cially
the indelible memories of the punishments which we have suffered in
childhood for misdeeds and which make themselves felt again in our
innermost souls at the critical periods of our studies, at the _Dies irae,
dies ilia_ of the severe examinations. After we have ceased to be pupils
it is no longer as at first the parents and governesses or later the
teachers that take care of our punishment. The inexorable causal nexus of
life has taken over our further education, and now we dream of the
preliminaries or finals; whenever we expect that the result will chastise
us, because we have not done our duty, or done something incorrectly, or
whenever we feel the pressure of responsibility. Stekel's experience is
also to be noticed, confirmed by the practice of other psychoanalysts,
that graduation dreams frequently occur if a test of sexual power is at
hand. The double sense of the word _matura_ (= ripe) (that may also mean
sexual maturity) may also come to mind as the verbal connecting link for
the association. In general the examination dreams may be the expression
of an anxiety about not doing well or not being able to do well; in
particular they are an expression of a fear of impotence. It should be
noted here that not only in the former but in the latter case the fear has
predominantly the force of a psychic obstruction.

For the interpretation of the examination scene also, we note the fairy
tale motif so frequently appearing of a hard-won prize, i.e., any story in
which a king or a potentate proposes a riddle or a task for the hero. If
the hero solves or accomplishes it, he generally wins, besides other
precious possessions, a woman or a princess, whom he marries. In the case
of a heroine the prize is a beautiful prince. The motif of the hard-won
prize matches the later appearance of obstacles in the Parable. The nature
of the prize is, for the present at any rate, a matter of indifference.

A second edition of the examination scene meets us in the 6th section as
the battle with the lion. The advance from the anxiety phase to the
fulfillment phase appears clearly and the emotions of the wanderer are
more strongly worked out. The difficulty at the beginning is indicated in
the preceding conversation where no one will advise him how he is to begin
with the beast, but all hold out guidance for a later time when he shall
have once bound the lion. The beginning of the fight causes the wanderer
much trouble. He "is amazed