short story

A Special Christmas Story: The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

December 23rd, 2009 at 05:02pm Under short story

A husband and wife give each other the most special Christmas gift of all.  Transcript of radio broadcast:

19 December 2008

ANNOUNCER:

Now, the VOA Special English program, AMERICAN STORIES.

(MUSIC)

We present a special Christmas story called “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry. Here is Shep O’Neal with the story.

STORYTELLER:

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it in the smallest pieces of money – pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by negotiating with the men at the market who sold vegetables and meat. Negotiating until one’s face burned with the silent knowledge of being poor. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.

There was clearly nothing to do but sit down and cry. So Della cried. Which led to the thought that life is made up of little cries and smiles, with more little cries than smiles.

Della finished her crying and dried her face. She stood by the window and looked out unhappily at a gray cat walking along a gray fence in a gray back yard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy her husband Jim a gift. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result.

Jim earned twenty dollars a week, which does not go far. Expenses had been greater than she had expected. They always are. Many a happy hour she had spent planning to buy something nice for him. Something fine and rare — something close to being worthy of the honor of belonging to Jim.

There was a tall glass mirror between the windows of the room. Suddenly Della turned from the window and stood before the glass mirror and looked at herself. Her eyes were shining, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Quickly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.

Now, Mister and Missus James Dillingham Young had two possessions which they valued. One was Jim’s gold time piece, the watch that had been his father’s and his grandfather’s. The other was Della’s hair.

Had the Queen of Sheba lived in their building, Della would have let her hair hang out the window to dry just to reduce the value of the queen’s jewels.

So now Della’s beautiful hair fell about her, shining like a brown waterfall. It reached below her knees and made itself almost like a covering for her. And then quickly she put it up again. She stood still while a few tears fell on the floor.

She put on her coat and her old brown hat. With a quick motion and brightness still in her eyes, she danced out the door and down the street.

Where she stopped the sign read: “Madame Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds.” Della ran up the steps to the shop, out of breath.

“Will you buy my hair?” asked Della.

“I buy hair,” said Madame. “Take your hat off and let us have a look at it.”

Down came the beautiful brown waterfall of hair.

“Twenty dollars,” said Madame, lifting the hair with an experienced hand.

“Give it to me quick,” said Della.

(MUSIC)

The next two hours went by as if they had wings. Della looked in all the stores to choose a gift for Jim.

She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. It was a chain — simple round rings of silver. It was perfect for Jim’s gold watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be for him. It was like him. Quiet and with great value. She gave the shopkeeper twenty-one dollars and she hurried home with the eighty-seven cents that was left.

When Della arrived home she began to repair what was left of her hair. The hair had been ruined by her love and her desire to give a special gift. Repairing the damage was a very big job.

Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny round curls of hair that made her look wonderfully like a schoolboy. She looked at herself in the glass mirror long and carefully.

“If Jim does not kill me before he takes a second look at me,” she said to herself, “he’ll say I look like a song girl. But what could I do–oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?”

At seven o’clock that night the coffee was made and the pan on the back of the stove was hot and ready to cook the meat.

Jim was never late coming home from work. Della held the silver chain in her hand and sat near the door. Then she heard his step and she turned white for just a minute. She had a way of saying a little silent prayer about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: “Please God, make him think I am still pretty.”

(MUSIC)

The door opened and Jim stepped in. He looked thin and very serious. Poor man, he was only twenty-two and he had to care for a wife. He needed a new coat and gloves to keep his hands warm.

Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a dog smelling a bird. His eyes were fixed upon Della. There was an expression in them that she could not read, and it frightened her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor fear, nor any of the feelings that she had been prepared for. He simply looked at her with a strange expression on his face. Della went to him.

“Jim, my love,” she cried, “do not look at me that way. I had my hair cut and sold because I could not have lived through Christmas without giving you a gift. My hair will grow out again. I just had to do it. My hair grows very fast. Say ‘Merry Christmas!’ Jim, and let us be happy. You do not know what a nice– what a beautiful, nice gift I have for you.”

“You have cut off your hair?” asked Jim, slowly, as if he had not accepted the information even after his mind worked very hard.

“Cut it off and sold it,” said Della. “Do you not like me just as well? I am the same person without my hair, right?

Jim looked about the room as if he were looking for something.

“You say your hair is gone?” he asked.

“You need not look for it,” said Della. “It is sold, I tell you–sold and gone, too. It is Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it was cut 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 meat on, Jim?”

Jim seemed to awaken quickly and put his arms around Della. Then he took a package from his coat and threw it on the table.

“Do not make any mistake about me, Dell,” he said. “I do not think there is any haircut that could make me like my girl any less. But if you will open that package you may see why you had me frightened at first.”

White fingers quickly tore at the string and paper. There was a scream of joy; and then, alas! a change to tears and cries, requiring the man of the house to use all his skill to calm his wife.

For there were the combs — the special set of objects to hold her hair that Della had wanted ever since she saw them in a shop window. Beautiful combs, made of shells, with jewels at the edge –just the color to wear in the beautiful hair that was no longer hers. They cost a lot of money, she knew, and her heart had wanted them without ever hoping to have them. And now, the beautiful combs were hers, but the hair that should have touched them was gone.

But she held the combs to herself, and soon she was able to look up with a smile and say, “My hair grows so fast, Jim!”

Then Della jumped up like a little burned cat and cried, “Oh, oh!”

Jim had not yet seen his beautiful gift. She happily held it out to him in her open hands. The silver chain seemed so bright.

“Isn’t it wonderful, Jim? I looked all over town to find it. You will have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it.”

Instead of obeying, Jim fell on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled.

“Dell,” said he, “let us put our Christmas gifts away and keep them a while. They are too nice to use just right now. I sold my gold watch to get the money to buy the set of combs for your hair. And now, why not put the meat on.”

(MUSIC)

The magi were wise men–wonderfully wise men–who brought gifts to the Baby Jesus. They invented the art of giving Christmas gifts. Being wise, their gifts were wise ones. And here I have told you the story of two young people who most unwisely gave 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. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER:

You have heard the American story “The Gift of the Magi.” This story was written by O. Henry and adapted into Special English by Karen Leggett. Your storyteller was Shep O’Neal. The producer was Lawan Davis.

I’m Shirley Griffith.

By admin 6 comments

Short Story: ‘Luck’ by Mark Twain

November 16th, 2009 at 04:26pm Under short story

Written by Mark Twain. Transcript of radio broadcast:

02 January 2009

ANNOUNCER:

Now, the Special English program, AMERICAN STORIES.

(MUSIC)

Our story today is called, “Luck.” It was written by Mark Twain. Here is Shep O’Neal with the story.

NARRATOR:

I was at a dinner in London given in honor of one of the most celebrated English military men of his time. I do not want to tell you his real name and titles. I will just call him Lieutenant General Lord Arthur Scoresby.

I can not describe my excitement when I saw this great and famous man. There he sat. The man himself, in person, all covered with medals. I could not take my eyes off him. He seemed to show the true mark of greatness. His fame had no effect on him.

The hundreds of eyes watching him, the worship of so many people did not seem to make any difference to him.

Next to me sat a clergyman, who was an old friend of mine. He was not always a clergyman. During the first half of his life, he was a teacher in the military school at Woolwich. There was a strange look in his eye as he leaned toward me and whispered, “Privately – he is a complete fool.” He meant, of course, the hero of our dinner.

This came as a shock to me. I looked hard at my friend. I could not have been more surprised if he had said the same thing about Napoleon, or Socrates, or Solomon.

But I was sure of two things about the clergyman. He always spoke the truth. And his judgement of men was good. Therefore, I wanted to find out more about our hero as soon as I could.

Some days later I got a chance to talk with the clergyman and he told me more. These are his exact words:

“About forty years ago, I was an instructor in the military academy at Woolwich, when young Scoresby was given his first examination. I felt extremely sorry for him. Everybody answered the questions well, intelligently, while he – why, dear me – he did not know anything, so to speak. He was a nice, pleasant young man. It was painful to see him stand there and give answers that were miracles of stupidity.

“I knew of course that when examined again he would fail and be thrown out. So, I said to myself, it would be a simple, harmless act to help him, as much as I could.

“I took him aside and found he knew a little about Julius Caesar’s history. But he did not know anything else. So I went to work and tested him and worked him like a slave. I made him work, over and over again, on a few questions about Caesar which I knew he would be asked.

“If you will believe me, he came through very well on the day of the examination. He got high praise, too, while others who knew a thousand times more than he were sharply criticized. By some strange, lucky accident, he was asked no questions but those I made him study. Such an accident does not happen more than once in a hundred years.

“Well, all through his studies, I stood by him, with the feeling a mother has for a disabled child. And he always saved himself, by some miracle.

“I thought that what is the end would destroy him would be the mathematics examination. I decided to make his end as painless as possible. So, I pushed facts into his stupid head for hours. Finally, I let him go to the examination to experience what I was sure would be his dismissal from school. Well, sir, try to imagine the result. I was shocked out of my mind. He took first prize! And he got the highest praise.

“I felt guilty day and night – what I was doing was not right. But I only wanted to make his dismissal a little less painful for him. I never dreamed it would lead to such strange, laughable results.

“I thought that sooner or later one thing was sure to happen: The first real test once he was through school would ruin him.

“Then, the Crimean War broke out. I felt that sad for him that there had to be a war. Peace would have given this donkey a chance to escape from ever being found out as being so stupid. Nervously, I waited for the worst to happen. It did. He was appointed an officer. A captain, of all things! Who could have dreamed that they would place such a responsibility on such weak shoulders as his.

“I said to myself that I was responsible to the country for this. I must go with him and protect the nation against him as far as I could. So, I joined up with him. And away we went to the field.

“And there – oh, dear, it was terrible. Mistakes, fearful mistakes – why, he never did anything that was right – nothing but mistakes. But, you see, nobody knew the secret of how stupid he really was. Everybody misunderstood his actions. They saw his stupid mistakes as works of great intelligence. They did, honestly! His smallest mistakes made a man in his right mind cry – and shout and scream, too – to himself, of course. And what kept me in a continual fear was the fact that every mistake he made increased his glory and fame.

“I kept saying to myself that when at last they find out about him, it will be like the sun falling out of the sky.

“He continued to climb up, over the dead bodies of his superiors. Then, in the hottest moment of one battle down went our colonel. My heart jumped into my mouth, for Scoresby was the next in line to take his place. Now, we are in for it, I said.

“The battle grew hotter. The English and their allies were steadily retreating all over the field. Our regiment occupied a position that was extremely important. One mistake now would bring total disaster. And what did Scoresby do this time? He just mistook his left hand for his right hand…that was all. An order came for him to fall back and support our right. Instead, he moved forward and went over the hill to the left.

We were over the hill before this insane movement could be discovered and stopped. And what did we find? A large and unsuspecting Russian army waiting! And what happened? Were we all killed? That is exactly what would have happened in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. But no – those surprised Russians thought that no one regiment by itself would come around there at such a time.

“It must be the whole British army, they thought. They turned tail. Away they went over the hill and down into the field in wild disorder, and we after them. In no time, there was the greatest turn-around you ever saw. The allies turned defeat into a sweeping and shining victory.

“The allied commander looked on, his head spinning with wonder, surprise and joy. He sent right off for Scoresby, and put his arms around him and hugged him on the field in front of all the armies.

“Scoresby became famous that day as a great military leader, honored throughout the world. That honor will never disappear while history books last.

“He is just as nice and pleasant as ever, but he still does not know enough to come in, out of the rain. He is the stupidest man in the universe.

“Until now, nobody knew it but Scoresby and myself. He has been followed, day by day, year by year, by a strange luck. He has been a shining soldier in all our wars for years. He has filled his whole military life with mistakes. Every one of them brought him another honorary title.

“Look at his chest, flooded with British and foreign medals. Well, sir, every one of them is the record of some great stupidity or other. They are proof that the best thing that can happen to a man is to be born lucky. I say again, as I did at the dinner, Scoresby’s a complete fool.”

(MUSIC)

ANNOUNCER:

You have just heard the story “Luck.” It was written by Mark Twain and adapted for Special English by Harold Berman. Your narrator was Shep O’Neal.

Listen again next week at this same time for another AMERICAN STORY told in Special English, on the Voice of America. This is Susan Clark