The Monkey's Paw | W. W. Jacobs | Horror Short Story | Full Text British English Audiobook

Recap

On a cold, stormy night, the White family—Mr. and Mrs. White and their grown son, Herbert—welcome Sergeant-Major Morris, an old friend recently returned from India. Over drinks, Morris tells them about a shrivelled monkey’s paw enchanted to grant three wishes. He warns that it brings misery, but Mr. White keeps it after Morris throws it into the fire.

Herbert jokes that his father should wish for £200 to pay off the house. Mr. White makes the wish, and the paw twists in his hand “like a snake.” The family laughs it off. Herbert teases his parents about the money appearing in some absurd, frightening way, while the next morning Mrs. White dismisses the story as nonsense.

Then a representative from Herbert’s workplace arrives with terrible news: Herbert has been killed in an accident with machinery. The company offers the family £200 in compensation—the exact amount Mr. White wished for. His wish has come true, but at an unbearable cost.

Days later, Mrs. White insists they use the paw again to bring Herbert back. Mr. White desperately resists, remembering how horribly injured their son was, but finally makes the second wish. They wait through the night. A faint knock comes at the door, then another, growing louder as Mrs. White rushes to let Herbert in. Mr. White, terrified that the thing outside is not truly their son, searches frantically for the paw and makes his final wish.

The knocking stops. When Mrs. White opens the door, the road outside is empty.

Notable Moments

• The family’s lighthearted banter—especially Herbert joking about becoming rich—makes the later tragedy more shocking.
• Morris’s warning that the paw has already caused “enough mischief” is ominous from the start, but the Whites treat it as a curiosity.
• The £200 wish is fulfilled through Herbert’s death, turning a seemingly harmless wish into the story’s cruelest irony.
• The ending leaves the horror just out of sight: the audience never learns exactly what was knocking, only that Mr. White believed it had to be stopped.

Personalities

• Mr. White
• Mrs. White
• Herbert White
• Sergeant-Major Morris
• The company representative
• Narrator: Alan Lord