Falling Elephants

When I was a small child I used to watch Barbar the Elephant. Just in case you haven't ever seen it, Barbar is a cartoon elephant who just happens to also be the king (I've never worked out what he rules). Each episode of the cartoon plunges back into his childhood and you see him playing with his friends.

It's perfectly harmless and rather sweet.

I had a dream once that I had turned into Barbar's sister... no, I hadn't turned into her, I was her. I was searching for my brother and I wandered around what seemed to be a desert, calling out for him.

I came to a tree stump, hollow inside, and heard Barbar calling for help. I reached down and pulled him out. He was covered in thorns and scratches.

We began to walk across the desert, talking, although I forget what about. Suddenly we came to a great chasm and Barbar fell. I plunged down afterwards.

At the bottom of the chasm was a great underground river. As I fell towards it, the image I was seeing turned into the screen of a video game. In the top left corner were two little elephant heads: two lives left.

Suddenly the chasm became a circus, and I could hear the ringmaster calling out to the audience. Barbar disappeared, and I became myself again. I landed on the opposite side of the river to the ringmaster and watched the circus.

Across from me was a huge cage. Inside the cage were several children, or perhaps they were elephants. Suddenly the ringmaster lunged and changed the thermostat (where from? why?) and the cage was plummeted into freezing temperatures.

The children cried out. I ran across, jumped the river, opened the cage. We all ran as fast as we could.

We jumped over the river. The ringmaster gave chase, but he fell in. We reached an inexplicable ladder, and climbed it.
Suddenly I was alone, in the Coal Mining Museum car park.

That's where the dream ended. Both times. What does it mean? Does it mean anything? Perhaps I watch too many cartoons.