[Python] os.symlink fails when directory exists and when directory doesn't exist

I have source and link paths. I'm trying to create a symlink, but must be misunderstanding how its used. Let's say

source = '/var/source/things/'
link = '/var/link/'


When I use os.symlink(source, link)

Initially I received an error

FileNotFoundError: [Errno 129] EDC5129I No such file or directory.: '/var/source/things/' -> '/var/link/'


Ok, so I'll put in something to create the directory if it doesn't exist.

if not os.path.exists(link):
os.makedirs(link)


Re-run and now receive:

FileExistsError: [Errno 117] EDC5117I File exists.: '/var/source/things/' -> '/var/link/'


So if the directory doesn't exist it fails and if the directory does exist it also fails?

We have a bash script that uses

ln -sf $source/* $link


Which creates symlinks for all folders within 'source' and was hoping python would be just as easy. But as I mentioned before, I'm misunderstanding something here.

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