In A Dream

The one in my dream had more light gray feathers but I took this photo when vacationing in BC so I thought I would share it.

The other night I had an interesting dream. I was standing in a courtyard with another person. We approached a small door in the wall of a nearby building. Standing in front of the door was a gray heron. It appeared the door was made just the right size for the bird.

The person I was with made some comment about it being a crane. This appeared to offend the bird as it took a step back pointing its beak toward us and pulling in its wings close to its body. I disagree with the person. As we stepped toward the bird I said "one must call her by her proper name, the heron".

I put out my left hand toward the bird and something magical happened. The birds' beak and eyes transformed into the face of a pale but beautiful young woman. She reminded me of the girl from a movie I had seen, not positive which one though. From her body near her right wing a feathery gray and white appendage transformed into a white gloved hand with long fingers. I saw the hand form, the fingers grow out and the glove appear over the flesh. 

She smiled at my comment and put her hand out for me to take. I took it and helped her down a single step in front of the door. It was then I woke up.

"In Greek myths, Heron is God’s messenger, so it was wrong to harm one in any way as it brought terrible luck." I do not know if I knew that at the time, but the character in my dream appeared to know the respectful way to treat a heron, perhaps knowing it could transform into this nature spirit part bird part human?