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Some years ago, in another context, I wrote: “Freud's picture hangs in our consulting rooms, while our papers begin with a reference to one of his theoretical contributions and conclude with the statement that our research has substantiated the point made by the originator of the movement.”
Mrs. Sandford is more courageous than most for she has undertaken a very dangerous assignment—to relate a myth, which according to The Columbia Encyclopedia had its origin in ninth century China, to present-day life in England without touching any of the safe bases, i.e., without attempting to discover what others have done with myths in general and with “Cinderella” in particular.
Psychoanalysis has surely concerned itself with efforts to make viable relationships between human beings and mythology. It has even produced one very noteworthy analysis of an individual some 400 years after his death—Freud's evaluation of Leonardo da Vinci. To return to the matter of myths, Freud's famous case of the “Wolf-Man” and Ricklin's and Abraham's classic books here stand as paradigms of psychoanalytic interest. These investigators were in agreement that the sexual symbolism in myths and fairy tales was identical to that found in dreams. Ricklin made note of the wishful character of the fairy tale themes with respect to oedipal striving of children; he felt that very pertinent elements in many myths and tales were (a) presence of a cruel stepmother, and (b) sexual pursuit of daughter by father. Abraham demonstrated that both myths and dreams expressed wishes that had been subjected to identical mechanisms.
That others have since diligently worked the vineyards can be readily seen in even a cursory review of Grinstein's Index of Psychoanalytic Writings which contain some 140 references to myths and fairy tales, including the analysis of such related (to our subject) tales as “Hansel and Gretel,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “Rumpelstilzkin,” as well as of such legendary figures as Prometheus, Oedipus, N