a Nanke dream-an imaginary dream

This idiom comes from The Governor of the Southern Tributary by LiGongzuo of the Tang Dynasty. It is recorded that in the Tang Dynasty，there was a man named Chunyu Fen． He had a bright and cheerful disposition anddidn't bother about trifles，but was addicted to drink．

Once，he entertained some guests to drink for his birthday under a big scholartree in his yard．He was dead drunk at last ，and dreamed that he arrived at a“Great and Peaceful Kingdom of the Shcolartree\"，and the King of the Kingdom not only appointed him to be the prefect of Nanke，butalso took him as the King's son-in-1aw． Because he ran Nanke very well，he was thought of very highly by the King and also won the love and esteem of the commonpeople.He hadfive c1ever sons and two beautlful daughters during the twenty happy years．

But unfortunately，once when he led troops to stand against the invader，he suffered defeat one after another． At the same time his wife，the princess died and he was dismissed from his post．

When he was awaken，he was still lying under the big scholartree. He told the guests about the story in his dream．It made them astonished．Then they found an ant hole in the tree.It was just like the Kingdom that he had dreamed of.

Now it means a fond dream or wishful thinking．

此語(yǔ)出自唐·李公佐《南柯太守傳》。唐代有一個(gè)叫淳于棼的人，性情不拘小節(jié)，愛好喝酒。

一天他生日，他在家門前大槐樹下宴請(qǐng)朋友飲酒作樂，喝得大醉。醉夢(mèng)中他夢(mèng)見自己到了“大槐安國(guó)”，國(guó)王任命他為“南柯郡太守”，并招他為駙馬。他到南柯上任后把南柯郡治理得很好，得到了國(guó)王的器重和百姓的愛戴，并且家庭生活美滿。前后二十年他共生了五男二女，享不盡榮華富貴。

不幸的是由于后來受到外敵入侵，淳于棼帶兵御敵，屢戰(zhàn)不勝，公主也不幸病故，他也被免職。

當(dāng)他驚醒過來時(shí)，他依然躺在大槐樹下。他將夢(mèng)中的經(jīng)歷告訴大家，大家都感到十分驚奇。一起尋到大槐樹下，果然發(fā)現(xiàn)有一個(gè)很大的螞蟻洞，原來“大槐安國(guó)”就是這個(gè)螞蟻洞。

后來“南柯一夢(mèng)”泛指一場(chǎng)夢(mèng)，或比喻一場(chǎng)空歡喜。