'O scemo

'O scemo. Twenty-three is the village simpleton, and in popular tradition he’s a figure of good omen: people don’t tease him out of meanness, they hold him dear. Someone who doesn’t understand the rules can’t take advantage of them either, and in a world of sharp operators, the innocent is the only one you can truly trust. The Smorfia gave him a number without any meanness. In dreams, twenty-three shows up when naivety is involved. Yours, almost always: something you believed without checking, trust given blindly, a situation where you came off as the one who didn’t get it. But there are also the times when naivety was the right move — because some doors open only for those who don’t suspect a thing. Two images lead here, and together they make you smile. The rooster of the courtyard. And the castle, which sits at the other end of the social ladder. The Smorfia often pairs opposites, and here it does so with a very Neapolitan idea: the last and the first are the two who don’t have to prove anything to anyone. If twenty-three has shown up in your dream, there was a part of you that didn’t have its guard up. It isn’t a reproach and it isn’t a compliment: it’s an observation. Sometimes letting your guard down costs you dearly; other times it’s the only way to let something good in.