2 ?b90

355
represent "la naturaleza perdida (la casa iliminada); la naturaleza caida
(el tiovivo), y la sobrenaturaleza (la casa del bosque), que es el claro-
oscuro o la uni6n de los contrarios. "
40'
This view matches the concept of
tao lost and regained which I have previously uncovered; the final pages
enact the essential meeting of the twelfth chapter.
41
Aided by the light
from the first house, Cemi is not misled by the musiquilla, the tunes of
the fairground which seem to be innocuous at first. He senses the sinister
nature of the old care-taker who recalls a similar symbol of rampant sex-
uality met by Alberto (1,333 6); Cemf feels no desire to remain nearby,
despite the difficulty of withdrawing: "Cada vez que daba un paso le parecia
que tenia que extraer los pies de una tembladera" (1,637-8). It is his
inner voice of wisdom which saves Cemi from the merry-go-round of mediocri -
ty, for although the wood of adolescence is confusing, natural f orces are
at work and "sinti6 como, un llamado, como, si a1guien hubiese comenzado a
cantar ....
Era un ruido inaudible, la p6rabola de una pistola de agua
(1,638). Reassured by this voice, Cemi is "obligado a mirar hacia atrAs"
(1,638), but now childhood pleasures become nightmares: the caretaker re-
sembles a long-nosed fiend, rather like some representations of the negative
Earth Mother ("Cemi pudo percibir en aquel rostro una espinilla negra, a la
que la prolongaci6n de la blancura daba como el tamafýo de una lengua que res-
balara a lo largo de la nariz"; 1,638). He also has "el aspecto del ti-
monel de una mAquina infernal" (1,638). This is Cemi's moment of realiza-
tion that childhood must be forsaken for the sake of true creativity.
Nature, sexuality, both are transformed into supernature in the next
stage,
'as they were in Cemi's meditations on poetry and in chapters XII and
XIII. The "Ilave de excesiva dimensiones, como, para abrir el port6n de un
castillo" (1,639) emphasizes the effort and perhaps greatness of spirit re-
quired to open the door to poetry. I feel that the symbolism of the Great
Mother, of the intuitive, feminine Unconscious is still at work when we