Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/21

 In 1818 the first edition of Vuk's Dictionary appeared, which in its later form became an encyclopaedia of information and remains to this day an indispensable work of reference. The same year saw the publication in Berlin of Forster's Sängerfahrt, of interest here as it contained nineteen Serbian songs translated by Jacob Grimm. Grimm held very definite opinions on the manner in which such renderings should be made. In his view there were two alternatives: either an almost word for word prose translation, or a version of the sort that was possible only to a Goethe.

The cult of the Serbian folk-song in Germany did not fail to attract attention in France. Madame de Stael hastened to assure Goethe that she was "ravie de la femme morlaque." In 1788 Justine Wynne published Les Morlaques, a book based on the work of Fortis. Charles Nodier followed in 1821 with his Smarra, purporting to be a collection of Slavonic songs and tales. These, like the songs in Les Morlaques, were largely spurious; nevertheless, they served a certain purpose—as did Mérimée's literary jest, La Guzla—in preparing the way for honest and serious work such as Dozon's Poésies populaires serbes (1859).