賢者の贈り物
The Gift of the Magi
by O. Henry
［チェックポイント］
今から学ぶ「賢者の贈り物」は、安アパートに暮らしながらも深く愛し合っている若い夫婦――ジムとデラの物語です。もうすぐクリスマスというときに、二人はクリスマスプレゼントを考え始めます。
この物語を繰り返し聞くことによって、英語を早くマスターすることができます。ここで、物語に出てくる単語をチェックしておきましょう。
gift 贈り物
Magi 賢者（キリストの降誕を祝って贈り物を持ってきた東方の３人の賢者。マタイの福音書２章より）
penny １セント硬貨
bulldoze 強引にけちる、おどす
imputation 非難
parsimony けち
flop down ばたりと倒れる
instigate 扇動する、引き起こす
subside 静まる、沈下する
coax 口説き落とす
appertain 属する
flat 共同住宅、アパート
sterling 本物の
agile 身軽な
reflection 鏡などに映る姿、反映
depreciate 価値を下げる
ripple さざ波を立てる
cascade 滝
splash はねを飛ばす
flutter どぎまぎする
collect herself 彼女自身を落ち着かせる
ransack くまなく捜す
fob chain 懐中時計用の鎖
on the sly こっそりと
ravage 破壊、破壊の跡
truant ずる休みした者
laboriously やっとの思いで、骨を折って
nimble 敏捷な
crave 切望する
adorn 飾る
ardent 熱心な
［ストーリー］
１ドルと８７セント One dollar and eighty-seven
cents. それで全部だった That was all.
しかもそのうち６０セントは And sixty cents of it
１セント硬貨だった was in pennies.
１回に１セントか２セントずつ貯めたものだ
Pennies saved one and two at a time
雑貨屋で強引にけちって by bulldozing the grocer
また八百屋で and the vegetable man そして肉屋で and
the butcher 顔を赤らめてまでして until one's cheeks
burned けちだという無言の非難をされて with the
silent imputation of parsimony そんなしみったれた買い方にである
that such close dealing implied.
デラは３度数えた Three times Della counted it.
１ドル８７セント One dollar and eighty- seven cents.
そして明日はクリスマスだった And the next day would
be Christmas.
どうしたって何もすることがなかった There was
clearly nothing to do
みすぼらしい小さなソファに身を投げ出すよりほかに
but flop down on the shabby little couch
そしておいおい泣くよりほかに and howl.
だからデラは泣いた So Della did it.
これは人生観への反映も引き起こす Which instigates
the moral reflection 人生はむせび泣きで成り立っているという
that life is made up of sobs, またすすり泣きと sniffles,
微笑みで and smiles, なかではすすり泣きが一番多くを占めている
with sniffles predominating.
この家の主婦が第一の状態（むせび泣き）から第二の状態（すすり泣き）へ次第に沈静化していく間に
While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the
first stage to the second,
この家の中をちょっと見回しておこう take a look
at the home.
週８ドルの家具付アパートだ A furnished flat at $8
per week. これは乞食というほどのものではない It
did not exactly beggar description,
しかしそうした名前をつけたのは明らかに but it
certainly had that word 浮浪者狩りの警官隊を用心してのことだ
on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.
下の玄関口には In the vestibule below
郵便受けがあった was a letter-box
手紙など来そうにないが into which no letter would go,
そして電気の玄関ベルのボタンがあった and an
electric button
人間の指ではどうやっても鳴らなかったが from
which no mortal finger could coax a ring.
またそこに貼ってあったのは Also appertaining
thereunto
「ジェームズ・ディリンガム・ヤング」という名の記された名刺だった
was a card bearing the name "Mr. James Dillingham Young."
かつて「ディリンガム」はそよ風に踊っていた
The "Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze
以前の景気が良かった時代には during a former period
of prosperity
そのときこの（ミドルネームの）所有者（である彼）は週給３０ドルをもらっていた
when its possessor was being paid $30 per week.
しかし収入が２０ドルに減ってしまった今では
Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, though,
夫婦は真剣に考えていた they were thinking seriously
それを謙遜で控えめな「Ｄ」に縮めて書こうかと
of contracting to a modest and unassuming D.
でもジェームズ・ディリンガム・ヤング氏が帰宅して二階のアパートにたどり着くといつも
But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his
flat above 彼は「ジム」と呼ばれて he was called "Jim"
奥さんに強く抱きしめられるのだった and greatly
hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young,
すでにご紹介したデラである already introduced to you
as Della. それはなかなか結構な話だが Which is all
very good.
デラは泣きやんで Della finished her cry
頬にパフを当てた and attended to her cheeks with the
powder rag.
彼女は窓のそばに立ち She stood by the window
ぼんやりと眺めた and looked out dully
灰色の猫が灰色の裏庭の灰色の塀の上を歩いているのを
at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard.
明日はクリスマスだった Tomorrow would be Christmas
Day, そして彼女には１ドル８７セントしかない
and she had only $1.87
それでジムにプレゼントを買おうというのだ with
which to buy Jim a present.
彼女はもう何ヶ月も節約してきた She had been
saving every penny she could for months,
それでこの結果だった with this result.
週給２０ドルではこれ以上は無理だ Twenty dollars a
week doesn't go far.
支出は彼女の予想（計算）を上回った Expenses
had been greater than she had calculated.
支出とはそういうものだ They always are.
ジムにプレゼントを買うのにたった１ドル８７セントしかないなんて
Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. 彼女のジムに Her Jim.
何時間も幸福な時間をすごしてきたのに Many a
happy hour she had spent
なにか彼にいいものをと考えて planning for something
nice for him.
なにか素晴らしい Something fine めったにない and
rare 本物をと and sterling
なにか少しでも価値あるものを --something just a
little bit near to being worthy
ジムに持ってもらう名誉になるものをと of the
honor of being owned by Jim.
部屋の窓と窓の間には壁掛けの鏡があった
There was a pier-glass between the windows of the room.
たぶんあなたは見たことがあるだろう Perhaps
you have seen
週８ドルの安アパートの鏡というものを a
pierglass in an $8 flat.
非常にやせていて A very thin
また非常に身軽な人なら and very agile person may,
縦に断片的に映る姿をすばやくつなぎ合わせて
by observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal
strips, 自分の全身像をかなり正確に得ることができるかもしれない
obtain a fairly accurate conception of his looks.
デラはほっそりしていたから Della, being slender,
この術を身につけていた had mastered the art.
突然彼女はふり向いて窓から離れ Suddenly she
whirled from the window 鏡の前に立った and stood before
the glass. 彼女の目はきらきら輝いていた Her eyes
were shining brilliantly, しかし顔色は20秒前から蒼白になっていた
but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds.
彼女はさっと髪をたらして Rapidly she pulled down her
hair それをいっぱいにたらした and let it fall to its
full length.
ところでジェイムズ・ディリンガム・ヤング夫妻には二つの所有物があった
Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs
彼らはそれを非常に自慢していた in which they both
took a mighty pride.
一つはジムの金時計だった One was Jim's gold watch
それは父また祖父から譲り受けたものだ that had
been his father's and his grandfather's.
もう一つはデラの髪だった The other was Della's
hair.
もしシェバの女王（聖書に出てくるソロモン王を訪問した美しい異国の女王）が
Had the queen of Sheba
アパートの通風口を隔てた部屋に住んでいたならlived
in the flat across the airshaft,
デラはいつか髪を渇かすために窓の外にたらして
Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry
女王の宝石や贈り物を顔色なからしめたことだろう
just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts.
もしソロモン王が門番で Had King Solomon been the
janitor,
地下室に積み上げた彼のすべての宝と共にいたら
with all his treasures piled up in the basement,
ジムはきっと自分の時計を取り出して見せたことだろう
Jim would have pulled out his watch
彼がそこを通るたびに every time he passed,
王がうらやましがって顎髭をひねるのを見たいばかりに
just to see him pluck at his beard from envy.
だから今デラの美しい髪は体のまわりに垂れていた
So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her
茶色の滝のように波打って輝きながら rippling and
shining like a cascade of brown waters.
膝の下にまで達して It reached below her knee
ガウンのようだった and made itself almost a garment for
her.
そののち彼女はまたそれを結い上げた And then
she did it up again 神経質そうに、すばやく nervously
and quickly.
一瞬彼女はひるんで Once she faltered for a minute
立ちつくし and stood still 1,2滴の涙をすり切れた赤い絨毯の上に落とした
while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.
古びた茶色のジャケットを着て(着た=went on) On
went her old brown Jacket;
古びた茶色の帽子をかぶった on went her old brown hat.
スカートを一回転させてから With a whirl of skirts
眼にはまだ光るものを溜めたまま and with the
brilliant sparkle still in her eyes,
彼女はどきまぎしてドアの外に出 she fluttered out
the door 階段をおりて街路に出た and down the stairs to
the street.
彼女が足を止めた所には Where she stopped
看板にこうあった the sign read:
「マダム・ソフロニィ "Mme. Sofronie. かつら類一式
Hair Goods of All Kinds."」
デラは階段を一つかけあがると One flight up Della
ran, 自分を落ち着かせた and collected herself,
はあはあと言いながら panting.
マダムは Madame, 大柄で色は白すぎるし large, too
white, 冷たい感じで chilly,
とても「ソフロニィ」（聡明を意味するギリシャ語源の女性の名）には見えなかった
hardly looked the "Sofronie."
「私の髪を買って下さる "Will you buy my hair?"」とデラは尋ねた
asked Della.
「髪は買いますよ "I buy hair,"」と女主人は答えた
said Madame. 「帽子を取って "Take your hat off
どんな感じかちょっと見てみましょう and let's
have a sight at the looks of it."」
茶色の滝がさざ波を打って流れ落ちた Down rippled
the brown cascade.
「20ドルね "Twenty dollars,"」とマダムは言った
said Madame,
手慣れた手つきで髪の房を持ち上げながら lifting
the mass with a practised hand.
「すぐください "Give it to me quick,"」
とデラは言った said Della.
ああ、それからの２時間は Oh, and the next two
hours ばら色の翼に乗って飛んでいった tripped by on
rosy wings. いや、そんな使い古したたとえは忘れてほしい
Forget the hashed metaphor.
彼女は店をくまなく歩き回ったのだ She was
ransacking the stores ジムへのプレゼントを探して for
Jim's present.
ついに彼女は見つけた She found it at last.
まさにジムのために作られたようなものだった
It surely had been made for Jim 他の誰のためでもない
and no one else. それほどのものはなかった There was
no other like it どの店にも in any of the stores,
彼女は店という店をくまなく見て回ったのだ and
she had turned all of them inside out.
それは懐中時計用のプラチナ製の鎖だった It
was a platinum fob chain 簡素で上品なデザイン simple
and chaste in design, その価値を十分に主張していた
properly proclaiming its value 実質だけで by substance alone
けばけばしい装飾ではなく and not by meretricious
ornamentation--
立派なものはすべてそうあるべきだが as all good
things should do.
あの時計にもよく似合う It was even worthy of The
Watch. 彼女はそれを見たとたん As soon as she saw it
ジムのものでなければならないと思った she knew
that it must be Jim's. それはジム自身にも似ていた It
was like him. 静かだが価値がある Quietness and value--
その形容が両方に当てはまった the description
applied to both.
店員は代金21ドルを彼女からもらった Twenty-one
dollars they took from her for it,
彼女は急いで家に帰った and she hurried home 残った87セントを持って
with the 87 cents. この鎖をあの時計につけたら With
that chain on his watch
ジムは堂々と時間を気にすることができるだろう
Jim might be properly anxious about the time
どんな人の中でも in any company.
時計は立派だったが Grand as the watch was,
彼はときどきこっそり時計をのぞいていたのである
he sometimes looked at it on the sly
古い革ひもを使っていたので on account of the old
leather strap that he used 鎖の代わりに in place of a chain.
デラは家に着くと When Della reached home
その興奮は her intoxication
若干、慎重さと分別に道をゆずった gave way a
little to prudence and reason.
彼女はカール用の鏝（こて）を取り出した She
got out her curling irons そしてガスに火をつけ and
lighted the gas (髪をバッサリ切ってしまった状態の）惨状をつくろう作業にとりかかった
and went to work repairing the ravages 愛情に加えられた気前の良さによる惨状である
made by generosity added to love.
これはいつも大変な仕事だ Which is always a tremendous
task, 諸君、一大事業だよ dear friends--a mammoth task.
40分もすると Within forty minutes
彼女の頭は小さな密集したカールでおおわれた
her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls
まるで学校をずる休みした小学生の男の子だった
that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy.
彼女は鏡に映る自分の姿をながめた She looked at
her reflection in the mirror
長く、注意深く、また冷ややかに long, carefully,
and critically.
「（こんな頭にしたことで）たとえジムが私を殺さないにしても
"If Jim doesn't kill me,"」と彼女はつぶやいた
she said to herself, 「もう一度私を見る前に "before
he takes a second look at me, 言うでしょうね he'll say
コニー島のコーラス・ガールみたいだ、ぐらいのことは
I look like a Coney Island chorus girl.
でも。どうしたらいいの But what could I do-- ああ、どうしたらいいの
oh! what could I do たった１ドル87セントで with a
dollar and eighty- seven cents?"
７時にはコーヒーがつくられた At 7 o'clock the
coffee was made
またフライパンが（料理用）ストーブの奥の方にのせられ
and the frying-pan was on the back of the stove
いつでもチョップ（骨つきの羊・豚などの厚切り肉料理）をつくれるように暖められた
hot and ready to cook the chops.
ジムの帰りが遅れたことはなかった Jim was
never late.
デラは時計の鎖を二重に折って手に握りしめた
Della doubled the fob chain in her hand
そしてテーブルの端に腰をかけた and sat on the
corner of the table 彼がいつも入ってくるドアの近くだ
near the door that he always entered.
すると聞こえた Then she heard
一階の階段での彼の足音 his step on the stair away down
on the first flight, 彼女は一瞬青くなった and she
turned white for just a moment.
彼女には無言の小さな祈りをする癖があったのだが
She had a habit for saying little silent prayer
日常の小さなことでも about the simplest everyday
things, このときは低く声に出した and now she
whispered: 「どうか神様 "Please God, あの人に今でも私を美しいと思わせて下さい
make him think I am still pretty."」
ドアが開き The door opened ジムが入ってきて and
Jim stepped in ドアを閉めた and closed it. 彼はやせて
He looked thin とても真剣な顔をしていた and very
serious. かわいそうに Poor fellow, 彼はまだほんの22歳だったのだ
he was only twenty-two--
それでいて家庭の重荷を負っていた and to be
burdened with a family! 新しいオーバーコートもいるし
He needed a new overcoat 彼には手袋もなかった and he
was without gloves.
ジムは入るなり立ち止まってしまった Jim
stopped inside the door,
うずらの匂いをかぎつけたセッター犬のように動けなくなってしまったのだ
as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail.
彼の眼はじっとデラに注がれ His eyes were fixed
upon Della,
そこにはデラに読みとれない表情があった and
there was an expression in them that she could not read,
それが彼女にはこわかった and it terrified her.
それは怒りではなく It was not anger, 驚きでも nor
surprise, 不満でも nor disapproval, 恐怖でもなかった
nor horror, また彼女が覚悟していたどんな感情でもなかった
nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for.
彼は単にじっと彼女をみつめていた He simply stared
at her fixedly そんな奇妙な表情を浮かべて with that
peculiar expression on his face.
デラはよろけるようにテーブルを離れ Della
wriggled off the table 彼に歩み寄った and went for him.
「ねえ、ジム "Jim, darling,"」と彼女は言った
she cried, 「そんな眼で私を見ないで "don't look
at me that way. 私が髪を切って売ったのは I had my
hair cut off and sold
クリスマスを過ごせなかったからよ because I
couldn't have lived through Christmas
あなたにプレゼントをあげずには without giving you
a present.
髪ならまた伸びるわ It'll grow out again--
おこらないでね you won't mind, will you?
仕方なかったのよ I just had to do it.
私の髪は伸びがとても早いわ My hair grows awfully
fast. クリスマスおめでとうと言って、ジム Say
`Merry Christmas!' Jim, 楽しくしましょう and let's be
happy.
あなたにはわからないでしょう You don't know
どんなにすてきな what a nice--
どんなに美しくて素敵な贈り物を私が買ってきたか
what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you."」
「髪を切ってしまったのか "You've cut off your
hair?"」 とジムは、やっとの思いで尋ねた
asked Jim, laboriously, まるでまだその明白な事実に達していないかのように
as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet
すでに懸命に思いをめぐらした後でも even after
the hardest mental labor.
「切って売ったのよ "Cut it off and sold it,"」
とデラは言った said Della.
「もう私を好きでないと言うの？ "Don't you
like me just as well, anyhow?
髪がなくても私は私でしょ I'm me without my hair,
ain't I?"」
ジムはいぶかじげに部屋を見回した Jim looked about
the room curiously.
「もう君の髪はないと言うんだね "You say your
hair is gone?"」と彼は言った he said,
ほとんど腑抜けの状態になって with an air almost of
idiocy.
「探すことないわ "You needn't look for it,"」とデラは言った
said Della. 「売ったのよ "It's sold,
売って、もうなくなったのよ I tell you--sold and
gone, too.
ねえ、今夜はクリスマス・イブよ It's Christmas
Eve, boy. 優しくして Be good to me,
あなたのためにしたことなのよ for it went for you.
私の髪の毛は（神様に）数えられていると思うけど
Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered,"」(聖書マタイの福音書10:30より）
と、にわかに彼女は真顔で甘い声になって続けた
she went on with sudden serious sweetness,
「でもあなたに対する私の愛情は誰にも数えられないわ
"but nobody could ever count my love for you.
チョップを火にかける？ ジム Shall I put the chops
on, Jim?"」
ジムはたちまち呆然自失から覚めたようだった
Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake.
彼はデラを抱きしめた He enfolded his Della.
ここで10秒間ほど For ten seconds
私たちはよく見てみよう let us regard
慎重な調査をもって with discreet scrutiny 取るに足らない問題を
some inconsequential object 少し別の方向に in the other
direction.
週給８ドルと年俸100万ドル Eight dollars a week or a
million a year-- その違いは何だろう what is the
difference? 数学者や機知に富む人でも A mathematician
or a wit 間違った答えをすることだろう would give
you the wrong answer.
あの東方の賢者たち（キリストの降誕を祝って贈り物を持ってきた東方の３人の賢者。マタイの福音書２章より）は貴重な贈り物を持ってきた
The magi brought valuable gifts,
だがその答えはそれらの中にはなかった but that
was not among them.
この不可解な主張はあとで光を当てられることになる
This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.
ジムはオーバーコートのポケットから包みを取り出した
Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket
そしてテーブルの上にぽんと置いた and threw it
upon the table.
「誤解しないでくれ、デル（デラの省略形）
"Don't make any mistake, Dell,"」と彼は言った he
said, 「ぼくについてだよ "about me. 何もないさ
I don't think there's anything
髪を切ろうと顔を剃ろうとシャンプーしようと
in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo
そんなことで僕の妻を好きでなくなるなんてことは
that could make me like my girl any less.
でもその包みを開けたら But if you'll unwrap that
package
ぼくがどうして最初呆然となったのか理由がわかるよ
you may see why you had me going a while at first."」
白い指 White fingers
そして紐と紙をひき裂く敏捷さ and nimble tore at the
string and paper. 続いて我を忘れた喜びの声 And then
an ecstatic scream of joy; だが次の瞬間 and then,
ああ、女性特有の早変わり alas! a quick feminine
change ヒステリックな涙と号泣に to hysterical tears
and wails,
こうして部屋の主人はあらゆる手を尽くして妻を慰めねばならなかったのである
necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting
powers of the lord of the flat.
そこには櫛（くし）が入っていたからである For
there lay The Combs--
横髪と後ろ髪用の櫛のセットだった the set of
combs, side and back,
それはブロードウェーのウィンドーに飾ってあって、デラが長くあこがれていたものだった
that Della had worshipped long in a Broadway window.
美しい櫛だった Beautiful combs, 本物のべっ甲だ
pure tortoise shell, ふちに宝石をちりばめていた with
jewelled rims-- 似合いの色だった just the shade
あのなくなってしまった美しい髪にさすには to
wear in the beautiful vanished hair.
高価なものだということはわかっていたから
They were expensive combs, she knew,
彼女の心はただ欲しくてあこがれていただけだった
and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them
持てるという一抹の希望もなく without the least hope
of possession. それが今自分のものなのだ And now, they
were hers, しかし長いふさふさした髪は but the
tresses その待望の髪飾りを飾るはずだったのに
that should have adorned the coveted adornments
なくなっていたのだ were gone.
しかし彼女は櫛をしっかと胸に抱きしめた But
she hugged them to her bosom, しばらくして and at length
ようやく彼女は顔を上げた she was able to look up
かすんだ眼で with dim eyes そして微笑んで言った
and a smile and say: 「私の髪はとても早く伸びるのよ、ジム
"My hair grows so fast, Jim!"」
デラは飛び跳ねる子猫のように櫛を踊らせては
And them Della leaped up like a little singed cat
「うわーっ」と叫んでいた and cried, "Oh, oh!"
ジムはまだ自分に対する美しい贈り物を見ていなかった
Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present.
彼女はそれをいそいそと差し出した She held it out
to him eagerly 手のひらに乗せて upon her open palm.
にぶい光を放つその貴金属は The dull precious
metal
彼女のきらめく熱心な精神を反映して輝いているようだった
seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit.
「しゃれてない？ ジム "Isn't it a dandy, Jim?
町中探して見つけたのよ I hunted all over town to find
it. これからは日に100回も時間を見ないではいられなくなるわよ
You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now.
さあ時計を出して Give me your watch.
どんなふうか見たいのよ I want to see how it looks on
it."」
言われた通りにする代わりに Instead of obeying,
ジムはソファに寝転がると Jim tumbled down on the
couch 頭の後ろに手をやって and put his hands under the
back of his head 微笑んだ and smiled.
「デル（デラ）"Dell,"」と彼は言った said
he,
「ぼくたちのクリスマス・プレゼントはすこし置いておいて
"let's put our Christmas presents away (将来のために）しばらくしまっておこう
and keep 'em a while. いま使うには立派すぎるよ
They're too nice to use just at present.
ぼくは時計を売ったんだ I sold the watch
櫛を買うお金を作ろうとして to get the money to buy
your combs.
さあ、チョップを火にかけてくれないか And now
suppose you put the chops on."」
ご存知のようにあの東方の賢者たちは The magi, as
you know, 賢明な人たちだった were wise men-- すばらしく賢明な人たちだった
wonderfully wise men--
彼らは飼い葉桶の中の「みどりご」（イエス）に贈り物を持ってきた
who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger.
彼らはクリスマスに贈り物を贈る術を発明した
They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.
賢明だったから Being wise,
彼らの贈り物も疑いもなく賢明なものだ their
gifts were no doubt wise ones,
重複したら取り替える特権もおそらく持っていたことだろう
possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication.
そしてここに And here
私がつっかえつっかえ読者に語ってきたのは I
have lamely related to you アパート住まいの愚かな二人の人の子のたわいもない物語だ
the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat
彼らは愚かにも犠牲にしてしまった who most
unwisely sacrificed
お互いのために家で最も大切な宝を for each other
the greatest treasures of their house.
しかし現代の賢明な人たちに対する最後の言葉として
But in a last word to the wise of these days
こう言っておきたい let it be said
贈り物をするすべての人々の中で that of all who
give gifts 彼ら二人こそ最も賢明だったのだ these
two were the wisest.
ああ、贈り物をしたり、もらったりするすべての人々よ
O all who give and receive gifts,
彼らのような人々こそが最も賢明なのだ such as
they are wisest.
どこにいようと彼らは最も賢明なのである
Everywhere they are wisest. 彼らこそ賢者である They are
the magi.
●（原文）
The Gift of the Magi
by O. Henry
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty
cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time
by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher
until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony
that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it.
One dollar and eighty- seven cents. And the next day would be
Christmas.
There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby
little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the
moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and
smiles, with sniffles predominating.
While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the
first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished
flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but
it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy
squad.
In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter
would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger
could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing
the name "Mr. James Dillingham Young."
The "Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze during
a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30
per week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, though, they
were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming
D. But whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached
his flat above he was called "Jim" and greatly hugged
by Mrs. James Dillingham Young, already introduced to you as
Della. Which is all very good.
Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result.
Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far. Expenses had been
greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to
buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent
planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and
sterling--something just a little bit near to being worthy of the
honor of being owned by Jim.
There was a pier-glass between the windows of the room.
Perhaps you have seen a pierglass in an $8 flat. A very thin and
very agile person may, by observing his reflection in a rapid
sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly accurate
conception of his looks. Della, being slender, had mastered the
art.
Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the
glass. her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost
its color within twenty seconds. Rapidly she pulled down her hair
and let it fall to its full length.
Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. Had the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts.
Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his beard from envy.
So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her rippling and
shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee
and made itself almost a garment for her. And then she did it up
again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute and
stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.
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.
Where she stopped the sign read: "Mne. Sofronie. Hair Goods
of All Kinds." One flight up Della ran, and collected
herself, panting. Madame, large, too, white, chilly, hardly
looked the "Sofronie."
"Will you buy my hair?" asked Della.
"I buy hair," said Madame. "Take yer hat off and
let's have a sight at the looks of it."
Down rippled the brown cascade.
"Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with a
practised hand.
"Give it to me quick," said 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.
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.
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.
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.
"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?"
At 7 o'clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the
back of the stove hot and ready to cook the chops.
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.
She had a habit for saying little silent prayer about the
simplest everyday things, and now she whispered: "Please
God, make him think I am still pretty."
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.
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.
Della wriggled off the table and went for him.
"Jim, darling," she cried, "don't look at me
that way. I had my hair cut off and sold 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."
"You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim, laboriously,
as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the
hardest mental labor.
"Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't
you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm me without my hair, ain't
I?"
Jim looked about the room curiously.
"You say your hair is gone?" he said, with an air
almost of idiocy.
"You needn't look for it," said Della. "It's
sold, I tell you--sold and gone, too. It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be
good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were
numbered," she went on with sudden serious sweetness, "but
nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops
on, Jim?"
Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his
Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some
inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight dollars a
week or a million a year--what is the difference? A mathematician
or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought
valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion
will be illuminated later on.
Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon
the table.
"Don't make any mistake, Dell," he said, "about
me. I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a
shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But
if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a
while at first."
White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And
then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine
change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate
employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.
For there lay The Combs--the set of combs, side and back, that
Della had worshipped long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs,
pure tortoise shell, with jewelled rims--just the shade to wear
in the beautiful vanished hair.
They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply
craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession.
And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned
the coveted adornments were gone.
But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to
look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: "My hair grows so
fast, Jim!"
And them Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried,
"Oh, oh!"
Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to
him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to
flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit.
"Isn't it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it.
You'll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give
me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it."
Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his
hands under the back of his head and smiled.
"Dell," said he, "let's put our Christmas
presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use just
at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs.
And now suppose you put the chops on."
The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who
brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of
giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt
wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of
duplication.
And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of
two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for
each other the greatest treasures of their house.
But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that
of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give
and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are
wisest. They are the magi.
［End]