Della and Jim Young, the main characters in "The Gift of the Magi," are a young married couple with very little money. Jim has suffered a thirty-percent pay cut, and the two must scrimp for everything. On the day before Christmas, Della counts die money she has painstakingly saved for months. She is dismayed to find she has less than two dollars, hardly enough to buy anything at all. After a good long cry, Della determines to find a way to buy Jim the present he deserves. As she looks into a mirror, an idea comes to her.

Jim and Della have two possessions of which they are botti proud. One is Jim's gold watch, which has been handed down from his grandfather. The other is Della's hair, lustrous, shining, and falling past her knees. Before she can lose her nerve, Della races out of the...