"The Isle of Voices" is a short story written by

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

, first published in his collection ''

Island Nights' Entertainments ''Island Nights' Entertainments'' (also known as ''South Sea Tales'') is a collection of short story, short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson, first published in 1893. It would prove to contain some of his final completed work before his death i ...

'' in 1893.

Plot

The protagonist is a man named Keola living on the island of

Molokai Molokai , or Molokai (), is the fifth most populated of the eight major islands that make up the Hawaiian Islands, Hawaiian Islands archipelago in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is 38 by 10 miles (61 by 16 km) at its greatest length an ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. Keola and his wife live with her father Kalamake, a notorious sorcerer who appears to have an inexhaustible supply of money despite never doing any work. One day, Kalamake uses a magic spell to transport Keola to an unfamiliar island where the two of them are invisible to the inhabitants. There he reveals that by burning the leaves of a certain tree, the island's sea-shells can be transformed into coins and the pair transported home. Keola attempts to blackmail Kalamake for a share of his riches, but Kalamake retaliates by abandoning Keola at sea. He is rescued by a passing ship heading for the

Tuamotus The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (french: Îles Tuamotu, officially ) are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extendin ...

islands, but does not get along with the first mate, so jumps overboard when they sight land. To his amazement he discovers he is on the very same island he had earlier visited supernaturally. Getting to know the inhabitants (who turn out to be cannibals intending to eat him), Keola discovers that not only Kalamake but also a huge variety of other invisible visitors from all parts of the earth are regularly heard there harvesting its shells. He tells the islanders that these unwelcome manifestations could be banished by destroying the tree necessary for their spells. Eventually they attempt to do so, and in the confusion of a huge battle between the invisible wizards and the islanders, Keola is rescued by his wife, who has used her father's incantations to come to the island herself. They are magically transported home to Hawaii, stranding Kalamake on the island, and hope that without his magical supplies he will never be able to return.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Isle Of Voices, The Short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson 1893 short stories Hawaii in fiction Fiction about cannibalism