The Sandman - Issue 18 - A Dream of a Thousand Cats

Recap: There is so much to say about A Dream of a Thousand Cats I don't know where to begin. Arguably one of the greatest stories told in the Sandman universe, it's a standalone piece that doesn't really connect to the rest of the series. Yet it reminds us that the Dreaming exists for humans and every living thing that dreams. It's a story that makes us look into ourselves, especially our dealings with the other creatures inhabiting this world, and gives us a rather unsettling perspective of that relationship.

I never owned a cat before reading this issue, but I admit it affected me profoundly when I finally got one. A Dream of a Thousand Cats is why I refuse to buy pedigree cats and always get them from a shelter. Newt, my little ginger princess, was one of three kittens found in a garbage bag, tossed in a bin at a city park. A friend of a work colleague rescued them and then found homes for all three. Newt's been my companion these last ten years, but I still see the trauma she suffered in her behavior. I hope I've been a good pet owner, but this issue always makes me question what is 'good.'

Anyway, before we get into a philosophical discussion for an issue to which there are no easy answers, let's get into the story.

A Dream of a Thousand Cats starts with an unnamed kitten being left alone for the night after her fur parents take themselves to bed. Once alone, 'Kitty' has a visitor, an older cat we assume she's met before. 'Cat' has come to the window to invite her to a gathering outside the home. Kitty, understandably nervous, hesitates because she's uncertain if she can get out of the house. Fortunately, Cat is all over this. Cat navigates the young kitten through her home, showing her an escape route via a tree branch I'm sure Kitty will use in the future.

Once away, they encounter fellow Night Threaders (I love this name!) on their way to the same meeting with the mysterious 'her' even though everyone is dubious about what to expect. On the other hand, Kitty is eager to know what 'she' has to say. They arrive at the quintessential gothic cemetery, where a great host of cats are already in attendance. The reason for their gathering appears not long after, a female Siamese who has come to share her message and, hopefully, her dream.

Perched on the head of an angel statue (let's call her Mistress for clarity and sanity), she cuts a commanding figure over her fellow felines and begins her story. Like many present, Mistress once lived in a home as someone's pet, confident that life was good because she was pampered, fed, and loved by humans with very little required in return. This illusion is shattered after a passionate tryst with a stray tom cat - Ragged of Ear, Dark of Eye. Seriously, on a dating app, this description would deserve a swipe right.

The result of this heated consummation is a litter of kittens which Mistress was overjoyed, like any mother, to received into her life. The exchanges of mother and infant encompassed in one single panel breaks my heart every time I read it. Mistress's dreams for her kittens are no different than our own for our children. Unfortunately, her owners are oblivious to any of this. All Paul sees is a burden of worthless kittens with no pedigree and dispatches them into the river to drown.

Mistress feels her children's death through their maternal connection and suffers her anguish in silence because no matter how much we love our pets, we can never really know what they're feeling. Worse yet, her owners seem to think they're doing her a favor. Listening to Paul's explanation justifying his despicable behavior and Marion's craven submission to his point of view makes me wish we had jail time for monsters caught doing this.

Amid her sorrow, Mistress reaches a watershed moment in her understanding of her existence. There is a hefty price for her comfortable lifestyle, and Mistress has learned the hard way what that entails. Like every other pet cat, she is at the mercy of the humans who own them. Mistress goes to sleep, praying for revelation.

She dreams herself standing atop a desert of bones as far as the eye can see. A passing dead crow wonders at the presence of this little cat in the heart of the Dreaming and asks what business she has in this land. She reveals her desire for wisdom and revelation to satiate her need for justice for her lost kittens. The mysterious bird tells her indifferently there is no such thing as justice, and wisdom only comes from the sum of one's experiences. However, revelation is something she can definitely find in the Dreaming.

If she is brave enough to find the Cat of Dreams.

He can give her revelation if she can cross the desert of bones to reach him in the mountain where he lives in a cave. It's an arduous trek, the carrion bird warns, and she is only a little cat. Mistress sets out on her pilgrimage, unafraid because danger is everywhere. Her journey is long and perilous, with numerous obstacles along the way. The pleas of the dead (apparently all cat lovers), the heartbreaking whispers of her children, and an unforgiving terrain excoriates her of all she is by the time she reaches the Void.

Mistress's trials are not in vain. She arrives at the cave where the Cat of Dreams resides, guarded by sentries all of us Sandman fans know by heart. They question why she should be allowed to disturb their master and Mistress, displaying the grit that has brought her this far, telling them to mind their own business. Pretty ballsy for something that amounts to a mouthful of fur and bone. Her stubbornness wins her an audience, and the guardians allow her to pass, albeit with a note of caution.

Once inside the cave, Mistress appears before the Cat of Dreams.

She reveals how she was led here by the crow, who claimed he could give the answer she sought. The Cat of Dreams (or Morpheus, who looks exactly like how we'd imagine him to be in feline form) requests Mistress to join him for a walk. As they do, Mistress asks why humans could so callously take her children away from her and force all cats to live in servitude. The Dream Lord asks her to look into his eyes.

Possessing a perception of existence beneath the veneer of reality, Mistress is exposed to a truth beyond her wildest imaginings. She sees a reality where cats rule the world. It is a world created solely for them, where cats are the size of T-Rexes and humans exist to serve them. Humans would groom, pet, and feed their feline masters and, when the moon rose in the night, become prey. Humans were even better game than birds and mice. It was a paradise.

At least until a human male had a dream and then shared his revelation with the others of his kind. Dreams shape the world, and by his reckoning, dreaming of a world where human beings ruled, not cat lords and ladies, was the answer to their freedom. To reshape their existence, they all had to dream it. So he spread the word everywhere, presumably enabling those who heard his message to do the same.

One night, a thousand humans shared the same dream, and after that, everything changed. Reality shifted into the world we know today, with humans in charge and cats, lesser creatures fighting for survival.

Did humans change the world from what it was to what it is? The Cat of Dreams explains the dream didn't just change the world from what it was to what it is. It erased the past and recreated a reality where there was never a world with cat lords and ladies. Humans altered the universe from beginning to end in their own image.

Though it is a significant burden, Mistress understands what she must now do. She wakes up from her dream with purpose and the blessing from the Cat of Dreams.

If the dream of a thousand humans can change the world, could not the same be done by a thousand cats? If they believed just as humans did, could they not change the world to what it was? Mistress is convinced this revelation is the true salvation of all Night Threaders. She leaves home immediately to begin the ministry to spread her message to cats everywhere, crossing oceans and jungles and navigating the urban sprawl of our cities.

Her message to them is always the same. Dream it.

With that, Mistress ends her tale with the promise she will walk until she dies, ensuring this message is heard by all cats and the world becomes their paradise again.

As she leaves, Kitty tells Mistress she believes, giving the latter hope for the future.

Cat is nowhere that convinced and shrugs off Kitty's belief, certain no one has the power to convince a thousand cats to do anything together. It will never happen.

The next day, Kitty, after a long night out, is fast asleep in her bed, dreaming. Oblivious to her nocturnal excursion, her owners observes Kitty is dreaming and ponders what cats dream about.

What indeed?

And that's it for this recap! Next week, its Midsummer's Night Dream.

Next - Issue 19 - A Midsummer's Night Dream

Previous - Issue 17 - Calliope