The Gift of the Magi (Henry)
Short summary
New York City, early 1900s. On Christmas Eve, Della counted her savings: one dollar and eighty-seven cents. She had saved every penny she could, but it wasn't enough to buy her husband Jim a worthy Christmas gift.
The young couple lived in a modest furnished apartment for eight dollars a week. Jim's salary had recently been reduced from thirty to twenty dollars weekly.
They owned two treasures: Jim's gold watch that had belonged to his father and grandfather, and Della's beautiful long hair. Desperate to buy Jim a gift, Della sold her hair to a wig-maker for twenty dollars. With the money, she bought a platinum watch chain for Jim's precious watch.
When Jim came home and saw Della's short hair, he stood frozen. He had bought her an expensive set of decorative combs for her beautiful hair. Then Della showed him the watch chain, and Jim revealed he had sold his watch to buy the combs. Though their gifts were now useless, the narrator concluded:
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. Everywhere they are the wise ones. They are the magi.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Dellas Christmas dilemma and the couples poverty
On the day before Christmas, a young woman counted her meager savings of one dollar and eighty-seven cents. She had saved every penny she could through careful shopping for months, but it was all she had to buy a Christmas gift for her beloved husband. The amount was pitifully small, and she fell on the bed and cried in despair.
The young couple lived in a modest furnished flat that cost eight dollars per week. The building had a broken doorbell and a letter-box too small to hold letters. A nameplate by the door read "Mr. James Dillingham Young," a name that seemed too grand now that his salary had been reduced from thirty to twenty dollars per week.
When he came home each evening, his wife greeted him warmly, calling him simply "Jim." After her tears subsided, Della stood by the window contemplating her predicament. She had only $1.87 to buy Jim a Christmas gift, and she had spent many happy hours planning something special for him, something nearly worthy of him.
The sacrifice: selling her hair and finding the perfect gift
Suddenly, Della turned from the window and stood before the narrow looking-glass between the windows. Her eyes shone brightly as she quickly pulled down her hair, letting it cascade to its full length.
The James Dillingham Youngs were very proud of two things which they owned. One thing was Jim's gold watch... The other thing was Della's hair.
Her beautiful brown hair fell about her like a shining waterfall, reaching below her knee. After a moment of hesitation and a few tears, she put on her old brown coat and hat and hurried out to the street. She stopped at a shop with a sign reading "Mrs. Sofronie. Hair Articles of all Kinds."
The hair buyer examined Della's hair and offered twenty dollars for it. Della quickly accepted, and for the next two hours, she searched every shop in the city for the perfect gift. She finally found it - a platinum watch chain, simple and elegant in design, perfect for Jim's precious gold watch. It cost twenty-one dollars, leaving her with eighty-seven cents. She hurried home with her purchase, knowing that this chain would allow Jim to proudly check his watch anywhere without shame.
At home, Della tried to arrange her now-short hair to look presentable. After forty minutes of effort, she looked like a schoolboy. She worried that Jim might be shocked by her appearance, but consoled herself that she had done it for love.
The gift exchange and the revelation of love
At seven o'clock, Della waited nervously by the door with the watch chain in her hand. When Jim arrived, he stopped inside the door and stared at her with a peculiar expression that she could not understand. It was not anger or surprise, but something else entirely that filled her with fear.
"Jim, dear," she cried, "don't look at me like that. I had my hair cut off and sold it. I couldn't live through Christmas without giving you a gift."
Jim seemed unable to comprehend what had happened, repeatedly asking about her hair. Finally, he pulled a package from his coat and told her that nothing could make him love her less, but she would understand his reaction when she opened it. Inside were the beautiful jeweled combs she had admired in a shop window for so long - now useless with her shorn hair. Despite this, she held them to her heart with joy and reminded him that her hair grew fast.
Then Della presented Jim with the watch chain, asking to see how it looked with his watch. Jim sat down and smiled, then revealed the ultimate irony: he had sold his watch to buy the combs for her hair. He suggested they put away their Christmas gifts for a while, as they were too nice to use just yet.
Each sold the most valuable thing he owned in order to buy a gift for the other. But let me speak a last word to the wise of these days: Of all who give gifts...
The narrator concluded that while these two young people might seem foolish for sacrificing their greatest treasures, they were actually the wisest of all gift-givers. Like the magi who brought gifts to the Christ child, they gave from the heart with true sacrifice. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are the most wise. They are the magi.