The fantastic tale

¿Se avessimo anche una Fantastica, come una Logica, sarebbe scoperta l¿arte di inventare¿. With this quote by Novalis, Gianni Rodari (1973:4) begins his Grammatica della fantasia (Anthology of the Fantastic). Literary reception through time has fulfilled diverse functions; amongst these, the fantastic and the marvellous have carried out pivotal roles with regard to emotional education, social control or a means of evasion (playfulness and humour). From the very outset, marvellous tales that have been used to explain the world we live in, including their application in the education of young people to ward off the unknown (Bettelheim, 1976), their moral and religious applications, including jocular ones, pass through a process of acquisition of literary skills that are commonly attributed to the schools. It must not be overlooked, however, that the family and church act as contributing elements to the dissemination of literature of the imagination. With this in mind, even through the undertaking of reviews of study plans, different syllabuses for the subjects of language and literature, divided into nations, or established for the memorising of data will not be found.