[5] The motif has been described as "common in oral tradition for centuries (particularly in Arabian fantasy), with wishes granted by genies freed from a bottle)".
It has also been asserted that the motif was "first written down as 'The Three Wishes' (1757 Le Magasin des Enfants) by Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont".
[1] An example of the three wishes motif as a joke runs as follows: Three men are stranded on a desert island, when a bottle washes up on the shore.
The genie snaps his fingers, and the man suddenly finds himself standing in front of the Eiffel Tower.
In the story, the recipient of the monkey's paw wishes for £200, only to learn that his son has been killed in a terrible work accident, for which the employer makes a goodwill payment of £200.