What metaphors are used in Friedman's Fables by Edwin H. Friedman?

In the fable, Interlude, Faust sells his soul to the devil in return for more knowledge, a story that metaphorically comments on the fatal dangers of too much ambition), defining his identity in terms of the amount of knowledge he has and giving up responsibility for his own well being in the process. Oedipus unintentionally fulfills a prophecy made about him in his youth that he will kill his father and marry his mother. In its metaphoric commentary on the futility of attempting to escape fate, the story makes the point that identity is not chosen by the individual but by the gods, and that the individual has the responsibility to accept that will and the further responsibility to accept its consequences.