Abstract
The paper deals with the meaning of places and their representation in three children's books by Otfried Preußler. He analyzes the space of the forest, the pond, the castle, the well and the underground in the works Der kleine Wassermann (1956), Die kleine Hexe (1957) and Das kleine Gespenst (1966).
The text is mainly based on theoretical studies and Daniela Hodrová's book Places with secrets (1994). It demonstrates that individual scenes are an important meaning-creating factor, and precisely their confidential form in children's books tends to contradict their original archetypal purpose.
They serve as a projection surface for the characters (the gallery of ancestors in the museum), they merge with the characters (the mill, the cottage) and all of them, without exception, play a significant role in shaping their identity.