The Bottle Imp by Robert Louis Stevenson

But Stevenson’s story is more complex, warm, and original than I expected. Of course, there are a few other caveats and rules, but mortals think they can outwit the imp. The imp will grant its owner any wish except immortality. Withinsides something obscurely moved, like a shadow and a fire.” “ A round-bellied bottle with a long neck the glass of it was white like milk, with changing rainbow colours in the grain. Image: 'Demon Seated', by Mikhail Vrubal, 1890 ( Source.) The eponymous bottle has bewitching beauty the imp, less so: Whatever dark things the reader is about to learn, there is still something to be afraid of… “ 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.” This Victorian (1891) story is somewhere between, being a sometimes lighthearted look at a Faustian pact, with Hawaiian exoticsm, a love story, and potential paradoxes thrown in. Hyde, Kidnapped, and Treasure Island (though The Muppets (in)famously lightened that!). Later, I came to know him for darker fare like The Strange Case of Dr. My first encounter with Robert Louis Stevenson was as a pre-schooler, via his charming A Child's Garden of Verses, vividly and distinctively illustrated by Brian Wildsmith. It turned out, it he wasn’t referring to seasonally patterned undergarments, but to short stories with a dash of the macabre. A few weeks ago, Apatt suggested I might like some Halloween shorts.

The Bottle Imp by Robert Louis Stevenson