Otfried Preußler changes the function of mythological characters such as witches and ghosts, which traditionally serve to create fear. The central experience in Preußler is that what may cause fear because it is unknown is more likely to promote the sensation of pleasure. The literary strategies used for this latter experience belong in the tradition of Erich Kästner’s and Astrid Lindgren’s children’s novels, for example. The supernatural becomes the cipher of the Other, the one excluded from the bourgeois, and it is recoded in such a way that it causes pleasure rather than fear. In order to achieve this, Preußler creates humour in many different ways, some of which are also satirical, exposing presumptuous authorities. Traditional values of the Enlightenment – such as mutual respect, kindness, and compassion in social interaction – are particularly emphasised. In this sense, Preußler’s children’s novels educate children to think and act independently.