The Gift

Thursday 07/08/14 10:28 AM - Lm. Jack McArdle ss cc

In an O'Henry story, called, The Gift of the Magi, the recently married Della and James Young are young and poor. So poor that neither has enough to buy the other a proper Christmas gift. In fact, weeks of scrimping and saving have netted Della only $1.87 for her gift offering. There are, however, things they posses and in which the Youngs take great price. One is Jim's gold watch, that has been his father's and his grandfather's. The other is Della's hair, which reaches below the knees and might be the envy of any beauty queen. Out of Della's overpowering love for Jim emerges her solution to the gift problem. She cuts off her hair and sells it to a dealer. With the $20 realised, she buys a platinum watch fob-chain, an elegant replacement for the wornout strap presently attached to her husband's heirloom watch. Jim comes home and with fitting ceremony the gift is made. Jim too is prepared, with a gaily wrapped present for Della. Jim's gift is an elaborate set of combs for which she had always yearned, just the right shade for her now vanished hair. Then the final discovery, Jim had sold his watch to pay for the present. Della and Jim smiled contentedly. O'Henry concludes the story thus, 'Two foolish children who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise, let is be said that of all who give gifts, these two are the wisest, of all who give and receive gifts, they are the wisest. Everywhere they are the wisest. They are the magi.'

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