The Monkey's Paw by W. W. Jacobs: Summary in 30 Seconds : Free Summarizer

The Monkey's Paw

W. W. Jacobs · short story, 1902·18 min in the original·original at Project Gutenberg

The 30‑second version18 min → 50 sec

A guest confesses he already spent all three wishes. Sergeant-Major Morris hands over the paw reluctantly, admitting his own third wish 'was for death. That's how I got the paw.'
A fakir cursed it to punish anyone who defies fate. He wanted to show that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow, so he set it so three men could each get three wishes.
The first wish is a joke: two hundred pounds for the mortgage. Herbert eggs his father on at the piano, and the moment Mr. White says 'I wish for two hundred pounds,' the paw twists in his hand 'like a snake' and he lets out a shuddering cry.
The money arrives as compensation for Herbert's death. A representative from Maw and Meggins reports Herbert was 'caught in the machinery' and the firm, disclaiming all liability, offers exactly two hundred pounds, the precise sum wished for the night before.
Ten days later, Mrs. White demands the second wish. She wakes her husband screaming for the paw and orders him to wish Herbert alive; he protests that the boy has been dead ten days and he 'could only recognize him by his clothing,' warning her, 'If he was too terrible for you to see then, how now?'
Knocking rises at the door as the bolt slides back. Mr. White gropes on the floor for the paw while his wife wrestles the door open; he finds it and breathes his third wish just as the bolt clears, and the knocking stops dead, leaving only 'a quiet and deserted road.'

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•Why it earns a slot

Why it earns a slot: it's the tightest three-wish horror structure in English, the paw's price lands exact to the pound (two hundred wished, two hundred paid as death money), and the ending refuses to show the reader what was knocking.

A sergeant hands over a cursed monkey's paw that grants three wishes, and the family's first casual wish for money comes true through their son's mangled death.

This distillation is written from the freely available original, which is always the better read when you have the time: Project Gutenberg.

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The Monkey's Paw

•Why it earns a slot

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