The answer to this question can be found in the
conversation that Sergeant Major Morris and the Whites have soon after he enters. As the
Sergeant Major begins to tell the Whites about his experiences in India and shows them
the monkey's paw, the Sergeant Major tells them about its origins and how it came to
become magical:
"It had a spell put on it by an old fakir," said
the sergeant major, "a very holy man."
"He wanted to show
that fate ruled people's lives, and that those who interfered with it did so to their
sorrow. He put a spell on it so that htree separate men could each have three wishes
from it."
The Sergeant Major
goes on to confirm to the Whites that he has had his three wishes, though as he says
this, it is clear that the granting of wishes is something that fills him with terror
and fear. He also says that he gained the paw when the first owner of the paw wished for
death as his third wish. It is important to note the way in which such descriptions
effectively foreshadow the action that ensues when the Whites themselves try to cheat
their fate and suffer so terribly as a result.
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