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The Monkey's Paw
Heathen Short #3
Author
W.W. Jacobs
Translator
First Edition
September 1902
Heathen Short
December 24, 2025
Refreshed
Pages
26
Heathen Genera
Creepy AF
ISBN
979-8-90075-003-3
He took the paw, and dangling it between his forefinger and thumb, suddenly threw it upon the fire. White, with a slight cry, stooped down and snatched it off.
“Better let it burn,” said the soldier, solemnly.
“If you don’t want it, Morris,” said the other, “give it to me.”
“I won’t,” said his friend, doggedly. “I threw it on the fire. If you keep it, don’t blame me for what happens. Pitch it on the fire again like a sensible man.”
The other shook his head and examined his new possession closely. “How do you do it?” he inquired.
“Hold it up in your right hand and wish aloud,” said the sergeant-major, “but I warn you of the consequences.”
William Wymark Jacobs (1863–1943) was an English author best known for his 1902 story “The Monkey’s Paw,” first published in Harper’s Monthly, then collected in his The Lady of the Barge that same year. A humorist by trade, Jacobs here delivers something far darker: a parable of wishcraft and consequence, so lean it feels chiseled, and as compact as it is catastrophic. In a rain-slick English parlor, a cursed talisman changes hands — from soldier to family, from caution to curiosity. What begins as maternal grief abruptly curdles into spiritual trespass, and the price is steep. The paw grants three wishes, yes, but each one is a rung down the ladder to ruin. The warning is clear: the paw does not punish, it fulfills — and in that fulfillment lies the profane undoing.
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Rate & Shelve It
“Powerful in conception and thoroughly artistic in execution.”
New-York Tribune
Heathenry
Contents
Praise
Details
Heathenry
Arriving Soon-ish! Available NOW for pre-order (backorder) — expected to ship by late January.
As for the text, given that Jacobs was British, we’ve retained the British spellings, but we’ve modernized a few hyphened words to reflect their current usage: to-night is now tonight, good-night has become goodnight, and so on.
Further, we’ve appended not quite twenty footnotes to provide clarity, context, and commentary where necessary.
To close out our edition, we’ve included the original artwork created by Maurice Greiffenhagen1Maurice Greiffenhagen (1862–1931) was an English painter and prolific illustrator, best known for his illustrations for Rider Haggard novels. — captioned: “What’s that?” cried the old woman — which was first featured alongside the story’s Harper’s appearance, then as one of twelve illustrations Greiffenhagen created for The Lady of the Barge.
Finally, we’ll leave you with this fun directive we discovered in The Lexington Herald while researching this story: “If anyone wishes a nice little cold chill to play gently up and down his spine…let him late at night when everybody else is in bed and the house is still save for a creaking board or an occasional unaccountable midnight noise sit down…and read ‘The Monkey’s Paw.’”2Miss Gossip’s Letter. (1902, August 31). The Lexington Herald 32(243). A11.
Contents
Heathenry: Thoughts on the Text
“The Monkey’s Paw“
“The Monkey’s Paw“
Praise
“‘The Monkey’s Paw’ is a thrilling and tragic tale.” —Boston Evening Transcript
“Ghastly in the extreme.” —The Liverpool Mercury
“Powerful in conception and thoroughly artistic in execution.” —New-York Tribune
“‘The Monkey’s Paw’ is of a very weird, uncanny, blood-curdling sort and the reader must indeed be hardened who can finish it without a new sensation or feel an impression that will be abiding.” —The Buffalo Commercial
“A weird and unusual story.” —The Harrisburg Telegraph
“An uncanny story of a malevolent relic.” —The Brisbane Courier
“‘The Monkey’s Paw’ is calculated to give thrills and tremors to the most indifferent reader. It is a semi-superstitious tale, written very much in the vein employed by Edgar Allen Poe in his weird masterpieces and shows splendid originality as well as virile force of expression.” —The Nassau Literary Magazine
“Intensely gruesome.” —The Evening Star
“Well calculated to give a nervous person ‘the creeps.’” —The Baltimore Sun
“A striking tale, ‘The Monkey’s Paw,’ reaches a high level. It appears to be a new version of an old story, ‘The Three Wishes,’ but the transformation from the old to the new is so complete as to amount to genius. The tale is a masterpiece.” —The Bendigo Independent
Details
The Monkey’s Paw
Heathen Short #3Published: December 24, 2025
Format: Paperback
Retail: $6.95
ISBN-13: 9798900750033
Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.1 inches
Weight: 1.6 oz
Cover: Matte Finish
Interior: Black & White on Cream Paper
Pages: 26 (+2 POD)
Language: English
Annotations: 19 Footnotes
Illustrations: 4
- Title Page
- Heathenry Flame
- Honorary Heathen Headshot: W.W. Jacobs
- “What’s that?” cried the old woman.
- Fiction / Horror / Occult & Supernatural
- Fiction / Thrillers / Supernatural
- Fiction / Short Stories (single author)
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