psychologically significant material. That which has actually remained indifferent can never be reproduced in the dream.
It will be correct to suppose from the foregoing discussion that I maintain that there are no indifferent dream stimuli, and that, accordingly, there are no harmless dreams. This I believe to be the case, thoroughly and exclusively, allowance being made for the dreams of children and perhaps for short dream reactions to nocturnal sensations. Whatever one may dream, it is either manifestly recognisable as psychically significant or it is disfigured, and can be judged correctly only after a complete interpretation, when, as before, it may be recognised as possessing psychic significance. The dream never concerns itself with trifles; we do not allow ourselves to be disturbed in our sleep by matters of slight importance. Dreams which are apparently harmless turn out to be sinister if one takes pains to interpret them; if I may be permitted the expression, they all have "the mark of the beast." As this is another point on which I may expect opposition, and as I am glad of an opportunity to show dream-disfigurement at work, I shall here subject a number of dreams from my collection to analysis.
1. An intelligent and refined young lady, who, however, in conduct, belongs to the class we call reserved, to the "still waters," relates the following dream:—
Her husband asks: "Should not the piano be tuned?" She answers: "It won't pay; the hammers would have to be newly buffed too." This repeats an actual event of the previous day. Her husband had asked such a question, and she had answered something similar. But what is the significance of her dreaming it? She tells of the piano, indeed, that it is a disgusting old box which has a bad tone; it is one of the things which her husband had before they were married,[1] &c., but the key to the true solution lies in the phrase: It won't pay. This originated in a visit made the day before to a lady friend. Here she was asked to take off her coat, but she declined, saying, "It won't pay. I must go in a moment." At this point, I recall that during yesterday's analysis she suddenly took hold of her coat, a button of which had opened. It is,
- ↑ Substitution of the opposite, as will become clear to us after interpretation.
