Sandman (Volume 2) #18 is an issue of the series Sandman (Volume 2) with a cover date of August, 1990.
Synopsis for "A Dream of a Thousand Cats"
Don and his young wife head to bed, leaving their new kitten to rest in his bed. After they have gone, the kitten receives a visitor, a brown cat announcing an event to be hosted by a certain female cat of renown. They prowl their way to an overgrown grave yard, picking up others on their way until a gathering of many cats waits for the speaker.
The speaker reveals herself finally; a pure bred Blue-Point Siamese. She explains that she once believed that she was free in her life of cohabitation with humans. That was until she met a tomcat who impregnated her, and she later had kittens. Her owners were displeased by this, and eventually, the man took the kittens and drowned them all in a lake. Confused and horrified, the cat lapsed into dream.
In the Dreaming, the cat is met by a dead crow who directs her to the cave of the Cat of Dreams. The challenges that she faces on her way there are difficult and harrowing, but eventually she finds her way. Two guardians stop her before she can enter the cave and demand to know her reasons for seeking out the Cat of Dreams. She responds that her reasons are her own, and the guards allow her in anyway.
The Cat of Dreams welcomes her, and she explains that she wants to understand why the humans could take her children away, and why cats live as they do. He invites her to look into his eyes.
Dream shows the Siamese a past in which cats were much larger, and humans were much smaller. The cats ruled the earth and were served by humans. Sometimes, they would hunt and eat humans, because they were more fun than other animals to catch. One day, the humans rebelled, learning that by all dreaming the same thing, they could change reality. Eventually, as if overnight, the humans dreamed themselves into a reality in which they were always the superior beings.
This gives the Siamese the idea that if the cats all dream of a life as rulers again, they will revert things to the natural order. So, she travels the world trying to convince other cats of her plan. The kitten believes in her plan, but his companion, the brown tomcat is less inclined. They leave her, and that night, the kitten dreams of cats as rulers of men.
Appearing in "A Dream of a Thousand Cats"
Featured Characters:
- Blue-Point Siamese/"The Prophet" (First appearance; unnamed) (Flashback and main story) (Also in a dream sequence)
- Dream/Cat of Dreams (Morpheus) (Flashback only) (First appearance as Cat of Dreams)
Supporting Characters:
- "Dead Crow" (First appearance) (In dream sequence only)
- The Kitty (Single appearance) (Unnamed)
- The Kitty's friend (Single appearance) (Unnamed)
Antagonists:
- Marion (Blue-Point Siamese's owner) (Single appearance) (Flashback only)
- Paul (Blue-Point Siamese's owner) (Single appearance) (Flashback only)
Other Characters:
- Angels (Statue only)
- The Blue-Point Siamese's children (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Flashback only) (All die)
- The Guardians of the Gate (First appearance) (Flashback only)
- The Gryphon (First appearance) (Flashback only)
- The Pegasus (First appearance) (Flashback only) (Cameo)
- The Wyvern (First appearance) (Flashback only)
- Don (The Kitty's owner) (Single appearance) (Cameo)
- Don's wife (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Cameo)
- "The Tom-Cat" (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Flashback only)
- Ghosts (Mentioned only)
- God (Mentioned only)
Locations:
- Cats' World (Single appearance) (Unnamed) (Flashback only) (Erased)
- Earth (Flashback only)
- "Cats' Moon" (Flashback only)
- The Dreaming
- The Cat of Dream's Cave (Single appearance) (Flashback only)
- The Desert of Bones (Single appearance) (Flashback only)
- The Wood of Ghosts (Single appearance) (Flashback only)
- Waking World
- England (Flashback and main story)
- United States of America (Flashback only)
- Heaven (Mentioned only)
- Timestream
- Dawn of Time (Mentioned only)
- End of Time (Mentioned only)
Items:
Concepts:
Notes
- This issue was directly adapted into an episode of the Sandman audio drama and the episode "Dream of a Thousand Cats/Calliope" of the Sandman TV series.
- This issue is reprinted in:
- Essential Vertigo: Sandman #18
- Sandman: Dream Country
- The Absolute Sandman, Volume One
- The Sandman: Deluxe Edition, Book Two
- The Sandman, Book One
See Also