The Gift of the Magi | O. Henry | Short Story | Full Text English Audiobook – YouTube Dictation Transcript & Vocabulary

1.The Gift of the Magi by O Henry recording by Deborah Lee $187 that was all and 60 cents of it was in pennies pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grosser and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imput of parsimony that such close dealing implied three times Del counted it $187 cents and the next day would be Christmas there was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl so Dela did it which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs sniffles and smiles with sniffles predominating while the Mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second take a look at the home a furnished flat at $8 per week it did not exactly beggar description but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad in the vestibule below was a letter box into which no letter would go and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring also appertaining there unto was a card bearing the name Mr James Dillingham Young the Dillingham had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week now when the income was shrunk to $20 though they were thinking seriously of Contracting to a modest and unassuming D but whenever Mr James Dillingham came home and reached his flat above he was called Jim and greatly hugged by Mrs James Dillingham already introduced to you as Dela which is all very good Dela finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag she stood by the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard tomorrow would be Christmas Day and she had only $187 with which to buy Jim a present she had been saving every penny she could for months with this result $20 a week doesn't go far expenses had been greater than she had calculated they all always are only $187 to buy a present for Jim her gy many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him something fine and rare and Sterling something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim there was a peer glass between the windows of the room perhaps you have seen a peer glass and an $8 flat a very thin and very agile person person may by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks Dela being slender had mastered the art suddenly she Whirled from the window and stood before the glass her eyes were shining brightly but her face had lost its color within 20 seconds rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length now there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Young in which they both took a mighty Pride one was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's the other was Del's hair had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the air shaft Dela would have let her hair hang out the window someday to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and Gifts had King Solomon been the janitor with all his treasures piled up in the basement Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed just to see him pluck at his beard from ENB so now Del's beautiful hair fell about her Rippling and Shining like a Cascade of brown Waters it reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her and then she did it up again nervously and quickly once she faltered for a minute and Stood Still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet on witer Old Brown jacket on witer Old Brown hat with a world of skirts and with the brilliant Sparkle still in her eyes she fluttered out the door and down the stairs to the street where she stopped the sign read Madame sron hair goods of all kinds one flight up Dela ran and collected herself panting Madame large too white chilly hardly looked the sofroni will you buy my hair asked Del I buy hair said madame take your hat off and let's have a sight at the looks of it down rippled the brown Cascade $20 said Madame lifting the mask with a practiced hand give it to me quick said Dela oh in the next two hours tripped by on Rosy Wings forget the hashed metaphor she was ransacking the stores for Jim's present she found it at last it surely had been made for Jim and no one else there was no other like it in any of the stores and she had turned all of them inside out it was a platinum fob chain simple and chased in design properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation is all good things should do it was even worthy of the watch as soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jims it was like him quietness and value the description applied to both $21 they took from her for it and she hurried home with the 87 cents with that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company Grand as the watch was he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap that he used in place of a chain when Dela reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason she got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generos added to love which is always a tremendous task dear friends a mammoth task within 40 minutes her head was covered with tiny Clos lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant school boy she looked at a reflection in the mirror long carefully and critically if Jim doesn't kill me she said to herself before he takes a second look at me he'll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl but what could I do oh what could I do with a dollar in 87 at 7:00 the coffee was made and the frying pan was on the back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops Jim was never late Dela doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered then she heard a steps on the stairway down on the first flight and she turned white for just a moment she had a habit of saying a little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things and now she whispered please God make him think I'm still pretty the door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it he looked thin and very serious poor fellow he was only 22 and to be burdened with a family he needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves Jim stopped inside the door as immovable as a Setter at the scent of quail his eyes were fixed upon Dela and there was an expression in them that she could not read and it terrified her it was not anger nor surprise nor disapproval nor horror or any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for he simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face Dela wriggled off the table and went for him Jim darling she cried don't look at me that way I had my hair cut off and sold because I I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present it'll grow out again you won't mind will you I just had to do it my hair grows awfully fast say Merry Christmas Jim and let's be happy you don't know what a nice what a beautiful nice gift I've got for you you've cut off your hair asked Jim laboriously as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labor cut it off and sold it said Dela don't you like me just as well anyhow I'm me without my hair ain't I Jim looked about the room curiously you say your hair is gone he said with an air of almost idiocy you needn't look for it said Dela it's sold I tell you sold and gone too it's Christmas Eve boy be good to me for it went for you maybe the hairs of my head were numbered she went on with sudden serious sweetness but nobody could ever count my love for you shall I put the chops on Jim out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake he unfolded his Del for 10 seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction $8 a week or a million a year what is the difference a mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer the Magi brought valuable gifts but that was not among them this dark assertion will be illuminated later on Jim drew a package from his Overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table don't make any mistake Dell he said about me I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less but if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first White fingers and Nimble tore at the string and paper and then an ecstatic scream of joy and then alas a quick feminine changed to hysterical tears and whales necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat for there lay the Combs the set of combs side and back that Dela had worshiped long in a Broadway window beautiful Combs pure tortois shell with jeweled rims just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair they were expensive Combs she knew and her heart had simply craved and yearned yearned over them without the least hope of possession and now they were hers but the Tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone but she hugged them to her bosom and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say my hair grows so fast Jim and then Dela leaped up like a singed cat and cried oh oh Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present she held it out to him eagerly upon her open Palm the dull precious metal seemed to flash with the reflection of her bright and Ardent Spirit isn't it Dandy Jim I hunted all over town to find it you'll have to look at the time a 100 times a day now give me your watch I want to see how it looks on it instead of obeying Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled Dell said he let's put our Christmas presents away and keep them a while while they're too nice to use just at present I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs and now suppose you put the chops on the Magi as you know were wise men wonderfully wise men who brought gifts to the babe in the manger they invented the art of giving Christmas presents being wise their gifts were no doubt wise ones possibly bearing the privilege of Exchange in case of duplication and here I have lamely related to you the uneventful Chronicle of two foolish Children of the flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house but in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest of all who give and receive gifts such as they are wisest everywhere they are wisest they are the Magi