Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 9, 1898.djvu/246

220 or Sweden, in which good collectors were much earlier at work.

Children's rhymes and games, which are perhaps the easiest things to collect, have naturally not been neglected by Kristensen, who has within the past two years published about 800 pages of these, containing some 4,000 entries. The resemblance which some of the rhymes bear to those current in this country is very remarkable, when one considers how long it is since any direct communication was possible. The same remark might be made with regard to an amusing collection of popular humour which he has published under the title of "Stories of the people of Mols and Agger," who in Danish jests answer to our "Wise Men of Gotham." These tales, however, lie somewhat outside the province of folklore as generally understood, and need not be discussed here.

In the foregoing I have taken no account of the material which was edited by Kristensen for the members of his Folklore Society, although in this he has done far more than the united work of Thiele and Grundtvig. In detailing his independent work I trust I have given sufficient proof both of his diligence and enthusiasm for the subject, and of his rare good fortune in being situated in a district where there was so much to be done. The difficulties in the way of doing such a work are many, and one who has so successfully overcome them deserves the recognition and gratitude of all who are interested in the study of folklore. That this is the opinion of representative Scandinavian scholars is shown by the address of congratulation sent to him at the last New Year, in which such men as Professors Bugge and Moe in Christiania, Lundell in Upsala, Krohn in Helsingfors, Steenstrup, Nyrop and Axel Olrik in Copenhagen, and other well-known Danes, expressed their appreciation of his unique work, and wished him well in his future undertakings.