utter dismay, finds herself with just one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy a gift for her beloved Jim. The sacrifices she might have made to live this moment with happiness and proud, fail to impress her piggybank to throw up something substantial.
Della desperately tries to make her way out of her existential soup to arrange money for the gift. What could she do, she doesn’t have the fortune of property, wealth, money, and inheritance at her disposal? She has to mend her ways of whatever is available to her, and is there something? The reader is thrown into this intense emotional psychological quandary, the sympathy of the reader oozes out from his/ her heart to commiserate the falling heart of our protagonist Della through metafiction bouts of the omnipresent narrator.
Eight dollars a week or a million dollars a year—how different are they? Someone may give you an answer, but it will be wrong. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. My meaning will be explained soon.
What follows is a beautiful romantic tragicomedy wherein Della decides to give away one of the most beloved features of herself or in a sense, a part of her body, the intriguing thing is that her husband likes this trait of her personality, more than anything else, is her husband also framing similar sort of sacrifice and surprise for her too? It digresses me to a strange point, in such a closely knitted relationship where we like attributes of each other’s persona, do we really have our solitary right on those facets of ourselves, isn’t it like that those people in such a relationship amalgamates into a coalesced being?
The omniscient and omnipresent narrator of the story manifests through its vigor and refers to these two loving people as ‘foolish children' but at the same time declares them as wise- the magi, since their relationship is not bereft of love. Eventually, we find that both lovers find themselves in a sort of anti-climax wherein irony of the life permeates through acerbic humor which does not ridicule their intention of gifting, rather emphasizes and accentuates it
link: source
The prose of the story is simple but the author used the surprise elements of the story with nuanced authority so that the reader always finds her/himself chasing the narrative though he/ she may get the illusion of guessing it, time and again. It explores and examines the themes of irony, love, respect, selflessness, and most importantly the process of gifting. The story ends with the narrator connecting directly with the reader once again, and transforming his view about them to acknowledge that the wisest men, they are magi
It may come across as a straightforward and uncomplicated romantic story to naïve and insensitive eyes but it demands a gradual absorption rather than skimming through the narrative as we say to read between the lines. The tale draws an important conclusion about the morality of gifting that perhaps it is not necessary to buy humungous exorbitant gifts which may cost your fortunes, rather what matters most is the intention of the people behind those gifts and probably in that way the ideal of perfect gift could be achieved, and every one of us irrespective of our social and economical background may achieve it, probably the ultimate way to celebrate Christmas.
It represents one of the best examples of irony in literature and the author has been able to do justice to portray the irony of life. It is my first story by O. Henry and I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend the story to everyone who wants to read.
Of all who give gifts, these two were the most wise. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are the most wise.
The story could be read at- https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/7256
January 2, 2020
I did not know this short story, thanks to Amalia, who brought me to this short book! In the spirit of Christmas, this is a heartwarming story about a young and poor couple who both, without knowing it from each other, sacrifice something personal and precious, to give each other a present at Christmas.
Lovely, a classic I see here now, happy I have read it, recommended!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Lovely, a classic I see here now, happy I have read it, recommended!
Merry Christmas everyone!
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January 30, 2024
|| 3.0 stars ||
➛First read: August 2022 | ★3.0 stars
➛Second read: November 2023 | ★3.0 stars
This is a story about love and poverty, and the message behind it is really quite sweet.
Two people, very much in love, want to buy each other a Christmas present, but have no money to spare. To get their lover a gift anyway, they both sell their most prized possession.
However, they eventually find out that neither can use the gift the other bought because they sold their own possessions. This could have been a pretty depressing revelation, but no; they're both still really happy because it was actually the thought and sacrifice that counted.
They each agree that such beautiful selflessness and such unwavering devotion was something money could never buy. Thus, even though they were both ‘worse’ off in the end, they most definitely did not feel like it.
➛First read: August 2022 | ★3.0 stars
➛Second read: November 2023 | ★3.0 stars
This is a story about love and poverty, and the message behind it is really quite sweet.
Two people, very much in love, want to buy each other a Christmas present, but have no money to spare. To get their lover a gift anyway, they both sell their most prized possession.
However, they eventually find out that neither can use the gift the other bought because they sold their own possessions. This could have been a pretty depressing revelation, but no; they're both still really happy because it was actually the thought and sacrifice that counted.
They each agree that such beautiful selflessness and such unwavering devotion was something money could never buy. Thus, even though they were both ‘worse’ off in the end, they most definitely did not feel like it.
December 25, 2011
O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi," illustrated by Lizabeth Zwerger was among my gifts to my wife our first Christmas together. It is one of our annual traditions that I read it to her each Christmas. Yes, I'm hopelessly romantic. I imagine we'll finally hit a year when I hear a gentle snore when she nods off as I'm reading.
"ONE dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating."
I doubt anyone will howl about spoilers, because I can't imagine anyone who doesn't know this story.
"Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim’s gold watch that had been his father’s and his grandfather’s. The other was Della’s hair. Had the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty’s jewels and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy.
So now Della’s beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet."
Of course, Della sells her hair to buy a watch fob chain for Jim's watch. And Jim sold his watch to buy a set of hair combs Della had long admired in a shop window.
O.Henry concludes it this way:
"The magi, as you know, were wise men—wonderfully wise men—who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi."
At times in our Christmas rush we tend to turn our thoughts to the material. Don't get me wrong, I love opening a present as much as the next man. But the greatest gift is love. It's true. Hair grows fast enough. A watch can always be replaced. I'll pass on things in pretty paper. I'll take love any day.
Thanks for a timeless classic, Mr. Porter, errr...Mr. Henry. And of all the editions of this tale I've seen, the beautiful illustrations of Ms. Zwerger make this book a treasure to share with someone for whom you care very, very much.
Now...where's that wine bottle opener? Candles...uhm,hmm. Book. Wife. All's right with the world.
"ONE dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating."
I doubt anyone will howl about spoilers, because I can't imagine anyone who doesn't know this story.
"Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim’s gold watch that had been his father’s and his grandfather’s. The other was Della’s hair. Had the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty’s jewels and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy.
So now Della’s beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet."
Of course, Della sells her hair to buy a watch fob chain for Jim's watch. And Jim sold his watch to buy a set of hair combs Della had long admired in a shop window.
O.Henry concludes it this way:
"The magi, as you know, were wise men—wonderfully wise men—who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi."
At times in our Christmas rush we tend to turn our thoughts to the material. Don't get me wrong, I love opening a present as much as the next man. But the greatest gift is love. It's true. Hair grows fast enough. A watch can always be replaced. I'll pass on things in pretty paper. I'll take love any day.
Thanks for a timeless classic, Mr. Porter, errr...Mr. Henry. And of all the editions of this tale I've seen, the beautiful illustrations of Ms. Zwerger make this book a treasure to share with someone for whom you care very, very much.
Now...where's that wine bottle opener? Candles...uhm,hmm. Book. Wife. All's right with the world.
August 15, 2024
بعضی از داستانها اگر در زمان و موقعیت مناسبشان خوانده شوند، میتوانند بر دل و جان بنشینند، چنانکه بعد از سالها، از پسِ ضمیرِ ناخودآگاه، به خودآگاه سر برآورند.
امروز همینجور بیخود و بیجهت، یاد داستان کوتاهی افتادم که سالها پیش معلم ادبیاتمان در کلاس برایمان خوانده بود و چقدر آن زمان دوستش داشتیم.
در خاطرم بود که داستان دربارهی زن و شوهر جوان و فقیری بود که میخواستند برای هم هدیه بخرند، این داستان زمانی در کتابهای درسیِ ادبیات چاپ میشد، اما از دورهای احتمالاً مسئولینی بداندیش و کجسلیقه به این نتیجه رسیدند که داستان عشق و محبت زن و شوهر به مصلحت دانشآموزان دبیرستان نیست و داستان را به کلی از کتابها حذف کردند. اما معلم ادبیاتمان داستان را از کتاب چاپ قدیمش با آن لحن دلنشین خواند و داستان چه به دل ما نشست و چه ناراحت شدیم از حذف آن در کتابهای خودمان.
خلاصه که هوس کردم داستان را دوباره پیدا کنم و بخوانم، اما اسم داستان از یادم رفته بود.
پس از جستجو در گوگل و مشورت با جنابِ هوش مصنوعی، متوجه شدم که داستانی که به دنبالش میگردم، داستانِ معروفِ «هدیهی مگی» اثر اُ.هنری است.
آقای «ویلیام سیدنی پورتر» با نام مستعار «اُ.هِنری» در کل نویسندهی منتقدپسندی نیست و اگرچه در زمانهی خود نویسندهی نسبتاً مشهوری به شمار میرفت، ولی معمولاً از سوی منتقدین به عنوان نویسندهای عامهپسند شناخته میشود.
بیشتر داستانهای اُ.هِنری، عمق و ظرایفِ هُنَریِ بسیاری از نویسندگانِ معروف را ندارند و صرفاً داستانهایی سرگرمکنندهاند. یکی از ویژگیهای داستانهای کوتاهِ او، چرخش داستان(پلات توئیست) در انتهای داستانهاست که شاید در کنار سادگی، مهمترین دلیل علاقهی مردم به داستانهای او باشد.
«هدیهی مگی» یا با ترجمهی درستتر، «هدیهی مغان» یا «ارمغان مغان» احتمالاً مشهورترین داستان کوتاه جناب اُ.هنری است. ماجرای «مغان» اشاره به داستان هدیه بردنِ سه مغ برای تولد عیسی مسیح دارد و گفته میشود هدیهی کریسمسی که مسیحیان در روز کریسمس به یکدیگر میدهند، ریشهاش همین باورِ مسیحی است.
با توجه به اینکه این باور مسیحی برای خوانندهی ایرانی چندان آشنا نبوده، عنوان داستان به «هدیهی کریسمس» یا «هدیهی سال نو» هم ترجمه شده است.(اگر اشتباه نکنم در کتابهای درسی هدیهی سال نو بود)
همانطور که گفتم در این داستان با زن و شوهری فقیر روبروییم که میخواهند برای هم هدیهی کریسمس بخرند، اما پولی در بساط ندارند. ما داستانِ «دِلا» را دنبال میکنیم که تصمیم میگیرد برای تهیهی پول برای هدیهی شوهرش، موهایش را بفروشد (بقیهی داستان را لو نمیدهم،گفتم که در داستانهای اُ.هنری چرخشِ پایانیِ داستان و غافلگیری عنصر مهمی است)
احتمالاً اگر برای اولین بار امروز داستان را خوانده بودم، آن را یک داستان خیلی معمولی در نظر میگرفتم، اما گاهی لذتبخش است که به یاد بیاوریم در گذشته چه احساسی نسبت به یک داستان داشتهایم و چقدر فکرمان تغییر کرده است.
آیا جملاتی که از این داستان در نوجوانی برایم درخشان و برانگیزندهی احساسات بود، باید امروز شعارزده و سانتیمانتال و آبکی به نظر برسد؟ احتمالاً نه!
در کمال تأسف، امروز که داستان اصلی را خواندم و تا جایی که حافظهام یاری میکند، متوجه شدم که چند پاراگراف از همان داستان کوتاهی که معلممان از کتاب چاپ قدیمش برایمان خواند هم سانسور شده بوده و ما دلمان را به داستانی نصفه و نیمه خوش کرده بودیم!
مطلب آخر اینکه حتماً افکار و احساسات من با نوجوان دبیرستانیِ گذشته فرق کرده، ولی هنوز هم در برخی از موارد بر همان عقیدهی گذشتهام. مثلاً: اگر چنین عشقهایی در زندگی یافتید، سفت بچسبیدشان و قدرشان را بدانید. چنین عشقهایی در هر زمانهای کمیاباند.
امروز همینجور بیخود و بیجهت، یاد داستان کوتاهی افتادم که سالها پیش معلم ادبیاتمان در کلاس برایمان خوانده بود و چقدر آن زمان دوستش داشتیم.
در خاطرم بود که داستان دربارهی زن و شوهر جوان و فقیری بود که میخواستند برای هم هدیه بخرند، این داستان زمانی در کتابهای درسیِ ادبیات چاپ میشد، اما از دورهای احتمالاً مسئولینی بداندیش و کجسلیقه به این نتیجه رسیدند که داستان عشق و محبت زن و شوهر به مصلحت دانشآموزان دبیرستان نیست و داستان را به کلی از کتابها حذف کردند. اما معلم ادبیاتمان داستان را از کتاب چاپ قدیمش با آن لحن دلنشین خواند و داستان چه به دل ما نشست و چه ناراحت شدیم از حذف آن در کتابهای خودمان.
خلاصه که هوس کردم داستان را دوباره پیدا کنم و بخوانم، اما اسم داستان از یادم رفته بود.
پس از جستجو در گوگل و مشورت با جنابِ هوش مصنوعی، متوجه شدم که داستانی که به دنبالش میگردم، داستانِ معروفِ «هدیهی مگی» اثر اُ.هنری است.
آقای «ویلیام سیدنی پورتر» با نام مستعار «اُ.هِنری» در کل نویسندهی منتقدپسندی نیست و اگرچه در زمانهی خود نویسندهی نسبتاً مشهوری به شمار میرفت، ولی معمولاً از سوی منتقدین به عنوان نویسندهای عامهپسند شناخته میشود.
بیشتر داستانهای اُ.هِنری، عمق و ظرایفِ هُنَریِ بسیاری از نویسندگانِ معروف را ندارند و صرفاً داستانهایی سرگرمکنندهاند. یکی از ویژگیهای داستانهای کوتاهِ او، چرخش داستان(پلات توئیست) در انتهای داستانهاست که شاید در کنار سادگی، مهمترین دلیل علاقهی مردم به داستانهای او باشد.
«هدیهی مگی» یا با ترجمهی درستتر، «هدیهی مغان» یا «ارمغان مغان» احتمالاً مشهورترین داستان کوتاه جناب اُ.هنری است. ماجرای «مغان» اشاره به داستان هدیه بردنِ سه مغ برای تولد عیسی مسیح دارد و گفته میشود هدیهی کریسمسی که مسیحیان در روز کریسمس به یکدیگر میدهند، ریشهاش همین باورِ مسیحی است.
با توجه به اینکه این باور مسیحی برای خوانندهی ایرانی چندان آشنا نبوده، عنوان داستان به «هدیهی کریسمس» یا «هدیهی سال نو» هم ترجمه شده است.(اگر اشتباه نکنم در کتابهای درسی هدیهی سال نو بود)
همانطور که گفتم در این داستان با زن و شوهری فقیر روبروییم که میخواهند برای هم هدیهی کریسمس بخرند، اما پولی در بساط ندارند. ما داستانِ «دِلا» را دنبال میکنیم که تصمیم میگیرد برای تهیهی پول برای هدیهی شوهرش، موهایش را بفروشد (بقیهی داستان را لو نمیدهم،گفتم که در داستانهای اُ.هنری چرخشِ پایانیِ داستان و غافلگیری عنصر مهمی است)
احتمالاً اگر برای اولین بار امروز داستان را خوانده بودم، آن را یک داستان خیلی معمولی در نظر میگرفتم، اما گاهی لذتبخش است که به یاد بیاوریم در گذشته چه احساسی نسبت به یک داستان داشتهایم و چقدر فکرمان تغییر کرده است.
آیا جملاتی که از این داستان در نوجوانی برایم درخشان و برانگیزندهی احساسات بود، باید امروز شعارزده و سانتیمانتال و آبکی به نظر برسد؟ احتمالاً نه!
Love and large-hearted giving, when added together, can leave deep marks. It is never easy to cover these marks, dear friends, never easy.
"Maybe the hair of my head could be counted," she said. "But no one could ever count my love for you."
در کمال تأسف، امروز که داستان اصلی را خواندم و تا جایی که حافظهام یاری میکند، متوجه شدم که چند پاراگراف از همان داستان کوتاهی که معلممان از کتاب چاپ قدیمش برایمان خواند هم سانسور شده بوده و ما دلمان را به داستانی نصفه و نیمه خوش کرده بودیم!
مطلب آخر اینکه حتماً افکار و احساسات من با نوجوان دبیرستانیِ گذشته فرق کرده، ولی هنوز هم در برخی از موارد بر همان عقیدهی گذشتهام. مثلاً: اگر چنین عشقهایی در زندگی یافتید، سفت بچسبیدشان و قدرشان را بدانید. چنین عشقهایی در هر زمانهای کمیاباند.
December 22, 2018
I recently read this for the first time as a short story in a collection of O. Henry’s works. This is done up as a children’s picture book. I don’t think it works all that well as a children’s book. It is too wordy and there are a lot of words needing to be explained to them (not that that’s bad and I rather like introducing new words, but there are a lot at once).
The artwork was lovely, very sparse with a feeling of poverty, desperation, and some warmth. You can see that Jim and Della love each other and it’s amazing to see Della’s hair. I still don’t know what to think about this story. I have to admit I think it’s such a waste to sell their possessions for something and then the other person did the same and your gift is worthless, but it’s the thought that counts. The story just never lands for me as something wise. I guess it shows the growth I still need to do.
The kids weren’t crazy about this story. They both gave this 1 star. They were bored and it took 2 nights to read this as the first night they gave up through it.
The artwork was lovely, very sparse with a feeling of poverty, desperation, and some warmth. You can see that Jim and Della love each other and it’s amazing to see Della’s hair. I still don’t know what to think about this story. I have to admit I think it’s such a waste to sell their possessions for something and then the other person did the same and your gift is worthless, but it’s the thought that counts. The story just never lands for me as something wise. I guess it shows the growth I still need to do.
The kids weren’t crazy about this story. They both gave this 1 star. They were bored and it took 2 nights to read this as the first night they gave up through it.
December 7, 2020
4 stars
"Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. They are the magi."
A lovely short story about the true meaning of Christmas. While caught up in the rush and chaos of the holiday season, I am thankful to be reminded of what is truly important - love, sacrifice and the giving of one's self to another. Do yourself a favor and take a moment to read this timeless classic!
"Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. They are the magi."
A lovely short story about the true meaning of Christmas. While caught up in the rush and chaos of the holiday season, I am thankful to be reminded of what is truly important - love, sacrifice and the giving of one's self to another. Do yourself a favor and take a moment to read this timeless classic!
December 23, 2019
Wonderful to read anytime but particularly at Christmas
Review of free Kindle edition
A Public Domain Book
Publication date: May 12, 2012
Language: English
ASIN: B0082Z3S3G
26 pages
This a is review of the described edition only. Not of
the dumbed down version edited by George Lakon.
One of or maybe the most beloved of O. Henry's stories. A Christmas standard for many people, this is a moving tale of true love, sacrifice and wisdom.
"The Gift of the Magi" is one of the best segments in the 1952 movie, "O. Henry's Full House." That segment was directed by Henry King and stars Jeanne Crain and Farley Granger. Great episode in a fantastic anthology movie .
Review of free Kindle edition
A Public Domain Book
Publication date: May 12, 2012
Language: English
ASIN: B0082Z3S3G
26 pages
This a is review of the described edition only. Not of
the dumbed down version edited by George Lakon.
One of or maybe the most beloved of O. Henry's stories. A Christmas standard for many people, this is a moving tale of true love, sacrifice and wisdom.
"The Gift of the Magi" is one of the best segments in the 1952 movie, "O. Henry's Full House." That segment was directed by Henry King and stars Jeanne Crain and Farley Granger. Great episode in a fantastic anthology movie .
February 15, 2025
Who does not love presents? Especially those with an element of surprise. The wondering, the planning, the heart in the mouth moment when the present is actually given …
But in your mind’s eye, are you the recipient, or the giver?
As we go through life, this seems to change. Tiny children love their own birthdays, and also feel almost unbearably excited waiting for Santa Claus to come. As they grow older, the idea of giving someone they love a present grows in appeal. By the time they are fully adult, giving a present to a loved one makes them just as happy—if not more happy—than receiving one for themselves. It is this curious, yet affecting phenomenon of behaviour which makes this story so poignant. O. Henry knew human nature so well.
The Gift of the Magi is perhaps his most famous, and well-loved short story—and there were many! “O. Henry” was the pen name of the American short story writer William Sydney Porter. This story first appeared in “The New York Sunday World” in December of 1905, and was later published in O. Henry’s collection “The Four Million” the following April.
His stories were not only very popular during his lifetime, but over a hundred years later, O. Henry is still considered to be one of the great American short story authors.
What is the perfect present? A silly question perhaps, as it depends who it is for. And if it is for a very special person, how can you make it just right? Should you invest a lot of your time in it? Make something especially for them? Spend as much money as you possibly can, to get them the perfect gift?
In O. Henry’s affecting short story, this is the problem faced by the young Mrs. Della Dillingham. She is married to Jim, but the couple have very little money, and live in a downmarket apartment, with a “shabby couch” and other poor furnishings. The rent is very cheap—8 dollars a week—and it doesn’t even have a working doorbell. Jim’s salary used to be higher, 30 dollars a week, but now it has been cut to 20 dollars. They have had to make economies, and cut their cloth to suit their budget. It must seem as if there is nothing beautiful in their life, at a first glance.
But wait. They do not seem to see things like that at all. What they do have is a great love for each other. Even though their surroundings may seem bleak: “a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray background,” they have a warm home life which brightens their lives. Jim always arrives home “to be greatly hugged”.
It is Christmas Eve, and despite all her penny-pinching, Della has only 1 dollar and 87 cents left, to buy Jim a Christmas present, after paying all the bills. She is distraught, and goes all over town, on the cold December day, looking in shop windows to find something she can afford.
“One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.”
And it cuts to the quick, this watching the pennies, and the suspicions others might have of their meanness. We see their pride; their attempts to better themselves through hard work—yet times are hard. Perhaps James “Dillingham” Young is being pretentious in his three names, and should affect more modesty. Maybe he should accept his place now that he earns less. But the narrator quickly show us that such outward appearances are trivial; as nothing compared with what matters. The couple’s hearts are in the right place:
“But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called “Jim” and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good.
“Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn’t go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling—something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.”
It seemed a hopeless task. And yet eventually:
“She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation—as all good things should do. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim’s. It was like him. Quietness and value—the description applied to both.”
Della knows this is the perfect present. Furthermore it is one which would be appropriate for any company; a source of pride, and one would last her husband a good long time, rather than the shabby one he used now:
This, then, is Jim’s greatest treasure, a beautiful object, and the most valuable item he has, a . Della too has just one precious asset These two treasures may not seem much to us, the narrator says, but to the young couple they compare with King Solomon’s treasures and the Queen of Sheba’s jewels. Value is subjective; to Della and Jim, their prized possessions mean every bit as much as these mythical jewels could.
We see too, the beautiful simplicity, of these two symbols.
The shopkeeper Madame Sofronie is brusque and professional, giving a fair price for the market, without emotion:
“‘Twenty dollars,’ said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand.”
All Della can think of is the perfect present. Yet something in her suspects this may be something she—or Jim—regrets.
“‘Give it to me quick,’ said Della.”
Della receives her 20 dollars, which would be just enough money and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends—a mammoth task.”
Della could not see what she had done with any sense of sacrifice. All that concerned her was the consequences. She cannot settle; lurching between excitement and panic. What will happen.
When Jim comes home from work, he behaves oddly. Things seem to be going all wrong. Why is he so quiet? He stares at Della, and she bursts out:
“‘Jim, darling,’ she cried, ‘don’t look at me that way. Say ‘Merry Christmas!’ Jim, and let’s be happy. You don’t know what a nice—what a beautiful, nice gift I’ve got for you.’”
And now, before she can give her unwrapped present to him, we learn why Jim is behaving so oddly. Della was ecstatic with joy. But then, the realisation came:
O. Henry made it clear by his title that this was to be a special story about the feast of Christmas, and the tradition of giving gifts at that time:
“The magi, as you know, were wise men—wonderfully wise men—who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.”
“And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest … Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.”
The story’s narrator concludes that Jim and Della are truly wise. Their gifts may not have been so luxurious, but they were gifts of love and self-sacrifice. They could not afford to waste any money, especially on things they cannot use. In a way this story is financially foolish. But what each receives is of far more worth; beautiful and intangible. And even when all seemed to be lost the couple saw the future, and it was bright, because they were together. They are reminded how much they love each other and are willing to sacrifice to make each other happy. Although each had made a supreme sacrifice, neither seemed to think of it that way, or expect the other to have done so:
Of all those who give gifts, these two are the wisest.
The Gift of the Magi is perhaps O. Henry’s crowning glory. The story is a Christian one, but it has parallels in other faiths. Like all the best stories, its message is a universal one; timeless and speaking to all cultures.
Many of his stories are warm and sentimental, like this one, and show an optimistic sense of humour. And nearly all of them, like this one does, have a twist at the end. They have a style which lends itself to reading aloud, and appeal to all ages. In fact shortly after the first time I had read The Gift of the Magi for myself, I decided to read it to a large group of 10 and 11 year olds. I wondered … but they sat rapt, spellbound. Towards the end they barely breathed, and their reaction at the climax mirrored my own. A pang in the heart. Ooooh! O. Henry is a master storyteller, and this feels very real.
“There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl.”
“Life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating”.
Is this a sad story? Of course it is. It is bitter-sweet, almost unbearably so. The couple seem to have lost everything they hold dear. But this is not so, of course and the story ends on a supremely optimistic note.
“Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della … Eight dollars a week or a million a year—what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer.”
Yes, it is supremely ironic and sad. And so clear that even older children can recognise the pain and sacrifice. But as we grow older we realise what really matters in life, and what has supreme value over all material things. Perhaps the intention of the story is to highlight the difference between wisdom and foolishness. Jim and Della certainly behave impulsively, and do not seem to have much sense, or to weigh up the consequences of their actions.
But ultimately this is a story of love.
But in your mind’s eye, are you the recipient, or the giver?
As we go through life, this seems to change. Tiny children love their own birthdays, and also feel almost unbearably excited waiting for Santa Claus to come. As they grow older, the idea of giving someone they love a present grows in appeal. By the time they are fully adult, giving a present to a loved one makes them just as happy—if not more happy—than receiving one for themselves. It is this curious, yet affecting phenomenon of behaviour which makes this story so poignant. O. Henry knew human nature so well.
The Gift of the Magi is perhaps his most famous, and well-loved short story—and there were many! “O. Henry” was the pen name of the American short story writer William Sydney Porter. This story first appeared in “The New York Sunday World” in December of 1905, and was later published in O. Henry’s collection “The Four Million” the following April.
His stories were not only very popular during his lifetime, but over a hundred years later, O. Henry is still considered to be one of the great American short story authors.
What is the perfect present? A silly question perhaps, as it depends who it is for. And if it is for a very special person, how can you make it just right? Should you invest a lot of your time in it? Make something especially for them? Spend as much money as you possibly can, to get them the perfect gift?
In O. Henry’s affecting short story, this is the problem faced by the young Mrs. Della Dillingham. She is married to Jim, but the couple have very little money, and live in a downmarket apartment, with a “shabby couch” and other poor furnishings. The rent is very cheap—8 dollars a week—and it doesn’t even have a working doorbell. Jim’s salary used to be higher, 30 dollars a week, but now it has been cut to 20 dollars. They have had to make economies, and cut their cloth to suit their budget. It must seem as if there is nothing beautiful in their life, at a first glance.
But wait. They do not seem to see things like that at all. What they do have is a great love for each other. Even though their surroundings may seem bleak: “a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray background,” they have a warm home life which brightens their lives. Jim always arrives home “to be greatly hugged”.
It is Christmas Eve, and despite all her penny-pinching, Della has only 1 dollar and 87 cents left, to buy Jim a Christmas present, after paying all the bills. She is distraught, and goes all over town, on the cold December day, looking in shop windows to find something she can afford.
“One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.”
And it cuts to the quick, this watching the pennies, and the suspicions others might have of their meanness. We see their pride; their attempts to better themselves through hard work—yet times are hard. Perhaps James “Dillingham” Young is being pretentious in his three names, and should affect more modesty. Maybe he should accept his place now that he earns less. But the narrator quickly show us that such outward appearances are trivial; as nothing compared with what matters. The couple’s hearts are in the right place:
“But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called “Jim” and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good.
“Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn’t go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling—something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.”
It seemed a hopeless task. And yet eventually:
“She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation—as all good things should do. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim’s. It was like him. Quietness and value—the description applied to both.”
Della knows this is the perfect present. Furthermore it is one which would be appropriate for any company; a source of pride, and one would last her husband a good long time, rather than the shabby one he used now:
This, then, is Jim’s greatest treasure, a beautiful object, and the most valuable item he has, a . Della too has just one precious asset These two treasures may not seem much to us, the narrator says, but to the young couple they compare with King Solomon’s treasures and the Queen of Sheba’s jewels. Value is subjective; to Della and Jim, their prized possessions mean every bit as much as these mythical jewels could.
We see too, the beautiful simplicity, of these two symbols.
The shopkeeper Madame Sofronie is brusque and professional, giving a fair price for the market, without emotion:
“‘Twenty dollars,’ said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand.”
All Della can think of is the perfect present. Yet something in her suspects this may be something she—or Jim—regrets.
“‘Give it to me quick,’ said Della.”
Della receives her 20 dollars, which would be just enough money and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends—a mammoth task.”
Della could not see what she had done with any sense of sacrifice. All that concerned her was the consequences. She cannot settle; lurching between excitement and panic. What will happen.
When Jim comes home from work, he behaves oddly. Things seem to be going all wrong. Why is he so quiet? He stares at Della, and she bursts out:
“‘Jim, darling,’ she cried, ‘don’t look at me that way. Say ‘Merry Christmas!’ Jim, and let’s be happy. You don’t know what a nice—what a beautiful, nice gift I’ve got for you.’”
And now, before she can give her unwrapped present to him, we learn why Jim is behaving so oddly. Della was ecstatic with joy. But then, the realisation came:
O. Henry made it clear by his title that this was to be a special story about the feast of Christmas, and the tradition of giving gifts at that time:
“The magi, as you know, were wise men—wonderfully wise men—who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.”
“And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest … Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.”
The story’s narrator concludes that Jim and Della are truly wise. Their gifts may not have been so luxurious, but they were gifts of love and self-sacrifice. They could not afford to waste any money, especially on things they cannot use. In a way this story is financially foolish. But what each receives is of far more worth; beautiful and intangible. And even when all seemed to be lost the couple saw the future, and it was bright, because they were together. They are reminded how much they love each other and are willing to sacrifice to make each other happy. Although each had made a supreme sacrifice, neither seemed to think of it that way, or expect the other to have done so:
Of all those who give gifts, these two are the wisest.
The Gift of the Magi is perhaps O. Henry’s crowning glory. The story is a Christian one, but it has parallels in other faiths. Like all the best stories, its message is a universal one; timeless and speaking to all cultures.
Many of his stories are warm and sentimental, like this one, and show an optimistic sense of humour. And nearly all of them, like this one does, have a twist at the end. They have a style which lends itself to reading aloud, and appeal to all ages. In fact shortly after the first time I had read The Gift of the Magi for myself, I decided to read it to a large group of 10 and 11 year olds. I wondered … but they sat rapt, spellbound. Towards the end they barely breathed, and their reaction at the climax mirrored my own. A pang in the heart. Ooooh! O. Henry is a master storyteller, and this feels very real.
“There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl.”
“Life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating”.
Is this a sad story? Of course it is. It is bitter-sweet, almost unbearably so. The couple seem to have lost everything they hold dear. But this is not so, of course and the story ends on a supremely optimistic note.
“Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della … Eight dollars a week or a million a year—what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer.”
Yes, it is supremely ironic and sad. And so clear that even older children can recognise the pain and sacrifice. But as we grow older we realise what really matters in life, and what has supreme value over all material things. Perhaps the intention of the story is to highlight the difference between wisdom and foolishness. Jim and Della certainly behave impulsively, and do not seem to have much sense, or to weigh up the consequences of their actions.
But ultimately this is a story of love.
December 16, 2018
A beautiful reminder of loving and giving. Merry Christmas!
November 27, 2022
Rating based on my feelings when I first read it, which must have been more than two decades ago! A classic for a reason. O. Henry is one of the best in short stories, and this is a good little tale if you want to sample his works this Christmas season.
December 24, 2019
This has been one of my favourite stories since I was a child. Can't imagine winter holidays without reading this one.
November 12, 2022
5★
I love this old O Henry story, first published in 1905, and I like to re-read it every now and then. Seemed like a good finish for 2016.
“One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it.”
So opens the famous Christmas story about a young couple with no money and no prospects but a lot of love. He has a handsome watch in need of a chain. She is a beautiful girl with long, glorious tresses.
O Henry tells the funny, heartfelt story of how they sacrificed for each other.
“Of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest.
Everywhere they are wisest.
They are the magi.”
Worth reminding ourselves every year.
This is available free at Project Gutenberg.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7256
I love this old O Henry story, first published in 1905, and I like to re-read it every now and then. Seemed like a good finish for 2016.
“One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it.”
So opens the famous Christmas story about a young couple with no money and no prospects but a lot of love. He has a handsome watch in need of a chain. She is a beautiful girl with long, glorious tresses.
O Henry tells the funny, heartfelt story of how they sacrificed for each other.
“Of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest.
Everywhere they are wisest.
They are the magi.”
Worth reminding ourselves every year.
This is available free at Project Gutenberg.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7256
December 27, 2019
A lovely Christmas read that demonstrates how sacrifices are much easier to carry out and bear when one knows and shows unconditional love.
Read online at Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/7256/7...
Read online at Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/7256/7...
November 27, 2024
I’m honestly a little surprised by how much I loved this short story! It was wonderfully told and had such a beautiful message!
May 1, 2022
قصة قصيرة لطيفة ❤️✨✨
الحبّ هو رؤية السعادة في الشخص الآخر و اعتباره أهم ما في هذا العالم .
لتكون نظرة سعادة في العين أكثر وزناً من العالم كله.
(ديلا) التي لا تملك في عشية عيد الميلاد غير دولار و بعض السنتات تريد أن تحضر لزوجها(جيم) أفضل هدية في الكون و التي لن تكون طبعا بدولار و لذا هذا سيتطلب بعض التضحية و لكنها لا تبالي ، كله من أجل جيم ، لتتفاجأ بردة فعل جيم و التي لم نتوقعها.
لنعرف أن الهدية ليست بقيمتها المادية أو بكيف يمكن استعمالها و لكن لها معني أعمق من ذلك بكثير.
سأترك لينك لها بالكومنت ✨..
الحبّ هو رؤية السعادة في الشخص الآخر و اعتباره أهم ما في هذا العالم .
لتكون نظرة سعادة في العين أكثر وزناً من العالم كله.
(ديلا) التي لا تملك في عشية عيد الميلاد غير دولار و بعض السنتات تريد أن تحضر لزوجها(جيم) أفضل هدية في الكون و التي لن تكون طبعا بدولار و لذا هذا سيتطلب بعض التضحية و لكنها لا تبالي ، كله من أجل جيم ، لتتفاجأ بردة فعل جيم و التي لم نتوقعها.
لنعرف أن الهدية ليست بقيمتها المادية أو بكيف يمكن استعمالها و لكن لها معني أعمق من ذلك بكثير.
سأترك لينك لها بالكومنت ✨..
December 27, 2018
Heartwarming Christmas story 😍
Read
December 15, 2019It is so delicate this story, I don’t deny that at the beginning it seemed a little exaggerated this visceral love, so much to get an haircut in order to find money for husband's gift. At the end the tenderness of this love, between this wife for her husband, really melted my heart....
I read it with my 7-year-old daughter, who did not understand at once that for a great love, the wife offered and gave everything she had most precious.... when she grasped the concept, looking at the wonderful images, she was near to cry 👧🏽💖💖
Che delicatezza questa storia, non nego che all' inizio mi sembrava un pò esagerato questo amore viscerale, tanto da arrivare a tagliarsi i capelli pur di trovare dei soldi. Alla fine la tenerezza di questo amore, tra questa moglie per suo marito, mi ha veramente sciolto il cuore....
L' ho letto con mia figlia di 7 anni, che non ha capito e colto subito che per un amore grande, si offre e si dona tutto quello che si possiede.....quando ha afferrato il concetto, riguardardosi le meravigliose immagini, le è venuto da piangere 😢 👧🏽
I read it with my 7-year-old daughter, who did not understand at once that for a great love, the wife offered and gave everything she had most precious.... when she grasped the concept, looking at the wonderful images, she was near to cry 👧🏽💖💖
Che delicatezza questa storia, non nego che all' inizio mi sembrava un pò esagerato questo amore viscerale, tanto da arrivare a tagliarsi i capelli pur di trovare dei soldi. Alla fine la tenerezza di questo amore, tra questa moglie per suo marito, mi ha veramente sciolto il cuore....
L' ho letto con mia figlia di 7 anni, che non ha capito e colto subito che per un amore grande, si offre e si dona tutto quello che si possiede.....quando ha afferrato il concetto, riguardardosi le meravigliose immagini, le è venuto da piangere 😢 👧🏽
December 27, 2016
The Gift of the Magi gives you an interesting question to think about: is it worth it to sacrifice one thing you love for another? Sort of like a bird in the hand is worth more than two in the bush. While the twist ending cleverly ties the story into a nice Christmas bow, and the prose is enjoyable the whole way through, the the moral doesn't really resonate for me. It's like an analogy that doesn't work.
Regardless, it's probably one of the best things to read on Christmas.
Regardless, it's probably one of the best things to read on Christmas.
December 18, 2015
What a wonderful little book for the Christmas season. I really enjoyed this little story set on Christmas Eve which tells the story of the true meaning of gift giving.
I listened to this version and what a treat it was and I loved the little twist.
Thank you to my Good Read Friends Diane and Carol for bringing this little book to my attention as I had never heard of it before.
I hope to source a couple of copies of this for Christmas gifts as I think this little book would make a perfect present for couples.
I listened to this version and what a treat it was and I loved the little twist.
Thank you to my Good Read Friends Diane and Carol for bringing this little book to my attention as I had never heard of it before.
I hope to source a couple of copies of this for Christmas gifts as I think this little book would make a perfect present for couples.
December 13, 2024
The giving of presents for Christmas is, of course, at the heart of this well-known short story. Yet what struck me on this Christmastime reading of O. Henry’s 1905 story “The Gift of the Magi” is the way in which the story is much more than the sum of its parts.
“O. Henry” (William Sidney Porter) was born in North Carolina and grew up in Texas. His eventful life, which included a three-year stay in prison for embezzlement, provided fodder for the hundreds of short stories that he wrote. His stories were characterized by ironic twist endings that might remind some readers of the work of Guy de Maupassant, and today “The Gift of the Magi” is probably the best-known example of his work.
The story has only two characters – James and Della Young, a young New York City couple who are very poor and very much in love. As the story begins, Della considers their poverty with sorrow, because she cannot purchase for James the sort of gift that she would like to give him. She wants to give her beloved husband “Something fine and rare and sterling – something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.” But she only has $1.87 with which to buy her husband a gift; and therefore, “There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.”
This passage reminds me of O. Henry’s literary limitations – and of the manner in which he overcomes them. His narrators tend to be intrusive, to editorialize, in a way that calls the reader’s attention to the narration rather than the story. And his writing is graceless, clunky, devoid of style. And yet, somehow, O. Henry’s sheer commitment to telling his stories carries the reader along nonetheless.
Because James’s one prized possession is his gold watch, a family heirloom that previously belonged to his father and grandfather, Della wants to buy him a watch chain: “A platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation – as all good things should do.” There’s that editorializing narrator again; but the reader gets that sense that Della is willing to sacrifice what is most dear to her – that is, her long and beautiful hair.
Having sold her hair for $20.00, Della then “went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends – a mammoth task.” Worried that James will not appreciate the change to her appearance, even though she sacrificed her beautiful hair for his sake, Della “had a habit of saying a little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: ‘Please, God, make him think I am still pretty.’”
When James does arrive at home, he looks at Della with a “peculiar expression on his face” – one that is “not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror,” but one that she cannot read. Della is concerned that James might be angry at her decision to cut her hair short, and moves to forestall any possible anger on his part: “‘Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered,’ she went on with sudden serious sweetness, ‘but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?’”
O. Henry, savoring the plot twist that he plans to spring upon the reader, lets his tendentious narrator emerge once again for a bit more moralizing:
Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds, let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight dollars a week, or a million a year – what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.
Jim then gives Della his present for her, and observes her response: “White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.”
For it turns out that both members of this little family have sacrificed the thing that they loved the most, in order to provide a special Christmas for the person that they love the most. It is worth giving that element of the story a bit of additional consideration. Think of the thing that comes to your mind when I say the words “your favorite thing.” Now imagine giving that thing up – forever, as far as you know. How many of us, if put to the test, would really be equal to such an act of unselfish love?
When I first read “The Gift of the Magi,” I knew the story’s twist ending in advance, and I feared that the story would end on the sort of smug, superior note of condescension that marks a number of such stories: “Yeah, there you go, life is tough, stuff happens, blah blah blah.” I thought of that Alanis Morissette "isn't it ironic" song that sets forth a number of potentially difficult life situations (not all of which actually qualify as ironic) and then states, "And who would have thought? It figures."
But instead, O. Henry ends the story on a decided note of respect for this nice young couple who are poor in all things but love. Reinforcing the title’s allusion to the Magi, the three astrologers who followed the Christmas star so that they could give gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the Christ child – as set forth in Chapter 2 of the Gospel of Saint Matthew – the narrator reminds the reader that “The magi, as you know, were wise men – wonderfully wise men – who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.”
And yet, the narrator suggests, Jim and Della, and others like them who truly give from the heart, may have a wisdom that outstrips that of the wise astrologers: “[I]n a last word to the wise of these days, let it be said that of all who give gifts, these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.”
The generosity of heart of that conclusion caused me to like “The Gift of the Magi” much better than I had expected to.
“O. Henry” (William Sidney Porter) was born in North Carolina and grew up in Texas. His eventful life, which included a three-year stay in prison for embezzlement, provided fodder for the hundreds of short stories that he wrote. His stories were characterized by ironic twist endings that might remind some readers of the work of Guy de Maupassant, and today “The Gift of the Magi” is probably the best-known example of his work.
The story has only two characters – James and Della Young, a young New York City couple who are very poor and very much in love. As the story begins, Della considers their poverty with sorrow, because she cannot purchase for James the sort of gift that she would like to give him. She wants to give her beloved husband “Something fine and rare and sterling – something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.” But she only has $1.87 with which to buy her husband a gift; and therefore, “There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.”
This passage reminds me of O. Henry’s literary limitations – and of the manner in which he overcomes them. His narrators tend to be intrusive, to editorialize, in a way that calls the reader’s attention to the narration rather than the story. And his writing is graceless, clunky, devoid of style. And yet, somehow, O. Henry’s sheer commitment to telling his stories carries the reader along nonetheless.
Because James’s one prized possession is his gold watch, a family heirloom that previously belonged to his father and grandfather, Della wants to buy him a watch chain: “A platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation – as all good things should do.” There’s that editorializing narrator again; but the reader gets that sense that Della is willing to sacrifice what is most dear to her – that is, her long and beautiful hair.
Having sold her hair for $20.00, Della then “went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends – a mammoth task.” Worried that James will not appreciate the change to her appearance, even though she sacrificed her beautiful hair for his sake, Della “had a habit of saying a little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: ‘Please, God, make him think I am still pretty.’”
When James does arrive at home, he looks at Della with a “peculiar expression on his face” – one that is “not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror,” but one that she cannot read. Della is concerned that James might be angry at her decision to cut her hair short, and moves to forestall any possible anger on his part: “‘Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered,’ she went on with sudden serious sweetness, ‘but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?’”
O. Henry, savoring the plot twist that he plans to spring upon the reader, lets his tendentious narrator emerge once again for a bit more moralizing:
Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds, let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight dollars a week, or a million a year – what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.
Jim then gives Della his present for her, and observes her response: “White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.”
For it turns out that both members of this little family have sacrificed the thing that they loved the most, in order to provide a special Christmas for the person that they love the most. It is worth giving that element of the story a bit of additional consideration. Think of the thing that comes to your mind when I say the words “your favorite thing.” Now imagine giving that thing up – forever, as far as you know. How many of us, if put to the test, would really be equal to such an act of unselfish love?
When I first read “The Gift of the Magi,” I knew the story’s twist ending in advance, and I feared that the story would end on the sort of smug, superior note of condescension that marks a number of such stories: “Yeah, there you go, life is tough, stuff happens, blah blah blah.” I thought of that Alanis Morissette "isn't it ironic" song that sets forth a number of potentially difficult life situations (not all of which actually qualify as ironic) and then states, "And who would have thought? It figures."
But instead, O. Henry ends the story on a decided note of respect for this nice young couple who are poor in all things but love. Reinforcing the title’s allusion to the Magi, the three astrologers who followed the Christmas star so that they could give gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the Christ child – as set forth in Chapter 2 of the Gospel of Saint Matthew – the narrator reminds the reader that “The magi, as you know, were wise men – wonderfully wise men – who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.”
And yet, the narrator suggests, Jim and Della, and others like them who truly give from the heart, may have a wisdom that outstrips that of the wise astrologers: “[I]n a last word to the wise of these days, let it be said that of all who give gifts, these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.”
The generosity of heart of that conclusion caused me to like “The Gift of the Magi” much better than I had expected to.
December 13, 2022
Classic bait and switch. . .. nah, it's for Christmas, it's a classic, short, sentimental O'Henry tale about the power of being willing to give up what you most prize for the one you love, aw.
“The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.”
Here it is, you can (re)read it in a few short minutes (and then cut off all your hair and sell it). There's a typically Dickensian anti-capitalist dig in here, pointing to how hard it is to go through Christmas with less than enough money to buy great presents for your family. Written by a guy (not complaining, here!) who during a tough family period actually got underwear and socks for Christmas, oranges (but never a lump of coal!):
https://americanenglish.state.gov/fil...
Thanks to Glen for reminding me of the Sesame Street Bert & Ernie version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2VFg...
“The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.”
Here it is, you can (re)read it in a few short minutes (and then cut off all your hair and sell it). There's a typically Dickensian anti-capitalist dig in here, pointing to how hard it is to go through Christmas with less than enough money to buy great presents for your family. Written by a guy (not complaining, here!) who during a tough family period actually got underwear and socks for Christmas, oranges (but never a lump of coal!):
https://americanenglish.state.gov/fil...
Thanks to Glen for reminding me of the Sesame Street Bert & Ernie version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2VFg...
January 7, 2020
A perfect story to read around Christmas time. I had not read it before - thank you Amalia for bringing it to my attention.
It is a short story about loving and giving. It is very sweet, a little sad, but ultimately very reassuring. O. Henry is regarded as an excellent writer of short stories and this one shows why. To pack so much into so few pages requires great skill.
It was so enjoyable I read it twice to make sure I had not missed a thing.
It is a short story about loving and giving. It is very sweet, a little sad, but ultimately very reassuring. O. Henry is regarded as an excellent writer of short stories and this one shows why. To pack so much into so few pages requires great skill.
It was so enjoyable I read it twice to make sure I had not missed a thing.
December 6, 2015
First published in 1905, this delightful little story (with a twist) depicts the true meaning of love and giving during the Christmas season.
A first time read for me.
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