DREAMS

 (Part two)

A man was being chased by a lion in the forest. He ran as fast as he could, as fast as his legs were able to carry him, but the lion was getting closer and closer as he ran. Luckily for the man, he saw a low branch of a tall tree, just as the lion was about to pounce on him, he jumped on to the branch and climbed up the tree. The lion missed him by a little margin.

Up the tree now looking down below, the man could see the wild beast pacing round the tree refusing to leave, moments later the beast fell asleep under the tree waiting for him to come down. He was perturbed at the sight of the sleeping lion under the tree, as if his luck wasn’t bad enough a very big python crawled its way under the branch he was on and opened its mouth wide waiting for the man to fall from the tree into its mouth. In despair, he looked around the tree for a way out and climbed higher, just then a wood pecker landed on the new branch he was now taking refuge on. These industrious birds pecked away at the branch which became weaker with time. The frantic man, scared out of his mind was looking around to find a way to save himself, as he searched around he saw a bee hive filled with honey. The hive was so full of honey that it was dripping. Drops of honey fell on his face as he looked up, he licked it, behold it was so sweet, sweeter than any he has eaten before so he decided to open his mouth to allow the drops of honey drop into his mouth. Moments later, the branch he was sitting on broke and he fell, as he was falling he saw that he was plummeting into the mouth of the serpent. Just then, he woke up from his sleep.

The interpretation of the dream, as explained by the priest he narrated the story to, was that the lion was death, the python is the abyss, the branches are temporary refuge, as in the life we have today, the wood pecker signifies the troubles and worries of life, and the honey is earthly pleasure.  The message here is that, we should not allow ourselves to be overtaken and become pre-occupied by the pleasures of this earth, and forget the inevitable end that befalls all men.

A priest told me this story and I decided to share.