פירוש על עירובין 106:4

Certainly, these anecdotes were not presented here in mere coincidence. Rather Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chanania arranged them in the style of parables to offer moral lessons from them. And Rabbi P. M. already explained these according to the teachings of Musar (Jewish Ethics). And it seems to me that [Rabbi Yehoshua] arranged these three parables to correspond to the three divisions of the soul known as NaRaN [Nefesh, Ruach, Neshama]. And the parable of the woman corresponds to the soul level of Neshama. The parable of the small boy corresponds to the soul level of Ruach. And the parable of the small girl corresponds to the soul level of Nefesh. For every person, even those [who appear to only have a lowly soul on the level] of Nefesh, actually contains the entire NaRaN and they enable the soul to teach knowledge and ethics to the body.