Robert Louis Stevenson 
Island Nights’ Entertainments 

The title of the volume which includes The Beach of Falesa, The Bottle Imp, and The Isle of Voices. The ’Beach’ turns on the native dread of the spirit-devils in the woods, interwoven with which is the island life of natives and whites viewed through the eyes of a commonplace trade. It is a picture of the South Seas, very different from the idylls of Hermann Melville. In ’The Bottle Imp’, 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. ’The Isle of Voices’ is a fairytale of magic treasure.