And I say that to tell a prince to his face that you have dreamed of his doom invites the dreamer's doom as well. And, as you yourself reminded me, it may not be all of the truth. The greatest wisdom of any dreamer is to survive in order to dream again. Besides, how do you really know if what you dream is true or if, in telling of it, you make it come true?
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.