Is This Eerie Account Of The Monkey’s Paw A True Story
It was the year 1902 on a cold, wet night on the outskirts of London. Mr. and Mrs. White and their son Herbert, sat by a bright fire awaiting the arrival of an invited friend. Given the long pathway to their house and muddy conditions, they were starting to doubt that their friend would make the journey. However, they were soon to hear the gate loudly bang and heavy footsteps approaching the door. They quickly ushered in and sympathized with their tall, burly, bright-eyed, and red-faced friend, Sergeant Major Morris.
He had returned to England after 21 years of living in India, and by his third whisky, he was in full flight. Speaking of his experiences, Mr. White expressed a wistful longing to see the sights of India, then remembered a brief conversation he and Morris had had recently. Morrison started to talk about a monkey’s paw leading White to ask his friend what he had been meaning to say. Morris quickly commented that it was nothing worth hearing, but when pushed by the family, remarked in an offhand way that it could be called magic. His three listeners leaned forward eagerly, causing him to fumble in his pocket for the item. It’s just an ordinary little paw, he said, dried to a mummy.
He held out the object to which Mrs. White drew back with a grimace while Herbert took it and examined the strange thing. Mr. White, in turn, took the object, scrutinized it, and placed it on the table. He asked Morris what was so special about it. Morris explained that the Monkey’s Paw had had a spell placed on it by an old fakir, a very holy man. The Fakir wanted to show that fate rules people’s lives and that those who interfere with it do so to their sorrow.
He had placed a spell on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it. His manner was so grave that his hosts chuckled, but then quietened in case he was offended. Herbert asked the sergeant major if he had had his three wishes and was told yes, as the man’s face whitened, pushed further by Missus White. He had quietly admitted that all three wishes had been granted. Her next question was whether anyone else had wished, to which he replied that the first man had had his three wishes. Maurice said that he did not know what the first two wishes were, but that the last was for his passing. That was how he came to receive the poor.
After a somber pause, Mr. White then asked Morris why he kept the poor if he had had all three of his wishes. Morris said that he had tried to sell it, then decided that he had caused enough mischief. Also that potential buyers had dismissed the stories of a fairy tale or wanted to try it first and pay later. Suddenly, in an impulse, he threw the monkey paw on the fire, where the astonished white quickly retrieved it. There was a slight argument where Morris wanted the paw to burn, but White asked if he could keep it. Morris then made the ominous statement that if White wanted it, he should not blame him for what happens.
Intrigued, White asked, How’d he use his new possession, and the reluctant sergeant major told him to hold it up in his right hand and wish aloud, then adding, I warn you of the consequences. As the family burst into laughter, the alarmed Morris insisted that he must at least wish for something sensible. The group then went on to enjoy their supper and more stories of Morris’s travels and adventures in India. After the door closed on their guest in time for him to catch the last train, the family went back to discussing the monkey’s paw. Mr. White said that he had insisted that Morris accept a small payment for it when he had again urged him to throw it away. But now his son Herbert began encouraging him to make a wish on the object, suggesting wealth, fame, and happiness, amongst other requests.
His father replied that he had everything he wanted. Ebert then suggested that at least he could wish that the house mortgage be cleared an amount of £200 now rather embarrassed. His father held up the talisman and clearly said, I wish for £200. But this gesture was followed by his shuddering cry as he flung the poor to the floor. He shouted that the object had moved as he wished, twisting in his hand like a snake. The incident was soon forgotten after Herbert joked that he could not see any money and eventually the family retired for the night. Of course, Herbert had to throw in a parting gibe that his parents would probably find the money in a bag on their bed.
The next morning at the breakfast table. The three laughed at the previous evening’s events. However, after Herbert set off for work, his mother found herself rushing to the door at the postman’s knock. But far from a check for £200, the mail brought simply a tailor’s bill, which would surely bring more jokes from Herbert. On his arrival home, as the couple later sat down to lunch, Mrs. White noticed a well-dressed stranger outside their house. Three times the dapper man paused at their gate and then wandered on, but finally returned and opened it.
Walking up their path, showing him in, Mrs. White apologized for the appearance of the room and their at-home clothes, but the stranger seemed awkward and preoccupied. He introduced himself as representing their son’s employer, to which the couple questioned him with concern, asking him if anything had happened to Herbert. Apologizing. The man told them that Herbert was badly injured, but not in any pain. His sinister meaning dawned upon them slowly. Herbert had been caught in the machinery, and while the firm disclaimed all responsibility and admitted no liability, they wished to present his parents with a sum of money as compensation.
The distraught and horrified couple were to receive £200. Mrs. White screamed as her husband collapsed to the floor. After burying their precious boy, Mr. and Mrs. White spent long days with nothing to talk about, succumbing to weary resignation. One night, Mr.
White was awakened by the sound of his wife, sobbing by the window. After some time, her grief and desperate thoughts seized upon an idea. Asking her husband if they still had the monkey paw, She exclaimed that they had only used one of its wishes and still had two remaining. Given that their first wish had been granted, she demanded that her husband fetch the paw so that they could wish for their son to live again. Mr. White told her that this was an impossibility. Herbert had been deceased for ten days and had been recognizable only by his clothes.
A terrible sight. Mrs. White declared that she could not fear the child she had nursed and insisted that he fetch the paw. Her face was white and expectant, but to his mind with an unnatural look as he entered the bedroom, having retrieved the object. Despite his protests, she urged him to wish. And finally, he raised the paw in his hand with a request. I wish my son was alive again.
Throughout the icy night, the couple waited. The father, in dread of seeing his mutilated son again. The mother peered through the window as if expecting him to appear in the lane. Hours passed until their candle expired and both crept back to bed with renewed apathy, lying silently while listening to the ticking of the clock. Finally, in the oppressive darkness, Mr. White took the box of matches and struck. One went downstairs for another candle at the foot of the stairs.
The match went out and simultaneously a faint knock sounded on the front door. Dropping the matches, Mr. White stood motionless, his breath suspended until the stealthy knock repeated. He turned and fled swiftly back to his bedroom, closing the door behind him. A third knock sounded through the house. His wife started crying. What’s that?
Her terrified husband told her it was a rat, which had passed him on the stairs. However, as she sat up in bed listening, another loud knock resounded through the house, screaming that her son had returned. Mrs. White rushed to the bedroom door, her husband holding her back by the arm. She had forgotten that Herbert would have two miles to walk home. Her husband begged her not to let it in as she accused him of being afraid of his son. There.
Was another knock, then another, as she broke free and hurried downstairs to the front door. She cried out for his help with the bolt, which she couldn’t reach as a loud volley of knocks reverberated throughout the house. Meanwhile, Mr. White was on his hands and knees, frantically searching for the monkey’s paw. If only he could find it before the thing outside got in. He heard the scraping of the chair up against the door as his wife climbed up and started to slowly drag back the bolt. At the same moment, he found the monkey’s paw and hysterically uttered his third and last wish.
The knocking ceased suddenly just before his wife drew back the chair and opened the door. A cold wind rushed up the staircase, followed by his wife’s wail of disappointment and misery. Running down to join her, he was relieved to find an empty path and a deserted road outside.
