1-works.clj

(def handlers
  {:index  index-handler
   :public public-resource-handler})

(defn ring-routes [routes]
  ; basically a slightly modified version of https://github.com/juxt/bidi/blob/bidi-1.10.4/src/bidi/bidi.clj#L297-310
  ; so that it closed over `handlers` to choose handler by a keyword routes returned
)

(defn make-handler []
  (-> (ring-routes routes)
       reload/wrap-reload))

2-does-not-work.clj

(def handlers
  {:index  index-handler
   :public public-resource-handler})

(defn ring-routes [routes handler-fns]
  ; like above, but modified to use handlers passed as a function argument
)

(defn make-handler []
  (-> (ring-routes routes handlers)
       reload/wrap-reload))