In the first section, Rank introduces his topic of investigation, noting: "Whatever one’s opinion as to their origin, one is struck by an insistent tendency in the myths to make all heroic figures fit the framework of a specific birth legend.

"[1] In the work's second section, Rank closely analyzes mythes about the births of Sargon of Akkad, Moses, Karna, Oedipus, Paris, Telephos, Perseus, Dionysus, Gilgamesh, Cyrus the Great, Trakhan, Tristan, Romulus, Hercules, Jesus, Sigurd, Lohengrin, and Sceafa.

[4] In the final section, Rank lays out a rough outline that he claims can be applied to almost all mythical birth stories: The hero is the child of very distinguished parents, and usually the son of a king.

His origin is preceded by difficulties, such as sexual abstinence, prolonged infertility, or secret intercourse of the parents due to external prohibition or obstacles.

[8] This edition remained officially unavailable in English until 2004, when a version translated by Gregory C. Richter and E. James Lieberman was published by the Johns Hopkins University Press.