The Gift of the Magi (O. Henry) — graded reader B1–B2

The Gift of the Magi

A graded reader · O. Henry · B1–B2

Warm-up

• What's the best present you have ever received? Who gave it to you?

• Do you find it easy or hard to choose presents for people you love?

• How do people celebrate the end of the year where you're from?

• Is there one thing you own that you would never sell?

The author and the book

O. Henry (1862–1910)

O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter. He was born in 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina. As a teenager he worked in his uncle's drugstore, and at nineteen he became a qualified pharmacist.

Later he moved to Texas. He worked on a sheep ranch, and then as a bank teller in Austin. The bank accused him of stealing money. The day before his trial, he ran away to Honduras. He came back when he heard that his wife, Athol, was very ill. She died in 1897.

In 1898 he was sent to prison in Columbus, Ohio, where he worked nights in the prison hospital as the pharmacist, and wrote stories. He left prison in 1901, and in 1902 he moved to New York City. For a while, he wrote a story every week for the New York World.

"The Gift of the Magi" first appeared in The New York Sunday World on 10 December 1905, as "Gifts of the Magi". He died in New York in 1910.

Key words

the magi

sacrifice

watch chain

in the Christmas story, the three wise men who brought gifts to the baby Jesus

to give up something important to you, to help someone or for a good reason

a chain that holds an old-fashioned pocket watch to your clothes

comb

Coney Island

a small object with a row of thin "teeth", used to tidy hair or to decorate it

a famous beach and amusement park in New York, with shows and dancers

Let's talk

• O. Henry wrote a new story every week. Would that make a writer better or worse?

• He is famous for surprise endings. What makes a good surprise ending?

• Does a present have to cost a lot to be valuable? Why or why not?

• The story is called "The Gift of the Magi". What do you think it might be about?

PART 1 OF 4

One dollar and eighty-seven cents

PART 1 · ONE DOLLAR AND EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Della had saved those pennies one and two at a time, by arguing with the grocer, the vegetable man and the butcher until her cheeks burned. 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 throw herself onto the shabby little couch and cry. So Della did. Which shows us, my friends, that life is made of sobs, sniffles and smiles, with sniffles winning most of the time.

While she cries, let's take a look at the home. It was a furnished flat, eight dollars a week.

Downstairs, there was a letter box that no letter could get into, and a doorbell that no finger could make ring. Beside it was a card: "Mr James Dillingham Young".

The "Dillingham" came from happier days, when Mr Young earned thirty dollars a week. Now he earned twenty, and the name felt far too long. But whenever Mr James Dillingham Young came home, his wife called him "Jim" and hugged him tightly. His wife, as you know, was Della. Which is all very good.

Della finished her cry and powdered her cheeks. She stood by the window and looked out sadly at a grey cat walking along a grey fence in a grey backyard. She had saved every penny for months, and this was the result. Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far.

PART 1 · ONE DOLLAR AND EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS

Everything had cost more than she expected. It always does.

Only $1.87 for a present for Jim. Her Jim. She had spent many happy hours planning something fine and rare for him, something almost good enough to belong to Jim.

Suddenly Della turned from the window and stood in front of the mirror. Her eyes were shining brightly, but her face had gone pale. Quickly, she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.

Now, the James Dillingham Youngs owned two things that they were enormously proud of. One was Jim's gold watch. It had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair.

If the Queen of Sheba, with all her jewels, had lived across the way, Della would have hung her hair out of the window to dry, just to make the queen's jewels look cheap. If King Solomon, with all his gold, had worked downstairs, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see the king pull at his beard in envy.

So now Della's beautiful hair fell around her, rippling and shining like a brown waterfall. It reached below her knees. Then, nervously and quickly, she put it up again. For a minute she stood still, and a tear or two fell on the worn red carpet.

On went her old brown jacket. On went her old brown hat. Eyes still sparkling, she hurried out and down the stairs to the street.

Book club

PART 1 · ONE DOLLAR AND EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS

1. How did Della save her $1.87, and why did she cry?

2. What were the two things that Della and Jim were most proud of?

3. What did Della do when she stood in front of the mirror?

4. Jim earns less money than before. How can money worries affect a couple?

5. Have you ever saved for months for something special? What was it?

6. Della has hurried out into the street. Where do you think she is going?

PART 2 OF 4

Twenty dollars

PART 2 · TWENTY DOLLARS

Della stopped below a sign. It said: "Mme. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." She ran up the stairs and stood for a moment, catching her breath. Madame was large, too white and cold. She did not look much like a "Sofronie".

"Will you buy my hair?" asked Della.

"I buy hair," said Madame. "Take your hat off and let's have a look at it."

Down fell the brown waterfall.

"Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the hair with an expert hand.

"Give it to me quick," said Della.

Oh, and the next two hours flew past on pink wings. (Forget the silly picture, dear reader.) She was searching every shop in the city for Jim's present.

She found it at last. It had surely been made for Jim and no one else. There was nothing like it anywhere, and she had turned every shop inside out. It was a platinum watch chain, simple and plain. It showed its value by what it was made of, not by cheap decoration, as all good things should. It was even good enough for The Watch. As soon as she saw it, she knew it must be Jim's. It was like him: quiet, and valuable. They took twenty-one dollars from her for it, and she hurried home with the 87 cents.

With that chain, Jim could check the time proudly in any company.

PART 2 · TWENTY DOLLARS

His watch was grand, but he sometimes looked at it secretly, because he used an old leather strap instead of a chain.

When Della reached home, her excitement gave way a little to good sense. She got out her curling irons, lit the gas, and went to work repairing the damage done by generosity and love. Which is always a huge job, dear friends. An enormous job.

Forty minutes later, her head was covered in tiny, close curls. She looked wonderfully like a naughty schoolboy. She studied herself in the mirror for a long time, carefully and critically.

"If Jim doesn't kill me before he takes a second look at me," she said to herself, "he'll say I look like a dancer from a Coney Island show. But what could I do? Oh, what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?"

At seven o'clock the coffee was made, and the frying pan was hot on the back of the stove, ready to cook the chops.

Jim was never late. Della held the chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door. Then she heard his step on the stairs, far below, and for a moment she turned white. She had a habit of saying little silent prayers about simple, everyday things. Now she whispered, "Please God, make him think I am still pretty."

The door opened.

Book club

PART 2 · TWENTY DOLLARS

1. How much did Madame Sofronie pay for Della's hair?

2. Why was the chain the perfect present for Jim?

3. What did Della do to her hair at home, and how did she feel about it?

4. Was Della brave, or too quick to decide? Would you have done the same?

5. How much should appearance matter between two people who love each other?

6. The door has opened. How do you think Jim will react?

PART 3 OF 4

A look she could not read

PART 3 · A LOOK SHE COULD NOT READ

Jim stepped in and closed the door. He looked thin and very serious. Poor man, he was only twenty-two, and already he had a family to look after. He needed a new overcoat, and he had no gloves.

Jim stopped inside the door, as still as a hunting dog that smells a bird. His eyes were fixed on Della, and there was a look in them that she could not read. It terrified her. It was not anger, or surprise, or disapproval, or horror, or any of the feelings she had prepared for. He simply stared at her, with that strange expression on his face.

Della slid off the table and went to him.

"Jim, darling," she cried, "don't look at me like that. I had my hair cut off and sold it, because I couldn't live through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll grow out again. You won't mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say 'Merry Christmas!', Jim, and let's be happy. You don't know what a nice ... what a beautiful, nice present I've got for you."

"You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim slowly, as if he still could not understand this simple fact, even after the hardest thinking.

"Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't you like me just as much anyway? I'm still me without my hair, aren't I?"

PART 3 · A LOOK SHE COULD NOT READ

Jim looked around the room curiously.

"You say your hair is gone?" he said, almost stupidly.

"You don't need to look for it," said Della. "It's sold, I tell you. Sold and gone. It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, because it went for you." Then she went on, suddenly serious and sweet. "Maybe someone could count the hairs on my head. But nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?"

Jim seemed to wake up quickly from his dream. He took his Della in his arms.

Now, for ten seconds, let us politely look the other way, at something unimportant on the other side of the room.

Eight dollars a week or a million a year: what is the difference? A mathematician or a clever man would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not one of them. This dark remark will become clear later on.

Jim took a small package from his overcoat pocket and threw it on the table.

"Don't make any mistake about me, Dell," he said. "I don't think a haircut or a shave or a shampoo could ever make me like my girl any less. But if you open that package, you may see why you confused me so much at first."

Book club

PART 3 · A LOOK SHE COULD NOT READ

1. Why did Jim's expression frighten Della so much?

2. How did Della explain what she had done?

3. What did Jim do after he took Della in his arms?

4. Jim says very little. What do you think was going on in his head?

5. Della says, "I'm still me without my hair." What really makes us who we are?

6. What do you think is in the package? How will Della react?

PART 4 OF 4

The wisest

PART 4 · THE WISEST

Her white fingers tore quickly at the string and paper. Then came a scream of joy. And then, oh dear, a sudden change to tears and loud crying, so that the lord of the flat had to use all his powers to comfort her.

For there lay The Combs. It was the set of combs, for the side and the back of the head, that Della had admired for so long in a shop window on Broadway. Beautiful combs, made of real tortoiseshell, with jewels around the edges. They were exactly the right colour for her beautiful hair, the hair that was now gone. She knew they were expensive. Her heart had longed for them, without the smallest hope of ever owning them. And now they were hers.

But the long hair that they should have decorated was gone.

Still, she held them close to her heart. At last she was able to look up with wet eyes and a smile, and say, "My hair grows so fast, Jim!"

And then Della jumped up like a little cat that has burned its fur, and cried, "Oh, oh!"

Jim had not seen his beautiful present yet. She held it out to him eagerly on her open hand. The dull, precious metal seemed to flash with the light of her bright, loving spirit.

"Isn't it a beauty, Jim? I searched all over the city to find it. You'll have to check the time a hundred times a day now.

PART 4 · THE WISEST

Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it."

Jim did not do as she asked. Instead, he fell back on the couch, put his hands behind his head, and smiled.

"Dell," he said, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep them for a while. They're too nice to use just now. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now, why don't you put the chops on?"

The magi, as you know, were wise men, wonderfully wise men, who brought gifts to the baby in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.

Because they were wise, their gifts were surely wise ones too, perhaps with the right to exchange them if someone received the same thing twice.

And here I have told you, not very well, the quiet little story of two foolish children in a flat, who most unwisely gave up for each other the greatest treasures of their home.

But let me say one last word to the wise people of today. Of all who give gifts, these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, people like them are the wisest. Everywhere, they are the wisest. They are the magi.

Book club

PART 4 · THE WISEST

1. What was in Jim's package, and why did it make Della cry?

2. Why could Jim not use Della's present?

3. What did Jim do when Della asked for his watch?

4. Jim just smiles and asks for the chops. Why do you think he takes it so calmly?

5. The narrator calls them "foolish children", then "the wisest". Which are they, in your opinion?

Big questions

1

Were Della and Jim's sacrifices foolish, wise, or both?

2

Both presents are now useless. Was this a sad Christmas or a happy one?

3

Is giving up your greatest treasure for someone romantic, or a mistake?

4

If the story happened today, what might the two treasures be?

5

What's the most meaningful present you have ever given? What made it meaningful?

6

Did you guess the ending? Does a surprise ending make a story better or weaker?

TEACHER'S REFERENCE · SKIP OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

Part 1 · 1 She saved pennies one or two at a time by arguing over prices with the grocer, the vegetable man and the butcher. She cried because the next day was Christmas and $1.87 was not enough for a good present for Jim.

Part 1 · 2 Jim's gold watch, which had belonged to his father and grandfather, and Della's long, beautiful hair.

Part 1 · 3 Her eyes shone and her face went pale. She let her hair fall to its full length, then put it up again, cried a little, and went out.

Part 2 · 1 Twenty dollars.

Part 2 · 2 It was simple and valuable, like Jim, and good enough for his watch. He only had an old leather strap, so he sometimes looked at his watch secretly.

Part 2 · 3 She curled it with curling irons. She was worried: she thought Jim might say she looked like a Coney Island dancer, and she prayed he would still think she was pretty.

Part 3 · 1 She could not read it. It was not anger, surprise, disapproval or horror, or any feeling she had prepared for.

Part 3 · 2 She sold her hair because she couldn't live through Christmas without giving him a present. It would grow back fast, and she loved him.

Part 3 · 3 He took a package from his overcoat pocket, threw it on the table, and said a haircut could never make him like her less.

Part 4 · 1 A set of beautiful tortoiseshell combs with jewels, which Della had wanted for a long time. She cried because her long hair, the hair to wear them in, was gone.

Part 4 · 2 He had sold his watch to buy Della's combs.

Part 4 · 3 He lay back on the couch, smiled, said they should put their presents away for a while, and told her he had sold the watch.