The Bottle Imp recap

Keawe buys a wish-granting bottle whose owner will be damned if he dies before selling it for less than he paid. He wishes for a splendid house in Hawaii, receives it through an inheritance following family deaths, and passes the bottle to his friend Lopaka. Later, after falling in love with Kokua, Keawe discovers signs of leprosy. He tracks the bottle down and buys it for one cent, uses it to cure himself, and marries Kokua, but believes he can never resell it because American currency has no lower price. Kokua secretly takes him to Tahiti, where smaller denominations let her acquire the bottle through an intermediary. Keawe then arranges for a boatswain to buy it from her, planning to take it back himself. The boatswain chooses to keep it. Keawe and Kokua are both free, and their willingness to sacrifice themselves for one another restores their happiness.

While visiting San Francisco, the Hawaiian sailor Keawe meets a rich man desperate to sell a peculiar bottle. An imp within it grants wishes, but its owner is damned if he dies before selling it for less than he paid. The price must always fall, making each transfer harder. Keawe buys it and wishes for a beautiful house in Hawaii. The house becomes possible through an inheritance after deaths in his family, revealing the troubling way wishes may be fulfilled. Once the house is built, his friend Lopaka buys the bottle. Keawe later meets and loves Kokua, but then discovers signs of leprosy. He tracks down the bottle, whose price has fallen to one cent, buys it, and wishes himself cured. He marries Kokua but hides his despair at being unable to sell below the smallest American coin. Kokua learns the truth and takes him to Tahiti, where smaller currency allows her to buy the bottle secretly through an intermediary. Keawe discovers her sacrifice and recruits a boatswain to buy it from her, intending to buy it back at the final lower price. The boatswain refuses to resell, willingly keeping both its power and its risk. Freed from the bottle, Keawe and Kokua return happily to Hawaii.

Kokua discovers that Keawe bought the bottle for one American cent, leaving no smaller American coin with which to resell it. She takes him to Tahiti, where the currency permits a sequence of lower prices. Without telling Keawe, she pays an intermediary to buy the bottle for four centimes and then buys it for three, knowingly taking his danger upon herself. Keawe learns what she has done and arranges a mirror sacrifice: a boatswain buys the bottle from Kokua for two centimes, after which Keawe intends to buy it for one. The boatswain refuses to complete the second sale. He accepts the supernatural risk, believes he is already beyond salvation, and values the bottle's power. Keawe and Kokua are therefore both freed from ownership. Reconciled after each has proved willing to sacrifice everything for the other, they return to Hawaii and live together in the house the bottle originally obtained for Keawe.