robert louis stevenson no solo trato la mente humana magistralmente con dr.jeckyll & mister hyde sino con otro cuento menos conocido y mas raro -the bottle imp- que trata sobre un demonio metido en una botella que se compra. una vez en posesion de la botella uno le puede pedir un deseo, siempre y cuando no sea vida eterna. pero si te quedas con la botella al morir, vas al infierno. por lo que tienes que salir de ella enseguida que se cumple tu deseo. no la puedes destruir, botar ni regalar, tienes que venderla y por un precio menor al que la compraste. sabiendo esa regla el protagonista de la historia compra la botella y le pide ser rico. le llega una herencia. se hace de la mansion de su vida, de todos sus caprichos y de la mujer de sus sueños. pero la felicidad es efimera porque la esposa se enferma de lepra. el hombre rastrea al diablo embotellado para comprarlo otra vez. al dar con el descubre que su precio ya esta en 1 centavo por lo que si lo compra ira al infierno al no poder vender la botella mas barata. aun asi se inmola por su mujer haciendo el negocio. la esposa se cura y el hombre queda muy triste pensando en el fuego eterno. ella se entera y le dice que en tahiti hay una moneda 2 veces menor que un 1 centavo. van a la isla y ponen un anuncio en el periodico pero alla sus habitantes conocen el maleficio de la botella y nadie la quiere comprar. aun asi aparece un comprador anonimo pero el hombre descubre que es su propia mujer. de esa manera quien se inmola a ultima hora es ella, que acepta el canje de salud en vida por infierno en muerte para agradecerle al marido lo que hizo por ella. pero el, desesperado por este ultimo acontecimiento, convence a un borracho de un bar para que en su lugar vaya y le compre la botella a su mujer en la ultima mitad de la moneda local. el borracho lo hace y asi el hombre queda condenado por segunda vez pero cuando el protagonista va a buscar la endiablada botella el borracho no se la quiere dar: le importa un carajo el infierno, se ha pasado la vida pecando e incluso, ya vive en el. el bebedor se queda con la botella y le pide mas bebida. de esta manera marido y mujer se salvan. aparentemente el mensaje de este cuento es el amor y el sacrificio mutuo en la pareja. pero no lo es. el mensaje subliminal es mas profundo y ejemplar. una botella que te concede cosas pero que necesitas deshacerte de ella y que por comprarla y comprarla incluso cada vez mas barata llegara un momento en que no podras salir de ella, es el alcoholismo: el verdadero diablo embotellado de robert louis stevenson, incluso como burla al puritanismo del bien y el mal.
©varela
robert louis stevenson not only tried the human mind masterfully with dr.jeckyll & mister hyde but with another less known story and more rare -the bottle imp- which is about a demon stuck in a bottle that is purchased. once in possession of the bottle you can make a wish, provided it is not eternal life. but if you stay with the bottle until your death, you're going to hell. so you have to leave the bottle right away that meets your wish. you can not destroy, discard or give away it the bottle, you have to sell it and at one lower price that you bought it. knowing that rule the protagonist of the story buys the bottle and asks it to be rich. get an inheritance. it's made of the mansion of his life, all his whims and the woman of his dreams. but happiness is short-lived because the wife gets sick of leprosy. the man tracks the bottled devil to buy it again. to give with the discovers that the prices already this in 1 cent so if he buy he wrath to hell not been able to sell the bottle cheaper. still he plays a self-immolation by his wife, doing the business. the woman is cured and the man is very sad thinking about the eternal fire. she finds out and tells him that in tahiti there is a coin 2 times less than a 1 penny. they go to the island and put an ad in the newspaper but beyond its inhabitants know the curse of the bottle and nobody wants to buy. even so appears an anonymous buyer but the man discovers that it's his own wife. so the wife plays the self-imolation to last minute, which accepts the exchange of health in life by hell on death to thank her husband what he did for her. but, desperate to this last event, the husband convinces a drunken man in a bar so it goes in his place and buy the bottle from his wife in the last half of the local currency. the drunkard does and in that way the man is doomed for the second time, but when the protagonist goes to find the devilish bottle the drunk gay doesn't want to give it: he cares a damn the hell, has been sinning all his life and even he already lives in the inferno. the drinker stays with the bottle and asks it for more drink. this way husband and wife are saved. apparently the message of this story is the love and mutual sacrifice on the couple. but it's not. the subliminal message is more profound and exemplary. a bottle which gives you things but you need to get rid of it and keeping buying it and buying it even cheaper each time until comes a moment in which you can get rid of it, is alcoholism: the real robert louis stevenson's bottled imp, even as a mockery of the good and evil's puritanism.©varela
