ABSTRACT
Modern Greek has two meanings for the etymologically same words paramythia and paramythia. The first designates the genre of maerchen; the latter means "consolation". Language occasionally is a good analyst of reality. One is inclined to think that humorous tales or stories like maerchen with a happy ending will naturally have a positive effect on listeners. Legends, however, are not funny and they do not come to a happy ending. The storytelling session was a full success. All the genres were told, except for parodies. The event lasted for roughly one hour, with an emphasis on modern legends of the scary and depressing kind. More surprising were the results of the query after the storytelling. There were ninety-seven positive and only nine negative statements. That means that nearly everybody left the class in a happy mood and considerably happier than he or she had entered.
