The Lady or the Tiger

Last night I had a very strange, two-part dream. It opened with a good friend of mine, tall and beautiful, joyfully entering my home (which, in the dream, was not my house but my parents' house). Though in real life my friend is not particularly wealthy, in the dream she was bedecked with jewels and designer clothes and carrying a brand new Louis Vuitton handbag. She wandered all over the house, spreading her wealth and happiness about. Then she vanished, and the second part of the dream began. As I looked down from the second floor, a tiger appeared on the stairway. It was a very small tiger- it looked like a combination of my orange cat Miles and the cartoon picture of Calvin on the occasion when Hobbes turned him into a tiger. I chased the tiger all over the house, trying to catch him, but in the end, he vanished and I woke up.

At 3:30 in the morning, lying awake thinking about this dream, I realized that it was the first time I'd ever dreamt something odd that could be deciphered through literature. I'd dreamed of the Lady (my friend) and the Tiger.

For those of you unfamiliar with the story, you can find it here: The Lady or the Tiger?

It's a fascinating story of love, fury, and betrayal, but the most fascinating part is the open end. What choice does the princess make for her lover? Does she choose for him to live, but with a beautiful woman other than herself? Or does she choose for him to die brutally at the claws of a beast?

I'm still trying to figure out why this story worked its way into my dreams. I feel that there must be some decision, some complex emotional conundrum, that I'm struggling with. I often struggle with things, oblivious to my conscious self, until something reveals them to me. I'm sure this story will help me in some way. Not only was I presented with the lady and the tiger consecutively, but it was also in my parents' home, which recalls the princess being confronted with this decision within the walls of her father's castle and because her father decreed it. I'm going to keep thinking about this, but in the meantime I wanted to share it with all of you. I think it's amazing that this story- which, by the way, I haven't read in full since high school- sunk itself into my psyche and inserted itself into the narrative of my dreams.

Has anyone else ever dreamed a story?