In the village of Swaffham in Norfolk lived a poor pedlar. He had a hut near the ruins of the church. Every day he would go around selling his wares, with his dog following him. At night he would return, tired out, to sleep. One night he dreamt of London, its famous Tower and Bridge and the river. A voice said that if he went to London, he would get some news that would make him very happy. He brushed it off as a dream, but it came again the next night and the next! Now, he was sure that the dream meant something. So, he left Swaffham and journeyed to London, walking miles and miles to reach there. He looked around him with great wonder, standing on the London Bridge, the houses, the carriages, the Tower, the river and the ships! It was marvellous, but no one came up to give him any news
Dream Turns True
The next day, he stood again on the London Bridge, looking around and again the next day. On the third day, a shopkeeper came up and asked him what he was doing there. “For I don’t see you selling anything or begging,” he explained. The pedlar told him he had come because someone in a dream told him he would hear good news in London. The shopkeeper laughed, “I should then have gone to Swaffham! For, I dreamt there was a treasure buried under an old oak tree behind a pedlar’s house there! But I don’t follow foolish dreams!” The pedlar was amazed and, thanking the man, he journeyed back to Swaffham. He dug under the old oak tree behind his house, and there was the treasure! He became a rich man overnight, for his dream had come true. He rebuilt the church and the villagers set up a statue of him there when he died!
