O. Henry — two dollars, two treasures, and the wisest foolish gifts ever given.
Need an easier version? Read this lesson at A2/B1 level →
Each new word is hidden in a sentence. Read it aloud and say what you think the bold word means from the rest of the sentence — then reveal it and see how close you were.
Read each part. After it, there's a quick comprehension check (try the questions from memory first), then one thing to discuss.
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 bullying the grocer and the butcher until one's cheeks burned. 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 flop down on the shabby little couch and cry. So Della did. She and Jim — James Dillingham Young — lived in a furnished flat that cost eight dollars a week. It was not exactly poverty, but it came very close, and Jim's wages had lately shrunk.
Yet in all that meagre living, the young couple owned two treasures in which they took a fierce and equal pride. One was Jim's gold watch, an heirloom that had belonged to his father and his grandfather before him. The other was Della's hair — long, rippling, shining like a cascade of brown water, falling below her knee and making almost a garment of itself.
1. How much money does Della have, and why is that a problem?
2. What are the couple's two great treasures?
1. One dollar and eighty-seven cents, painfully saved in pennies — nowhere near enough for the Christmas present she wants to buy Jim, and Christmas is tomorrow.
2. Jim's gold watch, inherited from his father and grandfather, and Della's long, beautiful hair.
Suddenly Della whirled from the window and stood before the mirror. Her eyes were shining, but her face had lost its colour within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length. For a moment her courage faltered, and a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet. Then on went her old brown jacket and her old brown hat, and with a whirl of skirts she fluttered out of the door and down to the street.
Where she stopped, the sign read: "Madame Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." "Will you buy my hair?" asked Della. "Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand. "Give it to me quick," said Della.
The next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. She was in no mood to haggle; she ransacked the shops for Jim's present. She found it at last — a platinum chain for his watch, plain and unassuming, its value in its substance and not in its sparkle. It was so like Jim. Twenty-one dollars they took from her, and she hurried home with the eighty-seven cents that were left, picturing Jim proudly checking the time a hundred times a day.
1. What does Della do to raise the money, and how much does she get?
2. What does she buy for Jim, and why does it suit him so well?
1. She sells her long hair to Madame Sofronie for twenty dollars.
2. A plain platinum watch-chain; its worth is in its quality, not its show — quiet and honest, just like Jim.
At home, Della repaired the damage as best she could. Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. "If Jim doesn't kill me," she whispered, "he'll say I look like a chorus girl. But what could I do — oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?"
The door opened and Jim stepped in. His eyes fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval — none of the feelings she had prepared for. He simply stared. At last he drew a package from his overcoat and threw it on the table. "Don't make any mistake about me, Dell," he said. "There's nothing — no haircut — that could make me love my girl any less. But unwrap that package, and you'll see why you had me going for a while."
White fingers tore at the string. Inside lay The Combs — the set, side and back, that Della had worshipped for months in a Broadway shop window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise-shell, exactly the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. She hugged them to her, and at last managed to look up with a smile: "My hair grows so fast, Jim!" Then she held out the platinum chain on her open palm. "Isn't it grand? Give me your watch — I want to see how it looks on it." Instead, Jim tumbled down on the couch, put his hands behind his head, and smiled. "Dell," said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep them a while. They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs."
1. What is inside Jim's package, and why is it so painful?
2. What has Jim done to be able to afford it?
1. The tortoise-shell combs Della had longed for — beautiful, and now useless, because she has just sold the hair they were meant for.
2. He sold his treasured gold watch — the family heirloom — to pay for them.
A cleft sentence splits one idea into two clauses in order to shine a spotlight on the part that matters most. This whole story turns on emphasis — what each person valued, what each gave up, who sacrificed for whom — so it's the perfect place to master them.
1. Della sold HER HAIR. →
2. JIM bought the combs. →
3. They sold their treasures FOR EACH OTHER. →
1. It was her hair that Della sold.
2. It was Jim who bought the combs.
3. It was for each other that they sold their treasures.
1. Della wanted a gift worthy of Jim. →
2. Jim admired her courage most of all. →
3. The story shows the true value of a gift. →
1. What Della wanted was a gift worthy of Jim.
2. What Jim admired most (of all) was her courage.
3. What the story shows is the true value of a gift.
Fill each gap so the sentences read as clefts. Read the finished paragraph aloud.
makes the ending unforgettable is the double surprise. Della who sold her hair for a watch-chain, and Jim gave up was the very watch the chain was meant for.
What makes the ending unforgettable… · It was Della who sold her hair… · …and what Jim gave up was the very watch…
Notice how each cleft holds its key idea back and lands it last, for maximum weight.
Hold on to these — you'll want them in the Speak tab, where a well-placed cleft makes a retelling land.
You have the story and the words. Now push the ideas outward — argue, disagree, change your mind. Do all of this out loud. There are no right answers here, only good reasons.
O. Henry ends by calling this poor, impractical young couple the magi — the wisest gift-givers who ever lived. Yet each of them ruined the other's gift. Was their sacrifice wise or reckless? Build a case for each side, then say which you actually believe — and why.
We say it constantly. Is it a genuine truth — or a comfortable excuse for giving too little? When is the thought enough, and when does effort or money actually matter? Take a position and defend it.
Della and Jim had almost nothing, so every gift cost them something real. In a world of one-click buying and wish-lists, has gift-giving lost its meaning? If you could change one thing about the way people give gifts today, what would it be — and would anyone thank you for it?
Both presents end up practically useless — a chain with no watch, combs with no hair — yet the story calls them precious. Can something with no practical use still be one of the best gifts ever given? Think of examples from history, films, or the world around you.
This is the heart of the lesson — do all of it out loud. The timer is there to keep you going: fill the time with detail rather than escaping it.
Tell the story of the Gift of the Magi in your own words, as if to someone who has never heard it. Move through the arc: the one dollar and eighty-seven cents → the two treasures → Della's sacrifice → the platinum chain → Jim's strange stare → the combs → the final line that turns everything over.
Use at least two cleft sentences at the big moments, and work in five of today's key words.
Pick one position and argue it as persuasively as you can: "A gift's worth lies in what it cost the giver" or "A gift's worth lies only in what the receiver can use." Then switch: for one minute, make the best possible case for the side you disagree with.
Design the perfect gift for someone who "already has everything" — on a tiny budget. What would it be, and why would it land? Then describe the most thoughtful gift you've ever come across — one you gave, received, or simply heard about, in life, a book or a film. What made it thoughtful rather than expensive?