Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 9, 1898.djvu/227

Rh and at last refused to make any more concessions of the kind. He then appealed to the Ministry of Education and begged for one more chance, pointing out the necessity of doing the work at once if it was to be done at all. The Ministry gave its consent, though with a pretty plain hint that this time would be the last. On this point it may be best to give Kristensen's own words from the preface to the 9th volume of his Jyske Folkeminder, published in 1888:

"By August 1st," he wrote then, "the time allowed me will have expired, and I do not know what the future may bring to me. I cannot get further leave of absence, and I cannot well give up my collecting now. As the two occupations cannot be combined, I shall have to resign my post, and will not hesitate to do so if I can be assured of bread for myself and my large family. I ask no more for my work than my daily bread, and I have an impression that this will be given to me. There is still much that can be done in the way of collecting, but I must do it myself, and must seek out in person the possessors of what I wish to have. It is much harder to do this now than it was ten years ago, for the old people are dying out, and the younger ones as a rule regard the old folk's stories with scorn."

It would not have been in accordance with the traditions of Denmark if those in high places had been content to see the preservation of their folklore sacrificed to the requirements of a local school. In the year after the above was written, Kristensen had permission given him to employ a substitute to discharge his school duties for the space of five years, while Government allowed a considerable sum to cover the expenses of collecting and publishing. The result of this public-spirited action has been that for the past eight years this zealous collector has been able to devote most of his time to the work he has so much at heart, his headquarters being first at Hadsten Station, between Aarhus and Randers, and now at Mölholm near