Chapter 6 Summary and Analysis

In the final act of "The Three Feathers," the older brothers are still not convinced about Dummling's right to the throne. They challenge Dummling's princess, along with the two homely peasant women they brought when they "shortcutted" the task of finding a beautiful woman, to jump through a ring. This act—jumping through a ring—is basically a spiritual act. The woman hangs in the air (air being a spiritual place) with great skill, finding the absolute center of the ring (much as we, as individuals, must find the "inner center" of our unconsciousness). Meanwhile, the peasant women are clumsy and break their legs trying to jump. Von Franz maintains that this final act is a challenge to live "the symbolic life," in which symbols—such as the ones that well up from our unconscious as dreams&mdash...