In this book, the founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud and the classical philologist and folklorist David Oppenheim discuss a category of dreams, which are presented in the form of unpublished or humorous stories in popular tradition.

These dreams have an indecent characteristic (as they refer to sex or defecation) and their obvious purpose is to entertain those who narrate or listen to them.

However, if one looks beyond this façade, the two researchers say, they find two things: first, that the symbolism inherent in these dreams completely aligns with that accepted by psychoanalysis, and second, that the people understand these dreams in the same way that psychoanalysis would interpret them - that is, not as omens of situations that will occur in the future (the mistaken perception of the function of dreams), but as fulfillments of real desires and needs occurring during sleep.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]