A patient who wrote down his dreams but did not look at his notes in the analytical session was asked to continue with his associations and then finally to read his written account. Four of these dreams, verbal and written, are compared in this paper. The written dream is a 'much overdetermined typical piece of acting out'. It can have several meanings at different levels. These include a gift of faeces, the wish to have an anal baby, a defence against castration fear. The written dream is always a transference dream designed to please, placate, or confuse the analyst. Greater distortion is possible in the written dream. It should be considered as an expression of resistance and treated as such.