The Monkey 's Paw - wikipedia The Monkey 's Paw This article is about the short story by W.W. Jacobs. For other uses, see The Monkey 's Paw ( disambiguation ). This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2015 ) `` The Monkey 's Paw '' Author W.W. Jacobs Country England Language English Genre ( s ) Horror, short story Publication date September 1902 `` The Monkey 's Paw '' is a supernatural short story by author W.W. Jacobs first published in England in 1902. In the story, three wishes are granted to the owner of the monkey 's hand, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate. Contents 1 Plot 2 Versions in other media 3 Variations and parodies 4 See also 5 References 6 External links Plot Illustration for `` The Monkey 's Paw '' from Jacobs ' short story collection The Lady of the Barge ( 1902 ). The short story involves Mr. and Mrs. White and their adult son, Herbert. Sergeant - Major Morris, a friend who served with the British Army in India, introduces them to a mummified monkey 's paw. An old fakir placed a spell on the paw, that it would grant three wishes. The wishes are granted but always with hellish consequences as punishment for tampering with fate. Morris, having had a horrific experience using the paw, throws the monkey 's paw into the fire but Mr. White retrieves it. Before leaving, Morris warns Mr. White that if he does use the paw, then it will be on his own head. At Herbert 's suggestion, Mr. White flippantly wishes for £ 200, which will enable him to make the final mortgage payment for his house, even though he believes he has everything he wants. The next day his son Herbert leaves for work at a local factory. Later that day, word comes to the White home that Herbert has been killed in a terrible machinery accident. Although the employer denies responsibility for the incident, the firm has decided to make a goodwill payment to the family of the deceased. The payment, of £ 200, exactly matches the amount Herbert suggested his father should wish for. Ten days after their son 's death and a week after the funeral, Mrs. White, almost mad with grief, asks her husband to use the paw to wish Herbert back to life. Reluctantly, he does so. Shortly afterward there is a knock at the door. As Mrs. White fumbles at the locks in an attempt to open the door, Mr. White, who had to identify his son 's mutilated body, and who knows the corpse has been buried for more than a week, realizes that the thing outside is not the son he knew and loved, and makes his third wish. The knocking suddenly stops. Mrs. White opens the door to find no one is there. Versions in other media Nina Quatero in a publicity still from the 1933 film version. The story has been adapted into other media many times, including : On 6 October 1903, a one - act play opened at London 's Haymarket Theatre, starring Cyril Maude as Mr. White and Lena Ashwell as Mrs. White. A 1910 stage adaptation by Louis N. Parker. A 1915 film version, directed by Sidney Northcote and starring John Lawson. A 1923 film version, directed by Manning Haynes and starring Moore Marriott, Marie Ault, and Charles Ashton. A 17 July 1928 UK radio adaptation based on the 1910 play. A 1933 film version, screenplay by Graham John, directed by Wesley Ruggles ( his last film with RKO ), and starring C. Aubrey Smith, Ivan Simpson and Louise Carter. The film is now lost. A 28 May 1946 episode of the BBC Radio series Appointment with Fear. A 1948 film version, screenplay by Norman Lee and Barbara Toy. A 16 December 1958 episode of the UK radio series Thirty - Minute Theatre, starring Carleton Hobbes and Gladys Young. A 1961 film version called Espiritismo ( released as Spiritism in the US ), directed by Benito Alazraki and starring Nora Veyran, Jose Luis Jiminez, and Jorge Mondragon. `` The Monkey 's Paw -- A Retelling '', aired on TV on 19 April 1965 in season 3, episode 26 of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, starring Leif Erickson, Jane Wyatt, and Lee Majors. A 11 July 1980 episode of the CBC Radio series Nightfall. A 17 January 1988 BBC Radio adaptation by Patrick Galvin, presented as part of Fear on Four. It was rebroadcast individually as a Halloween special on 31 October 1993. A one - act opera of the story was adapted by composer Stephen J. Grieco in 1996 and premiered at the Alice E. Bartlett Theatre. A 2004 adaptation as a radio play narrated by Christopher Lee in 2004 as part of the BBC radio drama series Christopher Lee 's Fireside Tales. An operatic version of the story was adapted by composer Jonathan N. Kupper in 2009. Excerpts of the piece were showcased as part of Opera Vista 's new opera competition in Houston, Texas in 2010 ; and a full production was premiered by The Microscopic Opera Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 2011. A 2011 Australian radio adaptation on The Drama Pod. An opera adaptation composed by Brooke deRosa was premiered in October 2017 Variations and parodies Main article : List of adaptations of The Monkey 's Paw A great number of novels, stories, movies, plays and comics are variations or adaptations of the story, featuring similar plots built around wishes that go awry in macabre ways, occasionally with references to monkey 's paws or to the story itself. The story is frequently parodied on television shows and in comic books. See also Novels portal Unintended consequences References Jump up ^ Jacobs, W.W. ; Parker, Louis N. ( 1910 ). The Monkey 's Paw : A Story in Three Scenes. London : Samuel French, Ltd. p. 5. ^ Jump up to : Richard J. Hand ( 5 June 2014 ). Listen in Terror : British Horror Radio from the Advent of Broadcasting to the Digital Age. Oxford University Press. pp. 35 -- 36. ISBN 978 - 0 - 7190 - 8148 - 4. ^ Jump up to : Alan Goble ( 1 January 1999 ). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. p. 241. ISBN 978 - 3 - 11 - 095194 - 3. Jump up ^ Jewell, Richard B. ; Harbin, Vernon ( 1982 ). The RKO Story. New York : Arlington House. p. 57. ISBN 0 - 517 - 546566. Jump up ^ Soister, John T. ( 2004 ). Up from the Vault : Rare thrillers of the 1920s and 1930s. McPharland. p. 133. Jump up ^ `` Alice E. Bartlett, SUNY Fredonia ''. Jump up ^ `` BBC Radio 4 Extra - Christopher Lee 's Fireside Tales, The Monkey 's Paw ''. BBC. Jump up ^ `` microscopic - opera ''. microscopic - opera. Jump up ^ http://www.marina-harris.com/news/2017/6/21/world-premiere-of-the-monkeys-paw-with-pacific-opera-project-and-composer-brooke-derosa. Missing or empty title = ( help ) External links Wikisource has original text related to this article : The Monkey 's Paw Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Monkey 's Paw. The Monkey 's Paw public domain audiobook at LibriVox `` The Monkey 's Paw '' ; Full Short Story Text Gaslight edition of the story Monkey 's Paw Radio Play Podcast of `` The Monkey 's Paw '' as read by John Lithgow Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Monkey%27s_Paw&oldid=811793031 '' Categories : 1902 short stories British short stories Horror short stories Short stories adapted into films Hidden categories : Pages with citations lacking titles Pages with citations having bare URLs Articles needing additional references from April 2015 All articles needing additional references Articles with LibriVox links Use dmy dates from September 2010 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Deutsch Eesti Español فارسی Français Italiano עברית 日本 語 ਪੰਜਾਬੀ Simple English Tiếng Việt Edit links This page was last edited on 24 November 2017, at 00 : 45. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. 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Question: where does the monkey's paw come from
Answer: Sergeant-Major Morris