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Dream Stones.

Just off Chapel Market there is a small second hand shop that sells nearly everything that one could wish for. It was here that I saw the stones for the first time. Five flat stones off white in colour thrown into the shop’s window as if in afterthought. I was I must admit very curious as to what the five white stones were supposed to represent. I thought at first a kind of talisman or even for the old children’s game of ‘five stones.’ I went into the shop and asked the man behind the counter what the stones were for. Oh! You mean the dream stones. I was very much surprised at this answer and looking questioningly at the man I waited for some more explanation.

Those five stones have been in my shop window since before the war. I was a small boy when the man an African came into my Dad’s shop and offered to sell him the stones. He told my Dad that the stones would bring sleep to a troubled mind if placed under the pillow before one went to sleep. My Dad has heard so many stories from people bringing in things to sell that he gave the man what in those days was a lot of money two pence for the stones. My Mum gave him a telling off fancy giving two whole pence for five stones that one could pick up on any beach by the sea-side.

My dad told my Mum the money was not for the five stones it was the story that captivated his imagination. My dad loved to go to the pub on Saturday nights and sometimes on Sunday nights and many are the people that he has amused by his story telling. With just those five stones he had held people amused and even believing in the simple stories that he told. One day my dad came home from the pub and threw the stones into the shop front where they have remained until this day.

I asked if I could buy the stones as they were by now fascinating me and I wanted to see whether there was any truth in calling them ‘Dream Stones.’ The man sold me the five stones for exactly two pence the same money that his Father had paid for them. I thanked him and left the shop and wandered off into Chapel Market road where I caught a taxi to Charring Cross station and took the train to my home town of Dartford .

I arranged the stones in a glass jar next to my small collection of sea-shells they looked quite pretty standing next to the shells. Then I must admit I forgot them altogether for a long time. I had a friendly Leprechaun staying with me for a while and it was he that drew my attention to the stones. I told him my story of how I bought them in a second hand shop in the Chapel Market in North London . I also told him the story of them being ‘Dream Stones,’ as it was told to me by the shop owner.

The Leprechaun who was an expert on stones carefully looked them over and told me that these stones had originally come from Africa where they were very much treasured. Many people believed in them being ‘Dream Stones.’ Many African houses had stones similar to these in their bedrooms. Other people had bored holes in the stones and wore them around their necks as bringers of luck.

The Leprechaun asked me to bring them with me to show the Fairy Queen Feeana on my visit to the woods the next day. I wrapped the stones in a clean handkerchief and strolled to the woods. Soon I saw the Fairies at play and greeted them in my usual fashion. I did not have to wait long for in her usual flash of light and whiff of smoke Her Majesty appeared in the clearing. We exchanged greetings and I took out the five stones and showed them to her Majesty like I had promised the Leprechaun.

Her Majesty carefully looked at the stones and took out her magic mirror; she showed me a picture of an African man who was a prince in his own country. I saw the man on board a ship and of him going down the gang plank on to the docks at Tilbury.  He travelled by train to London and things did not go well for him. Soon he had nothing to eat and just the clothes on his back. In his pocket he had five stones which in his desperation he sold to a man in a shop in Chapel Market. Two pence exchanged hands and the man went off with the two pence he bought food and going to the docks at Tilbury worked his way back home to his own country in Africa where all of his family rejoiced to see him once more.

Then the picture in the mirror changed it showed me going into the shop and buying the stones. This said her Majesty is symbolic if you throw those five stones in five different directions you will travel to five continents. I have already visited three of those continents and there are two more to go. So I told Her Majesty that I would keep the stones at home in their jar until I should need them. I dream such wonderful dreams and I often thank chance for leading me to the shop where I bought the stones. No the stones are not for sale if chance wants you to have five such stones perhaps you too will meet an African Prince or even see five stones for sale in a second hand shop.