ne dollar and eighty-seven cents. cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies.

Pennies saved o one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the
butcher until one's cheeks burned with embarrassment. Three times Della counted it. One dollar
and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.There was nothing left for Della
but to flop down on the sabby little couch and howl.

Della and her husband lived in a furnished flat at $8 per week. In the vestibule below was a
letterbox into which no letter would go and an electric button from which no mortal finger could
coax a ring. On it was a card bearing the name 'Mr James Dillingham Young:

"The "Dillingham' had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when James
was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, the letters of
'Dillingham' looked blurred, as though they were thinking of contracting to an unassuming 'D.
But whenever Mr James Dillingham Young came home, he was called 'Jim' and greatly hugged
by Mrs James Dillingham Young, introduced to you as Della

Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window
and looked out dully at a grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard. Tomorrow would be
Christmas and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had saved every penny
she could for

months, but twenty dollars a week doesn't go far Expenses had been greater than she had
calculated. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for Jim. Something
fine and rare-something just a little

bit near to being worthy of the honour of being loved by him.

There was a mirror between the windows of the room. Suddenly, she whirled from the window
and stood before the glass. Her eyes were shining. but her face had lost its colour. Rapidly, she
pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.

There were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they took a mighty pride.
One was fim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's
hair

Della's beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It
reached below her knee. She did it up again nervously. She faltered only once and stood still
while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.

n went her old brown jacket and eyes d old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the she
cluttered out of the door and down the stairs to the street. sparkle still

where she stopped, the sign read, "Mme Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds .Will you buy my
hair?" asked Della

I buy hair, said Madame. "Take yer hat off and let's have a look at it!

Down rippled the brown cascade.

Whom did Jim's gold watch belong to?

Twenty dollars, said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand.

The next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present.

She found it at last. It had been made for Jim and no one else. There was no other like it in any
of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain, simple and
pure in design. Quietness and value the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they
took for it and she hurried home with the 87 cents. With that chain on his watch, Jim might be
properly anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked
at it on the sly because of the old leather strap that he used in place of a chain.

When Della reached home, her excitement dimmed a little. She got out her curling irons and
lighted the gas and went to work, repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love

Within forty minutes, her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look like a
truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully y and critically.

At 7 o'clock, the coffee was made and the frying pan was on the back of the stove, ready to
cook the chops.

Jim was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table.
Then she heard his step on the stair down on the first flight and she turned white for just a
moment. She had a habit of saying little silent prayers about simple everyday things and now
she whispered, 'Please, God, make him think I am still pretty

The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow,
he was only twenty two-and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he
was without gloves.

Jim stepped inside the door. His eyes were upon Della and there was an expression in them that
she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, surprise, disapproval or horror, any of
the sentiments s that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at on his face. ther fixedly
with that that peculiar expression on his face

Della wriggled off t the table and went to him.

"Jim, darling' she cried, 'don't look at me that way. I sold my hair because I couldn't have lived
through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll grow out again. My hair grows awfully fast.
Say 'Merry Christmas!" Jim, and let's be happy Jim looked about the room curiously

"You say your hair is gone?" he said, with an air almost of idiocy
"You needn't look for it,' said Della. "It's sold, I tell you. Be good to me, for it went for you!

'Don't make any mistake, Dell,' he said, 'I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut that
could make me like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you'll see why I was
surprised at first. Pale

able to move quickly White and agile fingers tore at the string and paper. There was a delighted
scream of joy; and then, a quick change to hysterical tears and wails, followed by Jim's soft
words of comfort to Della.

For there lay the set of combs that Della had worshipped for long in a shop window. Eda Es with
yo Beautiful combs, pure tortoiseshell, with jewelled rims-just the shade for her beautiful
vanished hair. They were expensive and her heart had yearned for them without the least hope
of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned them were
gone.

She hugged them to her heart. Then she looked up with dim eyes and a smile and said, 'My hair
grows so fast, Jim!"

But Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open
palm, the dull, precious metal seeming to flash.

Instead of obeying, Jim just smiled.

What did Della tell Jim as consolation, after seeing her present?

"Isn't it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town 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.

Dell' said he, 'let's put our Christmas presents away and keep em a while. They're too nice to use
just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs

According to The Bible, the Magi were wise men who came to worship the infant Jesus Christ
and brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh

The Magi were wise men-wonderfully wise by wise men-who long trou Al from ever and brought
gifts to the babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. This is the
uneventful story of feed two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each
other the greatest treasures of their house. But let it be said that of all who give gifts, these two
were the wisest. They were the Magi.

Summarise this whole story paragraph wise

Summarise it