“I’ll explain.” The young student appeared very much in earnest. “Take this case: a woman dreamed of seeing an elephant balancing himself on a big balloon and sailing through the sky. Suddenly the balloon blew up, the elephant collapsed, and the woman wakened from her dream. What caused that dream?” he asked, wrinkling his brow. “The woman had seen both elephants and balloons, but not recently. Truth is, the balloon and the elephant were symbols of other things.
“When a dream interpreter questioned her, he found that she lived in a large, badly furnished house which she hated. All but unconsciously she had wished that the house would collapse or blow up. The collapse of the elephant symbolized the destruction of the house.”
“And s-so,” Florence drawled, “she had the old house blown up.”
“No, that wasn’t the answer!” the youthful psychologist protested. “The thing that needed changing was her own mental attitude. The way to fit our surroundings to our desires is often to change rather than destroy them. She had the house remodeled and refurnished. And now,” he added with a touch of pride, “she is happy. And all because of the proper interpretation of her dream.”
“Marvelous!” There was a mixed note of mockery and enthusiasm in the girl’s tone. “And now, here’s one for you. I too dreamed of an elephant—that was night before last. I was in a jungle. The jungle seemed fairly familiar to me. I was passing along a narrow trail. There were other trails, but I seemed to know my way. Yet I was afraid, terribly afraid. The surprising thing was, I couldn’t see a living thing, not a bird, a bat, or even a mouse.
“And then—” she drew a long breath. “Then in my dream I heard a terrible snorting and crashing. And, right in my path there appeared an immense elephant with flaming eyes, eyes of fire. Fire.
“Fire!” She fairly gasped at the apparent revelation of her own words. “Fire destroys all,” she murmured low.
“And then?” her new-found friend prompted.
“And then,” Florence laughed with a feeling of relief. “Then I woke up to find the sun streaming in at my window. And, of course,” she added, “it was that bright sun shining on my face that caused the dream.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” said the student. His tone was serious. “I have a feeling that you are in some sort of real danger. I am surprised, now that I recall it, that I did not see the elephant, or whatever he symbolized, coming down that rope after you. You—you wouldn’t like to tell me?” He hesitated.