e careless childhood, that has not yet learned the
difference between man and woman. It does not take the difficult right
way, but quite intelligibly, the left. The wanderer himself turns back to
his childish irresponsibility; he takes the left path. The many people
that fall down may be a foil to illustrate the dangers of the path, for
the purpose of deepening the impression of improvement. Phantasies of
extraordinary abilities, special powers; contrasts to the anxiety of
examinations; all these in the case of the wanderer mark the change from
apprehension to fulfillment. We must not fail to recognize the element of
desire for honor; it will be yet described. In view of myth motives
reported by Stucken, the entire wall episode is to be conceived as a magic
flight; the people that fall off are the pursuers.

At the beginning of the ninth section of the parabola, the wanderer breaks
red and white roses from the rosebush and sticks them in his hat.
Red-white we already know as sexuality. The breaking off of flowers, etc.,
in dreams generally signifies masturbation; common speech also knows this
as "pulling off" or "jerking off." In the symbolism of dreams and of myths
the hat is usually the phallus. This fact alone would be hardly worth
mentioning, but there are also other features that have a similar
significance. The fear of impotence points to autoerotic components in the
psychosexual constitution of the wanderer (of course not clearly
recognized as such), which is shown as well in the anxiety about ridicule
and disgrace that awaken ambition. This is clearest in the paragraphs 6,
10, 14, of the parable. That the masturbatory symbol precedes the
subsequent garden episode, can be understood if we realize that the
masturbation phantasy (which has an enormous psychic importance) animates
or predetermines the immediately following incest.

The wall about the garden that makes the long detour necessary (Sec. 9) is
as we know the resistance. Overcoming the resistance = going round the
wall, removal of the wall. Of course, after the completion of the detour
there is no wall. The wall, however, signifies also the inaccessibility or
virginity of the woman. The wall surrounds a garden. The garden is,
however (apart from the paradise symbolism derived from it), one of the
oldest and most indubitable symbols for the female body.

"Maiden shall I go with you
In your rose garden,
There where the roses stand
The d