Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 9, 1898.djvu/228

 202 Vejle, in one of the prettiest parts of East Jutland. I need not here reckon up the separate works as they have come from his hands during these eight years; it will be enough at present to say that in that space of time he has published two volumes of ballads, two large and three smaller volumes of fairy tales, five bulky collections of general folklore, two volumes of anecdotes illustrating Danish life half a century ago, a collection of some 13,000 proverbs and popular sayings, and another of children's games and rhymes. Similar works continue to appear as fast as he can prepare them for the press, for so incredible has been his diligence in collecting, that the rest of his life will scarcely suffice to copy out all his stores for the printer. If the preservation of its folklore is anything for a country to be proud of, Denmark will have no cause to be ashamed among the nations, and it will owe its proud position in this respect to the steady perseverance and industry of its Jutland schoolmaster.

II.

Scarcely less interesting than the actual traditions, which Kristensen has rescued at the eleventh hour, are the accounts he gives of his experiences as a collector, and the glimpses his narrative affords into the social and mental condition of those who have formed his richest sources. Various short passages relating to these points occur in several of his volumes, but the Appendix to vol. xi. of Jyske Folkeminder deals so exhaustively with the whole subject, that I could scarcely do better than follow it throughout the whole of this section, curtailing or expanding as may seem advisable.

Wonderfully rich as Jutland has proved itself to be in folk-lore, it is not equally so in all its parts. There is a great difference in this respect between the East and the West, corresponding to a marked difference in the character of the