The curse of the monkey's paw - Iseult Gillespie

16,886 views ・ 2024-10-31

TED-Ed


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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The windows shuddered, the chimney howled,
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and rain crashed upon Mr. and Mrs. White’s roof
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as they sat fireside with their son, Herbert.
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They were expecting someone...
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When a knock finally sounded at the door,
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Mr. White rose and welcomed his old friend,
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Sergeant-Major Morris.
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Time flew as the sergeant regaled the family with epic tales from faraway lands—
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until Mr. White asked about an artifact the sergeant had alluded to.
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Slowly, the sergeant produced the object from his pocket:
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a mummified monkey’s paw.
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He explained that, in order to teach the consequences of meddling with fate,
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01:02
a holy man had imbued the paw with the power to grant three wishes to three men.
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The sergeant said he’d obtained the paw after the first man made his final wish
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for death.
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When Herbert asked why he hadn’t used his wishes,
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the sergeant tensed and replied simply that he had.
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Suddenly, he flung the paw into the fire,
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but Mr. White yelped and plucked it out of the flames.
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And despite the sergeant’s warnings,
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Mr. White persuaded him to part with the paw.
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After their guest had gone, Herbert playfully suggested that his father wish
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for the rest of their home’s mortgage money.
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Mr. White chuckled and wished for £200.
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But just as the utterance left his lips, he screamed out in terror.
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The paw had curled in his grasp.
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The Whites soon bid each other good night.
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But as Mr. White sat staring into the dying flames
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that flickered in the fireplace,
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they morphed into blazing faces before him.
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He reached for a water glass to extinguish the apparition, but as he did,
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the monkey’s paw grazed his hand ever so slightly.
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The morning's light soothed the night's disquiet,
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and the family joked with one another about the paw’s magical powers.
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02:33
Herbert left for work,
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and Mr. and Mrs. White passed their day as usual.
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But as evening loomed, Mrs. White noticed a man at their gate,
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who appeared to be deliberating whether to enter.
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She ushered him in and he broke the news:
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Herbert had died, caught in the factory machinery.
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To the Whites’ horror.
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the company would reward them compensation, the man went on,
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in the form of £200.
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They buried Herbert at a cemetery down the road,
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and over the following days,
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the cold, heavy grief of their loss settled upon the home.
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One night, as Mr. White tried to comfort his weeping wife,
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she bolted up, possessed by an idea.
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They still had the monkey’s paw— and Mr. White had two remaining wishes.
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He could will their son back to life.
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Yet the thought of the monkey's paw and Herbert's mangled body,
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reanimated after 10 days buried, petrified Mr. White.
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Mrs. White, however, was insistent.
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She hurried him downstairs to find the paw.
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And, moved by his wife’s desperation,
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Mr. White clutched it and wished for Herbert to be alive again,
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then let the monkey’s paw fall to the floor.
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At first nothing happened,
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and Mr. White felt a sneaking sense of relief.
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His suspicions that the paw was just an inanimate token
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and the death of his beloved son a sick coincidence
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were affirmed.
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But as he lit a candle, a gust of wind extinguished the flame.
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A moment later, Mr. White heard a tap at the door.
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Gradually, it crescendoed into a booming knock.
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He tried to restrain her, but Mrs. White rushed to the door.
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Her shaking hands struggled with its stubborn bolt,
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and she begged her husband for help.
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Mr. White, however, was scrambling on the floor in frenzied horror,
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hands outstretched, searching for the monkey’s paw.
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The knocks quickened and crashed at the door.
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And with a final force, Mrs. White shrieked and wrenched the bolt free
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as Mr. White managed to seize the paw and choke out his third and final wish.
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The door opened to reveal their empty, lamplit street,
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and a frigid draft of air rushed into the house...
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06:07
Thus concludes W.W. Jacobs’ 1902 short story, “The Monkey’s Paw.”
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