Writing at the rate of more than one story per week, O. Henry published ten collections of stories during a career that barely spanned a decade. Whirligigs is one of them. Henry's best known work is perhaps the much anthologized "The Ransom of Red Chief", included in this collection Whirligig.

Whirligigs is a collection of 24 short stories: "The World and the Door", "The Theory and the Hound", "The Hypotheses of Failure", "Calloway's Code", "A Matter of Mean Elevation", "Girl", etc. It was published in 1910.

William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862-June 5, 1910), known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer. O. Henry's short stories are known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization, and clever twist endings.