Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Ransom of Red Chief: An O. Henry Story
    The Ransom of Red Chief: An O. Henry Story
    The Ransom of Red Chief: An O. Henry Story
    Audiobook29 minutes

    The Ransom of Red Chief: An O. Henry Story

    Written by O. Henry

    Narrated by Deaver Brown

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    The Ransom of Red Chief may be the most widely read story in grammar, middle, and high school. Young people can relate to 10 year old Red Chief, his father who makes the kidnappers pay him back in order to take Red Chief off their hands plus come in darkness so others don’t jail them, and all the antics and excitement of it all. It is not read or heard widely after one leaves high school, which is a shame because it is such a magical story about expectations being crushed by realities, and the turn of events which O’Henry was so masterful at achieving, as in The Gift of the Magi, too, the other best known O’Henry story that Simply has also recorded. The humor is Southwestern style, with some of the violence of that frontier humor immortalized by Mark Twain. We think of O’Henry as a New Yorker due to his successful story collections focused on New York such as The Four Million and The Trimmed Lamp, but he spent time in Texas on various speculations and, in fact, wound up in a Texas jail for three years before coming to New York and prospering with his unique story telling ability. The Texas influence is strongly felt here, not just in Southwestern humor, but the sense of space and vistas, with few people populating them. A final thought for the reader: Is there anyone similar to O’Henry in style? We can’t think of one and that is another reason to listen to these stories. We believe most Southwestern humor in short stories even better heard than read. The Ransom of Red Chief, The Gift of the Magi, and Mark Twain’s short stories are no exceptions. As with all Simply short stories, you should enjoy the ideas put forth in the introduction and afterword.O'Henry's other two best loved stories are also recorded: The Cop and the Anthem and A Retrieved Reformation. Keywords: Ransom, Southwestern humor, Mark Twain, Gift of the Magi, O’Henry, New York, the Four Million, The Trimmed Lamp.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimply Magazine Inc.
    Release dateFeb 3, 2011
    ISBN9781614961185
    The Ransom of Red Chief: An O. Henry Story
    Author

    O. Henry

    O. Henry (1862–1910) was the pseudonym of American author William Sidney Porter. Arrested for embezzlement in 1895, he escaped the police and fled to Honduras, where he wrote Cabbages and Kings (1904). On his return to the United States, he was caught, and served three years before being released. He became one of the most popular short story authors in history, known for his wit, surprise endings, and relatable, everyman characters.

    More audiobooks from O. Henry

    Related to The Ransom of Red Chief

    Related audiobooks

    Classics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Odd Squad

      Jun 16, 2021

      Odd Squad
      3 min read

    • Article

      Seven Books I’ll Never Read

      Aug 7, 2018

      Seven Books I’ll Never Read
      6 min read

    • Article

      Search PARTY

      Jan 13, 2021

      You find me hunched over the ironing board in the kitchen and thinking dark thoughts about Mrs Bertha Berman. Tell me honestly, is there any more soul-destroying occupation known to womankind than the ironing and attempted folding of fitted bed shee

      3 min read

    • Article

      THE DUKE OF Edinbrough Hotel

      Nov 13, 2019

      THE DUKE OF Edinbrough Hotel
      6 min read

    • Article

      Ghoulies and Ghosties

      Oct 1, 2022

      Ghoulies and Ghosties
      7 min read

    • Article

      HUNTING With The Ellements…

      Sep 13, 2021

      HUNTING With The Ellements…
      19 min read

    • Article

      “Really?”

      Jun 2, 2022

      “Really?”
      6 min read

    • Article

      Books

      Apr 3, 2024

      Books
      16 min read

    • Article

      Ferrets Up To Scratch

      Mar 24, 2021

      Ferrets Up To Scratch
      4 min read

    • Article

      Speedboat

      Mar 24, 2022

      Nobody died that year. Nobody prospered. There were no births or marriages. Seventeen reverent satires were written – disrupting a cliché and, presumably, creating a genre. That was a dream, of course, but many of the most important things, I fi nd,

      14 min read

    • Article

      Taste Of Fowling Fit For A King

      Oct 14, 2020

      Taste Of Fowling Fit For A King
      4 min read

    • Article

      One Coyote

      Sep 29, 2020

      One Coyote
      9 min read

    • Article

      Black Stump Hotel, Merriwagga

      Nov 14, 2018

      Black Stump Hotel, Merriwagga
      6 min read

    • Article

      Lord’s Work

      May 26, 2019

      Lord’s Work
      6 min read

    • Article

      How not TO RELAX

      Apr 10, 2024

      ‘What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare?’ wrote a chap called William H. Davies, the poet laureate of the duvet day. He coined those words in 1911, which was clearly a more relaxed age. I’d like to see Mr Davies attemp

      3 min read

    • Article

      Year Of The Goat

      Mar 18, 2021

      Year Of The Goat
      3 min read

    • Article

      Murder Most Fowl

      Mar 12, 2023

      Murder Most Fowl
      2 min read

    • Article

      It’s Snow Joke

      Mar 25, 2020

      It’s Snow Joke
      4 min read

    • Article

      Little Billy Goat Brave

      Jun 5, 2019

      Little Billy Goat Brave
      3 min read

    • Article

      Deer-ly Loved

      Apr 4, 2024

      Deer-ly Loved
      3 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Jan 8, 2020

      I take it that Barry Stoffell was writing tongue in cheek (Taking the piseog, 4 December) about lucky charms. My son lives in Switzerland and we have explored together many isolated villages high up in mountain valleys, some of which are cut off comp

      3 min read

    • Article

      In The Footprints Of The Ancestors

      Mar 2, 2023

      In The Footprints Of The Ancestors
      11 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Ransom of Red Chief

    4.5/5

    7 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Love it as much now as I did when I first read it about 40 odd years ago.
    • 5/5
      Johnny turns out be a surprise package for the two men who kidnapped him, and he didn’t even come gift-wrapped. When the two bad guys make an offer they thought Johnny’s father couldn’t refuse, they discover the tables have been turned. For those who think being captive with someone else’s kid or maybe even their own is a challenge, then they haven’t read this tale, and they don’t know what a real challenge a kid can be. It’s a great story from beginning to end.