The monkey's paw

The Monkey's Paw" is a story   by author W. W. Jacobs.

The story involves Mr. & Mrs. White and their grown-up son, A friend gives them a monkey's paw, telling of its mysterious powers to grant three wishes, and tells the family of its journey from an old fakir to his comrade.

Mr. White greedily wishes for 200 pounds. Suddenly there is a knock on the door and they get a message that their son is killed by machinery at his company, and they will get the insurance amount of 200 pounds.

Days after they bury Herbert, Mrs. White, almost mad with grief, asks her husband to wish Herbert back to life with the paw. Mr. White is very reluctant, scared but does so. After few moments there are rapid knocking sounds on their door. Mrs. White already mad with grief, shrieks, fumbles at the locks in an attempt to open the door. Mr. White goes white with fear and thinks that if it is his son, he cannot be allowed inside the house, as his appearance will be too horrific; since his son was mutilated by the accident and was buried for more than a week.

Mr. White shaking with fear wishes his third wish; that Herbert be dead again. The knocking stops. Mrs. White already mad opens the door to find no one there and runs out of the house with grief

Later when Mr. White saw, the description of the paw was: '"It has a spell put on it by an old holy man. He wanted to show that if fate ruled people's lives, and those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow"'.

 Moral of the story  : Always be thankful for what you have and careful of what  you wish for , god might fulfill some of these wishes and at times they might come at a huge cost .