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The series of incidents which are described in this paper occurred in the life of a little girl, between the ages of two-and-a-half and four-and-a-half years, and were connected with her efforts first to deny her lack of a penis and then to compensate for this lack by achieving an identification with her mother. The observations were reported to the writer by a mother of unusual insight and some psychoanalytic experience. It is fortunate that her approach to the problems was free both from the exuberance of new knowledge and from any urge towards experimentation. On only one occasion, which will be described later, did she seek professional advice with respect to the handling of a specific problem.
The first incident occurred at the age of two-and-a-half years. The little girl was having her daily bath. As had been the practice for the previous year she was sharing the tub with her brother, two years older. He was standing up at the foot of the tub facing her, while being soaped all over. She observed him thoroughly, then looked away and with a dreamy gaze and voice remarked, 'Boy just has a little wee-wee-er. I have a Daddy-one.' This observation was not received kindly by the brother who vociferously defended the size of his organ and with some asperity pointed out that, as a matter of fact, she had none at all. The little girl remained entirely unaffected by his outburst, giving him but a single cool glance as he berated her. When he had quite finished she reiterated with the same far-away look, 'Just a little one, sure', and smiled knowingly.
From the circumstances of their upbringing it seems likely that this was for the little girl the first definite verbal statement