O. Henry’s Magical Magi Mystery
That is one very tiny book.
One of my rituals of the Christmas season is taking the time to read O. Henry’s charming, heartfelt story, “The Gift of the Magi.” It is only 2,000 words long, and a great snapshot of life in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. My particular favorite is the last paragraph, which at first glance seems a little redundant, until you realize that it needs to be. That said, I have an article at SleuthSayers today that focuses primarily on the “mystery” inherent in the story’s very first paragraph.
You can read my article at this link. It is called:
Here is part of what I am saying:
What Porter (1862-1910) thought of the story, the creative decisions he made while writing it, are lost to history, though numerous books share sweet anecdotes about its writing, like the ones I mentioned above. I love the last graf of the story, and never tire of rereading it. But there is a genuine mystery embedded in the first graf of the story. Let’s all play detective, and see if we can spot it:
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
You spotted it, didn’t you?
The Gift of the Magi
Illustrated by P.J. Lynch. (The same artist did a wonderful version of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol.)
Sorry to leave you hanging, but you will just have to go read the whole post to learn about the mystery. And when you do, you might think it a slight topic for an article, but SleuthSayers is, after all, a blog run by short story mystery writers, so it is right up our alley to talk about curious mysteries inherent in short stories.
The back story on this one is actually fascinating, and delves into early American history, numismatics, my childhood, and so on. I hope you will stop by and check it out.
If you are looking for a great version of the story to read, or give as a gift, there are a few decent options. One is an illustrated edition for kids by artist P.J. Lynch. (affiliate link here and later.)
If you go looking for this book on other sites, make sure you are choosing the one with the cover shown here. Since O. Henry’s story is in the public domain, it means that lots of publishers have released crappy versions of the story. The links get confusing online, and sometimes lead back to shoddy paperbacks.
And since this really is a very short story, it really isn’t long enough to justify a nice gift edition—unless the publisher packages it thoughtfully in a trim size edition that honors the story.
One edition I like that does this is the one put out by Applewood Books. They do a lovely job of packaging classic American books, fiction or nonfiction. I often see their books in historic gift shops.
Two more things. If you are really into Christmas books, you probably ought to check out the longer post on Christmas Books I did back in 2023.
You can find it right here:
That’s all. Go check out both posts. Hope you have a blast.
And since I built up O. Henry’s story so much, I feel compelled to reprint its famous conclusion. You might have to read it a few times to let it work its magic on you. But why not? It’s lovely:
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 in a 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.
