ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses some early childhood memories, as they were told to the author by a child at the beginning of the latency period. The manifest content of the memory thus has certain characteristics in common with fantasies and dreams, an element of hallucinatory wish-fulfillment. This mechanism might readily serve as an explanation for the myth of happy childhood. Bridget is an attractive, vivacious, dark-haired girl of mixed parentage, an Indian father and an Irish mother. She has developed into a very normal, well-adjusted child in the latency period. On closer examination it became clear that Bridget's memories can be grouped into three categories according to the modification they have undergone: memories with minor changes in content and reversal in affect due to hallucinatory wish fulfillment; memories with minor changes in content and reversal in affect due to ego development; and memories with displacement of affect to a different content.
