Dreams and Dream Stories

Dreams and Dream Stories

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Dreams and Dream Stories, by Anna
(Bonus) Kingsford Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be
sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading
or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project
Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the
header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the
eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how
the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a
donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since
1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of
Volunteers!*****
Title: Dreams and Dream Stories
Author: Anna (Bonus) Kingsford
Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5651] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on August 6, 2002]
[Most recently updated on August 18, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, DREAMS
AND DREAM STORIES ***

Digital Transcription--M.R.J.
Dreams and Dream Stories By Anna (Bonus) Kingsford

Contents Preface

Part I Dreams
I. The Doomed Train II. The Wonderful Spectacles III. The Counsel of
Perfection IV. The City of Blood V. The Bird and the Cat VI. The
Treasure in the Lighted House VII. The Forest Cathedral VIII. The
Enchanted Woman IX. The Banquet of the Gods X. The Difficult Path
XI. A Lion in the Way XII. A Dream of Disembodiment XIII. The
Perfect Way with Animals XIV. The Laboratory Underground XV. The
Old Young Man XVI. The Metempsychosis XVII. The Three Kings
XVIII. The Armed Goddess XIX. The Game of Cards XX. The
Panic-Struck Pack-Horse XXI. The Haunted Inn XXII. An Eastern
Apologue XXIII. A Haunted House Indeed! XXIV. The Square in the
Hand
Dream Verses
I. "Through the Ages" II. A Fragment III. A Fragment IV. Signs of the
Times V. With the Gods

Part II Dream Stories

I. A Village of Seers II. Steepside; A Ghost Story III. Beyond the
Sunset IV. A Turn of Luck V. Noemi VI. The Little Old Man's Story
VII. The Nightshade VIII. St. George the Chevalier

Preface* The chronicles which I am about to present to the reader are
not the result of any conscious effort of the imagination. They are, as
the title-page indicates, records of dreams, occurring at intervals during
the last ten years, and transcribed, pretty nearly in the order of their
occurrence, from my Diary. Written down as soon as possible after
awaking from the slumber during which they presented themselves,
these narratives, necessarily unstudied in style and wanting in elegance
of diction, have at least the merit of fresh and vivid color, for they were
committed to paper at a moment when the effect and impress of each
successive vision were strong and forceful in the mind, and before the
illusion of reality conveyed by the scenes witnessed and the sounds
heard in sleep had had time to pass away. I do not know whether these
experiences of mine are unique. So far, I have not yet met with any one
in whom the dreaming faculty appears to be either so strongly or so
strangely developed as in myself. Most dreams, even when of unusual
vividness and lucidity, betray a want of coherence in their action, and
an incongruity of detail and dramatis personae, that stamp
--------------- * Written in 1886. Some of the experiences in this volume
were subsequent to that date. This publication is made in accordance
with the author's last wishes. (Ed.) --------------
them as the product of incomplete and disjointed cerebral function. But
the most remarkable features of the experiences I am about to record
are the methodical consecutiveness of their sequences, and the
intelligent purpose disclosed alike in the events witnessed and in the
words heard or read. Some of these last, indeed, resemble, for point and
profundity, the apologues of Eastern scriptures; and, on more than one
occasion, the scenery of the dream has accurately portrayed
characteristics of remote regions, city, forest and mountain, which in
this existence at least I have never beheld, nor, so far as I can remember,
even heard described, and yet, every feature of these unfamiliar climes

has revealed itself to my sleeping vision with a splendour of coloring
and distinctness of outline which made the waking life seem duller and
less real by contrast. I know of no parallel to this phenomenon unless in
the pages