Summary
Summary of Short Stories of Various Types
Short Stories of Various Types at a glance
Summary: 8 min to read
- Reading time
- About 5 h 20 min4 h 15 min fast, 6 h 20 min slow
- Length
- 76,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Key ideas
Key idea 1
Pressure reveals what people value
On the day before Christmas, Della counts one dollar and eighty-seven cents and wonders what she can give someone she loves. Her problem opens a gathering of thirteen stories whose people face very different kinds of pressure. There are boys with a stray horse, a witch with a pipe, a colonel protected from the truth and a king who needs silver.
Across comic tales, war stories, legends, detective cases and fables, the question keeps returning: what will each person choose?
Key idea 2
Della gives up something precious
Della and Jim have little money, but each owns a treasure: Jim has a gold watch passed down through his family, and Della has brown hair that falls below her knees.
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Key idea 3
Families hold together through war
Uncle Bill throws away a lonely schoolboy's note, then retrieves it and promises to come for him.
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Key idea 4
Loyalty means staying beside another
On a night of flood and gale, First Sergeant Price must lead his troop across a railway bridge.
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Key idea 5
Kindness can miss another person's meaning
Peter Harrison goes to Paris to earn the doctorate he needs before marrying Maggie.
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Key idea 6
Fine appearances can conceal emptiness
Mother Rigby begins with a broomstick, a hoe handle, a sack of straw and a withered pumpkin.
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Key idea 7
Strange details point toward hidden plans
Jabez Wilson brings Holmes a puzzling piece of good fortune.
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Key idea 8
Kindness hides behind a grumbling excuse
A proud club regular has spent twenty years dining without considering his waiters' private lives.
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Key idea 9
Choices connect very different lives
From a cold flat on Christmas Eve to a Swedish church and a mountain of silver, these stories return to people making choices under pressure.
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Who it’s for
Readers who enjoy short tales with clear hooks, warm humor, ghostly legends, detective puzzles, war stories or fables will love this collection. It also suits those who enjoy varied voices in one sitting.
What this book is
What would you give up for someone you love? On the day before Christmas, Della counts one dollar and eighty-seven cents, and the pile will not grow. O. Henry tells her tale with a wink, and it opens a gathering of thirteen short stories by authors from America, Britain, France and Sweden.
You will meet two boys with a stray horse, a witch with a pipe, a colonel who must never learn the truth and a king who needs silver. Each tale comes with a short note on its author, and together they show the comic tale, the war story, the legend, the detective case and the fable. Each story puts a person under pressure and watches what that person chooses.
In this summary
- 1Pressure reveals what people valueFree
- 2Della gives up something precious
- 3Families hold together through war
- 4Loyalty means staying beside another
- 5Kindness can miss another person's meaning
- 6Fine appearances can conceal emptiness
- 7Strange details point toward hidden plans
- 8Kindness hides behind a grumbling excuse
- 9Choices connect very different lives
Della has one dollar and eighty-seven cents
Della sits in a rented flat on Christmas Eve with one dollar and eighty-seven cents, and sixty cents of it is pennies. Her husband Jim earns twenty dollars a week, down from thirty. O. Henry tells this in a joking, chatty voice that keeps tears and laughter side by side.
The couple own two treasures. One is Jim's gold watch, handed down from his father and grandfather, and the other is Della's brown hair, which falls below her knees. Della lets her hair fall, hurries out, and climbs the stairs to Madame Sofronie, who buys hair. She hears a price of twenty dollars and tells the woman to be quick.
Next she searches the shops and finds a plain platinum watch chain, quiet and valuable, just like Jim. At home she mends the damage that generosity added to love, and she prays that Jim will still think her pretty. Jim comes in, stops dead and stares at her with a look she cannot read.
True gifts are measured by what the giver is willing to lose.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Check yourself
Why does Della sell her hair?
Right. “Next she searches the shops and finds a plain platinum watch chain, quiet and valuable, just like Jim.”Not quite. “Next she searches the shops and finds a plain platinum watch chain, quiet and valuable, just like Jim.”
What does Peter Harrison fail to understand about Agatha?
Right. “Plain kindness can still miss what a friend is trying to say.”Not quite. “Plain kindness can still miss what a friend is trying to say.”
How does the club narrator show concern for William?
Right. “When William fears dismissal, the narrator quietly saves his place.”Not quite. “When William fears dismissal, the narrator quietly saves his place.”
Go deeper: the whole of Short Stories of Various Types
About 5 h 30 min to read.Start freePaperback, hardcover and large print, printed for you at cost, are on their way.Email me when it is printed
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 76,400 words
- Reading timeAbout 5 h 20 min
Questions about Short Stories of Various Types
What is Short Stories of Various Types about?
It gathers thirteen short stories by different authors and shows several kinds of short fiction: comic tales, war stories, a legend, a detective case and a fable. Each story centers on a person making a hard choice.
Which stories are in this collection?
The tales include The Gift of the Magi, A Reward of Merit, American, Sir!, John G., Friends, A Camping Trip, A Thread Without a Knot, Chu Chu, Feathertop, The Red-Headed League, The Inconsiderate Waiter, The Siege of Berlin and The Silver Mine.
Cite this edition
Short Stories of Various Types. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/short-stories-of-various-types.
Short stories of various types. (2026). Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/short-stories-of-various-types
Short Stories of Various Types. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/short-stories-of-various-types.
@book{anonymous2026short,
title = {Short Stories of Various Types},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/short-stories-of-various-types}
}
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Get the full summary of Short Stories of Various Types, free
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