Rabbit, Lion, Snake, Man

In the part of the dream i remember, i'm trying to save my friend. He's been captured by a madman and is being held prisoner. I follow the clues (can't remember what they are now) to the hiding place. I'm peering into a large wooden room. Sort of like a set for a stage play. Even though i know it's a very large container, it's made up to look like the outside. So, to follow the imagery, it's a large "back yard" with green grass and shrubs and a couple of large trees. It's very nice at first glance. I see my friend. He's running inside a wooden wheel - like a water wheel but without the spokes. There's a rabbit on his left from where i'm looking (his right) and a very large cat, i think a lion (i'm not positive now. Maybe it was a tiger) that's on the other side of him. They are all facing towards me and i'm unclear at first what's going on. Then i see that there are dozens of blackish gray snakes in the grass. They are long and lean and aggressive. Some kind of deadly poisonous snake. Black mamba? As i follow the snakes back along my line of vision towards where i'm hiding, i see a man in a smaller box watching the scene play out, just as i am doing. The difference is he made this scene happen and is very gleeful, waiting and watching. I see now that the lion is there to protect the rabbit, the rabbit is there to attract the snakes to where the man is, and the man can only survive as long as he can keep running in his wheel. Occasionally a snake or two get within a few feet of the trio and the lion kills them. Eventually though, i know that the snakes will overwhelm the group. The man can't keep running forever, the lion can't keep the rabbit safe without eventually succumbing to the poisonous bites himself....  it seems hopeless. Even though i'm not sure i can beat them, i grab a ?hoe and burst into the scene, chopping away at mounds of snakes. I kill every snake i come to as i make my way toward s the man. I just hope he can keep running long enough for me to kill them all. The snakes makes a satisfying  "chop" noise as i hack away at them. It reminds me of the sound of silly putty breaking when you pull it apart very quickly. Snapping noise really. 

That's all i remember.