don't kill the tiger

i was at some sort of a fair, accompanied by a large group of people from various corners of my life (work, friends, family, etc). we were walking through a an exhibit in a trailer where there were a ton of sheep giving birth all at the same time (i'm pretty sure this part of the dream was influenced by a conversation i had with ceri about a fair in mn).

as i was walking through the exhibit trailer, a saber-toothed tiger appeared out of nowhere and grabbed me by the arm and pulled me outside. it was biting down hard to where it was piercing my skin, but not hard enough to actually rip my arm off. as he was biting down, we were looking at each other straight in the eyes. a crowd gathered around me and a lady had a large knife and was ready to jump in to save me.

i pleaded with the crowd and the knife lady to keep back. i wanted to try to get away so that the tiger wouldn't have to be killed. i felt this weird connection with the tiger as we looked into each other's eyes. somehow i just knew that the tiger and i loved each other (almost like the tiger was my pet) and that he didn't want to hurt me, he was just doing what nature makes tigers do.

i was nervous, halfway wanting someone to save me but knowing that by saving me they would have to kill him. the tiger and i stood there for awhile, my arm in his teeth, looking at each other. finally he made a quick move and bit down harder which made the knife lady lunge into action and stab him in the neck, killing him.

and i sobbed and sobbed. it broke my heart that the tiger was dead.

it was a very emotional dream all around. it felt so real that i instinctively checked my arm for teeth marks when i woke up.