shape shift

Dreamt of beating a huge green snake with a stick that kept lunging at a crowd of people I was guiding through the woods.
I kept telling it, "What did I tell you?" And it turned into a brunette young girl and she looked scared. I told her to get up and had her go into the crowd of people.
I had to restrain myself from hitting her again even though she was a human now... Or in a human form.
Either way, in my dream I kept wondering if the other people in the crowd were also "other" creatures that might attack, and instead of leading them to safety I should go climb a tree and let them fend on their own.

Upon waking, I realize this is reality.
To the tree it is.