Instructions  are then given  about making up  a  story
about  the  drawing.  It  needs  to  be  made clear that the
object of the game is not to  be able  to  guess  what  the
dream  was  about.  Instead, the  purpose  is  to enter  the
drawing  with  imagination  and  emerge with a story that
fits  the  drawing. Sometimes  we say, "You  can be most
helpful    to    the    dreamer    if   you   simply   let   your
imagination  have  free  rein  and   if   you   can   suspend
critical judgment  about your  story-making  skills."  The
instructions   are  that   the  story  answer  the  following
questions: (1)  What is  going on here?  (2) What are the
people, animals or things feeling and thinking? (3) What
led  up to the present situation? (4) How does it all work
out?
      We give five minutes for  people to  meditate on  the
drawings. Then we begin  to tell the stories. Each person
in turn tells a story and, while other people may wish  to
comment   or  obtain  further  details  of   the  story,  the
identity of the dreamer (the person who did the drawing)
is not revealed. In  this  part of  the game the focus is on
the stories.
      Sometimes the person  telling  the story  needs some
help.  Helping  the  story  teller  requires  that   the other
people be sensitive to what is going  on with  the  person
as  the  story  is  told.  Sometimes  the story  teller lacks
confidence, making only brief comments that don't quite
form  a story. The  group can offer  support, coaching by
asking specific questions about the drawing until  a story
emerges.  It is  helpful  to give reassurance  that  it is not
the story-telling skill  that helps  the dreamer,  but rather
the  person's  willingness  simply  to  tell  what  they  are
reminded   of  by  the  drawing.  Should  the  story  teller
remark,  "I  don't  know  what  is  happening  here;  maybe
these  people   are  doing  this,   maybe  they   are   doing
that..." a helpful reminder  is that it is  not the purpose of
the game  to be able  to guess what  the dream was about,
but to simply pretend that they do know what is going on
in the picture and to tell the story.
      Sometimes a person will not  tell a story, but instead,
will make evaluative  comments about  the dreamer  who
made the drawing: "The heaviness of these strokes shows
that the dreamer is a very determined  person." This  kind

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