Audiobook · read by volunteers
Gift of the Magi
O. Henry (1862–1910)
Read by Betsie Bush · 1 chapter · 13 min
About the book
Della and Jim are young, devoted to each other and almost penniless. Their home is a small furnished flat, their savings are laughably small, and Christmas Eve has arrived with nothing to give. Each of them, unknown to the other, quietly decides to find a way to buy the perfect present, and each is prepared to pay a price that no shop counter would ever show. What follows is one of the best-loved short stories in the English language, a tale of tenderness, thrift and small domestic sacrifice, told with a smile and a gentle shake of the head. It runs for barely a quarter of an hour, which makes it ideal for a winter evening, a commute, or a moment of quiet before the holidays. Betsie Bush reads it in a single short track, a humorous and tender story told in a few pages.
Introduction
William Sydney Porter, who wrote as O. Henry, lived from 1862 to 1910 and became one of the most popular short story writers in America. His stories are quick, affectionate portraits of ordinary city people, shop girls, clerks, drifters and dreamers, and they are famous for their final turn, the surprise that arrives in the last lines and sends the reader back to the beginning with new eyes.
The Gift of the Magi dates from 1906 and is probably his best-known piece. In a few pages it sets two modest lives side by side and asks what a present is really worth. The title looks back to the wise men of the Christmas story, and the narrator is not shy about drawing the comparison himself, in the closing paragraph, with a mixture of tenderness and mock solemnity. The language is deliberately a little ornate, a playful grandeur applied to a very small apartment, and that contrast is a large part of the fun.
This recording is a single short chapter of about twelve minutes, read by the LibriVox volunteer Betsie Bush. It is easy to share, easy to repeat, and rewards a second hearing, when you can listen less for the outcome and more for the way the sentences are built. It remains a favourite at Christmas, and it is just as good on an ordinary evening in July. Because it is so short, it also makes a gentle introduction to the audiobook habit itself: one sitting, one voice, one complete and satisfying story to carry away. Many listeners like to play it every December, and there is hardly a better story for sharing aloud.
Public domain
O. Henry died in 1910: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text