6.4 O. Henry – "The Gift of the Magi" (1905)

Author/context: O. Henry (William Sydney Porter, 1862–1910), American master of the twist ending; this is his most famous story.Synopsis: On Christmas Eve, the poor young couple Della and Jim each secretly sacrifices their dearest possession to buy the other a gift: Della sells her beautiful long hair to buy a platinum chain for Jim's heirloom watch; Jim sells the watch to buy jewelled combs for Della's hair. The gifts are "useless" — and the narrator concludes that of all gift-givers, these two, the foolish wisest, were the Magi.Themes: love and sacrifice; irony and unintended consequences; the economy of giving; sentiment vs commodity.Legal issues raised (lighter, but teachable — the exam loves this exercise):1. Issue-spotting the transactions: (a) Della's sale of hair to Mme Sofronie — a sale of goods (movable property; ownership transfers on payment and delivery — the essentials of sale under the contract provisions of the Muluki Civil Code 2074 and the Sale of Goods tradition); (b) the chain and combs — completed gifts (donation requires donative intent, delivery and acceptance — gift inter vivos under the Civil Code; no consideration, hence revocation rules); (c) title questions — was Jim's watch his to sell (heirloom, but his)? 2. Gift vs contract: a gift once perfected cannot be clawed back for ingratitude without statutory grounds; consider conditional gifts.3. Unintended…