Showing results by author "O. Henry" in All Categories

"The Ransom of Red Chief" may be the most widely read story in grammar, middle, and high school. Young people can relate to 10-year-old Red Chief, his father, who makes the kidnappers pay him back in order to take Red Chief off their hands....

O. Henry's short stories are well known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings. Includes: "By Courier", "Jimmie Hayes and Muriel", "School and Schools", "Roads of Destiny", "A Blackjack Bargainer"," A Cosmopolite in a Café", "Christmas by Injunction", "Mammon and the Archer", "A Bird of Bagdad", "After 20 Years", "From The Cabby’s Seat", "Lost on Dress Parade", "Memoirs of a Yellow Dog", "Tobin’s Palm", "Transients in Arcadia", "The Trimmed Lamp", and more.

Tales of the Unexpected is a collection of timeless short stories, which surprise and engage with a twist. This audiobook features the classic tales "The Story of an Hour", by Kate Chopin; "The Gift of the Magi", by O. Henry; "Miss Bril", by Katherine Mansfield; "A Horseman in the Sky" and "An Occurence at Owl Creek Bridge", by Ambrose Bierce; and "The Necklace", by Guy de Maupassant.

Like a sweet box of assorted Holiday candy, this set has something to appeal to all tastes from the littlest listeners to grown-ups and those in between. Enjoy these tales as a family on car trips to Auntie's house or over the river and through the woods to Grandma's. The stories will add to the spirit of the season whether you are feeling like Santa or Scrooge.

When Della finds she doesn't have enough money to buy a proper Christmas present for her beloved husband Jim, radical action is needed. She resolves to cut off and sell her precious hair to raise funds. Armed with the twenty dollars raised, she buys the perfect gift for Jim. But when Jim comes home with his present for her, Christmas takes an altogether unexpected turn....

When it comes to the holidays, no story captures the true spirit of giving like O. Henry’s classic "The Gift of the Magi". And in celebration of the season, Audie Award® winners Katherine Kellgren, Oliver Wyman, and Jonathan Davis bring to life this timeless Christmas tale, plus two more of O. Henry’s holiday gems: "The Cop and the Anthem" and "The Last Leaf".

Classic Christmas Stories features seven timeless classics, including Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore, A Christmas Dream and How it Came True by Louisa May Alcott, A Christmas Inspiration by Lucy Maud Montgomery, The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, A Kidnapped Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum, The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen, and The Three Kings by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

O. Henry wove several stories together into this highly episodic narrative, taking his title and inspiration from Lewis Carroll's ballad of the walrus and the carpenter in Through the Looking-Glass. The stories are set in the fictional country of Anchuria in Central America, a banana republic where larceny is rampant and revolution lurking in every impoverished back alley. O. Henry offers a cutting satire of contemporary politics and prejudices.

Based on O. Henry's endearing tale. Once three wise men came bearing gifts. Now a light dust of snow quiets the city streets. Christmas was upon a young couple whose sharing of lives together had just begun. A gift was needed and only a dollar and eighty-seven cents had been saved. Can the joy, the dreams, the hope for the future, the burning flame of love, be adequately expressed with only a dollar and eighty-seven cents?

Действие разворачивается в небольшом американском городке, где двое мошенников, Билл и Сэм, задумывают похитить сына богатого местного жителя ради выкупа. Однако их планы переворачиваются с ног на голову, когда выясняется, что их маленький пленник, называющий себя Вождём Краснокожих, принимает их действия за увлекательную игру.

«Персональный магнетизм» ― очередной блестящий рассказ О. Генри, выдающегося американского писателя, прославившегося короткими произведениями, которые отличаются насмешливой иронией, неожиданными финалами и оригинальными поворотами сюжета. Слушая эту историю, вы узнаете, как находчивый мастер афер Джефф Питерс и его партнёр по жульничеству Энди Таккер зарабатывают деньги, устроив перед мэром небольшого городка замысловатое представление с арестом фальшивого целителя.

Джефф Питерс и Энди Таккер никогда не были достойны доверия. Однажды они решили провернуть одну аферу в сфере матримониальных услуг, чтобы заработать лёгкие деньги. Начали они с того, что написали объявление для публикации в газетах о том, что очаровательная вдова в возрасте тридцати двух лет, обладающая капиталом в три тысячи долларов и владеющая обширным поместьем, хотела бы повторно выйти замуж; рядом с собой ей хотелось бы видеть мужчину с любящим сердцем, который умеет заботиться о собственности и разумно вкладывать деньги.

In this delightfully tangled tale of wit, ego, and legal entanglements, O. Henry serves up a razor-sharp satire of matrimonial mischief and mistaken identity. Meet Lawyer Gooch, a shrewd legal mind with a taste for theatrical metaphors and a knack for keeping his office “compartments” watertight—especially when handling the explosive dramas of divorce. But when three strangers arrive, each spinning a “hypothetical” tale involving the same runaway wife, a suave suitor, and a weary husband, Gooch finds himself navigating a shipwreck of schemes, secrets, and social pretensions.

"A Comedy in Rubber" is a short story by O. Henry first published in 1881. It tells the tale of two people, William Pry and Violet Seymour, who fall in love but miss their own wedding as they are too busy watching accidents and unusual events.

"Hearts and Hands" is a short story by O. Henry, published in 1910, which focuses on a train journey in which a pretty young woman makes the acquaintance of a former suitor who is handcuffed to another man.

William Sydney Porter was born on 11th September 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina. At age 3 his mother died from tuberculosis. From an early age it was clear Porter had a large appetite for reading as he absorbed the world around him. In December 1899, in McClure’s Magazine, he published a short story as O. Henry.

Christmas may come but once a year but human emotions, the driving force of our characters, are with us every day. Yet, somehow these same emotions when they happen at Christmas seem amplified; we seem more tender to their touch, their words. Whether it’s a long-lost returning soldier wondering how best to return to the arms of his family without too great a risk of shock... Or a prodigal son whose taken path has driven pain into his own and others hearts… These stories reveal much about the human condition.

O Henry is perhaps the master of the American short story across his 600 works. Slices of life, vignettes of narrative are told with verve and poise and words that simply flow as he wanders through society revealing characters and stories of instant appeal.

A compilation of popular short stories from American literature narrated by professional voice actor Jake Phillips.

Many of O. Henry’s stories describe cultural issues of the day, and many incorporate themes relevant to our modern times. This anthology was specially selected for this purpose. It includes the story performances and introduces the telling of each story by describing its relevance and explaining some of the references that might not be familiar to modern-day audiences.