The Gift of the Magi

By O. Henry
Adapted by Jessica Halana Cristo

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all she had. And Christmas
was tomorrow. All she could [1] do was cry. So she did. She was Mrs.
Della Dillingham Young, and she was married to Mr. James Dillingham
Young, who she called Jim.
Della stopped crying and fixed her makeup. She looked out the window
at a grey cat walking on a grey fence in a grey backyard. Christmas Day
was tomorrow, and she had only $1.87 to buy Jim a present. She saved
every cent she could for months, and that was the result. Only $1.87 to buy
a present for Jim. Her Jim. She wanted to buy something nice for him.
There was [2] a mirror in that room. Suddenly [3] she looked at herself
in the mirror and let down [4] her hair. Her eyes looked bright [5] but her
face was pale [6] .
The couple had two possessions they loved very much. One was Jim’s
gold watch, which belonged [7] to his father and his grandfather before
him. The other was Della’s hair.
Now Della's beautiful hair fell around her, shining like a brown waterfall
[8] . It reached [9] below her knee and looked almost like a dress for her.
And then she put it up again nervously and quickly [10] . She stood still
[11] while a tear or two fell on the old red carpet.
She put on her old brown jacket and her old brown hat, and with her eyes
still bright, she walked out the door and down the stairs to the street.
She stopped at a sign [12] that read: “Hair Goods of All Kinds.” Della
ran up the stairs and met the owner of the store.
“Will you buy my hair?” asked Della.
“I buy hair,” said Madame. “Take your hat off and let's look at it.”
Della let down her hair.
“Twenty dollars [13] ,” said Madame, lifting Della’s hair in her hand.
 “Give it to me quick,” said Della.
Oh, and for the next two hours she was happy looking for [14] Jim's
present.
Finally, she found it. It was perfect and unique. No other stores had
anything like it. It was a simple platinum chain [15] . It was even good
enough [16] for The Watch. As soon as [17] she saw it she knew she had
to give it to Jim. It was like him. Quietness and value—it described both
[18] . She paid twenty-one dollars for it, and she went home with the 87
cents. With that chain on his watch, Jim could look at it in any company.
Great as the watch was, he sometimes hid it because of the old leather strap
[19] that he used in place of a chain.
When Della got home she began thinking. She took her curling irons
[20] and tried to fix what was left [21] of her hair after her act of
generosity and love. Which is always a very difficult task, dear friends.
After forty minutes her head was covered with tiny [22] curls that made
her look like a schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror for a
long time.
“But what could I do—oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-
seven cents?”
Jim was never late. Della held the chain in her hand and sat on the corner
of the table near the door. Then she heard him on the stairs, and she turned
white [23] for just a moment. She whispered [24] :
“Please God, make him think I am still pretty.”
The door opened and Jim walked in and closed it. He looked thin and
very serious. Poor fellow [25] , he was only twenty-two—and burdened
[26] with a family! He needed a new coat and he was without gloves.
When he got in, Jim stopped and stood there without moving. He stared
[27] at Della, with an expression in his eyes that she could not understand,
and it terrified [28] her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor
horror, nor any of the sentiments that she was prepared for. He simply
stared at her with that peculiar expression on his face.
Della got up and went to him.
 “Jim, darling,” she cried [29] , “don't look at me that way. I had my hair
cut off and sold it because I couldn't live through Christmas without giving
you a present. It will grow out again—you won't mind [30] , will you? I just
had to do it. My hair grows so fast. Say ‘Merry Christmas!’ Jim, and let's be
happy. You don't know what a nice—what a beautiful, nice gift I got for
you.”
“You cut off your hair?” asked Jim, as if [31] the fact was difficult for
him to understand.
“Cut it off and sold it,” said Della. “Don't you like me the same,
anyway? I'm me without my hair, am I not?”
Jim looked around the room curiously.
“You say your hair is gone?” he said, still sounding confused.
“You don’t have to look for it,” said Della. “It's sold, I tell you—sold and
gone, too. It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, it was all for you. My
love for you has no limits. Now, let’s have dinner?”
Jim seemed to wake up suddenly. He hugged his Della. For ten seconds
let’s look somewhere else [32] . Eight dollars a week or a million a year—
what is the difference? A mathematician would give you the wrong answer.
The magi [33] brought valuable gifts, but that was not one of them. This
will be explained later on.
Jim took a package from his coat pocket and threw it on the table.
“Don't make any mistake, Dell,” he said, “about me. No haircut or shave
or shampoo could make me like my girl any less. But if you open that
package you will see why I was a little shocked at first.”
She tore the paper and opened the package. And then she screamed with
joy, which then changed to hysterical tears, and her husband had to comfort
her.
In the package were The Combs—the set of combs that Della had
worshipped for a long time in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs
decorated with jewels—perfect to wear on the beautiful hair she no longer
had [34] . They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart wished for
them without any hope of ever getting them. And now, they were hers, but
her hair was gone.
But she hugged them to her chest, and eventually she looked up with
tears in her eyes and a smile and said: “My hair grows so fast, Jim!”
 And then Della jumped up and cried, “Oh, oh!”
Jim still hadn’t seen [35] his beautiful present. She gave it to him
eagerly [36] . The precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her
bright spirit.
“Isn't it wonderful, Jim? I walked all over town [37] to find it. You'll
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 down on the couch and put his hands under
the back of his head and smiled.
“Dell,” said he, “let's put our Christmas presents away [38] for a while.
They're too nice to use just now. I sold the watch to get the money to buy
your combs. And now I think we can have dinner.”

The magi, as you know, were wise men who brought gifts to the Babe in
the manger [39] . They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being
wise, their gifts were wise ones. And here I have told you the simple story
of two silly [40] children in a flat who sacrificed for each other what they
loved most. But in a last word to the wise [41] of these days: of all who
give gifts these two were the wisest [42] . Of all who give and receive gifts,
those who are like them are the wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They
are the magi.

[1] “Could” - poderia.

[2] “There was” - tinha.

[3] “Suddenly” - de repente.

[4] “Let down her hair” - soltou o cabelo.

[5] “Bright” - brilhante.

[6] “Pale” - pálida.

[7] “Belonged” - pertenceu.

[9] “Reach” - alcançar, chegar.

[10] “Quickly” - rapidamente.

[11] “Stood still” - ficou parada.

[12] “Sign” - placa.

[13] 20,00 dólares em 1905, quando esse conto foi escrito, valeria hoje
717,42 dólares, o equivalente a 4261,47 reais (em novembro de 2024).

[14] “Looking for” - procurando.

[15] “Chain” - corrente. O tipo de relógio descrito na história (pocket

[16] “Enough” - o bastante

[17] “As soon as” - assim que.

[18] “Both” - ambos.

[19] “Leather strap” - alça de couro.

[20] “Curling iron” - modelador de cachos.

[21] “Was left” - sobrou.

[22] “Tiny” - muito pequeno.

[23] “Turned white” - ficou branca/pálida.

[24] “Whispered” - sussurrou.

[25] “Poor fellow” - pobre rapaz.

[26] “Burdened” - sobrecarregado.

[27] “Stare” - olhar fixamente.

[29] “Cry” - nesse caso está sendo usado como “exclamar” e não “chorar”.

[30] “Mind” - se importar.

[31] “As if” - como se.

[32] “Somewhere else” - outro lugar.

[33] “The Magi” - os três reis magos.

[34] “No longer had” - não tinha mais.

[35] “Hadn’t seen” - não tinha visto.

[36] “Eagerly” - ansiosamente.

[37] “All over town” - por toda a cidade.

[38] “Put away” - guardar.

[39] “Manger” - manjedoura.

[40] “Silly” - bobo.

[41] “Word to the wise” - expressão usada antes de dar um conselho ou

[42] “Wisest” - o mais sábio.