The Ransom of Red Chief and Other Stories

The proposed collection of literary works by O. Henry (William Sidney Porter, 1862—1910), besides the story “The Ransom of Red Chief”, includes such masterpieces of his creative heritage as “The Indian Summer of Dry Valley Johnson”, “A Blackjack Bargainer”, “A Retrieved Reformation” and others. Many of them were screened more than once. Behind the alternation of adventures and situations, humor, irony or sarcasm, there expressively arise the author’s reflections on human being, their aspirations for love, kindness, and happiness. The author’s inexhaustible creative imagination strikes the reader. As a rule, his stories have a sudden ending. They enrapture and move, and what is most important, they always bear optimism and give hope.

The Ransom of Red Chief...................................... 3
Between Rounds.................................................. 18
Mammon and the Archer..................................... 26
The Romance of a Busy Broker........................... 35
The Brief dй But of Tildy..................................... 41
The Ransom of Mack.......................................... 49
The Handbook of Hymen..................................... 57
The Pimienta Pancakes........................................ 72
The Indian Summer of Dry Valley Johnson........... 85
Christmas by Injunction........................................ 96
The Guilty Party................................................. 111
While the Auto Waits......................................... 120
Transients in Arcadia.......................................... 127
The Rathskeller and the Rose............................. 135
The Enchanted Profile........................................ 142
A Double-Dyed Deceiver.................................. 152
A Retrieved Reformation.................................... 167
The Third Ingredient........................................... 177
Proof of the Pudding.......................................... 193
“What You Want”............................................. 206
The Whirligig of Life........................................... 214
A Blackjack Bargainer....................................... 222
Witches’ Loaves................................................ 241
Jimmy Hayes and Muriel.................................... 246