Island Nights Entertainments

Author : Robert Louis Stevenson
Publisher : LCI
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 227 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Download or read book Island Nights' Entertainments (fully Illustrated) written by Robert Louis Stevenson and published by LCI. This book was released on 1928 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: -Includes the four short stories, The Beach of Falesa, The Bottle Imp, The Isle of Voices and The Waif Woman -Includes the 33 original Illustrations by Gordon Brown, W. Hatherell and N. C. Wyeth. -Table of contents to every chapters in the book. -Complete and formatted for kindle to improve your reading experience "The Beach of Falesá" is a short story by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. It was first published in the Illustrated London News in 1892, and later published in book form in the short-story collection Island Nights' Entertainments (1893). The story is told in the first person by John Wiltshire, a British copra trader on the fictional South Sea island of Falesá. Upon arriving on the island, he meets a rival trader named Case, who (in an apparently friendly gesture) arranges for him to be "married" to a local girl named Uma in a ceremony designed to impress the natives but to be completely non-binding in the view of Europeans. Wiltshire soon discovers that Uma has a taboo attached to her which causes all the other natives to refuse to do business with him, to Case's profit. He also hears rumors of Case having been involved in the suspicious deaths of his previous competitors. Although realising that he has been tricked, Wiltshire has genuinely fallen in love with Uma, and has their marriage legalised by a passing missionary. "The Bottle Imp" (1891) is a short story by the Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson usually found in the short story collection Island Nights' Entertainments. It was first published in the New York Herald (February–March 1891) and Black and White London (March–April 1891). In it, the protagonist buys a bottle with an imp inside that grants wishes. However, the bottle is cursed; if the holder dies bearing it, their soul is forfeit to hell. Keawe, a poor Hawaiian man, buys a strange bottle from a sad, elderly gentleman who credits the bottle with his fortune. He promises that an imp residing in the bottle will also grant Keawe his every desire. Of course, there is a catch — the bottle must be sold at a loss, i.e. for less than its owner originally paid, or else it will simply return to him. The currency used in the transaction must also be in coin (not paper money or a bank cheque/check). The bottle may not be thrown or given away. All of these commands must be transmitted from each seller to each purchaser. If an owner of the bottle dies without having sold it in the prescribed manner, that person's soul will burn for eternity in Hell. The bottle was said to have been brought to Earth by the Devil and first purchased by Prester John for millions of dollars; it was owned by Napoleon and Captain James Cook and accounted for their great successes. By the time of the story the price has diminished to fifty dollars. Keawe buys the bottle and instantly wishes his money to be refunded, to convince himself he has not been suckered. When his pockets fill with coins, he realizes the bottle does indeed have unholy power. He finds he cannot abandon it or sell it for a profit, so he wishes for his heart's desire: a big, fancy mansion on a landed estate. Upon his return to Hawaii, Keawe's wish has been granted, but at a price: his beloved uncle and cousins have been killed in a boating accident, leaving Keawe sole heir to his uncle's fortune. Keawe is horrified, but uses the money to build his house. After explaining the risks, he sells the bottle to a friend. "The Isle of Voices" is a short story written by Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in his collection Island Nights' Entertainments in 1893. The protagonist is a man named Keola living on the island of Molokai, Hawaii. Keola and his wife live with her father Kalamake, a notorious sorcerer who appears to have an inexhaustible supply of money despite never doing any work. One day, Kalamake uses a magic spell to transport Keola to an unfamiliar island where the two of them are invisible to the inhabitants.