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    The Bottle Imp
    The Bottle Imp
    The Bottle Imp
    Ebook49 pages58 minutes

    The Bottle Imp

    By Robert Louis Stevenson

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    Short story set in Hawaii.According to the Author's Note: "Any student of that very unliterary product, the English drama of the early part of the century, will here recognise the name and the root idea of a piece once rendered popular by the redoubtable O. Smith.The root idea is there and identical, and yet I hope I have made it a new thing.And the fact that the tale has been designed and written for a Polynesian audience may lend it some extraneous interest nearer home." According to Wikipedia: "Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson (13 November 1850–3 December 1894), was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist and travel writer. He was the man who "seemed to pick the right word up on the point of his pen, like a man playing spillikins", as G. K. Chesterton put it."
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSeltzer Books
    Release dateMar 1, 2018
    ISBN9781455372263
    Author

    Robert Louis Stevenson

    Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894) spent his childhood in Edinburgh, Scotland, but traveled widely in the United States and throughout the South Seas. He was author of many novels, including The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Kidnapped, The Black Arrow, and Treasure Island.

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      Book preview

      The Bottle Imp - Robert Louis Stevenson

      THE BOTTLE IMP BY ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

      published by Samizdat Express, Orange, CT, USA

      established in 1974, offering over 14,000 books

      Books by Robert Louis Stevenson:

      Across the Plains

      The Art of Writing

      Ballads

      Black Arrow

      The Bottle Imp

      Catriona or David Balfour (sequel to Kidnapped)

      A Child's Garden of Verses

      The Ebb-Tide

      Edinburgh

      Essays

      Essays of Travel

      Fables

      Familiar Studies of Men and Books

      Father Damien

      Footnote to History

      In the South Seas

      An Inland Voyage

      Island Nights' Entertainments

      Kidnapped

      Lay Morals

      Letters

      Lodging for the Night

      Markheim

      Master of Ballantrae

      Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin

      Memories and Portraits

      Merry Men

      Moral Emblems

      New Arabian Nights

      New Poems

      The Pavilion on the Links

      Four Plays

      The Pocket R. L. S.

      Prayers Written at Vailima

      Prince Otto

      Records of a Family of Engineers

      The Sea Fogs

      The Silverado Squatters

      Songs of Travel

      St. Ives

      The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

      Tales and Fantasies

      Thrawn Janet

      Travels with a Donkey

      Treasure Island

      Underwoods

      Vailima Letters

      Virginibus Puerisque

      The Waif Woman

      Weir of Hermiston

      The Wrecker

      The Wrong Box

      feedback welcome: [email protected]

      visit us at samizdat.com

      Note. - Any student of that very unliterary product, the English  drama of the early part of the century, will here recognise the  name and the root idea of a piece once rendered popular by the  redoubtable O. Smith.  The root idea is there and identical, and  yet I hope I have made it a new thing.  And the fact that the tale  has been designed and written for a Polynesian audience may lend it  some extraneous interest nearer home. - R. L. S.

       THERE was a man of the Island of Hawaii, whom I shall call Keawe;  for the truth is, he still lives, and his name must be kept secret;  but the place of his birth was not far from Honaunau, where the  bones of Keawe the Great lie hidden in a cave.  This man was poor,  brave, and active; he could read and write like a schoolmaster; he  was a first-rate mariner besides, sailed for some time in the  island steamers, and steered a whaleboat on the Hamakua coast.  At  length it came in Keawe's mind to have a sight of the great world  and foreign cities, and he shipped on a vessel bound to San  Francisco.

      This is a fine town, with a fine harbour, and rich people  uncountable; and, in particular, there is one hill which is covered  with palaces.  Upon this hill Keawe was one day taking a walk with  his pocket full of money, viewing the great houses upon either hand  with pleasure, What fine houses these are! he was thinking, and  how happy must those people be who dwell in them, and take no care  for the morrow!  The thought was in his mind when he came abreast  of a house that was smaller than some others, but all finished and  beautified like a toy; the steps of that house shone like silver,  and the borders of the garden bloomed like garlands, and the  windows were bright like diamond; and Keawe stopped and wondered at  the excellence of all he saw.  So stopping, he was aware of a man  that looked forth upon him through a window so clear that Keawe  could see him as you see a fish in a pool upon the reef.  The man  was elderly, with a bald head and a black beard; and his face was  heavy with sorrow, and he bitterly sighed.  And the truth of it is,  that as Keawe looked in upon the man, and the man looked out upon  Keawe, each envied the other.

      All of a sudden, the man smiled and nodded, and beckoned

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