Dream Galaxy

Literary dream · Cities & buildings

A servant by day, a king by night

Zhou, China · compiled c. 4th century

有老役夫筋力竭矣，而使之彌勤。晝則呻呼而即事，夜則昏憊而熟寐。精神荒散，昔昔夢爲國君，居人民之上，總一國之事，遊燕宮觀，恣意所欲，其樂無比，覺則復役。

Original text — Liezi, King Mu of Zhou, Lie Yukou (attributed)

An old servant, his strength spent, was driven ever harder. By day he groaned at his labour; by night he fell into exhausted sleep. His spirit wandering, night after night he dreamed he was the ruler of a state, above all the people, managing the affairs of the realm, feasting in palaces and towers, doing as he pleased with unequalled joy — and on waking, he returned to his labour.

Translation · Editorial translation (draft)

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Source
Liezi, King Mu of Zhou — Lie Yukou (attributed), compiled c. 4th century CE
Rights
Public domain (ancient text)
Record type
Literary dream
Place
Zhou, China · Chinese
Date
compiled c. 4th century
Uncertainty
High — Philosophical parable; in the same passage, his wealthy master dreams every night that he is a servant.
Imagery
Ruler · Palace · Food
Feelings
Joy · Relief

How traditions have read this kind of dream

Psychological

Houses, corridors and endless stairs are frequent dream settings. Some writers read buildings as figures for the self; others note simply that dreams rebuild the spaces we move through every day.

cf. Stevenson, A Chapter on Dreams (1888)

Mythological

Labyrinths, towers and underground cities appear in myths from Crete to Babel — built places where people lose their way, reach too high, or find hidden kingdoms.

Greek myth; Genesis 11

Chinese traditions

Tang tales like “The Governor of Nanke” place a whole kingdom of palaces inside a dream, only to reveal it as an ants’ nest — a lasting image for the brevity of worldly glory.

Li Gongzuo, c. 802

These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.

Dreams that share its images