All recorded dreams

Browse 228 sourced historical dream records from works checked as public domain in the listed jurisdictions: ancient China, Greece, India, the Bible, Freud, Jung and world literature.

Water

Meeting a god by the great marsh c. 257 BCE (as told)
At West Lake, knowing it was a dream c. 1080–1084
I jumped into the sea and regretted it 1908
Coming up the Thames before 1911
Floating on warm, transparent lakes c. 1900
The sea paved with faces c. 1817–1819
Seven lean cows undated (text c. 6th c. BCE)
My old friend entered my dream 759
Swimming out with the teacher to a wedding c. 1910
A crab hidden in the ford c. 1916
My friend fell into the river over a gambling debt 3rd–4th century
Testing whether the water was hot before 1911
The great fish with a hook in its mouth c. 120 BCE (as told)
Move me to high, dry ground late 4th century
Carried up out of a well c. 750
Swallowing pearls in the stream c. 880
Fell in the river, boots still dry c. 810
My wife wrote me a poem in the dream c. 880
I dreamed I was the fish 837
Four great beasts from the sea narrative set c. 6th c. BCE
What pain it was to drown c. 1593 (play)

Flight & sky

My dream-soul returned to the Lord of Heaven c. 1130
A sky like cracked ice before 1911
A ladder set up on the earth undated (text c. 6th c. BCE)
Looking down at nine wisps of smoke c. 810
Flying across Mirror Lake by moonlight c. 745
An ivory chariot flying through the clouds c. 5th–4th c. BCE (epic)
A snake became an eagle and carried me off c. 470 BCE
Climbing a ladder to touch the sky c. 95 (as told)
A young man with wings over Asia and Europe 530 BCE (as told)
Riding a green dragon up to heaven late 4th century (as told)
Two boats joined, rising to heaven c. 400
Riding the sky to the Southern Peak c. 840
A tree reaching unto heaven narrative set c. 6th c. BCE

Falling & stuck

Pigs on the edge of a cliff 1908
The acrobat who never touched the floor before 1911
The scene I had to write before 1911
The animals fell out of Noah’s ark c. 1910
My father sinking into a lake of mire c. 5th–4th c. BCE (epic)
A green lizard fell into my belly undated (Jin collection)
Falling from the palace hall c. 750
A willow tree fell to the ground 815
Thornfield Hall a dreary ruin 1847 (novel)
Would the fall never come to an end? 1865 (novel)

Death & the departed

The skull that spoke in a dream c. 3rd century BCE
The white horse at dawn 1908
About to be nailed down before 1911
She was not really dead before 1911
Buried a thousand years in stone c. 1817–1819
Who is dead in the White House? early April 1865 (as reported)
The pale student of unhallowed arts June 1816
A plague of certainty 1866 (novel)
Wait for me a hundred years 1908
Dreaming of my late wife at her window 20th day of the 1st lunar month, 1075
The false dream of one’s own death c. 6th–10th c. (text)
The fetters fell from my legs 401 BCE
Two Alexanders in battle, crowned with corn 321 BCE
My son would be killed by an iron spear c. 550 BCE (as told)
She dreamt of her uncle and foretold her death January 1664 (as told to Pepys)
Fallen from the bed, eaten by worms 617 (as told)
Into the water with three knives c. 890
A masked man asked for his bone back c. 795
A barley loaf tumbled into the camp undated narrative
The guillotine fell c. 1850
My lady came and found me dead c. 1595 (play)
You sleep, Achilles, and have forgotten me c. 8th century BCE
A lying dream in the likeness of Nestor c. 8th century BCE
Hector’s ghost before my sight 19 BCE (poem)
My dead brother with bleeding fingers before 1911
Cut in two down the middle before 1911

Cities & buildings

The land of Huaxu legendary (text compiled c. 4th c.)
The great ghost broke down the gate 581 BCE
Woken from a dream a thousand li long c. 1138
The child on my back grew heavy as stone 1908
Six mirrors in the barber’s shop 1908
The governor who spoke English before 1911
Snow at the top of the hotel before 1911
Walking ahead with immense effort before 1911
Evensong without light before 1911
Stairs that end in the abyss c. 1750 (visions), retold 1821
Stair after stair in endless series c. 1867–1871
A man clothed with rags written c. 1676, pub. 1678
A great image with feet of clay narrative set c. 6th c. BCE
A procession coming down the hill 1904 (retold folk tale)
A servant by day, a king by night compiled c. 4th century
The earthquake is coming c. 1910
A cannon before the Arch of Constantine before 1912
Three ears of grain on the palace roof early 1st century
Into the ants’ nest: the Hall of Watching Rain undated (Jin collection)
The dead emperor came back in anger c. 180
The Dragon King begged the emperor for his life c. 1592 (novel); set 7th c.
The third day hence to fertile Phthia 399 BCE
The shop assistant who had moved before 1911
The whole city sprouting vegetables 383 (as told)
Driving an ox cart that carried the sun spring 846
The shoe I lost in the dream c. 870
Ask what I shall give thee undated narrative
The wise men went home another way c. 1st century (narrative)
Come over into Macedonia, and help us c. 49 (narrative)
Seeing Rome from the train, never entering c. 1897
A statue running with blood 1599 (play); set 44 BCE
A hotel I could see into before 1911
Endless platforms on the way to Berlin before 1911

Animals

Bears and snakes in an auspicious dream c. 9th–8th century BCE
A conversation with a cat before 1911
No proper dog at all before 1888
The eagle and the twenty geese c. 8th century BCE
The poultice became a saddle c. 1900
The deer hidden under banana leaves compiled c. 4th century
A barking dog with a human voice 450 BCE
Three horses at one trough novel (printed 1522); set 220
Planting fowls’ heads to grow chickens before 1911
Three black dogs howling c. 475 BCE (as told)
A long green dog from the south 376 (as told)
Four people in black asked to live 4th century (Jin)
A parrot with both wings broken c. 698 (as told)
A great purple bird in the courtyard c. 670
An ox with two tails c. 650 (Tang)
Rams speckled and grisled undated narrative
Birds ate from the basket on my head undated narrative
A scarlet insect as large as a lobster before 1911
The dog in the old mangle before 1911
A basket of cold squirming snakes before 1911

Transformation

Dreaming within a dream c. 4th–3rd century BCE
Carving the guardian out of the wood 1908
The scene at the window 1885
Zhuang Zhou dreams he is a butterfly c. 4th–3rd century BCE
The millet was not yet cooked c. 780
The kingdom under the locust tree c. 802
Charged one franc of interest c. 1914
The waking body disappears in sleep c. 6th–10th c. (text)
Cultivate and make music 399 BCE
A parody by the goose-pond before 1911
A knife opened his heart, and he could learn c. 150 (as told)
My heart’s spirit resigned c. 560 (Northern Qi)
The five-coloured brush taken back c. 500 (Liang)
Swallowing a burned book of Go c. 873
Already at the hospital, so no need to go c. 1895
A living globe made of drops 1869 (novel)
Two to three hundred lines composed in sleep summer 1797
A miracle drug called selvdrolla before 1911
My friend, alive, no longer editing before 1911
Defeated in an argument by myself 18th century

Light & dark

Iron cavalry, silent as water c. 1173
A samurai racing the temple clock to enlightenment 1908
My own vast shadow before 1911
The sun, the moon and eleven stars undated (text c. 6th c. BCE)
I could make the summer c. 1910
As in a mirror, as in a dream c. 5th c. BCE (text)
A thunderbolt fell on my father’s house 401 BCE
A goddess put lightning in my hand 88 BCE
The moon, then the sun, entered my bosom c. 175–182
I had swallowed molten lead before 1911
The sun fell into the water c. 500 (Northern Wei)
Holding the sun on a mountain top c. 760
Swallowing the sun c. 920 (Wu kingdom)
Heaven, surrounded by dazzling light before 1911
Living pictures in magnesium light before 1911

People & kin

The illness became two little boys 581 BCE
I dreamed of you three times last night c. 815
I dream only of strangers, not of you c. 815
A mother praying for a father who never returns 1908
My mother lacked a pair of gloves 29 June 1667
A friend returned from the dead 17th century
A postcard written partly in Latin before 1911
Back in the little town of his birth 1866 (novel)
Riding with Achilles c. 1900
Where she last saw him c. 1900
I no longer dream of the Duke of Zhou c. 5th century BCE
A fire in a hotel in a strange city c. 1913
Two women yoked to my son’s chariot 472 BCE (play)
I gave birth to a lion c. 495 BCE
My sister came through the keyhole c. 8th century BCE
Heaven lent us a stranger’s fortune undated (Jin collection)
A shirt washed clean by fire 3rd century (Wu)
A tall man spoke to him in riddles 514 BCE
Where she was, there was I also c. 373
A friend at the bedside, like a breath of wind c. 8th century BCE
I woke up — but woke up in the dream 1877 (novel)
The feathered man who opened my heart legendary (Western Zhou)
A stranger asked to swap heads 4th century (Jin)
Ten men in black begging for their lives 4th century (Jin)
My late husband came back to mend the house 5th century
A thorn in her eye 4th century
Two boys said: move your bed c. 480 (Southern Qi)
Two ghosts plotting to enter my father Tang (undated)
She came to say a final goodbye c. 710
The general’s buried sword Tang (undated)
Thou art but a dead man undated narrative
My sheaf stood upright undated narrative
A spirit passed before my face undated narrative
Fear not to take unto thee Mary c. 1st century (narrative)
Arise, and flee into Egypt c. 1st century (narrative)
I have suffered many things this day in a dream c. 30 (narrative)
Irma’s injection 23–24 July 1895
Father, don’t you see that I am burning? before 1900
Last night I dreamt we were at Simony Hut summer 1896
I dreamt there was an Emperor Antony c. 1607 (play)
Oh, I’ve had such a curious dream! 1865 (novel)
Why is the babe weeping? 1880 (novel)
An orchestra of birdsong before 1911
The tenor climbing ladders to reach the high notes before 1911
An opera I had never heard before 1911
A mouth full of broken glass before 1911
Angina, angina! late 19th century

Nature & weather

Into the Land of Illusion c. 1760 (novel)
Waking in the Peony Pavilion 1598 (drama)
Armoured horses on frozen rivers 4th day of the 11th lunar month, 1192
Throwing thunderbolts upon Sparta 272 BCE
An olive wreath that covered the earth 481 BCE (as told)
Easter morning, cattle on the graves c. 1819
A melon sweeter than any c. 60 CE (as told)
A melon in winter, still in his hand c. 500 (Northern Wei)
Cooking rice in a stone mortar c. 800 (Tang)
The window with cypress and mallows c. 900
Cherry stones beside the pillow c. 850
A child climbed out of a hollow tree c. 840
Three branches and Pharaoh’s cup undated narrative
Seven thin ears devoured the full undated narrative
Strawberries, huckleberries, omelette c. 1897
Rome half veiled in mist c. 1897
Bottom’s dream, which hath no bottom c. 1595 (play)
An ice-cold little hand at the window 1847 (novel)
Heaven did not seem to be my home 1847 (novel)
A white elephant with a lotus traditional (c. 6th c. BCE)
Bread mingled with cinders before 1911
Glass after glass of champagne before 1911
A damson with a snail inside before 1911