do not wish to revive the exploded notion that myths are
merely the play of a fancy that requires occupation. My position on the
interpretation of myths will be explained in Part I. of the synthetic
part.] It is then possible by the comparison of individual instances of a
motive, to conclude concerning its true character, inasmuch as one, as it
were, completes in accordance with their original tendency the lines of
increasing distinctness in the different examples, and thus--to continue
the geometric metaphor--one obtains in their prolongations a point of
intersection in which can be recognized the goal of the process toward
which the dream strives, a goal, however, that is not found in the dream
itself but only in the interpretation.

We shall employ the three methods of interpretation conjointly. After all
we shall proceed exactly as psychoanalysis does in interpretation of
folk-lore. For in this also there are no living authors that we can call
and question. We have succeeded well enough, however, with the derived
methods. The lack of an actual living person will be compensated for in a
certain sense by the ever living folk spirit and the infinite series of
its manifestations (folk-lore, etc.). The results of this research will
help us naturally in the examination of our parable, except in so far as I
must treat some of the conclusions of psychoanalysis with reserve as
problematic.

Let us now turn to the parable. Let us follow the author, or as I shall
call him, the wanderer, into his forest, where he meets his extraordinary
adventures.

I have just used a figure, "Let us follow him into his forest." This is
worthy of notice. I mean, of course, that we betake ourselves into his
world of imagination and live through his dreams with him. We leave the
paths of everyday life, in order to rove in the jungle of phantasy. If we
remember rightly, the wanderer used the same metaphor at the beginning of
his narrative. He comes upon a thicket in the woods, loses the usual
path.... He, too, speaks figuratively. Have we almost unaware, in making
his symbolism our own, partially drawn away the veil from his mystery? It
is a fact confirmed by many observations [Cf. my works on threshold
symbolism--Schwellensymbolik, Jahrb. ps. F. III, p. 621 ff., IV, p. 675
ff.] that in hypnagogic hallucinations (dreamy images before going to
sleep), besides all kinds of thought material, the state of going to sleep
also portrays itself in exact