THAT NIGHT

My best friend Maddie and I went to our friend Kathe's house for a party, but we were the only ones who showed up. Oh well, sleepover! The three of us got cuddly, massaged a lot of feet, and talked til our ears fell off.

Around 2 AM we finally went to sleep, squeezed together on a futon in the basement, directly under the only window. It was at ground level, and we left it open. Kathe slept right under the window, Maddie in the middle, then me.

1: KATHE'S DREAM

Kathe was at a tag sale, searching for a stuffed animal as a gift. She saw a blanket on the ground, covered with stuffed animals. One was a white bunny with a pink bow between its ears. With a gem. An expensive looking gem for a tag sale. What kind of gem is pink?

Kathe's next thought was "Ew, what a cliche." But for some reason, she picked it up to check the price.

It moved.

And spoke. "Excuse me, can you help me find a bowl of milk?"

Kathe thought "But I don't want to care for a live rabbit!"

She felt weirded out, put the bunny down, and left.

2: MADDIE'S DREAM

Maddie was in a toy shop. On a shelf she saw a black stuffed rabbit. Further down the row, she saw another rabbit, this one white with a pink bow between its ears. There was something odd about it, so she picked it up for a closer look.

The rabbit looked her in the eye and said "Pardon me, can you help me find a bowl of milk?"

Maddie said "I'm sorry. I don't have any right now."

"That's all right. I'll try someone else."

And the rabbit jumped out of Maddie's arms and hopped off.

3: EMILY'S DREAM

I was the son of a rich family; my dad was throwing a party at our country club. Boring, boring, boring. I went to sit on a grassy hill by myself. Below me on a flat, guests were playing bocce ball. Then a flash of white caught my eye. I thought it was just a lost ball until I walked over. I found a white rabbit with dark eyes (which made me wonder "You're an exotic little creature--where did you come from?" All normal white rabbits have pink eyes). She had a pink ribbon with a bow between her ears, with a pink jewel.

I yelled "Hey, there's a rabbit over there. Do you think it's someone's pet?"

A few people wandered over, but they couldn't see the bunny at all. "What are you talking about?" As they sauntered back to the hors d'oeuvres table I heard them whispering amongst themselves about me.

I ignored them. Wanting to get a closer look, I knelt and spoke to the rabbit soothingly. "Are you lost? Where'd you come from?"

The rabbit looked up and said in a distinctly female voice, "Excuse me, but I need a bowl of milk." I was a little taken aback. She had quite a refined accent for a rabbit.

"Um--" I stuttered. "Sure. I can do that. Uh... just milk? Do you want anything else? Salad? Crackers?"

"No, thank you. Just milk, please."

"Oh. Okay. No problem."

"Do you see that shed yonder way? Meet me there."

I went down the hill, found a bowl, filled it with milk (doubling the gawkers and whisperers) and made my way to the gardening shed.

The rabbit was waiting for me. "Please, put the bowl on the floor. And turn around..." Her tone said clearly that I'd better not look. I turned.

A brilliant flash of light behind me. My shadow was sharp on the wall. I couldn't help it--I turned and looked.

Stepping out of the milk bowl was a beautiful lady with pointed ears--elven, if I know my fae. She had huge dark eyes--whiteless animal eyes, just like the rabbit's--and literally milk-white skin. Her curtain of glossy dark hair reached to her waist. She wore a pink satin gown and a matching circlet of ribbon with a gem on her brow.

She curtsied and said earnestly "Thank you. You have no idea how much help this is!"

I was beyond stuttering at this point. "No problem. Any time."

She flashed a smile, and said "I must go home now, but we'll meet again."

THAT MORNING

As I woke, I heard Maddie and Kathe whispering. Maddie said "Man, I had a weird dream." Kathe jumped in "Yeah, me too. A bunny talked to me!" I sat bolt upright and said sharply "Excuse me?"

They looked at me oddly. "I also dreamt about a talking rabbit" I said. We all looked at each other uneasily.

"Woah," said Maddie.

"What was in your dream?" Kathe asked. I told them. Maddie went next. Kathe went last.

But soon we realized we had the order backwards. It had started with Kathe, since it was her first dream of the night. Maddie recalled dreams both before and after, so her rabbit dream was almost certainly after Kathe's. Mine was the last dream I recalled, and I woke up after the others. So the dream-bunny (or bunny-dream) apparently hopped in through the window, fell on Kathe, moved on to Maddie, and finally got what she needed from me.

EPILOG

The rabbit princess was true to her word. I met her again in several dreams. In one I was the same rich boy, and she told me she was "not altogether happy with the current political circumstances" in her fairy mound... in my back yard! I've been careful of that spot ever since.

In another she even shared her true name with me, though I won't post it here; the Fae like their privacy.

As the dreams pile up, I'm increasingly thinking the Bunny Princess wants to leave her mound. Or else overthrow its rulers--her father and several stepparents (these fae practice group marriage).

Why's she so rebellious? Well, her relatives disapprove of her for many things. Not the least of them is her fraternizing with mortals like me.

THE ANCIENT BUNNY TRADITION

I've read of a superstition that may be relevant:

On the last night of the month, chant "White rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit" before going to sleep.
In the morning of the new month, chant "Black rabbit, black rabbit, black rabbit" on waking.
This will bring you luck.

EDITOR'S NOTES

Cultures all around the world see a rabbit in the markings on the moon. I do. I haven't researched the Ancient Bunny Tradition, but I suspect it's old, old enough so the months in question were true lunar months. I'd bet the original rite was to chant "white rabbit" at the full moon, and "black rabbit" at the dark of the moon or the first sliver of the new moon.

But that's a side note. The two big issues this dream raises for most readers are, I think:

1. SHARED DREAMS

   Or spill-over dreams, or (for skeptics) wildly coincidental dreams. Here on the Dreambank I've arbitrarily called them telepathic dreams, just as a label of convenience. Well, not totally arbitrary. Such dreams seem frequent and detailed enough as to preclude (in my view) pure coincidence. Friends dreaming of a rabbit might be surprising, but proves little. But... rabbits with pink bows who demand a bowl of milk are just a little too specific to shrug off so easily. And three such rabbits, three such dreams? Whatever the odds against one such pairing, a triplet squares those odds. This is the first* three-person dream here on WDB--or is it three linked dreams? Is it the theme that hopped, or the dream, or a being that invaded three dreams? It's hard to come up with unbiased labels here; and "coincidence" is as biased as the rest. Label with caution! Your terminology can limit your inquiry.

   Dreamworkers, more perhaps than explorers in any other field, must not prejudge what's possible. You only get some idea what's possible when you know what you're studying. We don't. And that's the wonder of it. We're often sure we know--dreams are the gods talking, are instantaneous, are suppressed desires, are spiritual lessons, are brain-static, are problem-solving, are memory-coding... Our notions keep going down in flames, and we just send up the next theory, sure we have it right this time...

2. ENTITIES

   Many readers who can just stomach (if queasily) the idea of telepathic/shared dreams may balk at the idea of a being hopping from dream to dream. I've seen too much dream-weirdness to reject the possibility out of hand, though. Were the dreams simultaneous, I'd incline toward a shared-dream model; but their apparent sequence through the night does suggest something or someone hopping patiently further into the room until she got the help she needed. Which I find funny and instructive. Isn't it revealing how all our dream theories, so different on the surface, all assume dreams are about our needs somehow? What if some dreams at least arise from others' needs? Personally, I now treat dream figures as real people, and behave accordingly: try to undo curses, make friends, welcome magic in. It can't hurt, and... who knows who it may help?

*FOOTNOTE

This was the first triple shared dream, but not the last. For a second example of this odd sort of dream, see Three Dreams.

World Dream Bank homepage - Art gallery - New stuff - Introductory sampler, best dreams, best art - On dreamwork - Books
Indexes: Subject - Author - Date - Names - Places - Art media/styles
Titles: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - IJ - KL - M - NO - PQ - R - Sa-Sk - Sl-Sz - T - UV - WXYZ
Email: wdreamb@yahoo.com - Catalog of art, books, CDs - Behind the Curtain: FAQs, bio, site map - Kindred sites