December 1, 2023 • 14 mins
Ever wondered what lengths you'd go to show your love, especially with limited resources? Let us take you on an enchanting journey as we recount the beloved holiday classic, "The Gift of the Magi" by O Henry. This special bonus episode paints a vivid picture of Della and Jim, a young couple who overcome their financial struggles to express their love. Listen to the captivating tale of sacrifice, as Della parts with her most prized possession to procure the perfect Christmas gift for Jim. This episode is sure to touch your hearts and rekindle the warmth of true love and the holiday spirit.
Discover the timeless wisdom of love and sacrifice as we dive deeper into the story of Della and Jim. We unfold the layers of this heartwarming tale as they each find a way to buy the other the perfect present, despite their limited means. Experience the joy and anticipation that comes with receiving a gift from a loved one, and the surprising turn of events that follow. The episode culminates with a beautiful realization about the essence of giving, which will leave you reflecting on your own acts of love and sacrifice. Tune in to this enchanting episode, and let the spirit of Christmas fill your hearts.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Welcome to a special holiday bonus episode of Truth
Trek.
Every Sunday from now untilChristmas there will be a bonus
episode.
I'll be reading some Christmasstories.
I had posted these stories lastyear on a different podcast
before I had launched Truth Trek.
They were enjoyed by manypeople.
I will not be posting all thestories from last year, but
(00:40):
those that were the most wellreceived based on the podcast
Analytics.
I've taken a few moments tore-record them, hopefully a
little more professionally thanlast year, and I hope you'll
enjoy these.
So gather the family and enjoythis holiday story.
(01:08):
The Gift of the Magi by O Henry.
One dollar and eighty sevencents, that was all, and sixty
cents of it was in pennies.
Save one and two at a time bybulldozing the grocer and the
vegetable man and the butcheruntil one's cheeks burned, with
the silent imputation ofparsimony that such close
(01:31):
dealing implied.
Three times.
Della counted it One dollar andeighty seven cents, and the
next day would be Christmas.
There was clearly nothing to dobut flop down on the shabby
little couch and howl ThoughDella did it which instigates
the moral reflection that lifeis made up of sobs, sniffles and
(01:53):
smiles, with snifflespredominating, while the
mistress of the home isgradually subsiding from the
first stage to the second.
Take a look at the home afurnished flat at eight dollars
per week.
It did not exactly beg herdescription, but it certainly
had that word on the lookout forthe mendicancy squad On the
(02:15):
vestibule.
Below was a letter box intowhich no letter would go and an
electric button from which nomortal finger could coax a ring.
Also appertaining there untowas a card bearing the name Mr
James Dillingham Young.
The Dillingham had been flungto the breeze during a former
period of prosperity, when itspossessor was being paid thirty
(02:37):
dollars per week.
Now, when the income was shrunkto twenty dollars though, they
were thinking seriously ofcontracting to a modest and
unassuming D.
But whenever Mr JamesDillingham Young came home and
reached his flat above, he wascalled Jim and greatly hugged by
Mrs James Dillingham Young,already introduced to you as
(03:00):
Della, which is all very good.
Della finished her cry andattended to her cheeks with a
powder rag.
She stood by the window andlooked out Dully at a gray cat
walking a gray fence in a graybackyard.
Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only one dollar
and eighty seven cents withwhich to buy Jim a present.
(03:21):
She had been saving every pennyshe could for months, with this
result Twenty dollars a weekdoesn't go very far.
Expenses had been greater thanshe had calculated.
They always are.
Only one dollar and eightyseven cents to buy a present for
Jim.
Her Jim, only a happy hour.
She had spent planning forsomething nice for him,
(03:44):
something fine and rare andsterling, something just a
little bit near to being worthyof the honor of being owned by
Jim.
There was a pure glass betweenthe windows of the room.
Perhaps you have seen a pureglass in an eight dollar flat.
A very thin and very agileperson may, by observing his
reflection in a rapid sequenceof longitudinal strips, obtain a
(04:08):
fairly accurate conception ofhis looks.
Della, being slender, hadmastered the art.
Suddenly she whirled from thewindow and stood before the
glass.
Her eyes were shiningbrilliantly, but her face had
lost its color within twentyseconds.
Rapidly she pulled down herhair and let it fall to its full
length.
(04:29):
Now there were two possessionsof the James Dillingham Youngs
in which they both took a mightypride.
Jim was Jim's gold watch thathad been his father's and his
grandfather's.
The other was Della's hair.
Had the Queen of Sheba lived inthe flat across the air shaft.
Della would have let her hairhang out the window some day to
(04:50):
dry, just to depreciate hermajesty's jewels and gifts.
Had King Solomon been thejanitor, with all his treasures
piled up in the basement, jimwould have pulled out his watch
every time he passed just to seehim pluck at his beard from
Enby.
So now Della's beautiful hairfell about her, rippling and
shining like a cascade of brownwaters.
(05:12):
It reached below her knee andmade itself almost a garment for
her.
And then she did it up again,nervously and quickly.
Once she faltered for a minuteand stood still while a tear or
two splashed on the worn redcarpet.
On went her old brown jacket,on went her old brown hat, with
(05:33):
a whirl of skirts and with abrilliant sparkle still in her
eyes.
She fluttered out the door anddown the stairs to the street
when she stopped.
The sign read Madam SoffraniHair Goods of All Kinds.
One flight up.
Della ran and collected herself,panting Madam, large, too white
, chilly, looked hardly theSoffrani.
(05:55):
We buy my hair, asked Della.
I buy hair, said Madam.
Take your hat off and let'shave a sight at the looks of it.
Down rippled the brown cascade.
Twenty dollars, said Madam,lifting the mask with a
practiced hand.
Give it to me quick, said Della.
Oh, and the next two hourstripped by on rosy wings.
(06:18):
Forget the hashed metaphor.
She was ransacking the storesfor Jim's present.
She found it at last.
It surely had been made for Jimand no one else.
There was no other like it inany of the stores, and she
turned all of them inside out.
It was a platinum fob chain,simple and chased in design,
(06:41):
properly proclaiming its valueby substance alone and not by
meretricious ornamentation, asall good things should do.
It was even worthy of the watch.
As soon as she saw it she knewthat it must be Jim's.
It was like him.
Quietness and value, thedescription applied to both.
(07:01):
Twenty one dollars they tookfrom her for it, and she hurried
home with the eighty sevencents With that chain on his
watch.
Jim might be properly anxiousabout the time in any company,
grand as any watch was, hesometimes looked at it on the
sly on account of the oldleather strap that he used in
place of a chain.
(07:22):
When Della reached home, herintoxication gave way a little
to prudence and reason.
She got out her curling ironsand lighted the gas and went to
work, repairing the ravages madeby generosity, added to love,
which is always a tremendoustask, dear friends, a mammoth
task.
Within forty minutes her headwas covered with tiny, close
(07:44):
lying curls that made her lookwonderfully like a truant
schoolboy.
She looked at her reflection inthe mirror long, carefully and
critically.
If Jim doesn't kill me, shesaid to herself, before he takes
a second look at me, he'll sayI look like a Coney Island
chorus girl.
But what can I do?
Oh, what could I do with adollar and eighty seven cents?
(08:08):
At seven o'clock the coffee wasmade and the frying pan was on
the back of the stove, hot andready to cook the chops.
Jim was never late.
Della doubled the fob chain inher hand and sat on the corner
of the table near the door thathe always entered.
Then she heard his step on thestair away down on the first
flight and she turned white forjust a moment.
(08:30):
She had a habit of saying asilent little prayer about the
simplest everyday things, andnow she whispered please, god,
make him think I am still pretty.
The door opened and Jim steppedin and closed it.
He looked thin and very serious, poor fellow.
He was only twenty two and tobe burdened with a family.
He needed a new overcoat and hewas without gloves.
(08:52):
Jim stepped inside the door asimmovable as a setter, at the
scent of a quail.
His eyes were fixed upon Dellaand there was not an expression
in them that she could not read,and it terrified her.
It was not anger, nor surprise,nor disapproval, nor horror,
nor any of the sentiments thatshe had been prepared for.
(09:13):
He simply stared at her fixedlywith that peculiar expression
on his face.
Della wriggled off the table andwent for him.
Jim, darling, she cried, don'tlook at me that way.
I had my hair cut off and soldbecause I couldn't have lived
through Christmas without givingyou a present.
It'll grow out again.
You won't mind, will you?
I just had to do it.
(09:34):
My hair grows awfully fast.
Say Merry Christmas, jim, andlet'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, askedJim laboriously, as if he had
not arrived at that patent factyet, even after the hardest
mental labor.
Cut it off and sold it, saidDella, don't you like me just as
(09:58):
well?
Anyhow, I'm me without my hair,ain't I?
Jim looked about the roomcuriously.
You say your hair is gone, hesaid with an error almost of
idiocy.
You needn't look for it, saidDella, it's sold, I tell you,
sold and gone too.
It's Christmas Eve, boy, begood to me, for it went for you.
Maybe the hairs of my head werenumbered.
(10:19):
She went on with a suddenserious sweetness.
But nobody could ever count mylove for you.
Shall I put the chops on JimOut of his trance?
Jim seemed quickly awake.
He unfolded his dela For tenseconds.
Let us regard with discreetscrutiny some inconsequential
object in the other direction.
(10:40):
Eight dollars a week or amillion a year?
What is the difference?
A mathematician or a wit wouldyou give you the wrong answer.
The Magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them.
This dark assertion will beilluminated later on.
Jim drew a package from hisovercoat pocket and threw it
upon the table.
Don't make any mistake, dal, hesaid about me.
(11:03):
I don't think there's anythingin the way of a haircut or a
shave or a shampoo that couldmake me like my girl any less.
But if you'll unwrap thatpackage, you may see why you had
me going a while.
At first, white fingers andnimble tore at the string and
paper, and then an ecstaticscream of joy and then, alas, a
(11:24):
quick feminine change tohysterical tears and wails,
necessitating the immediateemployment of all the comforting
powers of the Lord of the Flat.
For there lay the combs, the setof combs, side and back, that
dela had worshiped long in aBroadway window.
Beautiful combs, pure tortoiseshell, with jeweled rims, just
(11:45):
the shade to wear in thebeautiful vanished hair.
They were expensive combs, sheknew.
In her heart.
It simply craved and yearnedover them, without the least
hope of possession.
And now they were hers.
But the tresses that shouldhave adorned the coveted
adornments were gone.
But she hugged them to herbosom and at length she was able
(12:06):
to look up with dim eyes and asmile and say my hair grows so
fast, jim.
And then dela leaped up like alittle singed cat and cried oh,
oh.
Jim had not yet seen hisbeautiful present.
She held it out to him eagerly.
Upon her open palm, the dullprecious metal seemed to flash
with a reflection of her brightand ardent spirit.
(12:27):
Isn't it a dandy, jim?
I hunted all over town to findit.
You'll have to look at the timea hundred times a day.
Now Give me your watch.
I want to see how it looks onit.
Instead of obeying, jim tumbleddown on the couch and put his
hands under the back of his headand smiled.
Della said he let's put ourChristmas presents away and keep
(12:48):
them awhile.
They're too nice to use just atpresent.
I sold the watch to get themoney to buy your combs and now
suppose you put the chops on.
The Magi, as you know, were wisemen, wonderfully wise men, who
brought gifts to the babe andthe manger.
They invented the art of givingChristmas presents, being wise.
(13:10):
Their gifts were no doubt wiseones, possibly bearing the
privilege of exchange in case ofduplication.
And here I have, lamely relatedto you the uneventful chronicle
of two foolish children in aflat who, most unwisely,
sacrificed for each other thegreatest treasures of their
house.
But in a last word, to the wiseof these days, let it be said
(13:35):
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, the End.
Welcome to a special holiday bonus episode of Truth
Trek.
Every Sunday from now untilChristmas there will be a bonus
episode.
I'll be reading some Christmasstories.
I had posted these stories lastyear on a different podcast
before I had launched Truth Trek.
They were enjoyed by manypeople.
I will not be posting all thestories from last year, but
(00:40):
those that were the most wellreceived based on the podcast
Analytics.
I've taken a few moments tore-record them, hopefully a
little more professionally thanlast year, and I hope you'll
enjoy these.
So gather the family and enjoythis holiday story.
(01:08):
The Gift of the Magi by O Henry.
One dollar and eighty sevencents, that was all, and sixty
cents of it was in pennies.
Save one and two at a time bybulldozing the grocer and the
vegetable man and the butcheruntil one's cheeks burned, with
the silent imputation ofparsimony that such close
(01:31):
dealing implied.
Three times.
Della counted it One dollar andeighty seven cents, and the
next day would be Christmas.
There was clearly nothing to dobut flop down on the shabby
little couch and howl ThoughDella did it which instigates
the moral reflection that lifeis made up of sobs, sniffles and
(01:53):
smiles, with snifflespredominating, while the
mistress of the home isgradually subsiding from the
first stage to the second.
Take a look at the home afurnished flat at eight dollars
per week.
It did not exactly beg herdescription, but it certainly
had that word on the lookout forthe mendicancy squad On the
(02:15):
vestibule.
Below was a letter box intowhich no letter would go and an
electric button from which nomortal finger could coax a ring.
Also appertaining there untowas a card bearing the name Mr
James Dillingham Young.
The Dillingham had been flungto the breeze during a former
period of prosperity, when itspossessor was being paid thirty
(02:37):
dollars per week.
Now, when the income was shrunkto twenty dollars though, they
were thinking seriously ofcontracting to a modest and
unassuming D.
But whenever Mr JamesDillingham Young came home and
reached his flat above, he wascalled Jim and greatly hugged by
Mrs James Dillingham Young,already introduced to you as
(03:00):
Della, which is all very good.
Della finished her cry andattended to her cheeks with a
powder rag.
She stood by the window andlooked out Dully at a gray cat
walking a gray fence in a graybackyard.
Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only one dollar
and eighty seven cents withwhich to buy Jim a present.
(03:21):
She had been saving every pennyshe could for months, with this
result Twenty dollars a weekdoesn't go very far.
Expenses had been greater thanshe had calculated.
They always are.
Only one dollar and eightyseven cents to buy a present for
Jim.
Her Jim, only a happy hour.
She had spent planning forsomething nice for him,
(03:44):
something fine and rare andsterling, something just a
little bit near to being worthyof the honor of being owned by
Jim.
There was a pure glass betweenthe windows of the room.
Perhaps you have seen a pureglass in an eight dollar flat.
A very thin and very agileperson may, by observing his
reflection in a rapid sequenceof longitudinal strips, obtain a
(04:08):
fairly accurate conception ofhis looks.
Della, being slender, hadmastered the art.
Suddenly she whirled from thewindow and stood before the
glass.
Her eyes were shiningbrilliantly, but her face had
lost its color within twentyseconds.
Rapidly she pulled down herhair and let it fall to its full
length.
(04:29):
Now there were two possessionsof the James Dillingham Youngs
in which they both took a mightypride.
Jim was Jim's gold watch thathad been his father's and his
grandfather's.
The other was Della's hair.
Had the Queen of Sheba lived inthe flat across the air shaft.
Della would have let her hairhang out the window some day to
(04:50):
dry, just to depreciate hermajesty's jewels and gifts.
Had King Solomon been thejanitor, with all his treasures
piled up in the basement, jimwould have pulled out his watch
every time he passed just to seehim pluck at his beard from
Enby.
So now Della's beautiful hairfell about her, rippling and
shining like a cascade of brownwaters.
(05:12):
It reached below her knee andmade itself almost a garment for
her.
And then she did it up again,nervously and quickly.
Once she faltered for a minuteand stood still while a tear or
two splashed on the worn redcarpet.
On went her old brown jacket,on went her old brown hat, with
(05:33):
a whirl of skirts and with abrilliant sparkle still in her
eyes.
She fluttered out the door anddown the stairs to the street
when she stopped.
The sign read Madam SoffraniHair Goods of All Kinds.
One flight up.
Della ran and collected herself,panting Madam, large, too white
, chilly, looked hardly theSoffrani.
(05:55):
We buy my hair, asked Della.
I buy hair, said Madam.
Take your hat off and let'shave a sight at the looks of it.
Down rippled the brown cascade.
Twenty dollars, said Madam,lifting the mask with a
practiced hand.
Give it to me quick, said Della.
Oh, and the next two hourstripped by on rosy wings.
(06:18):
Forget the hashed metaphor.
She was ransacking the storesfor Jim's present.
She found it at last.
It surely had been made for Jimand no one else.
There was no other like it inany of the stores, and she
turned all of them inside out.
It was a platinum fob chain,simple and chased in design,
(06:41):
properly proclaiming its valueby substance alone and not by
meretricious ornamentation, asall good things should do.
It was even worthy of the watch.
As soon as she saw it she knewthat it must be Jim's.
It was like him.
Quietness and value, thedescription applied to both.
(07:01):
Twenty one dollars they tookfrom her for it, and she hurried
home with the eighty sevencents With that chain on his
watch.
Jim might be properly anxiousabout the time in any company,
grand as any watch was, hesometimes looked at it on the
sly on account of the oldleather strap that he used in
place of a chain.
(07:22):
When Della reached home, herintoxication gave way a little
to prudence and reason.
She got out her curling ironsand lighted the gas and went to
work, repairing the ravages madeby generosity, added to love,
which is always a tremendoustask, dear friends, a mammoth
task.
Within forty minutes her headwas covered with tiny, close
(07:44):
lying curls that made her lookwonderfully like a truant
schoolboy.
She looked at her reflection inthe mirror long, carefully and
critically.
If Jim doesn't kill me, shesaid to herself, before he takes
a second look at me, he'll sayI look like a Coney Island
chorus girl.
But what can I do?
Oh, what could I do with adollar and eighty seven cents?
(08:08):
At seven o'clock the coffee wasmade and the frying pan was on
the back of the stove, hot andready to cook the chops.
Jim was never late.
Della doubled the fob chain inher hand and sat on the corner
of the table near the door thathe always entered.
Then she heard his step on thestair away down on the first
flight and she turned white forjust a moment.
(08:30):
She had a habit of saying asilent little prayer about the
simplest everyday things, andnow she whispered please, god,
make him think I am still pretty.
The door opened and Jim steppedin and closed it.
He looked thin and very serious, poor fellow.
He was only twenty two and tobe burdened with a family.
He needed a new overcoat and hewas without gloves.
(08:52):
Jim stepped inside the door asimmovable as a setter, at the
scent of a quail.
His eyes were fixed upon Dellaand there was not an expression
in them that she could not read,and it terrified her.
It was not anger, nor surprise,nor disapproval, nor horror,
nor any of the sentiments thatshe had been prepared for.
(09:13):
He simply stared at her fixedlywith that peculiar expression
on his face.
Della wriggled off the table andwent for him.
Jim, darling, she cried, don'tlook at me that way.
I had my hair cut off and soldbecause I couldn't have lived
through Christmas without givingyou a present.
It'll grow out again.
You won't mind, will you?
I just had to do it.
(09:34):
My hair grows awfully fast.
Say Merry Christmas, jim, andlet'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, askedJim laboriously, as if he had
not arrived at that patent factyet, even after the hardest
mental labor.
Cut it off and sold it, saidDella, don't you like me just as
(09:58):
well?
Anyhow, I'm me without my hair,ain't I?
Jim looked about the roomcuriously.
You say your hair is gone, hesaid with an error almost of
idiocy.
You needn't look for it, saidDella, it's sold, I tell you,
sold and gone too.
It's Christmas Eve, boy, begood to me, for it went for you.
Maybe the hairs of my head werenumbered.
(10:19):
She went on with a suddenserious sweetness.
But nobody could ever count mylove for you.
Shall I put the chops on JimOut of his trance?
Jim seemed quickly awake.
He unfolded his dela For tenseconds.
Let us regard with discreetscrutiny some inconsequential
object in the other direction.
(10:40):
Eight dollars a week or amillion a year?
What is the difference?
A mathematician or a wit wouldyou give you the wrong answer.
The Magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them.
This dark assertion will beilluminated later on.
Jim drew a package from hisovercoat pocket and threw it
upon the table.
Don't make any mistake, dal, hesaid about me.
(11:03):
I don't think there's anythingin the way of a haircut or a
shave or a shampoo that couldmake me like my girl any less.
But if you'll unwrap thatpackage, you may see why you had
me going a while.
At first, white fingers andnimble tore at the string and
paper, and then an ecstaticscream of joy and then, alas, a
(11:24):
quick feminine change tohysterical tears and wails,
necessitating the immediateemployment of all the comforting
powers of the Lord of the Flat.
For there lay the combs, the setof combs, side and back, that
dela had worshiped long in aBroadway window.
Beautiful combs, pure tortoiseshell, with jeweled rims, just
(11:45):
the shade to wear in thebeautiful vanished hair.
They were expensive combs, sheknew.
In her heart.
It simply craved and yearnedover them, without the least
hope of possession.
And now they were hers.
But the tresses that shouldhave adorned the coveted
adornments were gone.
But she hugged them to herbosom and at length she was able
(12:06):
to look up with dim eyes and asmile and say my hair grows so
fast, jim.
And then dela leaped up like alittle singed cat and cried oh,
oh.
Jim had not yet seen hisbeautiful present.
She held it out to him eagerly.
Upon her open palm, the dullprecious metal seemed to flash
with a reflection of her brightand ardent spirit.
(12:27):
Isn't it a dandy, jim?
I hunted all over town to findit.
You'll have to look at the timea hundred times a day.
Now Give me your watch.
I want to see how it looks onit.
Instead of obeying, jim tumbleddown on the couch and put his
hands under the back of his headand smiled.
Della said he let's put ourChristmas presents away and keep
(12:48):
them awhile.
They're too nice to use just atpresent.
I sold the watch to get themoney to buy your combs and now
suppose you put the chops on.
The Magi, as you know, were wisemen, wonderfully wise men, who
brought gifts to the babe andthe manger.
They invented the art of givingChristmas presents, being wise.
(13:10):
Their gifts were no doubt wiseones, possibly bearing the
privilege of exchange in case ofduplication.
And here I have, lamely relatedto you the uneventful chronicle
of two foolish children in aflat who, most unwisely,
sacrificed for each other thegreatest treasures of their
house.
But in a last word, to the wiseof these days, let it be said
(13:35):
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, the End.
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