| Acknowledgments | |
| Introduction | |
| Ch. 1 | Psychoanalysis and the Folktale | 3 |
| Ch. 2 | The Significance of Stepping Over | 11 |
| Ch. 3 | Magic and Theft in European Folklore | 19 |
| Ch. 4 | Myth and Folktale | 29 |
| Ch. 5 | Saint Agatha and the Tuesday Woman | 43 |
| Ch. 6 | The Story of the Light That Disappeared | 59 |
| Ch. 7 | The Thread of Life | 87 |
| Ch. 8 | The Bear in the Haunted Mill | 103 |
| Ch. 9 | Culture Hero and Trickster in North American Mythology | 115 |
| Ch. 10 | Tom, Tit, Tot | 123 |
| Ch. 11 | Fire in the Dragon | 129 |
| Ch. 12 | Mythology of Arnhem Land | 139 |
| Ch. 13 | Fairy Tale and Dream | 147 |
| Ch. 14 | The Wolf and the Seven Kids | 161 |
| Ch. 15 | Hansel and Gretel | 167 |
| Ch. 16 | The Language of Birds | 171 |
| Ch. 17 | Dame Holle: Dream and Folktale (Grimm No. 24) | 181 |
| Index | 193 |