Bottom’s dream, which hath no bottom

Athens (setting) · c. 1595 (play)

I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass if he go about to expound this dream.

Original text — The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, William Shakespeare

Open this dream in the galaxy →

Source: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare — William Shakespeare, c. 1593–1607. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, IV.i
Rights: Public domain (author died 100+ years ago)
Record type: Literary dream
Place: Athens (setting) · British
Date: c. 1595 (play)
Uncertainty: Moderate — Bottom has just been turned back from an ass’s head.
Imagery: Forest · Animals · A stranger
Feelings: Wonder · Confusion · Joy

How traditions have read this kind of dream

Psychological

Storms, mountains and gardens in dreams are often traced to the day’s impressions or the sleeper’s physical state — Ellis connected a dreamed cyclone to a windy night.

Ellis (1911), ch. IV

Mythological

Sacred mountains and world-trees connect earth and sky in many traditions, from Olympus to Yggdrasil to Mount Kunlun.

Comparative mythology

Chinese traditions

Landscape — mountains, rivers, mist — is the setting of countless Chinese dream journeys, where the dreamer’s wandering mirrors the shan-shui painting tradition.

Li Bai, Dreaming of Tianmu

These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.

Dreams that share its images

The animals fell out of Noah’s ark Zurich, Switzerland · c. 1910
A miracle drug called selvdrolla England · before 1911
A child climbed out of a hollow tree Tang China · c. 840
The deer hidden under banana leaves State of Zheng, China · compiled c. 4th century
Oh, I’ve had such a curious dream! Oxford, England · 1865 (novel)
A damson with a snail inside England · before 1911