They gave everything for love and it went wrong but they gained something unique: the deepest part of Christmas in a story to download for free

It all starts with a woman counting money. Too little money, too little money. She has a little less than two dollars. And there’s only one day left until Christmas. It will be very difficult to buy a gift for her loved one.

The woman – her name is Delia – is married to Jim. And she is very in love. They live in the United States, in a very cheap apartment. She has only one wealth, her beautiful hair. He only has her gold watch.

With that data it begins The gift of the Three Wise Mena tale of O.Henrythe American writer who was born in 1862 and died in 1910 and who can be downloaded for free from Bajalibros. Legend has it that he wrote it under pressure from the obligation to deliver it and driven by a bottle of whiskey.

“O.Henry “He has left us more than a brief and pathetic masterpiece,” the Argentine writer was able to say. Jorge Luis Borgeswho included pieces by the author in his anthologies – among them, this story – and even dared to intervene in one of the stories of O.Henry, The dream.

In reality, the writer was born William Sydney Porter in Greensboro, North Carolina. His mother died when he was very young and with his father, who was a doctor, they went to live at his grandmother’s house. He was a good student, in 1881 he graduated as a pharmacist.

But life was going to get busy. Young Sydney went to work on a ranch in Texas and later to live with a friend in Austin. The friend had a cat named Henry. Of his relationship with him-Oh HenryI told him, his pseudonym would come out.

At that time he learned several languages, including Spanish, he eloped with a well-off woman, had a daughter who died and then another.

He also began working as a teller at First National Bank in Austin. Attention: This information will be important.

In 1894, he launched a weekly comic magazine titled Rolling Stone. After the failure of this initiative, Porter joined the newspaper Houston Post: he was a journalist, columnist and even drew caricatures.

But – here comes the bank thing – in February 1896, he was accused of embezzlement of bank resources. He fled: his friends helped him and he went to Honduras. He spent only six months there: his wife was very ill and he decided to return to Austin.

He was tried and received the minimum sentence: five years, of which he served three years and three months for good behavior. Serving as a night pharmacist at the prison hospital, he wrote to financially support his daughter Margaret. His tales of adventures in the American Southwest and Central America quickly gained popularity among magazine readers. Upon leaving prison, WS Porter had already transformed into O. Henry.

The following years will be spent in New York. It’s the same city which another writer, Stephen Crane, portrayed: poverty, workers, a tough fight against hunger. O. Henry will already be a writer, he will create the character of Cisco Kid, he will publish several collections of short stories, he will live to write and he will write to live. Alcohol will haunt you.

O.Henry He was distinguished by his narratives that focused on everyday life, particularly that of the inhabitants of New York.

His stories revealed how chance events shaped the characters of his characters, through a humor that oscillated between melancholic and sarcastic.

It was characteristic of his works to present surprising outcomes, a resource that became closely associated with his style. However, this distinctive feature eventually lost her critical appreciation when she lost popularity.

Borges, who did not give praise, stated: “Edgar Allan Poe maintained that every story must be written based on its outcome; O. Henry exaggerated this doctrine and thus arrived at the trick storyto the story whose final line lurks a surprise.”

Thus, a surprise awaits us at the end of The gift of the Three Wise Men, a short story, very suitable for reading aloud. Or several surprises. Delia will make a drastic decision. And she fears Jim’s reaction, who comes home tired and carrying the same poverty on his shoulders.

We readers also fear their reaction. Delia has set her heart on trying to please her husband. But sometimes those decisions can be counterproductive.

The ending – the ending is not told, you have to read it – will make you think and make you feel. Christmas is its deepest values.