If you’re a patriotic Iranian who is well-informed about the distant history of his country to be proud of his national identity, then you might already know the story of the three wise Persians who had gone to extremes to pay a visit to the newborn Jesus Christ?! The story of those wise Persians had so dramatically influenced the world that O. Henry, an American author of the twenieth century, have written a very short story, entitled the Gift of the Magi, in which he includes those three wise men.
Magi is the plural noun of magus which means a Zoroastrian priest. So, we can refer to those three wise Persian men as the Magi. The Magi are talented folks in the setting of astrology. Their studies on the movement of the stars and the planets had driven them out of the borders of their country. Noticed by them was an interesting phenomenon in the heavens that promised them the coming of a prophet, which they had been expecting for some time.
Now, in the story of the Gift of the Magi, there lives a poor couple in which the husband earns ten dollars less than what he used to and for their living, they’re obliged to put aside eight dollars a week for the rent. The setting in the story takes place when they’re in time approaching the festivities of Christmas. Jim, the husband, wanted to buy a jewelled comb for his wife, Della, and on the other hand, unnoticed by her husband, Della wanted to buy a watch chain for Jim’s gold watch. Apart from Jim’s gold watch, there was another thing in their family that made them extremely happy and proud, and that was Della’s long hair. Della had saved a sum of money to buy the watch chain for her husband, however, it wasn’t sufficient. So, Della resolved to have her long hair cut, so she may sell it and increase her budget.
In the short story, an analogy is drawn between the decisions of these two and what came to fruition as the result of their actions: Jim and Della had made unwise decisions to sell what was most precious to them to let something wise come to fruition. In terms of wisdom, they’re being compared with the Magi.
Now, let not an important detail slip off your mind: the Magi, of whom we’d spoken earlier, were in conclusion the first three men to have ever given Christmas gifts to someone and the plot thrills us, since that someone was no one other than Jesus Christ. Here, we notice the birth of the gift-giving custom on the Christmas day.
Meisam Khaghani
