Beyond “The Gift of the Magi”: Where to Start with O. Henry

You may know “The Gift of the Magi” without having opened an O. Henry collection. What should you try next: another intimate story, an encounter in the street, or something with a sharper comic edge?

This guide picks five other stories from The Four Million. All are in the Project Gutenberg volume linked at the end, so one EPUB gives you several starting points.¹

The introductions describe only the opening situations. They do not explain the endings. Do not read only to guess the surprise; the voices and small decisions matter too.

Choose by the question that interests you

These are reading prompts, not a ranking or a claim that all five have the same emotional tone.²

1. After Twenty Years

On a quiet night, a man tells a police officer he is waiting for an old friend. Their meeting was arranged twenty years earlier.²

This is a good starting point when you want to listen closely to a conversation. How does a person describe an absent friend? What do confidence and affection sound like when the other person is not there to answer?

Before reading further, think about which parts of an old friendship you expect to stay the same. Keep it as a question, not a prediction to prove. Leave the final encounter to the story rather than looking for a synopsis first.

2. The Cop and the Anthem

Winter is approaching, and Soapy needs shelter. He makes a plan in which being arrested would serve a practical purpose.²

Choose this when you are interested in the gap between what someone tries to do and how that action is received. Notice when your own expectations become more confident than the character’s situation warrants.

Do not expect a uniformly light read just because some passages are comic. Poverty, exposure, and the threat of imprisonment are part of its setting. A turn of phrase can amuse you while you still take a person’s circumstances seriously.

3. The Skylight Room

A boarding-house keeper shows prospective lodgers rooms at different prices. Elsie Leeson takes a small room near the top of the house.²

Read this when you want to pay attention to space: what can a person see, what can they afford, and where can they feel alone? Instead of treating the room as mere scenery, consider how you imagine living in it.

If you have just read a story for its cleverness, try changing your question. Ask not “What will the twist be?” but “What makes this place bearable to this person?” The story includes material hardship and distress, so it is not simply a cozy account of a modest home.

4. A Service of Love

Joe and Delia are young artists who marry and try to support their studies. Money becomes part of the life they are building together.²

This is a natural next choice when “The Gift of the Magi” left you thinking about affection and what people do for each other. The two stories do not repeat the same plot, but the connection is worth exploring.

Pay attention to how each person talks about work. Then keep separate what the other person knows, what you know, and what you merely assume. This is not a detective exercise. It simply makes the conversation feel more immediate.

5. The Green Door

Rudolf receives a card bearing an intriguing phrase. He decides to follow the possibility of an adventure rather than walk on.²

Pick this story when you want an unfamiliar doorway to pull you forward. What makes an invitation seem meaningful? How much of that meaning comes from the person receiving it?

Try reading without deciding in advance whether the experience must become a romance, a puzzle, or a joke. Let the story shift your expectations. Afterward, look back at the moment of choosing to knock, rather than going straight to an explanation of the ending.

Three ways to make a second choice

After one story, ignore the order of this article and choose another kind of attention: from a conversation to a place, from a place to an action, or from one person’s plan to a relationship.

Another option is to follow the table of contents of The Four Million. These five stories are a way into the collection, not a replacement for it.¹

For a reread, return to one paragraph that initially seemed unimportant. Ask whether you now notice a word, gesture, or assumption you passed over. Enjoy the change without deciding you “should have guessed” anything the first time.

Short does not necessarily mean easy English

The edition linked here is the original English, not a graded-reader adaptation. Wordplay, slang, cultural references, and dated expressions can require attention. A brief story is not a guarantee of a particular language level.²

When a reference is unfamiliar, first decide whether it blocks the scene or merely adds color. Mark some expressions for later rather than turning every paragraph into research. If slow reading and frequent lookups are part of the pleasure, read that way.

Some historical wording and attitudes may be offensive to readers today. Recognize them as part of the text rather than language to imitate. These recommendations also do not claim that every story is suitable for every age.

Download one collection, then choose a story

Open The Four Million on Project Gutenberg

The catalogue offers EPUB as well as an online-reading option. Choose the collection and then use its table of contents to find a story; a separate EPUB for each title is not required. Check the copyright rules applicable in your country before downloading or using the text. Project Gutenberg’s public-domain assessment is based on United States law.¹³

To continue in BlueReader, keep a copy of the EPUB, sign in, and upload it. Wait for the server to process the EPUB before opening it from the bookshelf. Use the same account when you want to continue on another supported device; the workflow does not keep the file solely on your device.⁴

Sign in to add an EPUB

For more download sources, see the free EPUB guide. For another collection of short fiction, see where to start with Sherlock Holmes.