The Mahatma and the Hare: A Dream Story

In Short

This allegorical fantasy explores the intersection of human pride, animal suffering, and spiritual accountability. After a narrator is pulled from the depths of suicidal despair by a mysterious mentor, he begins to experience vivid, revelatory dreams. In this dreamscape, he encounters a hare and the man who hunted it to death. As they approach the "Great White Road" and the final Gates of judgment, the two engage in a debate about cruelty, empathy, and the soul of the creature, ultimately asking if justice exists for the silenced.

The Story

The story begins with an unnamed, troubled man living in London, saved from a suicide attempt by a man named Jorsen. Jorsen possesses a peculiar, almost preternatural wisdom, guiding the narrator toward a deeper understanding of his own past lives and the interconnectedness of all souls. Under Jorsen’s tutelage, the narrator begins to see beyond the veil, observing the "Great White Road"—a path traversed by spirits moving toward the Gates of the afterlife.

On this path, the narrator encounters two specific souls: a Hare and a "Red-faced Man," whom he identifies as a local landowner known for his passion for shooting and coursing. The Hare, now imbued with a human-like capacity for memory and speech, recounts its traumatic life: being shot by a young boy, enduring the terror of being hunted by hounds, and finally being forced to swim out to sea in a futile attempt to escape the relentless, bloodthirsty pack. The Hare explains how it was eventually caught, "broken up" by hounds at the command of the man, and how that event triggered a fatal stroke in the hunter, leading them both to this threshold.

As they wait for the Gates to open, the two debate the morality of their earthly relationship. The Red-faced Man defends his actions by citing the biblical mandate of man’s dominion over animals. The Hare, however, pierces this defense by describing the reality of the hunt from the victim's perspective: the constant, agonizing terror and the physical pain of being torn apart. The Hare demands justice, proposing that if it was wrong to suffer, the hunter should endure a similar fate in his next life. Shaken by the Hare’s testimony and the realization that his own death was caused by the consequences of that final hunt, the Red-faced Man eventually apologizes, acknowledging his ignorance and the cruelty he inflicted.

The narrative culminates at the Gates, where a host of souls awaits. A command rings out from the beyond: "Draw near, thou Hare." The narrator watches as the Hare is singled out to be the first to taste peace, suggesting that the sufferings of the "subject animal creation" are recognized and valued by a higher power. Before the narrator can learn the final outcome of the hunter’s judgment, he wakes in his room, the candle still smoldering, left to wonder about the mysteries he witnessed.

How It Unfolds

The mentor appears The narrator is rescued from a suicide attempt by Jorsen, a man who claims to have known the narrator across thousands of years of reincarnation. This encounter shifts the narrator’s perspective, allowing him to perceive the hidden spiritual threads connecting his current life to his ancient past.

The Road reveals its secrets The narrator begins to access the Great White Road, a spiritual realm where the dead journey toward their judgment. Here, he observes the mundane details of earthly life—like a landlady’s petty thefts—being brought to light, demonstrating that no act remains hidden from the truth.

The Hare tells its tale The narrator meets a Hare who remembers every moment of its life, from its birth to the agonizing experience of being hunted. The Hare describes the cold indifference of the humans and the terror of the dogs, framing the hunt as a cycle of suffering that demands an explanation.

The hunter faces the prey The Red-faced Man arrives on the Road, only to find himself confronted by the very creature he had killed. Their argument forces the hunter to confront the reality of the pain he caused, shifting his arrogance into a reluctant, profound apology for his past actions.

The final judgment The Great Gates burn away, and a divine command issues forth, prioritizing the Hare for peace. The vision ends abruptly as the narrator awakens, the experience leaving him with a haunting sense of the unseen judgments governing the world.

The People

The narrator serves as our witness, a man stripped of his pride by personal failure and humbled by his mentor. He is a bridge between the human world and the spiritual, forced to confront his own past grievances and his limited understanding of justice. Jorsen acts as the catalyst; he is an enigmatic figure, possibly a Mahatma, who provides the narrator with the "sight" necessary to view the Road. He remains detached, observing the human drama with a calm, ancient perspective, leaving the moral weight of the story to his student.

The Hare is the book’s moral heart. Though once a creature of instinct, it has gained the capacity to articulate its suffering, transforming from a hunted object into a sharp-witted accuser. It does not seek mere revenge, but rather a recognition of the truth. Opposing it is the Red-faced Man, a quintessential representative of a class that views the natural world as a playground for sport. Initially blustering and defensive, his journey is one of slow, painful stripping away of ego. Forced to see the Hare not as a beast but as a fellow soul, he moves from justifying his violence to acknowledging his own culpability.

In Its Own Voice

The narrator reflects on the strange persistence of the past and the lessons he has learned through his mentor:

“I was a blind priest then and you were the captain of Irene’s guard.”

The Hare vividly illustrates the terror of the hunt to the narrator, demanding he understand the reality of its existence:

“Tell me, Man, have you ever been torn to pieces by dogs?”

The Red-faced Man finally concedes his moral failing after his confrontation with the Hare on the Great White Road:

“I am sorry, truly sorry for all the pain and terror I have brought on you.”

What It's Really About

At its core, this story is an inquiry into the "dominion" humanity claims over the animal kingdom. It asks whether our perceived superiority entitles us to treat other living beings with cruelty, or if there is a spiritual ledger that tracks the suffering we inflict. By placing a hare and a hunter on equal footing before a divine judge, the book suggests that empathy is not a luxury but a requirement of the soul. It posits that the "human" experience is only one part of a vast, interconnected history, and that the suffering of the voiceless is neither forgotten nor unnoted by the forces that govern the afterlife.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy philosophical allegories or the supernatural fiction of the early 20th century will find this a fascinating, brief, and intense experience. It captures a specific, period-bound obsession with reincarnation and moral hierarchy, yet its central question—our ethical responsibility toward the non-human—feels strikingly modern. The prose is earnest and direct, reflecting the author’s own sense of wonder at the "dream" that birthed the story.

However, readers should be prepared for the visceral, often painful descriptions of the hunt; the book does not shy away from the brutality of the era’s "sporting" culture. Furthermore, the dialogue occasionally dips into the dialect of early 20th-century rural England, which may require a moment of adjustment. Those who appreciate a story that refuses to provide easy answers will likely find the open-ended nature of the narrator’s vision lingering in their minds long after the book is closed. It is a haunting, peculiar work that serves as a bridge between Victorian-era moralizing and a more modern, empathetic view of the natural world. It is not an adventure in the traditional sense, but a quiet, unsettling journey into the nature of mercy.