{"id":17457,"date":"2024-11-30T19:14:37","date_gmt":"2024-11-30T23:14:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/?p=17457"},"modified":"2025-12-15T11:40:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T15:40:23","slug":"ray-bradbury-the-gift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/short-stories\/ray-bradbury-the-gift\/17457\/","title":{"rendered":"Ray Bradbury: The Gift"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Synopsis:<\/strong> \u201cThe Gift\u201d<\/em> is a short story by Ray Bradbury, first published in Esquire<\/em> in December 1952. A family sets out on its first space journey on Christmas Eve. The boy is thrilled by the adventure, but his parents worry about how to celebrate the holiday in the emptiness of space\u2014especially after customs has confiscated the present they had prepared. Now the father must find a creative way to keep the magic of Christmas alive for his son, proving that the Christmas spirit can shine anywhere, even among the stars.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n
\"Ray<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Gift<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

by Ray Bradbury
(Full story)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomorrow would be Christmas, and even while the three of them rode to the rocket port the mother and father were worried. It was the boy\u2019s first flight into space, his very first time in a rocket, and they wanted everything to be perfect. So when, at the customs table, they were forced to leave behind his gift which exceeded the weight limit by no more than a few ounces and the little tree with the lovely white candles, they felt themselves deprived of the season and their love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boy was waiting for them in the Terminal room. Walking toward him, after their unsuccessful clash with the Interplanetary officials, the mother and father whispered to each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat shall we do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing, nothing. What can<\/em> we do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSilly rules!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd he so wanted the tree!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The siren gave a great howl and people pressed forward into the Mars Rocket. The mother and father walked at the very last, their small pale son between them, silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll think of something,\u201d said the father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat \u2026?\u201d asked the boy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the rocket took off and they were flung headlong into dark space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rocket moved and left fire behind and left Earth behind on which the date was December 24, 2052, heading out into a place where there was no time at all, no month, no year, no hour. They slept away the rest of the first \u201cday.\u201d Near midnight, by their Earth-time New York watches, the boy awoke and said, \u201cI want to go look out the porthole.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was only one port, a \u201cwindow\u201d of immensely thick glass of some size, up on the next deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot quite yet,\u201d said the father. \u201cI\u2019ll take you up later.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to see where we are and where we\u2019re going.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want you to wait for a reason,\u201d said the father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He had been lying awake, turning this way and that, thinking of the abandoned gift, the problem of the season, the lost tree and the white candles. And at last, sitting up, no more than five minutes ago, he believed he had found a plan. He need only carry it out and this journey would be fine and joyous indeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSon,\u201d he said, \u201cin exactly one half hour it will be Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh,\u201d said the mother, dismayed that he had mentioned it. Somehow she had rather hoped that the boy would forget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boy\u2019s face grew feverish and his lips trembled. \u201cI know, I know. Will I get a present, will I? Will I have a tree? You promised\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, yes, all that, and more,\u201d said the father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mother started. \u201cBut\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI mean it,\u201d said the father. \u201cI really mean it. All and more, much more. Excuse me, now. I\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He left them for about twenty minutes. When he came back he was smiling. \u201cAlmost time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan I hold your watch?\u201d asked the boy, and the watch was handed over and he held it ticking in his fingers as the rest of the hour drifted by in fire and silence and unfelt motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Christmas now!<\/em> Christmas! Where\u2019s my present?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHere we go,\u201d said the father and took his boy by the shoulder and led him from the room, down the hall, up a rampway, his wife following.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t understand,\u201d she kept saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou will. Here we are,\u201d said the father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They had stopped at the closed door of a large cabin. The father tapped three times and then twice in a code. The door opened and the light in the cabin went out and there was a whisper of voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGo on in, son,\u201d said the father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s dark.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll hold your hand. Come on, Mama.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They stepped into the room and the door shut, and the room was very dark indeed. And before them loomed a great glass eye, the porthole, a window four feet high and six feet wide, from which they could look out into space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boy gasped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Behind him the father and the mother gasped with him, and then in the dark room some people began to sing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMerry Christmas, son,\u201d said the father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the voices in the room sang the old, the familiar carols, and the boy moved forward slowly until his face was pressed against the cool glass of the port. And he stood there for a long long time, just looking and looking out into space and the deep night at the burning and the burning of ten billion billion white and lovely candles \u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE END<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Gift\u201d is a short story by Ray Bradbury, first published in Esquire in December 1952. A family sets out on its first space journey on Christmas Eve. The boy is thrilled by the adventure, but his parents worry about how to celebrate the holiday in the emptiness of space\u2014especially after customs has confiscated the present they had prepared. Now the father must find a creative way to keep the magic of Christmas alive for his son, proving that the Christmas spirit can shine anywhere, even among the stars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15827,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[581,574,552,570],"class_list":["post-17457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-short-stories","tag-christmas","tag-ray-bradbury-en","tag-science-fiction","tag-united-states","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":559,"label":"Short stories"}],"post_tag":[{"value":581,"label":"Christmas"},{"value":574,"label":"Ray Bradbury"},{"value":552,"label":"Science fiction"},{"value":570,"label":"United States"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/lecturia.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Ray-Bradbury-El-regalo.webp",1024,1024,false],"author_info":{"display_name":"Juan Pablo Guevara","author_link":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/author\/spartakku\/"},"comment_info":"","category_info":[{"term_id":559,"name":"Short stories","slug":"short-stories","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":559,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":425,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":559,"category_count":425,"category_description":"","cat_name":"Short stories","category_nicename":"short-stories","category_parent":0}],"tag_info":[{"term_id":581,"name":"Christmas","slug":"christmas","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":581,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":17,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":574,"name":"Ray Bradbury","slug":"ray-bradbury-en","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":574,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":43,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":552,"name":"Science fiction","slug":"science-fiction","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":552,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":124,"filter":"raw"},{"term_id":570,"name":"United States","slug":"united-states","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":570,"taxonomy":"post_tag","description":"","parent":0,"count":297,"filter":"raw"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lecturia.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}