I read all the volumes of The Sandman and loved it but this is a spinoff work, published in 2009, a fable of a monk and a fox set in “old Japan,” that has the feel of something Gaiman adapted from a centuries old myth, but in fact was invented whole cloth all by his lonesome. And Japan is a good place for a story of this mythological complexity, because it is a country and culture steeped in mythologies and monsters, in a belief in yokai. But the pale king chose not to answer and remained wrapped in silence,” writes Gaiman. “…and after some time the raven flapped heavily away into the sky of dreams, and left the king entirely alone.” A humble young monk and a magical, shape-changing fox find themselves romantically drawn together. As their love blooms, the fox learns of a devilish plot by a group of demons and a Japanese emperor to steal the monk's life. The raven confronts the lord of the Dreaming about this, as the story comes to a close. “What good did it do?” the raven asked. NEXT: The finale of the Sandman reread with some of the world’s best comic book artists telling of the Endless Nights.

The Sandman: The Dream Hunters is a novella by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano. The story is tangential to The Sandman comic book series and can be read without prior knowledge of the main sequence. It won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Illustrated Narrative. In 2008 it was adapted by P. Craig Russell into a four issue comic book mini-series also called The Dream Hunters. If you’re a Sandman fan, this is worth reading as a chance to get to see Dream again. And even if you’re not, it’s a great little fairytale and one I’d definitely recommend! The writing was melodic and fairy-tale like, strange, brutal, unapologetic - very Gaiman, very lovely. The art was not too vibrant, reminescent of 17th/18th/19th century Japanese drawings but never close enough to lose the modern reader's attention. It also had some Art Noveau and Disney influence in places, which can sound contradictory and a royal mess, but the three tied together made for absolute perfection.Did Dream learn a lesson from this story that would so closely mirror his own? Did this tale of the monk and the fox who loved him inform Dreams own decisions when it came time to pursue his own loved ones and possibly sacrifice his own life in exchange? Dream Hunters is the story of a monk and a fox who go to great lengths for each other. The monk is minding his own business at his temple when both a fox and a badger try to convince him to move along and free up the nice spot. The ways in which they tried to persuade the monk were pretty entertaining and the interaction between the monk and the fox later on when the monk's life is in danger was heartwarming. Even though things don’t end up exactly as planned (when do they ever in a Gaiman story?) I loved every second of it.

The plan is successful, but the monk is distraught at the fox's condition and leaves his temple to find the means to awaken her. He encounters Binzuru Harada who instructs him on how to find the King of All Night's Dreaming. After a journey through the realm of dreams, during which he encounters the Japanese counterparts of Fiddler's Green and Cain and Abel from the Sandman comics, he arrives at the palace. The gatekeeper, an Itsumade, eventually lets him in. A raven, who is the departed spirit of a poet, guides him through it, and he is granted an audience. A fox and a badger make a wager: if they can get a young, solitary monk to leave his tiny, remote temple, they will share his humble abode, as it is more comfortable than their dens. They try to fool the monk into leaving, but he sees through their deceptions. The badger eventually gives up, but the fox becomes unexpectedly attached to the young man, and when she hears demons whisper about a plan to kill him through his dreams, she undertakes a long journey to try to save the man she loves. Come si apprende nella postfazione, Gaiman si era documentato sulla mitologia giapponese mentre si occupava dei dialoghi della versione inglese della Principessa Mononoke. E durante questa fase di documentazione si era imbattuto nella storia "La volpe, il monaco e il mikado dei sogni di tutta la notte", rimanendo colpito dalle similitudini con la storia che aveva scritto in precedenza, Sandman. Gaiman does a convincing job of writing in a faux-translation style. His prose in The Dream Hunters is more direct, less full of digressions and figurative wordplay. It reads like a story adapted from a British retelling of a Japanese folktale. Which is, of course, exactly the point. So I will forgive myself and everyone else who fell for the ruse, because the master storyteller did what he does: told a masterful story. And the way of telling is just as important as what is told.The King of All Night's Dreaming tells him what the fox had done, and that if he rescues her, her efforts will have been in vain. The monk insists and is allowed to meet the fox, who is now trapped inside a mirror. He frees her against her wishes, and the King of All Night's Dreaming allows them time for farewells. The monk then takes the fox's place, giving her the advice, "Seek not revenge, but the Buddha." The fox informs Morpheus of this advice, then tells him she will seek the Buddha after seeking revenge. She awakens and stays with the monk until he dies the next day. This TPB is the original prose novella written by Neil Gaiman with illustrations of Yoshitaka Amano. Don’t get it confused with the comic book format version featuring artwork of P. Craig Russell. It's about a tragic forbidden love, pain, revenge, and lessons learned. Everything that could make my heart flutter and constrict in all the right places. And even after a good night's sleep, I still can't shake this story out of my head - it was so sinfully whole and satisfying.