Libro The Clasic Short Histories

KEAWE BUYS A DANGEROUS BOTTLE.

Keawe lived in hawaii. Keawe was not his real name, but he is still alive, so his real name must remain a secret. Keawe was poor but brave and intelligent. He was a good sailor and got a job on a ship going to san francisco. He had never seen such a fine town, with its beatiful harbor and countless rich people. He walked around the city looking at all the beautiful houses, until he came to a house which, although it was not as big as some of the others, was more beautiful than them all.

keawe thought how happy the owner of that house must be, but then he saw a very unhappy old man sitting near the front door. The man saw him looking at the house and invited him to come in and see all the rooms. When keawe had seen all the beautiful rooms, he asked the old man why he was so sad while he had such a wonderful house.

“you could have a house just like this”, said the old man, “if you buy this bottle from me. Do you have any money?”

keawe had about fifty dollars, and the old man offered to sell the bottle to him for that price. Keawe did not understand, and the man explained that the house and garden, and everything else he owned, came from the bottle. Keawe could see that the bottle was filled with a kind of white mist and something dark was moving inside it.

the man said it was a magic bottle, but keawe did not believe it until the man challenged him to try and break it. Keawe tried everything to break it but failed.

“an imp lives in this bottle,” said the man “and this imp will give you everything that you want. However, when you sell it, you must be happy with what you have because if you try to get more, you will fail.”

“so why do you want to sell it?”

“i am old, and i have everything i want. The only thing that the imp cannot do is make your life longer; and i must also tell you that if you die before you sell it, you will burn in hell forever.”

“that really is a big disadvantage,” said keawe, “ and you can be sure that i will not buy the bottle from you.”

“don’t be so afraid,” said the old man. “all you have to do is use the bottle sensibly for a while and then sell it to somebody else. The reason for selling it so cheaply is that you must sell it for less than you paid for it. If you try to sell it for the same price, it will come back to you. I paid ninety dollars for it, and i could sell it to you for eighty-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents. The problem is that people don’t believe you when you tell them that.”

“how do i know you are telling me the truth?”

“you can try it. Buy it from me for fifty dollars and ask the imp to put your fifty dollars back in your pocket. If it doesn’t happen, i will give you the money back.”

keawe agreed to try. He gave the man his fifty dollars and asked the imp to put the money back in his pocket. It worked. “that’s very good,” said keawe, “ but that is enough for me. I don’t want it.”

“i’m sorry. You bought it from me for less than i paid for it, so it is yours now, and i don’t want to see you again. Goodbye.”

now keawe was worried and decided to test the bottle. First, he counted his money to make sure that the wish had come true. It had, because the money was exact. Then he tried to leave the bottle standing in the street, but as soon as he walked away from it, he found it in his coat pocket. He tried to open the bottle but couldn’t, and he bacame very afraid of it.

he took it to a shop and sold it for sixty dollars. When he returned to his ship, the bottle was in his cupboard. His friend lopaka saw him and wondered why he was so sad. Keawe told him the secret of the bottle.

“this bottle will bring you trouble,” said lopaka, “so you might as well enjoy it while you can. Tell it what you want, and if you get it i will buy the bottle from you because i would like to buy a ship.”

! i don’t want a ship,” replied keawe. “i want a nice house with a garden on the beach in hawaii and to live there with my friends and relatives.” He described the house he had seen in san francisco and said it should be just like that but one story higher.

they sailed back to hawaii, where keawe found that his uncle had died, and his cousin had drowned. He was very sad, but lopaka suggested that it might be the work of the imp because keawe would now inherit the land his uncle owned.

then keawe discovered that his uncle had grown very rich.

an architect showed keawe a picture of a house, and it was exactly the house that keawe wanted. It would cost exactly the amount of money that keawe inherited from his uncle. The architect built the house, and keawe was very satisfied. Lopaka said that he would keep his promise and buy the bottle, but he wanted to see the imp first.

keawe was curious to see it as well, so he asked the imp to show itself to them. As soon as he said it, the imp came out of the bottle, just for one second, and then went back in again. Keawe and lopaka sat like stones for many hours, and then lopaka gave keawe the money and took the bottle.

“i’ll get a ship and some money, and then i’ll sell it, because seeing the imp has made me very afraid of it,” he said.

1- What is an imp?

2- Describe your dream house.

3- If you could have whatever you wanted, what would you ask for?

4- Why was the man in the beautiful house so sad?

5- What rules did the old man tell keawe about selling the bottle?

6- How did keawe get his beautiful house?

KEAWE ADQUIERE UNA BOTELLA PELIGROSO .

Keawe vivía en Hawaii . Keawe no era su verdadero nombre, pero él todavía está vivo , por

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