The animals fell out of Noah’s ark

Zurich, Switzerland · c. 1910

I dreamed last night about Noah’s ark, and there were a lot of baby animals in it, and underneath there was a lid and that opened and all the baby animals fell out.

Original text — Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology (ed. Constance E. Long), C. G. Jung

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Source: Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology (ed. Constance E. Long) — C. G. Jung, 1916 (English ed.). Ch. II, Psychic Conflicts in a Child
Rights: Public domain (US)
Record type: Research case
Place: Zurich, Switzerland · Swiss
Date: c. 1910
Uncertainty: Moderate — Case reported by C. G. Jung (Collected Papers on Analytical Psychology, 1916 English ed.). Public domain in the US; in life+70 countries Jung’s works remain protected until the end of 2031.
Imagery: Boat · Animals · Child · Falling
Feelings: Wonder · Confusion

How traditions have read this kind of dream

Psychological

Sensations of falling or being unable to move are often reported near the edges of sleep. Ellis described them in terms of the body’s signals reaching the dreaming mind; sleep researchers today discuss related experiences such as hypnic jerks and sleep paralysis.

Ellis (1911), ch. V

Mythological

Falls mark thresholds in many myths — the fall from paradise, Phaethon tumbling from the sun chariot, descents into the underworld — moments when one order of things gives way to another.

Comparative mythology

Chinese traditions

Classical dream books such as the tradition attributed to the Duke of Zhou catalogued falling and climbing among common dream images; their readings were folk conventions rather than fixed meanings.

Folk dream-book traditions

These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.

Dreams that share its images

Would the fall never come to an end? Oxford, England · 1865 (novel)
The acrobat who never touched the floor England · before 1911
I jumped into the sea and regretted it Tokyo, Japan · 1908
Pigs on the edge of a cliff Tokyo, Japan · 1908
I could make the summer Zurich, Switzerland · c. 1910
Fell in the river, boots still dry Chang’an, China · c. 810