In 1878, a miracle dream set Ernest Wallis Budge firmly on the path of his life's work. As a child, Budge was fascinated with Oriental languages and had an uncommon ability to decipher their symbols. After high school, when he had no money to continue on to university, his natural affinity and inquisitiveness were brought to the attention of English Prime Minister William Gladstone, himself a master of the classical languages. Gladstone met with Budge and was so impressed that he arranged for the young scholar to attend Cambridge University. Some years later, a competition was offered by Professor Archibald Sayce, the greatest living authority on ancient languages. Contestants would be presented with four in-depth questions. The winner would leap forward in his or her career. Due to a daunting workload, Budge fell sleep the night before the exam; he was physically and mentally depleted. Three times he dreamed the same dream. He was in a shed-like room with an examiner who removed several pieces of green paper from his pocket. He gave them to Budge to translate and then left the room, locking the door behind him. The deceptive text was in multilingual cuneiform Assyrian characters and in the equally difficult Akkadian language. Budge did not recognize the obscure languages. At 2 a.m. Budge woke up, jumped from his bed, and began searching his textbooks for the symbols in his dream. When he arrived at the examination, the situation exactly matched his dream. He was led to a small room to work in because the larger room was full. The chair, table, and examiner were all as he dreamed them. He easily answered the questions, translated the text, and went on to become a world renowned expert on ancient languages, translating the Egyptian Book of the Dead and the hieratic papyruses in the British Museum.