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Wednesday 7 August 2013

A beautiful tale of unconditional love: The Gift of The Magi

I am sure almost everyone is familiar with O.Henry’s short story “The Gift of The Magi”. Even if you might not recall the name, you would instantly recognise the story.

Published in 1905, this story of unconditional, selfless love is so heart touching that it is time transcending even today.

For those interested to give the story a read, pasted below is a pdf link:


(This is the closest short story link to the original. There are very minor language changes and one glaring grammatical error, for e.g; – it is never said “hairs on the head” but “hair on the head”. Hair itself is a plural form. Apart from this, the story is closest to the original piece penned by O.Henry)

To explain the story in a gist –

Della & James are a young couple living in New York. They are not very rich & are constantly struggling for money. However, despite their very modest means, the couple are very proud of the only two things they own; Della’s lovely cascading hair, so beautiful that it can make any princess jealous with envy; and James gold watch that is handed down to him from his great-grandfather & is an enviable piece!!

It is Christmas Eve, and Della frets to buy a suitable gift for James, although she only has $1.87 with her, which is nothing to buy something decent. After being crestfallen for a whole day, she suddenly comes up with an idea!! James on the other hand is going through the same ordeal. He has set his eyes upon a beautiful but expensive gift for Della, and has no idea how to manage the cost either, until he comes up with an idea…

The end of the story is truly heart touching & signifies selfless & unconditional love.
Magi were the Biblical three wise men who came over to Bethlehem from far-away lands to anoint Jesus Christ with 3 gifts when HE was born. The 3 gifts that they brought for Christ were the best they could get from their respective Kingdoms, and they were a token of their undying, unconditional faith & love in Christ. This established the custom of giving gifts to each other on Christmas Eve, and this is where O.Henry drew his relevance to his title, both in custom & in symbolism.

O.Henry was a master of short stories; his stories are generally known for a smart “twist” in the end. Despite, having written this story more than a 100 years ago, it is still adaptable into numerous films, broadway musicals, stories etc. In India, acclaimed director Rituparno Ghosh’s “Raincoat” starring Ajay Devgan & Aishwarya Rai was based on this story.

Read on, & restore your faith in unconditional love…with a smile J

 

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