are not known; but in our day, one
simple rule opens the whole secret. Dreams, say all the wiseacres in
Christendom, are to be interpreted by contraries. Thus, if you dream of
filth, you will acquire something valuable; if you dream of the dead, you
will hear news of the living; if you dream of gold and silver, you run a
risk of being without either; and if you dream you have many friends, you
will be persecuted by many enemies. The rule, however, does not hold good
in all cases. It is fortunate to dream of little pigs, but unfortunate to
dream of big bullocks. If you dream you have lost a tooth, you may be sure
that you will shortly lose a friend; and if you dream that your house is
on fire, you will receive news from a far country. If you dream of vermin,
it is a sign that there will be sickness in your family; and if you dream
of serpents, you will have friends who, in the course of time, will prove
your bitterest enemies; but, of all dreams, it is most fortunate if you
dream that you are wallowing up to your neck in mud and mire. Clear water
is a sign of grief; and great troubles, distress, and perplexity are
predicted, if you dream that you stand naked in the public streets, and
know not where to find a garment to shield you from the gaze of the
multitude.

In many parts of Great Britain, and the continents of Europe and America,
there are to be found elderly women in the villages and country-places
whose interpretations of dreams are looked upon with as much reverence as
if they were oracles. In districts remote from towns it is not uncommon to
find the members of a family regularly every morning narrating their
dreams at the breakfast-table, and becoming happy or miserable for the day
according to their interpretation. There is not a flower that blossoms, or
fruit that ripens, that, dreamed of, is not ominous of either good or evil
to such people. Every tree of the field or the forest is endowed with a
similar influence over the fate of mortals, if seen in the night-visions.
To dream of the ash, is the sign of a long journey; and of an oak,
prognosticates long life and prosperity. To dream you stript the bark off
any tree, is a sign to a maiden of an approaching loss of a character; to
a married woman, of a family bereavement; and to a man, of an accession of
fortune. To dream of a leafless tree, is a sign of great sorrow; and of a
branchless trunk, a sign of despair and suicide. The elder-tree is more
auspicious