"Dream Life and Real Life" is a haunting short story about a little orphan girl in servitude to a cruel Boer family. One night, following a beating, she runs away and hides in a cave. But there she overhears three men plotting to rob and burn down the Boer's farm and kill the family. What should she do? Warn them, or let them burn to death? Olive Schreiner (March 24, 1855 - December 11, 1920) was a South African author, anti-war campaigner and intellectual. She is remembered today for her 1883 novel, The Story of an African Farm, which has been highly acclaimed. It deals boldly with such contemporary issues as agnosticism, existential independence, individualism, the professional aspirations of women, and the elemental nature of life on the colonial frontier.