Dream Galaxy

Anecdote collection · People & kin

Ten men in black begging for their lives

Jinyang, China · 4th century (Jin)

其夜，夢十丈夫，皂布衣褲褶，扣頭求哀。不悟而食二枚。明夜，又夢八人求命，方悟。乃放之，後夢八人來謝。

Original text — Taiping Guangji, dream volumes 276–282, Li Fang et al. (compilers)

That night he dreamed of ten men in black cloth who kowtowed and begged for mercy. Not understanding, he ate two of the turtles. The next night he dreamed of eight men begging for their lives, and at last understood. He set the turtles free, and later dreamed that the eight came to thank him.

Translation · Editorial translation (draft)

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Source
Taiping Guangji, dream volumes 276–282 — Li Fang et al. (compilers), 978
Rights
Public domain (ancient text)
Record type
Anecdote collection
Place
Jinyang, China · Chinese
Date
4th century (Jin)
Uncertainty
High — Anecdote preserved in the Taiping Guangji (978); the dream is reported, not first-hand.
Imagery
Crowd · Animals · Water · Food
Feelings
Grief · Relief

How traditions have read this kind of dream

Psychological

Family members, friends and strangers populate most dreams. Freud read many such dreams as wishes in disguise; contemporary researchers emphasise continuity with waking relationships and concerns.

Freud, Dream Psychology (1920)

Mythological

Dreams in epic and scripture are often addressed to someone — a wife waiting for a husband, a son receiving a vision for his family — and are told aloud to be understood.

Odyssey XIX; Genesis 37

Chinese traditions

Confucius lamented that he no longer dreamed of the Duke of Zhou; in Chinese letters, dreaming of someone is a measure of how much they are on one’s mind.

Analects 7.5

These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.

Dreams that share its images