Dealing with fear: what dangers do incantations ward off?

Folklore reflects the concept of fear, with which genres such as incantations and prayers are directly associated. These texts establish adialogue with danger, either with commands or supplications, and they indicate what kind of dangers are imminent. By combining psychoanalytical and folklore theories, the paper offers the analysis of the conceptual image of fear and of the defensive function of prayers and incantations within the material of Slovenian incantation and prayer collections: what kind of threats one wants to chase away by incantations or/and magical signs and objects; and what kind of form and use contain the preventive incantations themselves.