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“The Gift of the Magi” is a short story written in 1905 by O. Henry, the pen name of William Sydney Porter. Set on Christmas Eve, the book is about a husband and wife who sacrifice their most prized possessions and, in an ironic twist, realize the richness of their love for one another. The story has been widely adapted and remains a treasured Christmas tale.
The story opens on Christmas Eve. Della, a selfless and frugal woman, is distraught. For months, she has been saving up to buy a Christmas gift for her beloved husband, Jim.
However, Jim’s pitiful salary of 20 dollars per week has only afforded her $1.87 for a present, far from the amount she would need for a gift worthy of Jim’s love.
Forlorn, Della begins to cry but suddenly catches a glimpse of herself in a mirror. She admires her long hair, which falls past her knees. Along with Jim’s gold watch, which was passed down from his grandfather, Della’s beautiful hair is one of the couple’s most treasured possessions.
Della has an idea. Putting on her weather-beaten coat, she walks down the street to a shop. Della asks the joyless shop owner, Mrs. Sofronie, if she will buy Della’s hair. After examining it, Mrs. Sofronie offers Della 20 dollars for her hair, and Della agrees.
Hair shorn, Della browses the nearby shops in a kind of trance, desperate for the perfect present for Jim. After two hours of shopping, she decides on a gift: a platinum chain to replace the worn leather strap on Jim’s watch. The chain costs 21 dollars, leaving Della only 87 cents.
Returning to the apartment, Della prepares Christmas dinner and frantically curls her short hair, trying in vain to look less like a schoolboy. She hears Jim’s footsteps on the stairs and suddenly worries that he will no longer find her beautiful.
When Jim finally sees Della, his face is inscrutable, and Della cannot tell if he is surprised or angry. She cries out that she sold her hair to buy him a Christmas present and hopes that he is not cross with her.
Suddenly, Jim puts his arms around Della, placing her Christmas gift on the table. She opens the gift and shrieks. It is a pair of jeweled tortoise shell combs that Della admired in a shop window for months-a present that is now useless to her.
After assuring Della that nothing could make her less beautiful in his eyes, Jim opens her present to him, the watch chain. Dumbfounded, Jim admits that he sold his watch to buy her the combs.
Realizing the irony of their sacrifices, the couple decides to put away their Christmas gifts and have dinner. In a brief epilogue, the story’s narrator compares Jim and Della to the Biblical Magi, who brought gifts to the baby Jesus. “Of all who give gifts,” the narrator says of Della and Jim, “these two were the most wise.”