🔥 ➡️ The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry - Short Story - Full Audiobook
First published in 1905, The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money.
You can also read the short story here
https://quizlit.org/the-gift-of-the-magi-by-o-henry
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Narrated by Vince Dee, courtesy of Librivox
First published in 1905, The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money.
You can also read the short story here
https://quizlit.org/the-gift-of-the-magi-by-o-henry
🔔 Subscribe for more just like this:
BOOKS FEATURED IN THIS VIDEO
Complete Works of O. Henry https://amzn.to/40d10mJ
↑ Links listed above are amazon affiliate links ↑
CHAT WITH QUIZLIT!
===============================
🛠️ - QUIZLIT CUSTOMER SUPPORT: support@quizlit.org
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/quizlitbooks
X https://twitter.com/Stephen48437445
IG: https://www.instagram.com/quizlitbooks/
PIN - https://www.pinterest.co.uk/QuizlitBooks/
SUBSTACK https://substack.com/@quizlitbooks
THREADS @quizlitbooks
#podcast #xmas #christmas #shortstory #audiobook #booktok #read #books #booktube #book #fiction #literature
Narrated by Vince Dee, courtesy of Librivox
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FunTranscript
00:00the gift of the magi by o henry 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
00:18until 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
00:32there 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
00:46while the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second take a look at the home a furnished flat at eight dollars per week it did not exactly beg her description but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicency squad
01:02in the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name mr james dillingham young
01:16the dillingham had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid thirty dollars per week now when the income was shrunk to twenty dollars though they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming d
01:32but 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
01:45della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag she stood by the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray back yard
01:56tomorrow would be christmas day and she only had a dollar eighty seven 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
02:15only a dollar eighty seven 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
02:34there was a pier glass between the windows of the room perhaps you have seen a pier glass in an eight-dollar flat a very thin and very agile person may by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks
02:50della being slender had mastered the art suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass her eyes were shining brilliantly but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length
03:08now 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
03:20had the queen of sheba lived in the flat across the air shaft della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate her majesty's jewels and gifts
03:31had 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
03:42so 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
03:56once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet on went her old brown jacket on went her old brown hat with a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes she fluttered out the door and down the stairs to the street
04:14where she stopped the sign read madame sophrony hair goods of all kinds one flight up della ran and collected herself panting madame large too white chilly hardly looked the sophrony will you buy my hair asked della
04:31i buy hair said madame take your hat off and let's have a sight at the looks of it down rippled the brown cascade twenty dollars said madame lifting the mass with a practised hand
04:45give it to me quick said della oh and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings forget the hashed metaphor she was ransacking the stores for jim's present
04:56she 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
05:07it was 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
05:19it was even worthy of the watch 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
05:30twenty-one dollars they took from her for it and she hurried home with the eighty seven cents with that chain on his watch jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company
05:40grand as the watch was he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap he had used in place of a chain
05:47when della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason she got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love
05:59which is always a tremendous task dear friends a mammoth task within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy she looked at her reflection in the mirror long carefully and critically
06:16if jim doesn't kill me she said to herself before he takes a second look at me he'll say i look like a coney island chorus girl but what could i do oh what could i do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents
06:30at seven o'clock the coffee was made and the frying pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops jim was never late della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered
06:44then she heard his step on the stairway down on the first flight and she turned white for just a moment she 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
06:59the door opened and jim stepped in and closed it he looked thin and very serious poor fellow he was only twenty-two and to be burdened with a family he needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves jim stopped inside the door as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail
07:18his eyes were fixed upon della and there was an expression in them that she could not read and it terrified her it was not anger nor surprise nor disapproval nor horror nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for he simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face
07:37della wriggled off the table and went for him jim darling she cried don't look at me that way i had my hair cut off and sold because i couldn't have lived through christmas without giving you a present
07:49it'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 gift i've got for you
08:03you've cut off your hair asked jim laboriously as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labor cut it off and sold it said della don't you like me just as well anyhow i'm me without my hair ain't i
08:19jim looked about the room curiously you say your hair is gone he said with an air almost of idiocy you needn't look for it said della it's sold i tell you sold and gone too it's christmas eve boy be good to me for it went for you
08:36maybe 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 out of his trance jim seemed quickly to awake he enfolded his della
08:51for 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
09:06the magi brought valuable gifts but that was not among them this dark assertion will be illuminated later on jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table
09:18don't make any mistake dell he said about me i don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less but if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going for a while at first
09:32white 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
09:50for there lay the combs the set of combs side and back that della had worshipped long in the broadway window beautiful combs pure tortoise-shell with jewelled rims just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair
10:08they were expensive combs she knew and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession and now they were hers but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone
10:22but she hugged them to her bosom and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say my hair grows so fast jim and then della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried oh oh
10:36jim had not yet seen his beautiful present she held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm the dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit
10:49isn't it a dandy jim i hunted all over town to find it you'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now give me your watch i want to see how it looks on it instead of obeying jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled
11:05del said he let's put our christmas presents away and keep them a while they're too nice to use just a present i sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs
11:17and now suppose you put the chops on 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
11:37and 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
11:48but in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these too were the wisest of all who give and receive gifts such as they are wisest everywhere they are wisest
12:02they are the magi and of the gift of the magi by o henry
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