Father, can't you see that I'm burning?
That's what the little boy said to Freud.
But Freud had already dozed off. A candle
in his hand, his head sunken to his chest, he

staggered and had a dream: he was
a small boy again, he ran along the edge of the sidewalk,
the hot sun shining and, from above, an eagle
came and pecked his eyes out of his head.

How is it that I see this dream now,
thought Freud, if I no longer have eyes; how
can I avoid falling off the edge of the sidewalk?
This idea causes Freud to wake up.

The little boy is bending over him,
a deathwatch candle in his hand, and he says:
Once upon a time there lived a man
who had never had a single dream.

Translated from Estonian by Brandon Lussier