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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