Danny the powerful dreamer

Danny, the main character, is unusually gifted, with a very powerful imagination. His 'energy' allows this other world to manifest itself with unusual strength.

But also, as with normal dreams, the images Danny conjures are drawn from the waking world. So there really is a rag and bone man that he sees - some rather dilapidated old fellow and his ageing horse – and transforms in dreams into the mystical figure of Sleep, drawn by the great horse of Night. Other images, too, reflect across the divide between waking and dreaming.

Reflection is a useful image: in the original story, the main character sees a mirror atop Sleep's mound of junk. A mirror that tilts to show the stars – or a well. Which, like Alice's looking glass, is a doorway to another world. Or at least gives a skewed and bizarre reflection of the world, as dreams do of our waking lives.