W. W. Jacobs · 1902
Questions on the text, each answered in the book’s own words, with the minute you hear it.
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Answer Chess
“Father and son were at chess, the former, who possessed ideas about the game involving radical changes”
Answer Two
“I suppose because only two houses in the road are let, they think it doesn’t matter.”
Answer The third
“At the third glass his eyes got brighter, and he began to talk”
Answer Twenty-one
“Twenty-one years of it,” said Mr. White, nodding at his wife and son.”
Answer An old fakir, a very holy man
“It had a spell put on it by an old fakir,” said the sergeant-major, “a very holy man.”
Answer That fate ruled people’s lives
“He wanted to show that fate ruled people’s lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their sorrow.”
Answer Three
“He put a spell on it so that three separate men could each have three wishes from it.”
Answer Death
“I don’t know what the first two were, but the third was for death. That’s how I got the paw.”
Answer Throws it upon the fire
“He took the paw, and dangling it between his forefinger and thumb, suddenly threw it upon the fire.”
Answer Hold it up in your right hand and wish aloud
“Hold it up in your right hand and wish aloud,” said the sergeant-major, “but I warn you of the consequences.”
Answer Four pairs of hands
“Don’t you think you might wish for four pairs of hands for me?”
Answer An emperor
“Wish to be an emperor, father, to begin with; then you can’t be henpecked.”
Answer An antimacassar
“He darted round the table, pursued by the maligned Mrs. White armed with an antimacassar.”
Answer Two hundred pounds
“Well, wish for two hundred pounds, then; that ’ll just do it.”
Answer On the sideboard
“the dirty, shrivelled little paw was pitched on the sideboard with a carelessness which betokened no great belief in its virtues.”
Answer A tailor’s bill
“when she found that the post brought a tailor’s bill.”
Answer Her apron
“hurriedly unfastening the strings of her apron, put that useful article of apparel beneath the cushion of her chair.”
Answer Maw and Meggins
“I come from ‘Maw and Meggins.’”
Answer He was caught in the machinery
“He was caught in the machinery,” said the visitor at length in a low voice.”
Answer Some two miles
“In the huge new cemetery, some two miles distant, the old people buried their dead”
Answer In the parlour, on the bracket
“It’s in the parlour, on the bracket,” he replied, marvelling.”
Answer Ten days
“He has been dead ten days, and besides he—I would not tell you else, but—I could only recognize him by his clothing.”
Answer A rat
“a rat. It passed me on the stairs.”
Answer The bolt
“He heard the creaking of the bolt as it came slowly back, and at the same moment he found the monkey’s paw, and frantically breathed his third and last wish.”
Answer A quiet and deserted road
“The street lamp flickering opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road.”
“The Monkey’s Paw,” in The Lady of the Barge and Other Stories, 1902. Public domain.