Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
The Ransom of Red Chief
- Narrated by: Jim Girard
- Length: 23 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.00 for first 30 days
The Ransom of Red Chief
Buy Now for £0.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Summary
"The Ransom of Red Chief" is a short story by O. Henry first published in the July 6, 1907 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. It follows two men who kidnap, and demand a ransom for, a wealthy Alabamian's son. Eventually, the men are driven crazy by the boy's spoiled and hyperactive behavior, and they pay the boy's father to take him back.
The story and its main idea have become a part of popular culture, with many children's television programs depicting versions of the story as one of their episodes. It has also been often used as a classic example of two ultimate comic ironies – a supposed "hostage" actually liking his abductors and enjoying being captured, and his captors getting their just deserts by having the tables turned on them, and being compelled to pay to be rid of him.
PLEASE NOTE: when you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.