The Gift of the Magi by O.

Henry
The story tells of a young married couple, James, known as Jim, and Della Dillingham. The couple has very little money
and lives in a modest apartment. Between them, they have only two possessions that they consider their treasures:
Jim's gold pocket watch that belonged to his father and his grandfather, and Della's lustrous, long hair that falls almost
to her knees.
It's Christmas Eve, and Della finds herself running out of time to buy Jim a Christmas present. After paying all of the bills,
all Della has left is $1.87 to put toward Jim's Christmas present. Desperate to find him the perfect gift, out she goes into
the cold December day, looking in shop windows for something she can afford.
She wants to buy Jim a chain for his pocket watch, but they're all out of her price range. Rushing home, Della pulls down
her beautiful hair and stands in front of the mirror, admiring it and thinking. After a sudden inspiration, she rushes out
again and has her hair cut to sell. Della receives $20.00 for selling her hair, just enough to buy the platinum chain she saw
in a shop window for $21.00.
When Jim comes home from work, he stares at Della, trying to figure out what's different about her. She admits that she
sold her hair to buy his present. Before she can give it to him, however, Jim casually pulls a package out of his overcoat
pocket and hands it to her. Inside, Della finds a pair of costly decorative hair combs that she'd long admired, but are now
completely useless since she's cut off her hair. Hiding her tears, she jumps up and holds out her gift for Jim: the watch
chain. Jim shrugs, flops down onto the old sofa, puts his hands behind his head and tells Della flatly that he sold his watch
to buy her combs.
The story ends with a comparison of Jim and Della's gifts to the gifts that the Magi, or three wise men, gave to Baby
Jesus in the manger in the biblical story of Christmas. The narrator concludes that Jim and Della are far wiser than the
Magi because their gifts are gifts of love, and those who give out of love and self-sacrifice are truly wise because they
know the value of self-giving love.
The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
Mathilde Loisel longs to live a life of rich opulence in France during the 1800s. Her husband, however, is a simple clerk, and
though he works hard to provide for his wife, his earnings only provide for the basics in life. While her husband sees joy in
the simplest of things, Mathilde only sees the things she doesn’t own.
One evening, the husband comes home full of excitement. He’s been given an invitation to the Minister of Public Instruction’s
fancy ball. Mathilde’s husband is glad to be able to offer her such an extravagant experience, but she dwells on lacking an
appropriately fancy dress. She doesn’t want to be embarrassed.
Her husband offers Mathilde the 400 francs he was saving to buy himself a hunting rifle. Mathilde buys a lovely dress with
the money, but she still feels unfulfilled. A few days before the ball, Mathilde laments to her husband that she lacks jewelry
to wear.
Her husband suggests that Mathilde borrow some jewels from her friend, Mme. Forestier. Mme. Forestier happily lends
Mathilde a spectacular diamond necklace, and Mathilde goes with her husband to the ball.
Mathilde and her husband have a fantastic time at the party. Mathilde is nearly drunk on all the attention she receives for
her appearance. She parties until four in the morning, while her husband has been asleep in a coatroom since midnight.
They leave the ball, and when they get home, Mathilde realizes she’s lost the necklace. They retrace their steps, meet with
police, and offer a reward for the necklace to no avail.
The Loisels go deeply into debt to purchase a replacement necklace. Mathilde takes on odd jobs, and her husband works
a second job at night to repay the loans. Mathilde ages quickly during the ten years it takes to pay back the loans, and her
appearance suffers greatly.
One afternoon shortly after finishing repaying the loans, Mathilde meets Mme. Forestier in the street. Mathilde is
unrecognizable she has aged so much. Mathilde explains the reason for her appearance, and Mme. Forestier takes her by
the hands.
“’Oh, my poor Mathilde!’” explains Mme. Forestier. ‘Why, my necklace was paste. It was worth at most five hundred francs!’”

The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe

The narrator begins by telling us that Fortunato has hurt him. Even worse, Fortunato has insulted him. The
narrator must get revenge. He meets Fortunato, who is all dressed up in jester clothes for a carnival celebration − and is
already very drunk. The narrator mentions he’s found a barrel of a rare brandy called Amontillado. Fortunato expresses
eager interest in verifying the wine’s authenticity.

So he and the narrator go to the underground graveyard, or “catacomb,” of the Montresor family. Apparently, that’s where
the narrator keeps his wine. The narrator leads Fortunato deeper and deeper into the catacomb, getting him drunker and
drunker along the way. Fortunato keeps coughing, and the narrator constantly suggests that Fortunato is too sick to be
down among the damp crypts, and should go back. Fortunato just keeps talking about the Amontillado.

Eventually, Fortunato walks into a man-sized hole that’s part of the wall of a really nasty crypt. The narrator chains
Fortunato to the wall, then begins to close Fortunato in the hole by filling in the opening with bricks. When he has one
brick left, he psychologically tortures Fortunato until he begs for mercy – and we finally learn the narrator’s name:
Fortunato calls him “Montresor.”

After Fortunato cries out Montresor’s name, he doesn’t have any more lines. But just before Montresor puts in the last
brick, Fortunato jingles his bells. Then Montresor finishes the job and leaves him there to die. At the very end, Montresor
tells us that the whole affair happened fifty years ago, and nobody has found out.