228 Shadowings 



accompanied by remembrance of like dreams 

 in the past, as well as by the conviction that I 

 have really found out a secret, really acquired a 

 new faculty. " This time, at all events," I say 

 to myself, "it is impossible that I can be mis- 

 taken; 1 know that I shall be able to fly after 

 I awake. Many times before, in other dreams, I 

 learned the secret only to forget it on awakening ; 

 but this time I am absolutely sure that I shall not 

 forget." And the conviction actually stays with 

 me until I rise from bed, when the physical effort 

 at once reminds me of the formidable reality of 

 gravitation. 



The oddest part of this experience is the feel- 

 ing of buoyancy. It is much like the feeling of 

 floating, of rising or sinking through tepid 

 water, for example ; and there is no sense of 

 real effort. It is a delight ; yet it usually leaves 

 something to be desired. I am a low flyer ; I can 

 proceed only like a pteromys or a flying-fish 

 and far less quickly: moreover, I must tread 

 earth occasionally in order to obtain a fresh 

 impulsion. 1 seldom rise to a height of more 

 than twenty-five or thirty feet; the greater 

 part of the time 1 am merely skimming sur- 



