In this excerpt from "Merlin's Booke" by Jane Yolen, the speaker addresses a prince about the peril of revealing a dream that foretells his downfall. The act of sharing such a troubling vision may not only endanger the one who dreams but may also distort the truth of the dream itself. This indicates a complex relationship between prophecy and reality, suggesting that not all shared dreams hold accurate revelations about the future.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of survival for dreamers, implying that one must continue to live and dream in order to find deeper truths. Furthermore, there is a philosophical question posed about the nature of dreams—whether the act of speaking them into existence can affect their outcomes, blending the boundaries between thought, reality, and fate.