Match the Synopsis: The Tales of O Henry (8) Quiz

Answer: 'Law and Order'

The narrator is visiting Bud Oakley, an old friend from Texas. They talk about the concept of law and order, and Bud says that it is a thing of the past in Austin. He tells the story of Luke Summers, a range boss, and a fight that occurred with members of his wife's family. Luke and his wife get a divorce, with Luke getting custody of his son, but when he returns home he discovers that his wife and son have gone. Several years later, Luke is a sheriff.

A group of businessmen from the East are passing through the town and one of them, an excitable young man, gets into a fight with Pedro Johnson, a chilli con carne seller, and shoots him. Luke and Bud go to New York to catch the young man.

They meet him in a restaurant and threaten him with arrest, and Bud notices he has scars above his right eyebrow. Luke is arrested for kidnapping, but Bud negotiates with the judge in the magistrates' court and he agrees to let Luke and Bud take the young man back to Texas with him. Bud realises that the young man is Luke's missing son, and that he got the scars when he was a toddler and fell over and cut his face on a pair of spurs. Luke is overwhelmed by the news and looks for the divorce decree, but Bud tells him that he left it behind in the magistrate's office and asks what they are going to do about Pedro Johnson. Luke dismisses him, as he is just happy to have his son back.

Answer: 'The Transformation of Martin Burney'

Martin Burney is a small man who is working on the Speedway by the Harlem River. Dennis Corrigan, his boss, oversees the work from a boat on the river, where he also sells goods. Burney is also a heavy smoker and regularly buys tobacco from Corrigan's boat, not least because it acts as a mosquito deterrent. Corrigan eventually refuses to sell him any more tobacco and tells him that he has to earn it first. Burney relies on the other workers for tobacco, but they soon refuse to give him any. Burney grows desperate and scrabbles through the grass looking for tobacco remnants to smoke, and grows to hate Corrigan. Tony, the Italian man who works in the kitchen, also hates Corrigan and he and Burney plot to cut the rope tying Corrigan's boat to shore.

While they wait for Corrigan to fall asleep, Tony offers Burney a cigar. When it is time to cut the rope, Burney, now pacified with something to smoke, turns on Tony and refuses to go along with his plans.

Answer: 'Roads of Destiny'

This is a very unusual story by O Henry's standards, as firstly, it does not take place in America; secondly, it has no slang; and thirdly, it contains three different scenarios, depending on the path David Mignot, the poet, takes after he leaves home to seek his fortune. On the left path, he encounters a stuck carriage and helps to free it; the Marquis de Beaupertuys, a large and frightening man in black, orders him into the carriage.

They go to an inn and the Marquis tells David that Lucie, his niece, ditched her husband at the altar, and as punishment, she is to marry the first man they meet. David agrees to marry Lucie, but challenges the Marquis to a duel and the Marquis shoots him dead. On the right path, David goes to Paris and meets a beautiful woman on the stairs of the house where he is staying.

The woman, along with the Marquis de Beaupertuys, turns out to be part of a plot to assassinate the king, and uses David to send a message. David is captured by the guards and after telling the king what he knows, the king sends him to Mass that night in his place and he is killed by a conspirator. On the main road, David has a change of heart and goes home.

He inherits his father's sheep, but spends too much time on his poetry and as wolves prey on the flock, David's wife grows increasingly angry with him. He goes to a literary expert for advice and the expert tells him to give up writing poetry. David buys a pistol from a Jewish merchant, burns his poems and shoots himself with the pistol which - you guessed it - formerly belonged to the Marquis de Beaupertuys.

Answer: 'The Guardian of the Accolade'

Uncle Bushrod is an old slave who works for the Weymouth Bank as a porter and belongs to the family who run it. He is worried about Robert Weymouth, the current president, as Robert has been drinking a lot lately. Bushrod is treasurer of a local black church group and has left their passbook in the bank, so he goes to get it and spies Robert taking something out of a vault and putting it in a satchel. Believing that Robert is robbing the bank, Bushrod pursues him to a station and confronts him. Robert believes he has gone crazy. Bushrod begs him to give up the satchel and as a train pulls in, Robert reluctantly hands the satchel over. Bushrod takes the satchel back to the bank. Elsewhere, Robert gets off the train to meet a friend for a fishing trip and tells him that he is going to quit drinking, as he thinks Bushrod is onto him; the satchel had contained a bottle of Bourbon, not money.

Answer: 'The Enchanted Profile'

The narrator talks of the Acropolis, an old hotel in New York with a regular visitor, Mrs Maggie Brown, who is extremely rich and is regularly asked for loans by local businessmen. Ida Bates is the hotel's typist and a friend of the narrator. She is missing for a couple of weeks, and on her return, she tells the narrator where she has been; she has been staying with Mrs Brown. Mrs Brown calls her 'the most beautiful creature I ever saw in my life' and asks Ida to be her companion, as she is single and has no children. Ida wonders why Mrs Brown keeps looking at her and Mrs Brown says that Ida reminds her of the best friend she ever had.

They move into a posh hotel and Mrs Brown buys Ida expensive dresses and takes her to dinner, where she meets Mr Lathrop, a young artist. Mrs Brown is so shocked at the $600 bill that she and Ida move into a boarding house, where she insists on a spending limit of 75 cents a day. Ida grows tired of Mrs Brown's stinginess and goes back to the Acropolis. She and Mr Lathrop are married and the narrator goes to the wedding, and realises why Mrs Brown liked Ida so much: she looks exactly like the woman on the silver dollar. Mrs Brown's 'best friend' is money.

Answer: 'Next to Reading Matter'

The narrator meets Judson Tate in a hotel lobby and notices two things about him: he is extremely ugly, and he has a persuasive voice. Tate tells him his story; he befriended Sancho Benavides, the president of an unnamed country, and manipulated him from behind the scenes. Tate's friend, Fergus McMahan, is a handsome but inarticulate man.

When they journey into the city of Oratama, everyone there recognises Tate and worships him. McMahan tells Tate that he has fallen in love with Anabela Zamora, a beautiful woman in Oratama, and wants Tate to help seduce her by talking to her. Tate stands outside on the patio and talks to Anabela, but does not see her face.

When McMahan points her out in town, Tate is determined to claim her for himself and woos her at a party with his conversation. One night, he loses his voice and Anabela grows cold towards him, and runs off with McMahan a few days later. Tate grows desperate and buys a black medicine from a local pharmacist, which restores his voice.

He catches up with Anabela and McMahan and wins her back by talking. In the present day, the narrator asks after Anabela, but Tate is more interested in talking about human anatomy and the narrator realises Tate is trying to sell him a product, the medicine he claims restored his voice. Tate offers him some lozenges and the narrator grows disillusioned and leaves.

Answer: 'A Double-Dyed Deceiver'

Sprague Dalton, aka the Llano Kid, gets into a gunfight over a card game and shoots another man dead, and is forced to flee for his life. He hitches a ride on a boat to a South American country and is advised to speak to Thompson Thacker, the local US Consul. Thacker tells him about a rich local man, Santos Urique, whose son ran away to the US several years ago.

The boy had a distinctive tattoo on his hand, and Thacker plans to have the Kid's hand tattooed and get him to pose as the missing son, so he can rob the family safe, and he and Thacker will split the money and go to Brazil.

The Kid gets his hand tattooed and Seņora Urique is overcome with joy when she is reunited with (the person she thinks is) her long-lost son. The Kid settles in and Thacker begins to grow impatient.

A month later, the Kid drops out of the plan because he has grown to love his new mother, never having known what it was like to have one, and she loves him. Thacker threatens to expose him, but the Kid threatens to shoot Thacker dead if he reveals the truth. Before he leaves with Seņora Urique, the Kid tells Thacker the other reason why he doesn't want to make trouble: the man he shot in the gunfight was the missing son, and the Kid recalls the tattoo on his hand.

Answer: 'The Passing of Black Eagle'

Chicken Ruggles, named for his beaky nose, is a hobo in St Louis who prepares to travel south as winter sets in. He boards a freight train to Texas and wakes up in a remote prairie area. He finds a horse and allows it to take him to a small sheep ranch, where he finds clothes, blankets and riding gear. Three months later, he has become established as a member of an outlaw gang led by Bud King; he had joined the gang after eating with them and telling stories, and fascinating them with his weird accent.

They call him 'Piggy' because of his appetite. The gang terrorise various small villages and settlements, and 'Piggy' becomes 'Black Eagle' after the nickname given to him by Mexicans. The gang want Black Eagle to replace Bud as leader. Bud is sceptical about his fighting prowess, but he and Cactus Taylor, his lieutenant, hear Black Eagle telling the gang they should aim higher and rob a train.

They arrange to hold up a train, with Black Eagle in charge. Black Eagle investigates the train and when he smells straw, it makes him nostalgic and he becomes Chicken once more.

While the gang wait outside, Chicken rides home on the train.

Answer: 'A Retrieved Reformation'

This is one of O Henry's most famous stories. Jimmy Valentine is a safebreaker who has just been released from prison. Ben Price, a detective who has been pursuing him, goes back on the trail again after three safe robberies, which he believes to be Valentine's handiwork. Meanwhile, Valentine goes to a little town in Arkansas and notices a beautiful woman, who a little boy tells him is Annabel Adams, the daughter of a local banker. Valentine books a room at a hotel under the name of Ralph Spencer and claims to be looking for work in the shoe business.

He sets up a shoe shop, which becomes successful, and gets to know Annabel Adams. Valentine writes to an old friend, Billy, telling him that he has turned over a new leaf and wants to get rid of his kit. Jimmy goes into the Adams bank as Ben watches from a distance, along with Annabel, her sister and her children, and Mr Adams. Ben grows suspicious and follows him into the bank. One of the girls accidentally locks her sister in a vault and Adams is unable to open it. Everyone panics and Annabel begs Jimmy to help. Jimmy has his kit with him, and he opens the vault with his tools and lets the little girl out.

He runs into Ben and greets him, but Ben pretends not to know him and leaves.

Answer: 'The Halberdier of the Little Rheinschloss'

Old Munich is a restaurant with a German theme, and the owners have added an extra room known as the Little Rheinschloss, with German scenery painted on the walls. The narrator goes there one day and notices the glass cigar case near the stairs is broken, and asks a waiter what happened.

They recall the halberdier standing in the case, which the narrator thinks was a suit of armour, but the waiter reveals his friend Deering was inside the armour. The manager had been looking for someone to dress as a halberdier, to add to the scenery, and Deering offers to do the job.

The waiter notices that Deering's hands are covered in scars, which Deering says he got from doing various manual jobs. One night, a rich family come in and Helen, the daughter, recognises the halberdier and requests that he serve the family their meal. Deering spills soup on Helen and her father tries to have him fired, but Deering makes a speech to the manager, pointing out that serving food is not in his job, and the manager offers to pay for the cleaning of Helen's dress himself.

At midnight, the father announces that Deering has won, and reveals that Deering had asked for Helen's hand in marriage, but the father only allowed it on one condition: that Deering earn his own living for three months without being sacked. Deering shows them his hands and Helen takes pity on him, and he sits down to eat with them. The narrator impatiently asks what this has to do with the cigar case and the waiter tells him what happened: Helen and Deering had had dinner in the Rheinschloss the night before and the new halberdier had dropped his halberd and broken the case.