A number of dreamlike elements of the story may suggest otherwise to the reader, such as the fact that none of the members of the monastery seem to be able to see him at first, and the abrupt ending in which Bede has been delayed talking to the narrator and so the other monks burst in thinking that some harm has come to him and suddenly the narrator finds himself back under the tree in the present (August 1837), with his coach having just passed his spot on the road leaving him stranded in Newcastle for another night.
Vendar v zgodbi ni nikoli jasno, ali so se ti dogodki dejansko zgodili ali so bili le sanje: pripovedovalec pravi, da ko je na začetku našel udobno opazovalno mesto ob deblu drevesa, se je usedel, in »kot mi bo moj skeptični bralec povedal, zadremal in zaspal,« nato pa pravi, »da se je odločil ne priznati« to razlago.