Page:Freud - Wit and its relation to the unconscious.djvu/365

 riddle, and because of this absolute insufficiency it impresses one as irresistibly comic, rather than mere nonsensical foolishness. Through such means, that is, by not restricting essential conditions, wit, riddles, and other forms, which in themselves produce no comic pleasure, can be made into sources of comic pleasure.

It is not so difficult to understand the case of the involuntary comic of speech which we can perhaps find realized with as much frequency as we like in the poems of Frederika Kempner.

ANTI-VIVISECTION.

Fraternal sentiment should urge us

To champion the Guinea-pig,

For has it not a soul like ours,

Although most likely not as big?

Or a conversation between a loving couple.

THE CONTRAST.

The young wife whispers “I’m so happy,”

“And I!” chimes in her husband’s voice,

“Because your virtues, dearest help-mate,

Reveal the wisdom of my choice.”