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The
Monkey's Paw
by
W.W. Jacobs
(unabridged)
(Audiobook) 
 W.W. Jacob's
short story The
Monkey's Paw was first
published in 1902 and is rather a scary tale. To this day it
is often included in anthologies
and the story has stood the test of time quite well.
This recording of the story is narrated
by B.J. Harrison
and was originally released as episode six of The Classic Tales Podcast
and has a runtime of about twenty-seven minutes.
The
Monkey's Paw is, among other
things, a cautionary tale and it always makes me think of the old
saying Be
careful what you wish for. At
the beginning of the story Mr. White and his son Herbert are enjoying a
quiet game of chess while Mrs White sits knitting by the fireplace. It
may be warm and cosy in the White's parlour, but it is cold and wet
outside and, despite Mr White's best efforts to distract his son by
commenting on the weather, Herbert is winning.
Herbert has just won the game when his father's friend Sergeant-Major
Morris arrives for a visit. Morris has just returned from India and
after twenty-one years there he has a few tales to tell. One tale,
though, is of particular interest to White. "What was that you started
telling me the other day about a monkey's paw or something, Morris?"
The Sergeant-Major is not keen on pursuing this line of conversation,
but all three of his hosts are so eager to hear his story that he
relents and, after fumbling in his pocket, pulls out a mummified
monkeys paw. "It had a spell put on it by an old fakir," he tells them.
"He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives and that those who
interfered with it did so to their sorrow. He put a spell on it so that
three separate men could each have three wishes from it."
The Whites do not take this seriously and Herbert, who is especially
amused, asks Morris why he does't try having three wishes on it. The
Sergeant-Major turns pale at the memory and replies that he already
has, and all three of them were granted. He refuses, however, to speak
of what he wished for or what happened, though he does admit to being
the second man to own the paw. The first owner also had his wishes
granted. Morris has no idea what the first two wishes were, but the
man's third wish was for death.
In an attempt to end to the monkey paw's evil magic Morris
throws it into the fire. White is unable to watch such an opportunity
go up in smoke though and snatches it out of the flames. "Better let it
burn," Morris warns; but some lessons are learned only when it is too
late. White keeps the paw, wishes on it and pays the price.
One of the things that I like about this story is that the worst things
in it are left to the readers (listeners) imagination. Sometimes that
storytelling technique works far better than a vivid description does
and I think that is the case here. Harrison does a good job of
narrating the story and I like voices he gives to the characters. My
favourite is the growl-like voice he adopts whenever the sergeant-Major
speaks.
This recording of The Monkey's Paw
is available as a download only, but it is so reasonably priced that I
suppose you could call it a cheap thrill and, really, what more could
you wish for?
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