1st Year English: Book 1 : Ch 12: The Gift of Magi

 

Lesson-12

The Gift of Magi

Exercise Questions
Q.1. How much did Della save for Christmas?
Ans: She saved one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy a gift for her husband at Christmas.
Q.2. Why did she feel proud of the beauty of her hair?
Ans: She felt pride in the beauty of her hair because her silky and golden hair could make anyone jealous.
Q.3. Why did Della sell her hair? (imp)
Ans: Della loved Jim from the core of her heart. She could not think of celebrating Christmas without giving a gift to Jim. So, she sold her hair to get money to buy a gift for him.
Q.4. Why did Jim sell the gold watch? (imp)
Ans: Jim loved Della from the core of his heart. He could not think of celebrating Christmas without giving a gift to Della. So, he sold her gold watch to get money to buy a gift for her.
Q.5. Why did they want to exchange gifts?
Ans: Presenting gifts on Christmas is a tradition. They wanted to exchange gifts to communicate their love to each other.
Q.6. Why did Della feel sad about losing her hair? (imp)
Ans: She was greatly proud of her hair. Jim also liked her hair very much. So, she felt sad about losing such precious things.
Q.7. Why did Jim not welcome her when he stepped in?
Ans: As Jim stepped in, he was very sad to see Della without hair. He had sold his gold watch to buy combs for Della’s hair. Now there was no use of these combs. So, he did not welcome her out of sadness.
Q.8. What did Jim bring out of his coat?
Ans: He brought out beautiful combs decorated with jewels wrapped in a paper from his coat.
Q.9. How beautiful was the gold watch chain?
Ans: The chain was simply made but its true value lay in its pure and rich material.
Q.10. What was the wisdom in selling the most valuable things?
Ans: Love is blind. It does not count the loss or profit of material things. They sold their most valuable things just to please their beloveds.
Additional Questions
Q.11. Who were the Magi?
Ans: Magi were wise men. They came from the East to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. They were the first who set the tradition of presenting gifts on Christmas. In the story, Della and Jim are called Magi.