This article discusses Voltaire’s philosophical tale ‘Candide: Optimism’ (1759) in terms of the fairytale genre. This approach is not accidental as it is attributable to the evolution of fairy tale (conte) in 17–18th century France, on the one hand, and features of the genre in Voltaire’s Candid, on the other hand. It starts and ends as a fairy tale, has the typical fairytale characters (a hero, princess, magical helpers), a fabu­lous miracle, an entirely unreal subject, and a narrative structure which, according to V. Propp, is based on the function of trouble or shortage.