On this excursion wishes, destined to be satisfied only in dreams, had
arisen also in the mind of the girl of eight and a half years. We had
taken with us to Hallstatt the twelve-year-old boy of our neighbour—an
accomplished cavalier, who, it seems to me, already enjoyed the full
sympathy of the little woman. The next morning, then, she related the
following dream: “Just think, I dreamt that Emil was one of us, that he
said papa and mamma to you, and slept at our house in the big room like
our boys. Then mamma came into the room and threw a large handful of
chocolate bars under our beds.” The brothers of the girl, who evidently
had not inherited a familiarity with dream interpretation, declared just
like the authors: “That dream is nonsense.” The girl defended at least a
part of the dream, and it is worth while, from the point of view of the
theory of neuroses, to know which part: “That about Emil belonging to us
is nonsense, but that about the bars of chocolate is not.” It was just
this latter part that was obscure to me. For this mamma furnished me the
explanation. On the way home from the railway station the children had
stopped in front of a slot machine, and had desired exactly such
chocolate bars wrapped in paper with a metallic lustre, as the machine,
according to their experience, had for sale. But the mother had rightly
thought that the day had brought enough wish-fulfilment, and had left
this wish to be satisfied in dreams. This little scene had escaped me. I
at once understood that portion of the dream which had been condemned by
my daughter. I had myself heard the well-behaved guest enjoining the
children to wait until papa or mamma had come up. For the little one the
dream made a lasting adoption based on this temporary relation of the
boy to us. Her tender nature was as yet unacquainted with any form of
being together except those mentioned in the dream, which are taken from
her brothers. Why the chocolate bars were thrown under the bed could
not, of course, be explained without questioning the child.
From a friend I have learnt of a dream very similar to that of my boy.
It concerned an eight-year-old girl. The father had undertaken a walk to
Dornbach with the children, intending to visit the Rohrerhütte, but
turned back because it had grown too late, and promised the children to
make up for their disappointment some other time. On the way back, they
passed a sign which showed the way to the Hameau. The children now asked
to be taken to that place also, but had to be content, for the same
reason, with a postponement to another day. The next morning, the
eight-year-old girl came to the father, satisfied, saying: “Papa, I
dreamt last night that you were with us at the Rohrerhütte and on the
Hameau.” Her impatience had thus in the dream anticipated the fulfilment
of the promise made by her father.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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