Following the earlier post about narrative action, I just discovered an amazing sub culture around story and folk tale classification:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarne-Thompson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp
http://airpump.davidbenque.com/tagged/generative_narrative
This excerpt from the first post speaks for itself, I think:
Supernatural Opponents 300 - 399
* The Dragon-Slayer 300
* The Three Kidnapped Princesses 301 (German)
* The Giant Without A Heart, 302
* The Twin Brothers, 303 (German, Another German variant)
* Seven Sisters, Seven Brothers 303A
* The Trained Hunter 304
* The Twelve Dancing Princesses 306
* The Princess in the Coffin 307 (French)
* Rapunzel 310 (Italian, Italian, Greek, Italian)
* Killed by a Giant 311 (Italian, German)
* The Bluebeard 312 (French)
* The Magic Flight 313 (Norwegian, French, German, German, English, German )
* The Golden-Haired 314
* The Treacherous Sister 315
* The Mermaid in the Pond 316 (German)
* The Princess and the Sky-tree 317
* The Batamärchen 318
* The Magician and his Apprentice, 325 (German, Norwegian, Danish, Italian)
* The Youth Who Wanted to Learn What Fear Is 326
* The Children With the Witch 327A (French, Scottish, German, Danish, Norwegian, French)
* The Small Boy Defeats the Ogre 327B (French, French, Norwegian)
* The Treasures of the Giant 328 (Italian, Greek, English)
* Miss the Magic Mirror 329
* The Spirit in the Bottle 331
* Godfather Death 332
* Little Red Riding Hood 333
* In the Household of the Witch 334 German
* The Three Apprentices and the Devil 360 (German)
* Bearskin 361
* Specter Bridegrooms 365 (English)
