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THE GIFT OF THE MAGI (full version)

William Sydney Porter "O. Henry"

O. Henry was the pen-name of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910) one of the most famous North American short-story writers. His life was a tragic one because he was sentenced to five years in prison accused of fraudulent appropriation of funds at the bank where he worked as a cashier. In spite of this, life gave him a profound knowledge of human character, especially of inhabitants in big cities who are unfortunate in life.

 

First published in 1909, this Edwardian Christmas story by the celebrated American short story writer tells of a young married couple, Della and Jim, whose only two possessions of any value are her beautiful long hair and his gold watch inherited from his father.

 
 

The Gift of the Magi
PAGE 2/3

El Regalo de los Reyes Magos
PAGINA 2/3

On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she fluttered out the door and down the stairs to the street.

Se puso su vieja y oscura chaqueta; se puso su viejo sombrero. Con un revuelo de faldas Y con el brillo todavía en sus ojos, abrió nerviosamente la puerta, salió y bajó las escaleras para salir a la calle.

Where she stopped, the sign read: “Mme. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds.” One flight up Della ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too white, chilly, hardly looked the “Sofronie.”

Donde se detuvo se leía un cartel: "Mme. Sofronie. Cabellos de todas clases". Della subió rápidamente Y, jadeando, trató de controlarse. Madame, grande, demasiado blanca, fría, no parecía la "Sofronie", indicada en la puerta.

"Will you buy my hair?" asked Della.

"¿Quiere comprar mi pelo?", -preguntó Della.

"I buy hair," said Madame. "Take your hat off and let’s have a sight at the looks of it."

"Compro pelo", -dijo Madame. "Sáquese el sombrero y déjeme mirar el suyo".

Down rippled the brown cascade.

La áurea cascada cayó libremente.

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

"Veinte dólares", -dijo Madame sopesando la masa con manos expertas.

"Give it to me quick," said Della.

"Démelos inmediatamente", -dijo Della.

Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim’s present.

¡Oh! ... y las dos horas siguientes transcurrieron volando en alas rosadas. Perdón por la metáfora, tan vulgar. Y Della empezó a mirar los negocios en busca del regalo para Jim.

She found it at last. It surely 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 chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation--as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she knew that it must be Jim’s. It was like him. Quietness and value--the description applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her 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 on account of the old leather strap that he used in place of a chain.

Al fin lo encontró. Estaba hecho para Jim, para nadie más. En ningún negocio había otro regalo como ése. Y ella los había registrado todos. Era una cadena de reloj, de platino, de diseño sencillo y puro, que proclamaba su valor sólo por el material mismo y no por alguna ornamentación inútil y de mal gusto -tal como ocurre siempre con las cosas de verdadero valor. Era digna del Reloj. Apenas la vio se dio cuenta que era exactamente lo que buscaba para Jim. Era como Jim: valioso y sin aspavientos. La descripción podía aplicarse a ambos. Pagó por ella veinte dólares y regresó rápidamente a casa con ochenta y siete centavos. Con esa cadena en su reloj, Jim iba a vivir ansioso de mirar la hora en compañía de cualquiera. Porque, aunque el reloj era estupendo, Jim se veía obligado a mirar la hora a hurtadillas a causa de la gastada correa que usaba en vez de una cadena.

When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a tremendous task, dear friends--a mammoth task.

Cuando Della llegó a casa, su excitación cedió el paso a una cierta prudencia y sensatez. Sacó sus tenacillas para el pelo, encendió el gas y empezó a reparar los estragos hechos por la generosidad sumada al amor. Lo cual es una tarea tremenda, amigos míos, -una tarea mastodóntica.

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

A los veinte minutos su cabeza estaba cubierta por unos rizos pequeños y apretados que la hacían parecerse a un encantador estudiante cimarrero. Miró su imagen en el espejo con ojos críticos, largamente.

"If Jim doesn’t kill me," she said to herself, "before he takes a second look at me, he’ll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do--oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?"

"Si Jim no me mata", se dijo, "antes de que me mire por segunda vez, dirá que parezco una corista de Coney Island. Pero, ¿qué otra cosa podría haber hecho? ¡Oh! ¿Qué podría haber hecho con un dólar y ochenta y siete centavos?."

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

A las siete de la tarde el café estaba ya preparado y la sartén lista en la estufa para recibir la carne.

Jim was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned white for just a moment. Della had a habit of saying little silent prayers about the simplest everyday things, and now she whispered:

Jim no se retrasaba nunca. Della apretó la cadena en su mano y se sentó en la punta de la mesa que quedaba cerca de la puerta por donde Jim entraba siempre. Entonces escuchó sus pasos en el primer rellano de la escalera y, por un momento, se puso pálida. Tenía la costumbre de decir pequeñas plegarias por las pequeñas cosas cotidianas y ahora murmuró:

"Please God, make him think I am still pretty."

"Dios mío que Jim piense que sigo siendo bonita."


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.

La puerta se abrió, Jim entró y la cerró. Se le veía delgado y serio. Pobre muchacho, sólo tenía veintidós años y ¡ya con una familia que mantener! Necesitaba evidentemente un abrigo nuevo y no tenía guantes.

Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was 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 that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.

Jim franqueó el umbral y allí permaneció inmóvil como un perdiguero que ha descubierto una codorniz. Sus ojos se fijaron en Della con una expresión que su mujer no pudo interpretar, pero que la aterró. No era de enojo ni de sorpresa ni de desaprobación ni de horror ni de ningún otro sentimiento para los que ella hubiera estado preparada. El la miraba simplemente, con fijeza, con una expresión extraña.

Della wriggled off the table and went for him.

Della se levantó nerviosamente y se acercó a él.

"Jim, darling," she cried, "don’t look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It’ll grow out again--you won’t mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say Merry Christmas!, Jim, and let’s be happy. You don’t know what a nice--what a beautiful, nice gift I’ve got for you."

"Jim, querido, -le gritó-,"no me mires así. Me corté el pelo y lo vendí porque no podía pasar la Navidad sin hacerte un regalo. Crecerá de nuevo ¿no te importa, verdad? No podría dejar de hacerlo. Mi pelo crece rápidamente. Dime, Feliz Navidad y seamos felices. ¿No te imaginas qué regalo, qué regalo tan lindo te tengo!"

Click here to read PAGE 3/3 of this short story

 

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