ABSTRACT
The ‘enchanted forest’ is a nearly universal theme in literature and folklore: out on the edge of man’s cities and villages, the forest – or at least a portion of it – has often been regarded with a mixture of fear and fascination. Personalized as something which intends to draw into itself the unsuspecting human being, such a forest – especially in the lore of Europe – is often presented as a locus of considerable danger. It is so either because it can disorient those who happen into it or because it can include malicious animals or humans which seem to be merely waiting to prey upon the unsuspecting. Children’s stories are, of course, replete with this theme.
