Hello, my name is Finn, and I'm going to help you understand this book.
Here it is, explained like you are 10:
Robert Louis Stevenson lived his last years on islands in the South Seas, and he wrote these three stories about them. In one, a trader faces a pretend devil used to scare a village. In another, a magic bottle grants wishes, but whoever owns it when they die is in terrible trouble, so it must always be sold for less. In the third, a young man hunts for shells that turn into money. Three adventures in one small book.
These are three tales from the South Seas, where Stevenson lived his last years. In 'The Beach of Falesá', a trader must face down a rival who frightens a village with a pretend devil hidden in the bush. In 'The Bottle Imp', a poor man buys a bottle holding a spirit that grants wishes, but whoever dies owning it is damned, so it can only be sold at a loss, and the price keeps dropping. In 'The Isle of Voices', a young Hawaiian follows a sorcerer who turns shells into money.
The three tales are built very differently, and that is the pleasure. One is a hard, realistic story of traders and taboos. One is a fable, turning on one magical rule that frightens you more the longer you think. One is a magical adventure. Stevenson moves between them like a musician changing instruments.
It works because Stevenson knew these islands from living in them, not from books. The beaches, the trade stores, and the island customs all ring true, and under the adventure runs his sympathy for the islanders. 'The Bottle Imp' has been retold ever since, but the whole small collection shows one master at his most varied.
Stevenson spent his last years in the South Seas, and these three tales are what the islands gave him. 'The Beach of Falesá' tells of a trader, a taboo, and a fake devil used to frighten a village. 'The Bottle Imp' follows a bottle that grants wishes but damns whoever dies owning it. 'The Isle of Voices' sends a young Hawaiian after shells a sorcerer turns into money. Adventure, fable, and ghost story in one slim volume.
Stevenson spent his last years in the South Seas, and these three tales are what the islands gave him. 'The Beach of Falesá' is a hard, clear eyed story of a trader, a taboo, and a fake devil used to frighten a village. 'The Bottle Imp' follows a bottle that grants wishes but damns whoever dies owning it, so it must always be sold at a loss. 'The Isle of Voices' sends a young Hawaiian after the shells that a sorcerer turns into money. Between them they cover adventure, fable, and ghost story in one slim volume.
Together they show Stevenson at his most varied, and 'The Bottle Imp' alone has been retold ever since it appeared in 1893. Starvard carries the collection as the heart of our Stevenson South Seas shelf: the work of a great storyteller living inside the world he wrote about, not merely visiting it. Readers who want one compact volume that proves how many kinds of tale one master could tell, and readers who love the Pacific of traders, beaches, and sorcerers, will find this small book hard to put down.
Edition: Text: Project Gutenberg ebook 329.
The first chapter
The Beach of Falesá
A south sea bridal
The Ban
The Missionary
Devil-work
Night in the bush
The Bottle Imp
The Isle of voices
THE BEACH OF FALESÁ.
Source: Project Gutenberg. Published 1893. Public domain. Share this book: WhatsApp
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