The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Substance of a Dream , by F. W. Bain

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Title: The Substance of a Dream

Author: F. W. Bain

Release Date: March 29, 2007 [eBook #20935]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)

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THE SUBSTANCE OF A DREAM

Translated from the Original Manuscript

by

F. W. BAIN

_Mix, with sunset's fleeting glow,
Kiss of friend, and stab of foe,
Ooze of moon, and foam of brine,
Noose of Thug, and creeper's twine,
Hottest flame, and coldest ash,
Priceless gems, and poorest trash;
Throw away the solid part,
And behold--a woman's heart._

NIDRADARPANA

Methuen & Co. Ltd.
36 Essex Street W.C.
London
Second Edition
First Published . October 16th 1919
Second Edition ... 1919

DEDICATED

to

THE INEXPRESSIBLY GENTLE GENIUS

of

MY OWN MOTHER

INTRODUCTION

I could almost persuade myself, that others will like this little
fable as much as I do: so curiously simple, and yet so strangely
profound is its delicate epitome of the old old story, the course of
true love, which never did run smooth.

And since so many people have asked me questions as to the origin of
these stories, I will say a word on the point here. Where do they come
from? I do not know. I discovered only the other day that some believe
them to have been written by a woman. That appears to me to be
improbable. But who writes them? I cannot tell. They come to me, one
by one, suddenly, like a flash of lightning, all together: I see them
in the air before me, like a little Bayeux tapestry, complete, from
end to end, and write them down, hardly lifting the pen from the
paper, straight off "from the MS." I never know, the day before, when
one is coming: it arrives, as if shot out of a pistol. Who can tell