of animals & men

it was like a scene from an epic, along the lines of the biblical story of moses and the opening of the red sea or the noah's ark, or for that matter, the lord of the ring where frodo arrived at tower of saraman. the scene was dark and gloomy. i was leading a group of people and animals. altogether we number in the hundreds. we were on the move and we arrived at a hostile place. we needed to get across an obstacle, i wasn't too sure if it was a river or a huge room, there was an exit point to work towards. in this obstacle, there were hostilities, hostilities that wanted to thwart our plans to move. but i must get the group across. a few things were clear to us. the hostilities would know our identity and would possibly kill us.

i wanted to seek ideas on how to overcome this obstacle and i asked for the whole group to convene. i needed to find a way to hide the animals. there were chickens, ducks, birds, etc... and when i turned around, there were only humans. none of the animals could be found. i asked about their whereabouts, nobody knew. someone shouted out that the animals has left us a few hours back and had not returned. i got angry. that answer was not acceptable and demanded the animals attendance. and an old man, bearded and in a long tunic (think about the image of moses) standing beside me said, but we have been here all the while. it dawned upon me that the animals had taken the initiative to seek magical help and had transformed themselves temporarily into humans. but their transformation was only transient, only to cross the obstacle.

we came out with a plan to get everyone across. i decided that we should cross in teams. each team would comprise an animal (in human form) and a few humans. i reminded all humans to pay particular attention to ensure the safety of the animals. but at the back of my head, i was worried. worried about the possibility that some animals might have loopholes in their transformation, a tail or some animal features perhaps, and that might endanger them or the team... fast forward. some teams got across safely, including one of the most priced animal.

and then the scene changed. i was in a room. there was a woman seated behind a table. on the table, there was a baby. the woman was embracing the baby, protecting it. the baby was asleep. soundly, serenely. i walked quietly towards the woman and the baby, taking care not to wake the baby up. and i patted the baby.

and i woke up.