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Fate rules human lives, punishing those who interfere with it.

Sergeant-Major Morris arrives at the cozy cottage of the White family, bearing a mummified monkey's paw acquired in India. A holy man placed a spell on the talisman to demonstrate that destiny governs life, allowing three separate men three wishes each. Despite Morris's grave warnings and his attempt to burn the paw in the hearth, Mr. White retrieves it and wishes for two hundred pounds to clear his mortgage.

Gains granted by magic exact an equal and devastating toll.

Morning arrives with a lighthearted mood, making the previous night's talisman seem like foolish nonsense. Herbert White departs for his job at the factory while his parents discuss their modest wish. Later that afternoon, an anxious visitor from the Maw and Meggins firm arrives with tragic news. Herbert was caught in the heavy machinery, and the company offers exactly two hundred pounds as voluntary compensation for his death.

Escaping tragic reality through supernatural remedies brings worse horrors.

Blinded by grief days after the burial, Mrs. White demands that her husband use the second wish to bring Herbert back from the grave. Reluctantly, Mr. White speaks the wish into the dark, and soon heavy knocking echoes at the front door. As his wife frantically unfastens the door bolts, Mr. White searches in terror for the paw and makes a final wish, causing the knocking to cease instantly.

Book

The Monkey's Paw

A cautionary tale demonstrating how interfering with fate through desperate desires produces horrifying, unintended consequences.

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