Shortly after Sergeant Major Morris arrives at the White residence, Mr. White asks him about the magic monkey’s paw he had been previously been telling him about. Sergeant Major Morris reluctantly tells the story of how he acquired the magic monkey’s paw, which was given special powers by an old fakir, who wanted to use the paw as a way to prove that fate ruled people’s lives. According to Morris, the fakir put a spell on the monkey’s paw that granted its three owners any three wishes. Morris does not elaborate on the first owner’s initial two wishes but tells the White family that his third wish was for death. Morris’s story regarding the first owner’s final wish is ominous and foreshadows the disastrous consequences of wishing upon the monkey’s paw.
Morris then mentions that he is not sure if he would want to wish upon the monkey’s paw three more times and suddenly throws it into the fire. Tragically, Mr. White retrieves the monkey’s paw and wishes for two hundred pounds to pay off the mortgage, which results in Herbert’s death.
Sergeant Major Morris relates the story of the monkey's paw to Mr. White, his wife and his son, Herbert. He tells them, at Mr. White's insistence, that the paw had been the object of a magic spell by an old Indian fakir (holy man). The fakir wanted to demonstrate that "fate ruled people's lives" so he made the paw a veritable wish machine, granting the first three holders of the paw three wishes for whatever they wanted. Morris tells them the first man who held the paw made his three wishes. The first two were unknown to Morris, but with his third wish, the man wanted to die.
After his retelling of this tale, Morris attempts to toss the paw onto the fire, only to see it retrieved by Mr. White who actually pays Morris a "trifle" for the talisman. Unfortunately for Mr. White, his own wishes result in the death, reincarnation and death again for Herbert.
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