Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 9, 1898.djvu/225

 Rh In 1876, having applied for several vacant posts and obtained the smallest of them, Kristensen removed to Faarup in Vindum parish, between Viborg and Silkeborg. As the salary was only £33, with a house of two rooms, he hesitated at first to make the change, but was warmly urged to accept the situation by the dean of the parish, and spent eight years in it. He found the school situated on the edge of a stony slope, which by his own labour he converted into a beautiful garden, scarcely equalled by any in the district. To bring about this result he had to work early and late; and being also chairman of the parish council, one might suppose he had work enough without collecting folklore. His house was so small that he had to do his evening work in the cold school-room, but in spite of every drawback he was not long in having more material ready for the press. How to get it published was, however, a serious question, as no one was likely to take the risk. He was advised to apply for a parliamentary grant, and approached the Minister of Education to see what chance there was of obtaining this. The Minister's reply was at least clear and decisive: "I must frankly tell you," he said, "that I have no interest in your undertaking, and there are so many other things we must give help to, which have superior claims upon us." Kristensen then asked whether it would be of any use to apply to Parliament for assistance. "Well," he said, "of course it may grant you the money; and if it is favourable, I shall promise you not to oppose it." In consequence of all this, Kristensen ventured only to ask for the money necessary to publish four successive volumes of his Popular Traditions of Jutland (Jyske Folkeminder), and down to 1884 had little opportunity of adding to what he had already collected. Two volumes of fairy tales, and two of general folklore made up the work of these eight years.

In 1884 a number of events took place. The school-house at Faarup had grown too small for the family, and