No one can refuse love that runs towards each other

Share an O.Henry short story "Maggie's Gift"

Synopsis: Della and Jim are a newlywed poor couple. There are two things in their family that they are most proud of, one is Jim's ancestral watch, and the other is Della's hair.

Thanksgiving is here, and Della wants to buy a gift for Jim, but she has no money, but she has a hair that eclipses all the jewelry.

She sold her hair and bought a beautiful bracelet. (Jim's watch is fine, but the bracelet is broken, causing him to look at the watch sneakily, embarrassed to let people see) at home waiting for her husband to come back and give him a gift.

Jim came home from work and froze.

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A piece of eight cents seven. That's all. There are also six cents of coins. They were all saved by one or two, grinding hard bubbles at the grocery store vendors, at the vegetable vendors, and at the butchers, until their cheeks were flushed, and they showed a silent indignation at the extremely sharp business. Della counted three times, eight cents and seven cents a piece. And tomorrow is Christmas.

Obviously, at this time, all a person can do is to throw himself on the simple small sofa and cry. That's what Della did. This scene precisely reflects that the so-called life in the world is composed of crying, sobbing, and laughing, and sobbing accounts for the vast majority of them.

As the hostess's mood gradually subsides from the first stage to the second stage, let's take a look at this little family. Furnished apartment for eight dollars a week. Although this room is not completely impossible to describe in pen and ink, if anyone lives here, they really have to watch out for the police who specialize in catching beggars. There was a mailbox on the porch downstairs, but no letter would come in, and there was an electric bell that only a ghost could ring. A sign hung on the bell that read "Mr. James Dillingham Young".

This "Dillingham" was added by the owner of the name on a whim in the previous spring breeze, when he was holding an income of three hundred yuan a week. Now, the money earned has shrunk to twenty yuan, and the words "Di Linghan" seem vague, as if they are thinking of shortening it to a "Di" word. However, whenever Mr. James Dylingham Young leaves work and returns to his apartment upstairs, he will hear a "Jim" and get a warm hug - of course, from Mrs. James Dyllingham Young, who has just been introduced to della. Their relationship is so good!

Della cried and carefully powdered her cheeks. She stood by the window, looking gloomily at a gray cat walking on a gray fence in the gray backyard. Tomorrow is Christmas, but the money she can use to buy Gifts for Jim is only eight cents and seven cents. It was something she had painstakingly saved over the course of months. Twenty dollars a week for a household doesn't last long, and the expenses are always far more than the budget, every day. He wanted to buy Jim a gift. That's her Jim. She had spent so much time devising what good things she was going to give him, just to find a nice, rare, beautiful gift—a gift that was slightly worthy of Jim.

Between the two windows of the room is a wall mirror. Maybe you've seen this kind of wall mirror in eight rental apartments a week, which requires a fairly slender and flexible figure, and a series of narrow images to roughly piece together their own appearance. Della is slender and proficient in this way. She left the window and stood in front of the wall mirror, her eyes shining, but it lasted less than twenty seconds, and her face lost its blood color. She untied her coiled hair so that it was completely hanging down to its original length.

The James Dellingham Young family had two things that made them particularly proud. One of them was Jim's gold watch, passed down from his grandfather to his father and then to him. The other was Della's hair. If the Queen of Sheba lived in another apartment opposite the ventilated patio, Her Majesty's jewelry would be eclipsed by delineating Her Majesty's jewelry as long as Della dried her hair outside the window one day. If King Solomon were the janitor of the apartment, even if he piled up the gold and silver treasures on the ground floor, Jim would surely feel his gold watch every time he passed by, so as to see the king tugging at his beard with a jealous face.

Della's beautiful hair hangs at her side, undulating and shiny, like a brown waterfall. Her long hair fell down to her knees, as if it were her dress. Then, Della nervously and quickly re-coiled her hair. For a minute, her body trembled slightly, but soon she stood up straight, and a tear or two splashed on the broken red carpet.

She put on her old brown coat and old brown soft hat, and as soon as she turned around, the hem of her skirt flew, and there were still tears in her eyes. She walked quickly out the door, down the steps, and into the street.

She stopped in front of a store sign that read, "Mrs. Shafrany Salon – specializing in all kinds of rough goods." Della gasped and ran up the steps, panting softly, trying to calm down. The lady in front of her was fat, pale, cold-eyed, and didn't look at all like someone named "Shafranie."

"Do you want to buy my hair?" Della asked.

"I'll buy the hair," said madame, "and take off my hat, and let me see how it goes." ”

Brown waterfalls gush down.

"Twenty pieces." Madame said as she expertly weighed the large clump of hair.

"I want money now." Della said.

Oh, and the next two hours flew away happily like rose-colored wings. This metaphor is not very appropriate, but there is no need to care. In order to find gifts for Jim, Della can be said to have "ransacked" several stores in two hours.

Finally found it! It's simply tailor-made for Jim, and it's a good thing that no one but him can use. She turned almost all the shops upside down, and there was no second store for sale. It's a platinum bracelet, with a simple design, no flashy decorations, and the material itself is just right to show its value – just the way a really good thing should be. Even with Jim's gold watch, it won't lose its color. When Della first saw it, she decided it should belong to Jim. Like both of them, they are quiet and precious—both bracelets and people can be described in this way. The shop offered her twenty-one yuan, and she rushed home with the remaining eight cents and seven cents. With this chain, Jim can decently pull out his gold watch in front of anyone to see the time. You must know that even if the watch is so expensive, and the watch bracelet is an old leather rope, Jim sometimes wants to see the time, but can only glance at it occasionally.

Back home, Della was a little sober from her intoxication, and a trace of worry and sanity struck her. She took out her curling tweaks, lit the gas, and began to save the ruins that remained after the generous dedication to love. It's a huge undertaking, dear friends – it's just too big.

Forty minutes later, she was covered in thick little curly hair, like a bad boy who had skipped school. She stood in front of the mirror and stared at her own appearance, examining it for a long time, seriously.

"If Jim hadn't killed me," she said to herself, "not before I look at me a second time... He would definitely say that I was the selling girl of the Coney Island Choir. But what can I do—alas, what else can I do with a piece of eight cents and seven cents? ”

At seven o'clock, the coffee is brewed, and the frying pan is already heated on the fire, waiting for the fried meat.

Jim never came home late. Della folded and folded the bracelet in the palm of her hand and sat at the small table by the door, waiting for Jim to push the door in. After a while, she heard Jim's footsteps downstairs, and her face instantly turned white. She had a habit of silently praying for the most ordinary trifles of the day. As she was now whispering, "Lord, please, let me remain beautiful in his eyes!" ”

The door opened, and Jim walked in and closed the door with his hand back. He was thin and had a serious expression. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two years old, and at a young age he had to carry the burden of supporting his family. He desperately needed a new coat, and he should add a pair of gloves.

Jim stood with his back to the door, like a hound that smelled of quail. His eyes were fixed on Della, and his eyes were full of expressions that she couldn't read, which made her feel afraid. There was no anger, no surprise, no dissatisfaction, no fear, it wasn't any emotion she had the courage to face. Jim just stood there, staring at her, his face full of only that strange expression.

Della got up lightly from the table and rubbed it against him.

"Jim! "Honey," she raised her voice, "don't look at me like that. I cut my hair and sold it, and if I didn't give you a gift, I really wouldn't be able to live this Christmas! You won't mind if your hair grows back, right? I really can't help it. Actually, my hair grows really fast. Say 'Merry Christmas' to me, Jim! Have fun. You don't even know how great the gift I've made for you is – it's so pretty, it's so delicate! ”

"You, put, head, hair, cut, drop, off?" Jim asked word for word, as if he couldn't fully digest the obvious fact even if he racked his brains.

"Cut it off, sold it," said Della, "don't you love me the same way anyway?" Even if I cut my hair, I'm still the same me, aren't I? ”

Jim glanced around the room strangely.

"You mean your hair is gone?" He asked, his expression a little sluggish.

"Don't look for it," said Della, "it's already sold." I said it, sold it, it's gone. God, it's Christmas Eve, don't be so serious about me? That's for you! Maybe I can count how much hair I have," she said, suddenly switching to a sweet tone, "but no one can ever tell how deeply I love you." So I start cooking, Jim? ”

Jim seemed to wake up from a trance at once. He hula hugged Della tightly into his arms. Now please don't look in the other direction, look at anything, about ten seconds. Does it make a difference if the rent is eight dollars a week or a million a year? Perhaps only mathematicians or self-clever people will answer incorrectly at this time. Maggie brought priceless gifts, but they also had no answers. This sentence is a bit inexplicable, and we will explain it later.

Jim took a package from his coat pocket and placed it on the small table.

"Dale," he said, "don't get me wrong, I don't think anything—whether it's a haircut, a facelift, a shampoo or anything—can make me love my girl a little less." But if you open that package, you can see why I was confused as soon as I walked in the door. ”

Della's slender white fingers deftly unwrapped the wrapped rope and paper. A few seconds later, a scream full of ecstasy suddenly sounded! What followed was a cry and tears that only a woman could burst out in an instant, and the man had to do everything in his power to appease him.

Lying quietly in the box was a set of combs—a complete set, with combs for combing two sideburns and a back comb. This is the one that Della once stopped in front of a window on Broadway for a long time, yearning to linger. Fine comb teeth, pure tortoiseshell, edged with jewelry — perfect for the hair that had disappeared. She knew that the combs were very expensive, and that her heart had only desired them before, even if she had the slightest luxury. And now, they belonged to her, and when she could finally dress up with this coveted gift, she had lost that beautiful long hair.

But she still held the comb tightly to her chest. After a long time, he lifted his tearful little face, tried to smile and said, "My hair is growing fast, Jim!" ”

Then, Della jumped up like a kitten with a burned tail and shouted, "Oh! Oh! ”

Jim hadn't seen his beautiful gift yet. She spread out her palms, which had been clutching tightly, and eagerly delivered the bracelet to him. Reflected in her bright and fiery passion, the matte precious metal shone brightly.

"It's gorgeous, isn't it, Jim?" I flipped the whole city over and over to find it. Now, you have to watch a hundred times a day. Give me the watch and show me what it would look like to hang it up. ”

Instead of doing what she said, Jim slumped down on the couch with his hands behind his head and a smile on his face.

"Dale," he said, "let's put away our Christmas presents for the time being." They're all great, but there's no rush to use them. I sold the watch and bought you a comb with the money from the sale. Okay, now you can go and cook. ”

We know that Maggie was three wise men who brought gifts to the baby who had come into the manger, and they invented the Christmas gift. As wise men, their gifts are undoubtedly wise, and they may be able to circulate and trade after being copied and mass-produced. Here, I tell you an ordinary little story, the protagonist is two stupid children living in a small apartment, especially unwise sacrifice for each other's most precious possessions. But I would like to conclude by saying to the wise men of today that of all the gift-givers, these two are the most intelligent. Of all the people who exchange gifts, they are also the smartest. They are the smartest wherever they are. The two of them were Maggie.

Image source network, the story originates from the "O. Henry Short Story Selection", infringement must be deleted!