elicate and the tender;
And a tree nearby
That moves its leaves,
And a cool spring
That lies just under it."

Without much change the same symbolism is found in stately form in the
Melker Marienlied of the 12th century. (See Jung, Jb. ps. F., IV, S. 398
ff.)

Sainted Mary
Closed gate
Opened by God's word--
Sealed fountain,
Barred garden,
Gate of Paradise.

Note also the garden, roses and fountains in the Song of Solomon.

The wanderer wishes to possess his mother as an unravished bride. Also a
feature familiar to psychoanalysis. The generally accompanying antithesis
is the phantasy that the mother is a loose woman = attainable, sexually
alluring woman. Perhaps this idea will also be found in the parable.

The young people of both sexes, separated by a wall, do not come together
because they are afraid of the distant detour to the door. This can, with
a little courage, be translated: The auto-erotic satisfaction is easier.

[C G. Jung writes (Jb. ps. F., IV, p. 213 ff): "Masturbation is of
inestimable importance psychologically. One is guarded from fate, since
there is no sexual need of submitting to any one, life and its
difficulties. With masturbation one has in his hands the great magic. He
needs only to imagine and in addition to masturbate and he possesses all
the pleasures of the world and is under no compulsion to conquer the world
of his desire through hard work and struggle with reality. Aladdin rubs
his lamp and the slaves come at his bidding; this story expresses the
great psychologic gain in local sexual satisfaction through facile
regression." Jung applies to masturbation the motive of the dearly won
prize and that of the stealing of fire. He even appears to derive in some
way the use of fire from masturbation. In this at any rate I cannot follow
him.]

On his detour the wanderer (who desires to reach the portal of woman)
meets people who are alone in the rooms and carry on dirty work. Dirt and
masturbation are wont to be closely associated psychically. The dirty work
is "only appearance and individual fantasy," and "has no foundation in
Nature." The wanderer knows that "such practices vanish like smoke." He
has done it himself before and now he will have nothing more to do with
it. He aspires to a woman, that the work done alone leads to nothing is
connected with the fact that the work of two is useful. But "dirty work"
is also to be understood as s