Talisman

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The Monkey’s Paw, a short story by W W Jacobs, revolves around a talisman. An Indian fakir created the talisman which is a mummified monkey’s paw. Three persons can have three wishes each fulfilled with the help of the paw. But there’s a catch: the consequences of getting your wish thus fulfilled – by meddling with nature through the supernatural – can be formidable.

When the paw reaches Mr White, two persons have had their wishes already fulfilled. The first one killed himself with the third wish. The second one, who speaks about its ominous possibilities, throws the paw into fire saying that he did not want one more person to suffer because of it. Mr White retrieves it from the fire.

Mr White makes a simple wish. Just 200 pounds which will repay all his debts. His wish was as simple as that. Yet he paid too heavy a price for the fulfilment of that wish. Next day, 200 pounds came to his house as insurance-compensation for the tragic death of his son in an accident in the factory where he worked.

Mrs White is heart-broken by the untimely death of her young son. A week after the funeral, still unable to overcome her grief, Mrs White asks her husband to make his second wish with the paw: to bring back Herbert, their dead son. Reluctantly, Mr White makes the wish. He is very disturbed by the thought of his son’s mutilated and decomposing body.

Late in the night, there is a knock on their door. A gentle knock at first which then becomes louder and harsher. Old Mr Herbert is utterly scared. He won’t open the door. Mrs Herbert goes to open the door but she can’t reach the top lock. She asks for help. Instead of helping her, Mr Herbert picks up the talisman and makes his final wish. The knocking stops suddenly. Mrs White, in the meanwhile, has brought a chair and opened the top lock. There’s no one out there. They both rush to the gate. “The streetlight opposite shone on a quiet and deserted road.”

Miracles do happen in our lives. But they shouldn’t be made to happen by playing with the supernatural. Miracles should be inner transformations. Your attitudes change. Your perspectives change. You see a new reality. You live a new reality. That is the real miracle.

Talismans don’t work miracles, in fact. They can help to transmute your attitudes. That transmutation is the miracle. For example, a person may carry a figurine with him all the time believing in its miraculous powers. His faith will have certain positive impacts on his life. Those positive impacts are not brought by the figurine, however. They are brought by the person’s faith and the positive attitudes brought by that faith.

Keep a talisman if you wish. There is nothing wrong in wearing on your wrist that sacred thread brought from the temple, or the medallion from the church, or carrying a relic on you, so long as you don’t really expect them to work magic for you. They are only meant to keep your attitudes and emotions under check. That check is the real miracle. The inner transformation brought about by that check is the ultimate miracle.