ABSTRACT
In Germany, the fairy tale (Märchen) is being cared for intensively. However, the expression “taking care” was not accepted there without criticism by friends of the fairy tale. Some suggested that in German, the term “taking care” (gepflegt) evokes connotations of sickness, chronic illness, or at best convalescence; only what is ill should require care, and certainly the fairy tale is not sick. On the contrary, according to self-proclaimed and accepted experts in the field, it belongs among the few really healthy traditions of narrative transmittal. Indeed, the fairy tale in Germany is enjoying the best of health. It has long since passed its period of convalescence, into which it had fallen after World War II and following severe attacks during the discourse of the 1968 movement.
