On day 2, Christian walks through a forest and feels so happy and joyful that he sings a song. It’s one of those happy little strolls through the woods that anyone who has read enough fairy tales knows is too good to be true. He walks up a hill to take a nap and finds a tablet.
On this tablet are instructions, presumably from the bridegroom, for how to get to the wedding. There are four paths, which could be interpreted as representing the four cardinal directions or the alchemical quarternity, referring to the four main steps in alchemy: the negredo, the albedo, the citrinalis and the reubedo, or, in Jungian psychology, the state of psychological unity and perfection. None of the four ways is particularly appealing: the first is short but dangerous, the second is long and cyclical, the third is reserved for royals, and the fourth is for people who are undeserving and leads them away from the castle entirely. Despairing, Christian is afraid that he won’t get there, when a white dove shows up. He feeds the dove and they are joined by a black raven, who attacks the dove, who then flies away and somehow compels Christian to chase after them. White and Black birds have various meanings, and the one I’m going to go with here is life/peace versus death/hostility.
Christian loses sight of the birds and realizes that he has been lead down one of the four paths, the short but dangerous one. So now the birds represent divine intervention. He realizes that he left his pack at the trees and turns around, only to be faced with a big gust of wind. The only way he can go is forward, and so he does.
He gets to the castle and has to pass through three gates. That is where I should pick up later.