The Bottle Imp

By Robert Louis Stevenson

"The Bottle Imp" is an 1891 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, his or her soul is forfeit to hell.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BoD E-Short
• Release date: Mar 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9783734736896

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a Scottish poet, novelist, and travel writer. Born the son of a lighthouse engineer, Stevenson suffered from a lifelong lung ailment that forced him to travel constantly in search of warmer climates. Rather than follow his father’s footsteps, Stevenson pursued a love of literature and adventure that would inspire such works as Treasure Island (1883), Kidnapped (1886), Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), and Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes (1879).

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The Bottle Imp

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The Bottle Imp

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 diamonds; 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 Keawe to enter, and met him at the door of the house.

This is a fine house of mine, said the man, and bitterly sighed. Would you not care to view the chambers?

So he led Keawe all over it, from the cellar to the roof, and there was nothing there that was not perfect of its kind, and Keawe was astonished.

Truly, said Keawe, this is a beautiful house; if I lived in the like of it I should be laughing all day long. How comes it, then, that you should be sighing?

There is no reason, said the man, why you should not have a house in all points similar to this, and finer, if you wish. You have some money, I suppose?

I have fifty dollars, said Keawe; but a house like this will cost more than fifty dollars.

The man made a computation. I am sorry you have no more, said he, for it may raise you trouble in the future; but it shall be yours at fifty dollars.

The house? asked Keawe.

No, not the house, replied the man; but the bottle. For, I must tell you, although I appear to you so rich and fortunate, all my fortune, and this house itself and its garden, came out of a bottle not much bigger than a pint. This is it.

And he opened a lockfast place, and took out a round-bellied

Reviews for The Bottle Imp

[david.alfred.sarkies · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is one of those little treasures that I have stumbled across in a collection of short stories of Stevenson's that are all have a supernatural theme and also generally creepy (which is what you get with supernatural stories). The Bottle Imp is a story of a native Hawiian (which is interesting in that the main character of this book is not Anglo-american) who is sold a rather magnificent bottle. Basically the owner of the bottle will come into great fortune however there are some catches: if you lose possession of the bottle then your fortune will turn bad, yet if you retain possession of the bottle when you die then you are damned to the fires of hell. So, how does one get rid of the bottle? Well, you have to sell it for less than you purchased it. So, seeing an opportunity, the Hawaiian purchases the bottle and becomes really wealthy and then sells it.However, as I said, there is a catch. Upon selling the bottle he loses all of his fortune, so he goes on a trek around the world to attempt to find the bottle again, and when he does he can only buy it for one cent, which he does. Fortunately his wife tells him that there are places in the world where they have coins worth less than one American cent, so he goes to Tahiti in an attempt to sell it, which he does, only to discover that his fortune once again vanishes, so he attempts to buy it back, expect that the person who has bought it has already consigned himself to hell so he wants to spend the remainder of his days living it up.What The Bottle Imp is about is the conflict between living a comfortable lifestyle and living a moral lifestyle (that is a lifestyle where the ultimate destination is heaven as opposed to hell). While, compared to the rest of the world, I am actually quite wealthy (and those of you who are reading this commentary are probably in the same boat) the funny this is that there are always people who are wealthier than us, and there are things that they have that we want, like the big house, or a fancy car.The thing is that wealth is very seductive and by surrounding yourself with wealth and living such a lifestyle there are two dangers: living beyond your means and alienating yourself from the poor and the marginalised. Many of us, in attempting to enhance our lifestyle end up robbing the poorest sections of society from any opportunity to be able to enjoy life. Our hunt for greater profit and greater returns results in the decline of the manufacturing sector, the undercutting of wages, and what is in effect a race to the bottom. Those of us who are bosses and sit at the top of the chain end up looking for ways of increasing our own income which ends up robbing others of theirs. We close down factories, keep wages stagnated, and jack up prices, without any empathy as to how it is affecting others around us. We go home to our big house in our BMW yet do not realise that our employees are stressing out as to how they can pay their bills and keep a roof over their head or send their children to school and get a good education.That is the idea as to how our lust for wealth can in the end damn us to hell because we are only concerned about ourself and own life. We do not care that the clothes on our back are produced through slave labour, and we treat others humans as either figures, production machines, or people that simply exist only to serve us. In fact as our economy moves towards a service economy, the jobs that are available look quite appalling indeed, not just because of the low wages, but because of the rubbish that they have to put up with. Dealing with customers is very hard work because in reality customers can be absolute pigs when they want to be, yet those in the service industry have to smile and put up with it because if they put a step wrong and the customer complains, it does not matter whether the customer is right or not, it is the service staff that gets it in the neck.

[altheaann · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A tale on the classic theme of ‘The Problems With Wishes.’ A man comes across the remarkable opportunity to buy a bottle containing an imp – who, genie-like, will fulfill all the wishes of his owner. The catch? If the owner dies in possession of the bottle, he or she will be damned for all eternity. The bottle cannot be given away, only sold – and it may only be sold for a lesser price than it was bought for.
It’s a great set-up, and Stevenson does it full justice.

It’s also worth mentioning that the main characters are native Hawaiian – the setting was based on Stevenson’s 1889 travels in the then-independent Hawaii. There is no ‘exotification’ of the characters’ background at all – interestingly, the story was first published in the Samoan language, according to Stevenson, ‘for a Polynesian audience.’

[bnielsen_30 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

USA, San Francisco, ca 1840En mand, Keawe, kommer til San Francisco og går rundt og kigger på husene, da han uventet bliver budt indenfor. Manden viser ham en glasflaske med en ond ånd indeni. Flasken kan ikke slås i stykker. Mens man ejer den, har man stor mage, men når man sælger den igen svinder al magt og beskyttelse med den og onde ting vil overgå den, der har ejet den, medmindre han er tilfreds med det, han har. Men det værste er at man kommer til at brænde i helvede til evig tid, hvis man ikke får den solgt inden man dør. Blandt flaskens tidligere ejere er Napoleon og Kaptajn Cook.Desuden skal den sælges i klingende mønt og med tab og nu er prisen nede i 50 dollars.Keawe slår til og på mandens råd starter han med at ønske sig pengene tilbage i lommen og det sker straks. Han forsøger at efterlade flasken rundt omkring, men den hopper tilbage i lommen. Han sælger den for tresindstyve sølvdollars og den finder tilbage igen. Han snakker med en kammerat, Lopaka, og denne foreslår ham at få noget godt ud af flasken og så sælge den til ham, for han vil gerne have en skonnert. Som sagt så gjort og Keawe ønsker sig et drømmehus. Det passer selvfølgelig med at en højtelsket onkel dør og efterlader sig jord og penge, der passer præcis med drømmehuset. Keawe er forsigtig og vil ikke ønske mere, men Lopaka foreslår at de beder om at få flaskeånden at se inden handelen sluttes.Som sagt så gjort, men det er ikke et rart syn. Lopaka holder dog ord og køber flasken. Keawe beder Lopaka om at gå med det samme og Lopaka forstår ham godt og parerer ordre.Nu lever Keawe lykkeligt i sit hus i lang tid og en dag møder han en smuk pige, Kokua, og de bliver forelskede. Samme aften opdager Keawe at han har fået spedalskhed. Han går på jagt efter flasken og finder den også, men ejeren har købt den for 2 cents. Han køber den for 1 cent og vender helbredt men dybt bekymret tilbage til Kokua. Hun er fortvivlet over at han er fortvivlet og får ham til at fortælle sandheden og hun er ikke dum, så hun ved at der er mindre møntenheder end cent. Hun får en gammel mand til at købe flasken for fire centimer og køber den af ham for tre.Keawe bliver jublende lykkelig over at være blevet af med flasken og forlader Kokua fordi hun ikke deler hans jubel. Han kommer dog til sig selv igen og indser hvordan det hænger sammen. Han laver samme nummer med hende, får en til at købe den for to centimer og vil selv købe den tilbage for en, men det nægter denne, for han skal alligevel i helvede og flasken anser han for en fin rejsekammerat.Og Keawe og Kokua lever lykkeligt sammen i resten af deres dage.Morsom, men forudsigelig bagatel om en pagt med djævelen.