Island Nights' Entertainments
Island Nights' Entertainments
The Beach of Falesa -- A south sea bridal -- The Ban -- The Missionary -- Devil-work -- Night in the bush -- The Bottle Imp -- The Isle of voices.
Book Excerpt
ntance in the cabin, and I
never heard a man talk more to the point. There was no smarter
trader, and none dodgier, in the islands. I thought Falesa seemed
to be the right kind of a place; and the more I drank the lighter
my heart. Our last trader had fled the place at half an hour's
notice, taking a chance passage in a labour ship from up west. The
captain, when he came, had found the station closed, the keys left
with the native pastor, and a letter from the runaway, confessing
he was fairly frightened of his life. Since then the firm had not
been represented, and of course there was no cargo. The wind,
besides, was fair, the captain hoped he could make his next island
by dawn, with a good tide, and the business of landing my trade was
gone about lively. There was no call for me to fool with it, Case
said; nobody would touch my things, everyone was honest in Falesa,
only about chickens or an odd knife or an odd stick of tobacco; and
the best I could do was to sit quiet till the vessel
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I doubt whether Stevenson ever wrote badly, though some of his stories fail the test of involving one's feelings. Prince Otto, Will O the Mill and Catriona, for example, rarely set the reader's emotions boiling.
These tales of Polynesia, though not conventionally thrilling, are well worth the reading—especially A South Sea Bridal.
These tales of Polynesia, though not conventionally thrilling, are well worth the reading—especially A South Sea Bridal.
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Very, very interesting and unexpected. Most people know Stevenson only as the writer of 'Treasure Island' and 'Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde', but as the page on this website shows, he was a prolific writer who had many other books to his credit. This collection is much lesser known than his full-length novels but it is no less interesting. Personally I found it even better than 'Kidnapped'.
The description is crisp and the dialogue colourful. Not to mention that the action is, as is usual in other Stevenson stories, completely riveting.
The description is crisp and the dialogue colourful. Not to mention that the action is, as is usual in other Stevenson stories, completely riveting.
09/09/2013