I accepted the invitation. I saw in a hall an exhibition of Christmas gifts for sale, especially little horses, which were being packed up during the evenvng. The Christmas trees, too, were loaded with toy horses; I helped packing up the things. Then when I thought of looking up my friend it turned out that I had lost his address. I asked a girl in the hall for the man's address; but I could not understand the girl's talk, although she repeated the address several times. I thought, how very strange, we (Austrians and Germans) speak the same language and still we fail to understand one another. Presently I saw a large group of men and women. I wanted to ask one of these women for the address, thinking she must know; but, to my joy, I see my friend among those present. I walk up too him with the question: "Have you also made, your purchases this evening?" On receiving his affirmative answer I added: "I would have been unable to look you up because I had forgotten your address." He picked up a box of cigars and offered me one.

13 Finally he triumphs over the father. For he is above (Adier).

The dreamer writes:

"The analysis of this dream is very easy. A friend invites me to spend a 'weihevolle Nacht' with him. First I come across some Christmas shopping. The Christmas trees and the little horses are to be understood as representing the male and female genitalia; the hall, where I see all these wonderful gifts, refers to incest fancies and to birth phantasies; it is to be regarded as a symbol for the maternal body. My homosexual trend, weakly intimated at the beginning of the dream, is very adroitly and most fittingly expressed in the conversation with the girl: 'how very strange! We speak the same language and still we fail to understand one another.' Thus, it is a case of misdirected love; I will never 'arrive at an understanding' with the girl; the link that ties us is nothing less than the male, for whom I yearn with all my heart and for whom alone I look - without avail - through woman. The dream does not end at this point; it carries out openly the thought of homosexuality and at the end it portrays the complete wish fulfillment. I am happy that I am not forced to get in touch first with a woman for my man's address; I need not have recourse to this round-about manner for sexual gratification, for I see the man I am after, himself, standing in the hall. A joyful Christmas now for me! And how can we, - the friend and I, - celebrate the holiday of love more fittingly than by uniting ourselves in love? The homosexual union is actually carried out, - the friend 'offers me a cigar.' "

Thus far the patient's analysis. It displays the whole raw side of psychic hermaphroditism. He meets many women, - an acquaintance among them.14 In every woman he looks for the man. He asks her for the male friend's address. He and the woman speak different jargons. We now understand why this subject never married, - indeed he had never had a serious love affair.

14 In other words, the women have a familiar face, - his beloved mother! The expression "darunter" is to be taken not only as meaning "among them," but literally. The image of the sweetheart covers the overdrawn memory-picture of his own youth.

He is a Don Juan wandering from blossom to blossom. He is continually searching, - looking for himself, because he identifies himself with the mother. He plays the role of the mother searching for her only child.

Another point towards the elucidation of the case: before the analysis the subject was unaware of his homosexuality although it was the source of his neurotic symptoms. Now he knows his enemy within and this insight enables him to cope with it.

It is the triumph of light over darkness.