Allegory in Short Stories
Stories with deeper symbolic or political meaning
The Gift of the Magi
Della and Jim are a young married couple too poor to buy Christmas gifts. Della sells her beautiful long hair to buy a platinum watch chain for Jim. Jim, meanwhile, sells his treasured pocket watch to buy decorative combs for Della's hair. Each sacrifices their most prized possession for the other, only to find their gifts are now useless - yet their love is the true gift.
The Lady, or the Tiger?
A semi-barbaric king administers justice through a public arena where the accused must choose between two doors: one hiding a hungry tiger, the other a beautiful woman he must marry. When the king discovers his daughter's forbidden love affair with a low-born courtier, the young man is sent to the arena. The princess, torn between jealousy and love, discovers which door holds which fate. She signals her lover toward the right-hand door, but the story famously ends without revealing whether she sent him to the tiger or to another woman's arms.