ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTORS in the study of fairy tales was the Soviet academician Vladimir Prop, who was the first to note down a complete model for the analysis of the structure of any fairy tale, breaking it down into 31 discrete functions. After studying a very extensive collection of traditional Russian fairy tales he came to the conclusion that they all followed the same 'recipe' and only heroes' identities and locations changed, as well as the sequence with which the various actions happened.

The 31 functions that the Russian professor noted down can be combined differently each time so as to form a different fairy tale. A story can use any combination of them and any number of them. This loose structure might as well apply to other literary genres or to modern fairy tales.

The typical sequence of functions is:

1.   The Initial Situation.

2.   The Absentations

3.   The Interdiction

4.   Violation

5.   Reconnaissance

6.   Delivery

7.   Trickery

8.   Complicity

9.   Villainy

10.         Meditation

11.         Beginning counteraction

12.         Departure

13.         First function of donor

14.         Protagonist reaction

15.         Acquisition of Magical Agent

16.         Transference

17.         Struggle

18.         Branding

19.         Victory

20.         Liquidation

21.         The Return

22.         Pursuit

23.         Rescue

24.         Unrecognised

25.         Unfounded Claims

26.         Difficult Task

27.         Solution

28.         Recognition

29.         Exposure

30.         Transfiguration

31.         Punishment

32.         The Wedding

From the first edition of his book in Russian back in 1928 until it's translation to English in 1958, for thirty years his work had not been given proper attention. With its publication in English though, his contribution to Fairy Tale came upon profound acceptance and recognition in the Western world who considered it a very elaborate guide on "The Morphology of Fairy Tales", and a basis for further study on Cinema, TV series, etc as well as oral traditions.