Author Elizabeth Elliot says that, “The truth is that it is impossible to love deeply without sacrifice,” in her novel Marriage: Revolution and a Revelation (Elliot 13). What she means by this is that a part of loving people means giving things up, big or small and that it comes with having the willingness to do anything for someone. This holds true in, “The Gift of the Magi,” by O. Henry. In the story an impoverished couple, Jim and Della, give up their most prized possessions in order to prove their worth and love to each other. By using allusion, symbolism, and irony the story conveys the ideal that all love requires not only selflessness, but sacrifice as well. There are allusions throughout the story, but the most significant one seems to be the one made in the title to the Magi, the three wise men in the bible who went on a long journey to bring sacrificial gifts to the son of Christ. They were men of wealth who brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Jesus despite the length and struggle of the voyage. This parallels with the one in the story where Della and Jim, a poor couple, sacrificed their most prized possessions to show their love for each other on Christmas Eve. Jim’s watch is one that is described to make “King Solomon”, a man of great power and riches in the bible, “pluck at his beard with envy,” an Della’s hair to, “depreciate her majesty’s jewels and gifts,” in allusion to the Queen of Sheba (O. Henry 165). These references made were meant to emphasize the importance of the watch and the hair to Jim and Della, who were nowhere near as wealthy as a king or queen. After giving up her hair Della says, “If Jim doesn’t kill mehe’ll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do-oh! What could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents,” (O. Henry 166). Coney Island, an amusement park in New York, is usually a place where people have fun and relax but it is used here to con