Match the Synopsis: The Tales of O Henry (1) Quiz

Answer: 'The Gift of the Magi'

'The Gift of the Magi' is one of O Henry's most famous short stories. It has been adapted several times for film and TV in various countries, and there's even a Disney version featuring Mickey and Minnie Mouse and a 'Robot Chicken' parody. Jim and Della, the couple in the story, are too poor to buy Christmas presents. Della makes the decision to have her long hair cut off and sell it to buy Jim a chain for his valuable watch, a family heirloom. Jim gives her a pair of tortoiseshell combs that she has had her eye on for some time, but Della is unable to use them now.

Unfortunately, it turns out that her present is useless as well, as he sold his watch to buy her the combs.

Answer: 'A Cosmopolite in a Cafe'

The narrator goes for a drink in a cafe and encounters E Rushmore Coglan, a man who is planning to set up an attraction at Coney Island and describes himself as a 'cosmopolite' who has travelled all over the world. The band in the cafe play 'Dixie' and a third man applauds the song, and it prompts the narrator to ask Coglan where he comes from. Coglan refuses to say, claiming that he is purely a citizen of the world. Coglan leaves the narrator and later gets into a fight with another customer. One of the waiters tells the narrator that Coglan was angry with the customer for insulting his home town (revealed to be Mattawamkeag, Maine).

Answer: 'Between Rounds'

Several tenants, many of whom are Irish-American, live in a boarding-house. The story begins with an Irish-American couple, Mr and Mrs McCaskey, having an argument and throwing food at each other; a passing policeman decides to leave them to it. Mrs Murphy, the owner of the boarding-house, is upset that her son Mike is missing and several tenants search for him around the neighbourhood. Mr and Mrs McCaskey stop fighting and imagine having a child of their own, but argue over the child's name (Mrs McCaskey thinks he should be called Phelan, Mr McCaskey prefers the name Pat).

They hear Mrs Murphy say that she has found her son sleeping under her bed, and go back to fighting.

Answer: 'The Skylight Room'

Miss Elsie Leeson, a typist, takes the titular room in Mrs Parker's boarding-house. The male tenants take a shine to her, including a playwright called Mr Skidder who bases a character in his latest play on her, while the female tenants are disapproving. Miss Leeson tells the other tenants that she can see a certain star from her skylight every night and calls it 'Billy Jackson'. Miss Leeson's work dries up and she becomes ill from having nothing to eat, and Clara, Mrs Parker's black maid, finds her unconscious. An ambulance is called and a doctor carries Miss Leeson down the stairs and takes her to hospital, after giving Mrs Murphy a telling-off.

The doctor's name is revealed to be William Jackson.

Answer: 'A Service of Love'

Joe and Delia are a creative pair; he is a painter and she plays the piano, and they eventually struggle to make ends meet. Delia gets a job teaching piano to a general's daughter while Joe finds a rich customer. One day, Delia comes home with an injured hand and claims she burned herself while making Welsh rarebit for her pupil, but Joe is sceptical. Delia tells him the truth: her pupil never existed in the first place and she was really working in a laundry, and another girl burned her hand with an iron. Joe reveals how he figured this out: his rich customer was also a figment of his imagination and he was working in the engine room downstairs in the same building, and had to send up a dressing and oil for a woman who had injured her hand.

Answer: 'The Coming-Out of Maggie'

Maggie Toole and her friend Anna work in a paper box factory, and many of the girls there are going out with members of the Give and Take Social Club, an Irish-American gang who hold a dance every Saturday. Maggie usually goes without a date, but she turns up at this particular dance with a man called Terry O'Sullivan. Dempsey Donovan, the leader of the gang, gets suspicious when Maggie's date dances with his girlfriend, and makes enquiries with Big Mike O'Sullivan, his boss, who says that he doesn't know anyone called Terry. One of the other girls tells Maggie that Dempsey and Terry are having a fight and Maggie panics, as Terry has brought a knife. Terry drops the knife and leaves, and Maggie confesses that 'Terry' is really an Italian-American called Tony Spinelli, and she asked him to pass himself off as Irish because she was sick of never having dates. Dempsey offers to take her home and be her date at the next dance, and she says yes.

Answer: 'The Cop and the Anthem'

'The Cop and the Anthem' was one of a collection of stories made into a film for 'O Henry's Full House' in 1952. Soapy, a tramp (played by Charles Laughton in the film), wants to go back to prison as winter is drawing near and he needs shelter. He tries to get arrested multiple times, but it does not work. First he tries to go into a posh restaurant, but is turned away.

He smashes a window and tells a policeman he did it, but the policeman does not believe him. He orders a meal in a restaurant and refuses to pay, but two burly waiters throw him out.

He sexually harasses a woman (played by Marilyn Monroe in the film), but she turns out to be a prostitute. He tries acting drunk and disorderly, but a passing policeman mistakes him for a drunk student and ignores him.Finally, he robs a man of his umbrella, but the man meekly apologises. Soapy passes by a church, hears an anthem playing and has second thoughts, deciding to turn over a new leaf and find work.

Unfortunately, a policeman arrests him for loitering and he ends up in prison.

Answer: 'Memoirs of a Yellow Dog'

This is one of the few stories with a non-human narrator; in this case, the narrator is Lovey, a pet dog owned by a middle-aged woman with a henpecked husband. The woman pampers Lovey and treats him like a lapdog, much to his disgust, but Lovey is more interested in her husband and feels sorry for him.

He meets a terrier who lives in the same building and asks why his owner is looking so cheerful, and the terrier says that his owner goes to bars and gets drunk. Lovey decides to encourage the husband to go into a pub, and the husband gets drunk and decides to start a new life and head to the Rocky Mountains.

He changes Lovey's name to Pete, and the little dog is overjoyed to be free from his owner (and terrorises a few cats on the way).

Answer: 'The Love-Philtre of Ikey Schoenstein'

Ikey Schoenstein is a shy Jewish pharmacist who works at an all-night pharmacy. He is in love with Rosy Riddle, but there are two problems; he is too shy to express his love for her and his friend Chunk McGowan is also in love with her. Chunk confides in Ikey that he and Rosy are planning to elope, but Rosy's dad hates him and he worries she might get cold feet.

He asks Ikey if he has anything that might make Rosy fall in love with him. Ikey makes some tablets for Chunk, but unbeknown to Chunk, they contain a sleeping powder instead. Ikey also tips Rosy's father off.

However, Chunk has a fit of conscience and decides to woo Rosy the proper way instead of using drugs - so he puts the pills in her father's coffee instead.

Answer: 'Mammon and the Archer'

Anthony Rockwall is an entrepreneur and self-made man who believes money can buy anything. His son Richard is in love with a Miss Lantry, who is due to sail to Europe, and he wants to spend time alone with her and confess his love, but she is due to go to the theatre. Richard says that money can't buy him a way into high society, but Rockwall believes it can. Ellen, Richard's aunt, believes that love is more powerful than money and gives Richard a ring that she believes will bring him love. Richard and Miss Lantry go to the theatre, but Richard drops the ring and they are caught up in a traffic jam. Miss Lantry decides not to go to the theatre and she and Richard become engaged, which Ellen puts down to the power of love.

It is revealed at the end that Rockwell paid a Mr Kelly to arrange the traffic jam, thus proving his point. (Mammon is a demon associated with the sin of greed, and the 'archer' is Eros/Cupid, the Greco-Roman god of love.)