I dreamed that a coypu -- the semi-aquatic South American rodent pictured above -- was assembling a new zodiac, a new circle of 12 animals to which to assign portions of the sky. He did this by singing a song with one stanza for each of the animals that was being called to join the zodiac. I don't think the specific lyrics were clearly defined in the dream, but each stanza was four lines of tetrameter. The first three lines named and described the animal being called, and the fourth line was always "Now come and join the general dance!"
Although both very large and very small species were included, each of the new zodiac animals was roughly the same size, and much smaller than the coypu. They seemed to be miniature creatures, not fully material. They seemed slightly translucent and "fetal-looking," and they glowed slightly from within. The way they walked, with slow, exaggerated steps, made me think of them as "coltish."
The first animal called was, I believe, a black and yellow newt. When the coypu sang, "Now come and join the general dance," the newt came out and began prancing slowly in a circle around the coypu. When the second animal -- a giraffe, but no bigger than the newt -- was called, it held the newt's tail in its mouth and went along after it. One by one, more animals were called, each holding in its mouth the tail of the one before it. When the twelfth animal had joined the general dance, the newt took its tail, completing the circle.
That was the concept, anyway, although I don't think I actually saw the whole process in detail or heard every stanza of the song, and I don't think all the individual animals were clearly defined. Besides the newt and the giraffe, I remember seeing a water monitor, a goat, an eland, and an obscure mythological creature called a yale. That's only half the zodiac, but it's all I can remember. I also remember thinking it was good the coypu didn't call a chipmunk, because this sort of dance wouldn't be safe for it.
