Page:The theory of psychoanalysis (IA theoryofpsychoan00jungiala).pdf/132

 show the place where the stork had bitten her. This mode of expression is, in Switzerland, a universally known variant of the symbolism of generation and birth. Here we find a perfect parallelism between our interpretation and the associations of the child. The first associations which have been brought by the child, without being influenced in any way, are connected with the problem which, for theoretical reasons, was suggested by ourselves. I know well that the innumerable cases, published in our psychoanalytic literature, where the patients have certainly not been influenced, have not prevented the critics' contention, that we suggest our own interpretations to our patients. This case will not, therefore, convince anyone who is determined to find crude mistakes or, much worse still—fabrications.

After our little patient had finished her first association, she was asked, "What did the wolf suggest?" She answered, "I think of my father, when he is angry." This association also coincides with our theoretical observations. It might be objected that the observation was made just for this purpose and for nothing else, and has therefore no general validity. I believe that this objection vanishes of itself as soon as the corresponding psychoanalytic and mythological knowledge has been acquired. The validity of an hypothesis can only be confirmed by positive knowledge; otherwise it is impossible to confirm it. We have seen by the first association that the wolf has been replaced by the stork. The associations given to the wolf bring the father. In the common myth, the stork stands for the father, as the father brings children. The apparent contradiction, which could be noticed here between the fairy-tale, where the wolf represents the mother, and the dream, in which the wolf stands for the father, is of no importance for the dream. I must renounce here any attempt at a detailed explanation. I have treated this problem of bisexual symbols in the work already referred to. You know that in the legend of Romulus and Remus, both animals were raised to the rank of parents, the bird Picus and the wolf.

The fear of the wolf in the dream is therefore fear of her father. The little patient explains her fear of her father by his severity towards her. He had also told her that we only have bad dreams when we have been doing wrong. Later, she once asked her father, "But what does Mamma do wrong?" She has very often frightful dreams."