The gift of the magi

• ONE DOLLAR AND EIGHTY-SEVEN CENTS. That was all. She had put it aside, one cent and then another and then another, in her careful buying of meat and other food.
• Della counted it three times. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
• There was nothing to do but fall on the bed and cry. So Della did it.
• Furnished rooms at a cost of $8 a week. There is little more to say about it.
• In the hall below was a letter-box too small to hold a letter. There was an electric bell, but it could not make a sound. Also there was a name beside the door: "Mr. James Dillingham Young."
• When the name was placed there, Mr. James Dillingham Young was being paid $30 a week. Now, when he was being paid only $20 a week, the name seemed too long and important. It should perhaps have been "Mr. James D. Young."
• Della finished her crying and cleaned the marks of it from her face. She stood by the window and looked out with no interest. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a gift.
• She had put aside as much as she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week is not much. Everything had cost more than she had expected. It always happened like that.
• Della, being quite thin, had mastered the art of getting a good view of herself in the narrow looking-glass.
• The James Dillingham Youngs were very proud of two things which they owned. One thing was Jim's gold watch. It had once belonged to his father. And, long ago, it had belonged to his father's father. The other thing was Della's hair.
• Della's beautiful hair fell about her, shining like a falling stream of brown water. It reached below her knee. It almost made itself into a dress for her.
• She put on her old brown coat. She put on her old brown hat. With the bright light still in her eyes, she moved quickly out the door and down to the street.
• Where she stopped, the sign said: "Mrs. Sofronie. Hair Articles of all Kinds."
• Mrs. Sofronie, large, too white, cold-eyed, looked at her.
• "Will you buy my hair?" asked Della.
• "I buy hair," said Mrs. Sofronie. "Take your hat off and let me look at it."
• "Twenty dollars," said Mrs. Sofronie, lifting the hair to feel its weight.
• "Give it to me quick," said Della.
• She found the gift for Jim at last. It was a gold watch chain, very simply made. Its value was in its rich and pure material.
• She paid twenty-one dollars for it. And she hurried home with the chain and eighty-seven cents.
• With that chain on his watch, Jim could look at his watch and learn the time anywhere he might be. Though the watch was so fine, it had never had a fine chain. He sometimes took it out and looked at it only when no one could see him do it.
• Within forty minutes her head looked a little better. With her short hair, she looked wonderfully like a schoolboy.
• Jim was never late. Della held the watch chain in her hand and sat near the door where he always entered.
• Jim stopped inside the door. He was as quiet as a hunting dog when it is near a bird. His eyes looked strangely at Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not understand.
• "Jim, dear," she cried, "don't look at me like that. I had my hair cut off and sold it. I couldn't live through Christmas without giving you a gift. My hair will grow again. You won't care, will you? My hair grows very fast. It's Christmas, Jim. Let's be happy. You don't know what a nice—what a beautiful nice gift I got for you."
• "You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim slowly. He seemed to labor to understand what had happened. He seemed not to feel sure he knew.
• "Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't you like me now? I'm me, Jim. I'm the same without my hair."
• Jim put his arms around his Della.
• From inside the coat, Jim took something tied in paper. He threw it upon the table.
• "I want you to understand me, Dell," he said. "Nothing like a haircut could make me love you any less. But if you'll open that, you may know what I felt when I came in."
• For there lay The Combs—the combs that Della had seen in a shop window and loved for a long time. Beautiful combs, with jewels, perfect for her beautiful hair. She had known they cost too much for her to buy them.
• "Isn't it perfect, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at your watch a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how they look together."
• "Della," said he, "let's put our Christmas gifts away and keep them a while. They're too nice to use now. I sold the watch to get the money to buy the combs. And now I think we should have our dinner."
• The magi, as you know, were wise men—wonderfully wise men—who brought gifts to the newborn Christ-child. They were the first to give Christmas gifts.
• And here I have told you the story of two children who were not wise. Each sold the most valuable thing he owned in order to buy a gift for the other.
• But let me speak a last word to the wise of these days: Of all who give gifts, these two were the most wise. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are the most wise. Everywhere they are the wise ones. They are the magi.