InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Bacchanal!"

Doop (xdoop) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-08-10 23:44:00

Current mood:	hopeful
Entry tags:	creator: kelley jones, creator: neil gaiman, publisher: vertigo comics, theme: cats, title: sandman

"A Dream of a Thousand Cats."

This is from The Sandman #18. It's written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Kelley Jones.

This tale begins with a small, white cat being called by another cat to sneak away from her house one night. They speak of an event in a graveyard that they don't want to miss.

When they arrive, they see that many cats are already there. A Siamese cat comes to tell her story.

The Siamese cat has a dream that where she enters a boneyard in the Dreaming. In the dream a raven with no skin on its head informs her where she can find out exactly why the humans killed her offspring: a cave inhabited by the Dream Lord. After a long travel the Siamese cat makes it to the entrance of the cave, where many fearsome animals tell her to leave. She responds by saying that she will only state her business to Dream. Inside, she finds Dream in the form of a cat.

The human tells the other humans that "dreams shape the world," and that if enough of them dreamed it they could change the world so that they would become the dominant species.

The Siamese cat tells the other cats how she left the humans and traveled the world, spreading her message wherever she went. At the end she says "Dream the world. Not this pallid shadow of reality. Dream the world the way it truly is. A world in which all cats are queens and kings of creations. That is my message. And I shall keep moving, keep repeating it, until I die. Or until a thousand cats hear my words, and believe them, and dream... and we come again to paradise."

As the cats all leave, the white kitten asks the older brown cat if he thinks it will happen. The older cat responds "Little one, I would like to see anyone--prophet, king, or god--persuade a thousand cats to do anything at the same time. No, it will never happen."

Later, when the kitten is back at her home...

(Post a new comment)

	kagome654 2009-08-11 04:24 am UTC (link)
	I do like how little critters in The Sandman tend to 'meep.' Goldie did too, iirc. Also, I know my cat genuinely loves me and isn't dreaming of hunting me for sport. I'm sure of it. Really. (Reply to this)

	petalsinthewind 2009-08-11 04:27 am UTC (link)
	This story always lent credence for me to the theory that the Endless were each their name and the opposite. Death ushered in life, Destruction begets creation, Dream is reality. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	sandoz_iscariot 2009-08-11 04:29 am UTC (link)
	I liked how Destruction was rubbish at creating things (painting, cooking) in "Brief Lives." (Reply to this) (Parent)

nagaoka
2009-08-11 04:52 am UTC (link)

Yeah, the "two sided coin" existence of the Endless, where their existence as one side of a coin also shapes and defines that other side. I found this story particularly interesting since it depicts dreams literally shaping reality, yet, it's not all that far fetched. Enough people have a dream and work towards a cause, there's very little that will stop that dream from achieving reality. If there's no drive, no vision, it won't happen. We just...well...tend to have dreams that work within the boundaries of what we consider to be plausible.

Death was probably the most obvious example of the two sided coin. It pretty clear when she visits everyone when they're born. However in stories like the high cost of living it states how death is what gives life its value. Thus, death shapes life and gives it meaning.

Well I better stop before I ramble any farther...

As for this story I have a very hard time reading it...I usually have to skip over the first part so I don't have to cry over the thought of drowned kittens. So horrible....

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	icon_uk 2009-08-11 09:16 am UTC (link)
	Except Desire and Despair are surely not also Selflessness and Happiness? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	petalsinthewind 2009-08-11 01:51 pm UTC (link)
	I don't know if Selflessness and Happiness would be exactly it (since wouldn't happiness fall with pre-Delirium Delight?). I think Desire and Despair probably do cover their opposites, but we 1. do not get to see them much outside of interaction with Dream and 2. they seem to delight the most in their functions. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-08-11 02:12 pm UTC (link)
	Delirium was Delight, but she's not both at the same time. Desire certainly doesn't seem to have anything to do with his/her opposite, which would be Selflessness, Contentment or Satisfaction, s/he is always Desire. Despair rarely seems to enjoy her function, but I can't see her ever being Hope. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

nagaoka
2009-08-11 03:26 pm UTC (link)

I think you've missed the point though. They aren't their opposite. They are what DEFINES their opposite. It's similar to light and shadow. Darkness is the absence of light and it's shaped and defined by light. The difference with the Endless is that their opposites are quite a bit more complex than simply being the "absence of", but I think my brain would explode if I tried to really figure out how it works. Anyways the in-book example was a two sided coin. The endless are one side of the coin and their opposite is that other side. You can't have one separate from the other. It's all one thing. Despair might never actively deal with hope, but hope exists where despair isn't, so you can't possibly disconnect the two.

Also I think Death mentioned who everyone's possible opposites were. I can't recall them for certain. I always figured Desire's opposite was Hate, and it's not hard to imagine those being linked. It might have been satisfaction though...can't recall. Anyways it was something like Destiny/Freedom, Death/Life, Dream/Reality, Destruction/Creation, Desire/Hate, Despair/Hope, Delirium/Sanity.

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	icon_uk 2009-08-11 04:19 pm UTC (link)
	Honestly, I don't recall their oposites ever being mentioned in the series, but fair enough. Of course, there is the possibility that there is one ABOVE the Endless, one who can undo just about any of them (Except Death of course) - Apathy of the Pointless :) (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	nagaoka 2009-08-11 07:16 pm UTC (link)
	It was in Brief Lives when Destruction was talking to Dream outside his house. ...and interestingly enough going through the book again he says desire defines hatred....ugh...whatever :P Apathy of the Pointless reminds me of a panel of Howard the Duck I read where he meets a parody of the Endless. I can't for the life of me find it. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	nagaoka 2009-08-11 03:30 pm UTC (link)
	My mistake, you were right about desire/satisfaction. That's what I get for not looking it up before posting (Reply to this) (Parent)

	masterofmidgets 2009-08-11 04:33 am UTC (link)
	eyes cat-fang gouges in her hand I love my kitty, but I'm pretty sure if he was bigger he would hunt me down and eat my liver with no qualms whatsover. (Reply to this)

	ashtoreth 2009-08-11 04:33 am UTC (link)
	And one day Ruffles took that great hatred of humanity and became the Ragekitty. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	box_in_the_box 2009-08-11 05:55 pm UTC (link)
	I think I was the first one on this comm to suggest that, with a minor coloring hand-wave, Ruffles the Rage-Kitty IS the cat at the end of this story. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	ashtoreth 2009-08-11 07:14 pm UTC (link)
	I do not dispute it. Good memes need to be passed along! (Reply to this) (Parent)

	hiratsu 2009-08-11 04:39 am UTC (link)
	This reminds me; I ought to go to the library soon. I'm still trying to get my Dad hooked on the series, like I did with a few others. :3 Also, I love kitty!Dream. Because kitty. (Reply to this)

	aaron_bourque 2009-08-11 04:39 am UTC (link)
	Dream doesn't tell people the truth. He tells them stories they need to hear. (Reply to this)

	shanejayell 2009-08-11 04:59 am UTC (link)
	I love the last bit. :) (Reply to this)

	nagaoka 2009-08-11 05:24 am UTC (link)
	Daww white kitten... I bet if Daniel looks exactly like that when he takes kitty form. No big scary black panther form for him! (Reply to this) (Thread)

	nagaoka 2009-08-11 05:25 am UTC (link)
	bleh I meant "I bet Daniel looks exactly like that..." (Reply to this) (Parent)

	drake_crus 2009-08-11 05:50 am UTC (link)
	Just read the Dream Hunters mini they published a while back... Dream as a fox and Dream as a kitty... wonder how the other Endless appear to different species... Goth-Girl-Kitty would just rock... (Reply to this)

	queenanthai 2009-08-11 08:36 am UTC (link)
	I cannot handle even the NOTION of cruelty to cats. I cannot. Damn this was hard to read. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	stuka_junker88 2009-08-11 12:28 pm UTC (link)
	Word. If I caught that uy I'd put him in a scak and throw him int he river to see how he liked it. Vile thing. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	nezchan 2009-08-11 04:11 pm UTC (link)
	I grew up on a dairy farm, with a load of barn cats. And yes, it was part of life that now and again a batch of kittens would get the same treatment as in this story. It wasn't a pleasant part, and I never did it myself, but it was considered necessary. Alternatives included overpopulation and malnutrition, and nobody wanted that. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	hammster.livejournal.com 2009-08-11 06:14 pm UTC (link)
	...or getting your cats fixed?? D8 (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	nezchan 2009-08-11 06:21 pm UTC (link)
	Getting 30-40 cats, some feral, fixed is rather a major undertaking. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	(Anonymous) 2009-08-12 07:02 am UTC (link)
	... I'm not at all sure that's a valid excuse. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	nezchan 2009-08-12 01:42 pm UTC (link)
	I wasn't the one who came up with the idea or carried it out. So I don't know what more to tell you. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	goblinthebamf 2009-08-12 01:10 am UTC (link)
	even if you can justify that, you can't justify behavior like scenario in the comic. the two situations are nothing alike, save the sickening end. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	stuka_junker88 2009-08-12 05:30 pm UTC (link)
	Could you not neuter them? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	aaron_bourque 2009-08-11 09:06 pm UTC (link)
	. . . Waaah. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	kusonaga 2009-08-11 09:04 am UTC (link)
	One my favourite stories. Sandman always excelled at the one-shot issues. (Reply to this)

yaseen101
2009-08-11 03:41 pm UTC (link)

I remember that one day I found a cat in my house and I wanted to keep it. My mom was unhappy about but she accepted it any way. I liked that cat very much and when I went to check on it one day I found that my cousing/babysitter/pain in the ass, had taken it to the roof and was going to get rid of it because she was allergic to it. Anyway, she was going to throw it on our neighbors roof even when I told her not to. She threw it anyway and it fell between the small space (about 30cm) between our house and the neighbours and that was the last time I saw that cat. Still miss him.

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	xdoop 2009-08-11 06:16 pm UTC (link)
	:x Do you think the cat died, or just ran away? I hope your cousin got in trouble. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	yaseen101 2009-08-12 11:54 am UTC (link)
	It got away, I checked that area a couple of times there was no body found. As for my cousin, she got away scot-free, she was the worst baby sitter I've ever had, but now it's been 5-6 years since that incident happened and the last time I met her it was an year ago and our relationship is pretty stable now. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	merseybeatler 2009-08-11 05:39 pm UTC (link)
	Eek! Cat's are scary. I get along with them really well and love 'em to death, sure, but they're scary. My cat doesn't NEED to be the size of an elephant to hunt me - she does it anyway, despite being a tiny Cornish Rex with crazy eyes. (Reply to this)

bluefall
2009-08-11 11:09 pm UTC (link)

My favorite thing about dog ownership is how you'll get a dog that loves squeaky toys, and she'll run around the house chewing on it all SQUEAKYSQUEAKYSQUEAKYSQUEAKYSQUEAKYSQUEAK and everybody goes "ZOMG, that's so cute, look at her with that toy!" and somehow totally separating themselves from the fact that the squeaking is meant to simulate a prey animal in distress, and the animal relishing in that sound can snap your arm bones in half with her jaws.

And that's an animal that actually loves its human.

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	drsevarius 2009-08-12 12:02 am UTC (link)
	do u have any pets? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	goblinthebamf 2009-08-12 01:12 am UTC (link)
	great, now I'm torn between cuddling my kitten close and whispering to her that I'll never let anyone hurt her like that and looking at her even more suspiciously from a distance as she hunts my fingers. (Reply to this)

	unknownscribler 2009-08-12 06:20 am UTC (link)
	Gah, that is not a blue-point siamese! The colouring seems to vacilate between seal and chocolate point. (Reply to this)

	leikomgwtfbbq 2009-08-12 06:43 am UTC (link)
	This was always one of my favorite Sandman stories, although I love pretty much every single panel on every single page of that comic. XD It's definitely my favorite comic ever. (Reply to this)

	proteus_lives 2009-08-12 08:09 am UTC (link)
	Good story. It's true, cats would kill us if the chance arose. Prepare. Just like for zombies, aliens, robots. (Reply to this)

	thebat_man 2009-08-12 10:17 pm UTC (link)
	I love cats. This is my favorite Sandman issue. It really shows how great and versatile artist Kelley Jones is. Thank you for posting this for all to see. (Reply to this)