Match the Synopsis: The Tales of O Henry (5) Quiz

Answer: 'A Tempered Wind'

Parleyvoo Pickens and Buckingham Skinner, a pair of conmen, take the proceeds from a scam and go to New York looking for grafting opportunities. They set up a fake investments company with a third man, Romulus Atterbury, who deals with the administrative side of things. Three months later, a customer turns up and asks a few questions, and he turns out to be a reporter; he runs an exposé in the local papers. Pickens and Skinner find their office full of customers who bought stocks and get a shock when they realise that the customers are war veterans, working-class men and women, and even children.

Some of them have spent their life savings. Pickens and Skinner have a fit of conscience and give all the money back in front of the reporter. The reporter is displeased as he has lost his story and risks losing his job. Skinner tells him that while he and Pickens are happy to swindle people they think deserve it, they draw the line at the poor and needy.

Answer: 'Hostages to Momus'

On the run from Mexican police, Parleyvoo Pickens and Caligula Polk go to New Orleans, get drunk and find themselves in the tiny Georgian town of Mountain Valley. They notice people deferring to a certain man and on making enquiries, discover that the man is Colonel Jackson T Rockingham, the president of the local railrod and town mayor. Pickens and Polk are inspired by a story they read in the papers and decide to kidnap Rockingham and hold him to ransom.

They buy plenty of food and drink and set up camp in the mountains, making sure their captive is comfortable, and get him to write a ransom note. One by one, other people connected with the railroad come to the mountain, but none of them have ransom money and are happy just to eat the food, as Polk and Pickens grow increasingly frustrated. Major Tallahassee Tucker, the passenger agent, manages to get a loan to pay the ransom, but it is barely over a hundred dollars.

He reveals that the local railroad is tiny and that the town is dirt poor. Polk and Pickens let the colonel go and have a party in the mountains. (Momus is the Greek god of satire and mockery.)

Answer: 'The Ethics of Pig'

Jeff Peters goes to the southern town of Mount Nebo in the hope of finding a reliable business partner. On making enquiries, he tracks down Rufe Tatum, a notorious local pig thief. They travel to Lexington, where a circus is in town, and run a shell game with Rufe as capper. One night, Rufe goes missing and when Peters returns to his boarding house, the landlady complains about a noise coming from Rufe's room.

It turns out to be a stolen pig. Peters sees an ad in the local paper the next day offering a reward of $5000 for a stolen circus pig, and offers Rufe $800 for his pig.

He takes the pig and the ad to the circus's business manager, but the circus manager shows him the real circus pig, who is happily sitting in his pen. He also says that the ad is a fake. Peters releases the pig and asks the advertising man at the local paper who placed the ad, and the man gives a description of Rufe. Peters realises that Rufe has conned him.

The narrator rebukes Peters for not offering to share the reward.

Answer: 'Strictly Business'

Bob Hart is a vaudeville performer. He goes to a show with various performers and is captivated by Winona Cherry, who he thinks would be perfect for a sketch he has written, 'The Mice Will Play'. Hart tracks Cherry down and shows her his play, and she makes a few suggestions that he writes in. Cherry is willing to act in it, but wants to keep their relationship purely professional.

The play becomes a hit and runs for two years, and Hart and Cherry are both keen to save up the money they earn. At the climax of the play, Cherry's character Helen fires a real bullet into the photograph of a love rival.

At one performance, Cherry accidentally shoots Hart and he is taken to hospital, but survives. Vincente, a fellow performer and friend of the couple, tells Hart that Cherry is desperate to see him and is crying out for him, and cannot understand Hart's seeming lack of concern, as Cherry clearly loves him. Hart says that it is too late; he and Cherry have been married for two years.

Answer: 'The Day Resurgent'

Danny McCree lives with his parents and his father is blind as the result of an accident. Mr McCree says he wishes to hear the rest about the hippopotamus, and Danny is puzzled and asks both his mother and the janitor if they have heard anything. He goes to the Easter parade and asks people what the purpose of Easter is.

He and his girlfriend Katy go to church. Danny suddenly realises that his father wanted him to read from 'The History of Greece', and that it was the Battle of Peloponnesus that his father wanted to hear about, not the hippopotamus.

He reads a chapter about the Peloponnesian War and Mr McCree is so happy he cries. He asks Danny if he wants to go and see Katy, but Danny angrily refuses and says he wants to read about the Battle of Corinth next.

Answer: 'The Fifth Wheel'

Thomas McQuade is a homeless and unemployed driver who used to work for a rich family, the van Smuythes, until he was discharged for being drunk. One day he spots a passing car with an extra tyre on its side which becomes loose, and picks up the tyre and chases after the vehicle.

A man in the car asks him if he knows the van Smuythes and invites him to his house, which is full of strange objects. While Thomas waits, two women come to visit and we learn that the mysterious man is Professor Cherubusco, a clairvoyant who uses a fortune telling device called the Chaldean Chiroscope.

The Chaldean Chiroscope has given him the message 'by the fifth wheel of the chariot he shall come'. The professor says that the women have been looking for him and asks Thomas his name, but on hearing who he is, has him thrown out. Confused, Thomas gets talking to another man while queuing for a bed.

He bumps into Annie, his girlfriend and the van Smuythes' maid, who tells him that they are willing to give him his job back. Thomas asks Annie if she has any money, as there is another man who needs help, and the man in the queue turns out to be Walter, Mrs van Smuythe's missing son.

He is the true subject of Professor Cherubusco's prophecy, not Thomas. Both he and Thomas return to the van Smuythe house with Annie.

Answer: 'The Poet and the Peasant'

The story begins with a poet whose vivid, well-crafted poem is rejected by an editor for being too artificial. Conant, a mutual friend of the poet and the narrator, writes an average poem and sends it to the editor. Elsewhere, Jabez Bulltongue, a countryman who has inherited his share of his grandmother's farm, comes to New York to do business.

He has a case full of money. His rural outfit attracts attention from a local conman, who thinks Bulltongue is also a conman and is trying too hard. The conman's friends think Bulltongue's money is fake and when he asks a newsboy to change it for him, the newsboy refuses, also mistaking Bulltongue for a fraud. Bulltongue gets fed up with not being taken seriously and gets himself kitted out in smart clothes, but a group of men see him as an easy target and rob him of his money. Meanwhile, the editor praises Conant's poem.

Answer: 'The Thing's the Play'

The narrator, accompanied by a reporter, goes to watch Ramonti, a violinist, play, and the reporter says that he recently wrote a story about the violinist and his editor expected something funny. He tells the narrator the story and the narrator tries to make something comedic out of it.

The story is as follows: Helen Mayo is married to Frank Barry and his friend John Delaney is best man. As Helen is getting ready to go away, John comes into her room and begs him to run away with her. She turns him down, but Frank catches him kissing her hand and abandons Helen in a rage.

Helen inherits her mother's house and takes in two lodgers: one is Ramonti and the other is a mysterious man. Ramonti confesses his love to Helen and says that he is an amnesiac; he has no idea what his real name is and he was found in the street with a head wound.

Helen tells him her life story and he kisses her hand and leaves. The second man reveals that he is John Delaney and that he had followed Frank after he left on the night of their wedding, attacked him and left him for dead.

Helen realises that Ramonti is really Frank and runs upstairs, calling his name.

Answer: 'A Ramble in Aphasia'

Elwyn Bellford, a lawyer, goes to visit his friend Dr Volney, who warns him that he is working too hard and it could cause him to lose his memory. Bellford laughs it off, but later wakes up on a train with no idea or who he is. He meets a pharmacist who assumes Bellford is going to the same convention as him, and Bellford gives himself the name of Edward Pinkhammer.

The pharmacist shows Bellford an article about him going missing and possibly suffering from memory loss, and Bellford thinks the story in the article is a genuine case.

The pharmacist is sceptical. Bellford goes to a hotel and enjoys his time there, settling into his new identity as Edward Pinkhammer. An old friend spots him, so he changes hotels. An old flame of his accosts him and asks if he has ever looked at white roses since a certain night, but Bellford does not recall. Dr Volney and Mrs Bellford meet him at his hotel, but Bellford does not recognise either of them. Dr Volney reminds him that the woman is his wife and that he is an old friend. Bellford asks the doctor to treat him and asks him to treat everything with confidence.

He sees a vase of white roses on the table and throws them out of the window. He then reveals that he has been faking his memory loss the whole time.

Answer: 'A Municipal Report'

The narrator, a reporter, goes to Nashville and encounters an obnoxious drunkard, Major Caswell, at his hotel. He takes a cab to the house of Azalea Adair, a writer who has contributed essays and poems to the magazine he works for, and notes the black driver's distinctive coat. Caesar, the driver, increases his fare, and the narrator gives him two dollar bills, one of which has been torn and repaired.He interviews Azalea and notices that she is very poor. Azalea gives a little black girl some money to buy tea and the narrator notices that the dollar bill is the torn one he had earlier.

He hears a scuffle and an angry man, and Azalea makes her excuses and sends him away. He asks Caesar if he knows Azalea and Caesar says he belonged to her father.

The narrator spots the torn dollar bill when Major Caswell uses it to buy drinks. When the narrator visits Azalea the next day, she faints and the narrator sends for a doctor, who reveals that she is desperately poor, only accepts money from Caesar and is regularly abused and robbed of her money by Major Caswell, who is her husband.

The narrator goes for a walk and sees Caesar, and notices that a distinctive button is missing from his coat. Two hours later, he hears a commotion and finds people gathered around Major Caswell's dead body. The narrator sees an object fall from the dead man's hand; it is the missing button. He deduces that Caesar killed Caswell in revenge and throws the button into a river.