“The Gift of the Magi”

Cultural  

1. (1906) A short story by O. Henry. An extremely poor young couple is determined to give Christmas presents to each other. He sells his watch to buy a set of combs for her long hair, and she cuts off her hair and sells it to buy him a watch fob.

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Example Sentences

Advertisement Charlie and Simone’s misadventures in “The Gift of the Magi” are about more than children making mistakes.

From New York Times • Nov. 9, 2015

In 1906, O. Henry opens his story “The Gift of the Magi” by having a character count out “one dollar and eighty-seven cents” three times—and notes that “sixty cents of it was in pennies.”

From Slate • Dec. 10, 2014

Jim Henson and his Muppeteers adapted Russell Hoban’s children’s book twist on O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” into this all-critter singalong, with tunes by Paul Williams.

From Time • Dec. 12, 2013

In one of the most celebrated stories of O. Henry, entitled “The Gift of the Magi”, the author made the technical mistake of appending a superfluous paragraph after his logical pattern had been completed.

From A Manual of the Art of Fiction by Hamilton, Clayton Meeker