Grimm Ripples: The Legacy of the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen in Northern Europe 9004511601, 9789004511606

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Grimm Ripples: The Legacy of the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen in Northern Europe

National Cultivation of Culture Edited by Joep Leerssen (University of Amsterdam)

Editorial Board John Breuilly (The London School of Economics and Political Science) Katharine Ellis (University of Cambridge) Ina Ferris (University of Ottawa) Patrick J. Geary (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton) Tom Shippey (Saint Louis University) Anne-Marie Thiesse (CNRS, National Center for Scientific Research)

Volume 30

The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ncc

Grimm Ripples: The Legacy of the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen in Northern Europe Edited by

Terry Gunnell

Cover illustration: Thesupe80 (www.123rf.com) and Olga Holownia; image of the Grimm brothers by Ludwig Emil Grimm: Public Domain. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Gunnell, Terry, 1955- editor. Title: Grimm ripples : the legacy of the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen in Northern Europe / edited by Terry Gunnell. Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2022. | Series: National cultivation of culture, 1876-5645 ; volume 30 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2022000885 | ISBN 9789004511606 (hardback) | ISBN 9789004511644 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Deutsche Sagen. | Legends–Germany. | Legends–Europe, Northern. | Grimm, Jacob, 1785-1863–Influence. | Grimm, Wilhelm, 1786-1859–Influence. Classification: LCC GR166 .G544 2022 | DDC 398.20943–dc23/eng/20220225 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022000885

Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 1876-5645 ISBN 978-90-04-51160-6 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-51164-4 (e-book) Copyright 2022 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Hotei, Brill Schöningh, Brill Fink, Brill mentis, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Böhlau and V&R unipress. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Requests for re-use and/or translations must be addressed to Koninklijke Brill NV via brill.com or copyright.com. This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.

To Joep Leerssen with thanks

∵

Contents List of Illustrations, Diagrams and Tables Notes on Contributors xiii

ix

Introduction 1 Terry Gunnell 1

Topo-narratives 26 Joep Leerssen

2

The Grimm Brothers’ Deutsche Sagen: Collection Plan, Sources, Critiques, Reception 43 Holger Ehrhardt

3

The Accidental Folklorist: Thiele’s Collection of Danish Folk Legends in Early Nineteenth-Century Denmark 70 Timothy R. Tangherlini

4

“You Can Therefore Rightly See These Folk Legends as a Reflection of Your Own!”: The Grimm Brothers and the Norwegian Collector of Folk Legends, Andreas Faye 106 Herleik Baklid

5

Mapping the Knowledge Network of the Norwegian Folklore Collector Peter Christen Asbjørnsen in the Nineteenth Century 147 Ane Ohrvik

6

Treue und Wahrheit: Asbjørnsen and Moe and the Scientification of Folklore in Norway 185 Line Esborg

7

Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius and the Svenska sägner That Never Appeared 222 Terry Gunnell and Fredrik Skott

8

George Stephens: An Unlikely Conduit John Lindow

239

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9

Pioneers: Thomas Crofton Croker and the Brothers Grimm Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist

10

The Grimms, Scotland and “This New Science of ‘Storyology’” John Shaw

11

Considered Trifles: English Grimmians Jonathan Roper

12

The Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries and V. U. Hammershaimb’s Collections of Faroese Folk Legends 338 Kim Simonsen

13

Konrad Maurer: Cultural Conduit and Collector 359 Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir

14

Jón Árnason and the Collection of Icelandic Folk Legends: Ripples, Flotsam, Nets and Reflections 385 Terry Gunnell

15

The Grimms and Folklore Collection in Estonia in the Mid-nineteenth Century 420 Liina Lukas

16

The Grimm Brothers and the Quest for Legends in Nineteenth-Century Finnish Folklore Studies 448 Pertti Anttonen

17

Oskar Rancken, Swedish-Language Folklore Collection in Finland and the Grimm Ripples 481 Ulrika Wolf-Knuts and Susanne Österlund-Pötzsch Bibliography Index 575

503

259

288

316

Illustrations, Diagrams and Tables Illustrations and Diagrams 0.1

A Grimm network centring around folktale collection in the North (Terry Gunnell/ Timothy R. Tangherlini) 21 1.1 Types of readership (Joep Leerssen) 33 2.1 The Grimm brothers, by Ludwig Emil Grimm (1843) (Public domain) 44 2.2 Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vol. I (1816). Title page (Courtesy of Universitätsbibliothek Kassel/Landes- und Murhardsche Bibliothek der Stadt Kassel) 44 3.1 Just Mathias Thiele, by J. L. Lund (1832): Bakkehusmuseet (Public domain) 71 3.2 Just Mathias Thiele, Prøver af Danske Folkesagn (1817). Title page 71 3.3 Thiele’s first field collecting trip in May 1817, where he visited Nysø, Gisselfeldt, and Møens Klint: 146 km (Timothy R. Tangherlini) 84 3.4 Letter from Thiele to the Grimm brothers written in Copenhagen, 26th September 1818 (Courtesy of Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: Preußischer Kulturbesitz: Nachl. Grimm 1705) 89 3.5 Field trip, July–August 1817: 152 km (Timothy R. Tangherlini) 94 3.6 Field trip August 1817: 72 km (Timothy R. Tangherlini) 95 3.7 Field trip August 1817: 34 km (Timothy R. Tangherlini) 96 3.8 Field trip 21st August 1817. Thiele collects some material on his way back to Copenhagen from Sorø: 79 km (Timothy R. Tangherlini) 97 3.9 Ellekilde’s surmise of where Thiele must have visited during his stay at Sophienholm, based on Thiele’s diaries and the stories that were printed in Danske Folkesagn: 405 km (Timothy R. Tangherlini) 98 3.10 Thiele’s trip with Christian Molbech, July 1818: 677 km (Timothy R. Tangherlini) 99 3.11 Thiele and Christian Holten’s route in late July 1820. The map is missing the ferry route from Aarhus to Kalundborg: 670 km (Timothy R. Tangherlini) 100 3.12 Thiele’s last substantive folklore collecting trip. On this trip, he managed to get stranded on the small islands of Femø and Fejø: 295 km (Timothy R. Tangherlini) 101 4.1 Andreas Faye, by Christiane Schreiber (Rektorgalleriet, Universitetet i Agder: Photo: Jan Arve Olsen) (Public domain) 107 4.2 Andreas Faye, Norske Sagn (1833). Title page 108 4.3 The region in the south-eastern part of Norway where Faye was on hiking trips in the 1820s (Map created by executive officer, Trond Lerstang: University of South-Eastern Norway) 113

x 4.4 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 6.1 6.2

6.3 6.4 6.5 7.1 7.2 7.3 8.1 9.1

Illustrations, Diagrams and Tables Andreas Faye’s network of acquaintances in the Copenhagen arts and sciences scene 119 Photograph of Peter Christen Asbjørnsen from 1856 (aged 44) (Courtesy of the Norwegian Folklore Archive) 148 Lithograph of Jørgen Moe by C. Simonsen (Courtesy of the Norwegian Library of Norway and Flickr) 151 Letters received by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen: Network arranged by profession (Ane Ohrvik) 161 NFS Asbjørnsen brev: notatbok [notebook] 1879 (Courtesy of the Norwegian Folklore Archive) 163 Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen: Received letters: Norwegian Folklore Archive material in comparison to notebook records (Ane Ohrvik) 164 Photographs of Norwegian artists in Asbjørnsen’s collection of letters (Courtesy of the Norwegian Folklore Archive) 166 Photographs of international folklorists in Asbjørnsen’s collection of letters (Courtesy of the Norwegian Folklore Archive) 167 “The Troll Contemplating How Old He Is” (“Trollet som grunner på hvor gammelt det er”) by Theodor Kittelsen: Eventyrbog for Børn (1883) 172 Brækstad’s list of all works by Asbjørnsen held by the British Museum in 1878 (Courtesy of the Norwegian Folklore Archive) 176 Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe: Prospectus (Subskriptions-Indbydelse), Den Constitutionelle 54, 23rd February 1840, 4 187 Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe: First edition of Norske Folkeeventyr (published December 29th 1841 but pre-dated 1842 in accordance with practice) (Image courtesy of Oslo katedralskoles bibliotek) 195 Peter Chr. Asbjornsen and Jørgen Moe: Norske Folkeeventyr (1874). Title page 205 Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen: Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn (1845). Title page, with signature 207 Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen: Norske Folkeeventyr, fortalte af P. Chr. Asbjørnsen: Ny Samling (1876) 216 Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius, by J. A. Wetterbergh (1842) (Courtesy of Kulturparken Småland AB/ Kulturparken Småland/ Smålands Museum) 223 Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius and George Stephens: Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr, vol. I (1844). Title page 224 Hyltén-Cavallius: Areas of collection in Skåne (Fredrik Skott) 235 George Stephens: Oil painting by J. A. Wetterbergh (1839) (Courtesy of the National Museum of Sweden) 240 Thomas Crofton Croker: Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1825). Title page (Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland) 261

Illustrations, Diagrams and Tables 9.2 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5

10.6 11.1 12.1 12.2 12.3

13.1 13.2 14.1 14.2 14.3 15.1 15.2 16.1 16.2 17.1

xi

Thomas Crofton Croker, by an unknown artist (c. 1848) (Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery) 262 Photograph of John Francis Campbell (1868) (Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland) 297 John Francis Campbell: Popular Tales of the West Highlands, vol. I (1860). Title page 298 Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe: Popular Tales from the Norse in Dasent’s translation (1859). Title page 300 Photograph of George Webbe Dasent: From the 1907 edition of Popular Tales from the Norse 301 Photograph of John Francis Campbell, George Webbe Dasent and Charles Cavendish Clifford in front of their tent in Iceland (1862) (Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland) 311 John Francis Campbell: Notes on variants (Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland) 313 Photograph of William John Thoms (Courtesy of Wellcome Trust; Wikicommons) 317 Photograph of V. U. Hammershaimb. Photograph: Hansen and Weller (Kongelige Bibliotek nr DP012111) (Courtesy of Ole Wich) 339 V. U. Hammershaimb: Færösk Anthologi, vol. I (1891). Title page 340 Faroese stamps issued by Posta, the Faroese Postal Service on the 200th anniversary of Hammershaimb’s birth in 2019 (Graphic design: Ole Wich; planning Kim Simonsen: Posta 2019: courtesy of Ole Wich) 357 Photograph of Konrad Maurer (Courtesy of Héraðsskjalasafn Skagfirðinga) 361 Konrad Maurer: Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart (1860). Title page 362 Jón Árnason: Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri (1862), vol. I. Title page 386 Photograph of Jón Árnason (Courtesy of the National Museum of Iceland) 387 George Stephens: “Forslag til Islændernes Uudgivne Folkesagns og Sanges Optegnelse og Bevaring” 395 Photograph of Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (Public domain) 423 Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald: Eesti-rahwa Ennemuistsed, vol. I (1860). Title page 424 Drawing of Eric Rudbeck by Carl Eneas Sjöstrand (Courtesy of the Finnish National Gallery) 466 Erik Rudbeck (Eero Salmelainen): Suomen kansan satuja ja tarinoita, vol. I (1852). Title page (Courtesy of the Finnish Literature Society) 467 Photograph of Johan Oskar Immanuel Rancken (1893) (Courtesy of the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland: SLS 614_502) 482

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17.2 Johan Oskar Immanuel Rancken: Några traditioner från Wörå (1862). Title page (Courtesy of the library of Åbo Akademi, Vasa: Photo: Viveca Rabb) 483

Tables 3.1 3.2 3.3

Contents and sources of legends in Prøver af Danske Folkesagn (1817) Presumed dates and references for Thiele’s collecting trips 93 Classification system for Danmarks Folkesagn 103

85

Notes on Contributors Pertti Anttonen is Professor Emeritus of Cultural Studies, specifically Folklore Studies, at the University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu Campus. He is the author of Tradition Through Modernity: Postmodernism and the Nation-State in Folklore Scholarship (2005), published in Greek translation in 2018 and in Chinese translation in 2022; co-author of Kalevala-lipas (1985, revised edition 1999); editor of Making Europe in Nordic Contexts (1996); and co-editor of Nordic Frontiers: Recent Issues in Modern Traditional Culture in the Nordic Countries (1993), Folklore, Heritage Politics, and Ethnic Diversity: A Festschrift for Barbro Klein (2000), and Oral Tradition and Book Culture (2018). He has written numerous articles and chapters on folklore and Finnish nationalism, the politics of history, heritage, and tradition, as well as on ethnopoetics and wedding rituals, medieval ballads dealing with Judas, modern pilgrimages in Finland, rites of passage theory, the history of folklore research, and the textual representation of orality. Herleik Baklid is Associate Professor of Cultural History at the University of South-Eastern Norway. His doctoral thesis was «Hundrede Daler, Hest og Sadel […]»: En eksplorativ studie av feste-, benke- og morgengaveskikken i et kontinuitetsperspektiv, which contains a study of folk customs in Norway from the late twelfth up until the late nineteenth century. In addition to this, he has written several articles about folk beliefs connected to artefacts found under church floors and in cemeteries, and about early collectors of folklore in Norway. He is also the editor of the multi-volume series, M. B. Landstad: Skrifter, which is presently in the process of publication. Holger Ehrhardt is Professor of German Literature and Grimm Studies at the University of Kassel, Germany. Author of Mythologische Subtexte in Theodor Fontane’s Effi Briest (2008) and Die Marburger Märchenfrau (2016), he is editor of Briefwechsel der Brüder Grimm mit Herman Grimm (1998); Dorothea Viehmann (2012); Jacob Grimms “Deutsche Grammatik” (2019); and co-editor of Märchen, Mythen und Moderne. 200 Jahre Kinder- und Hausmärchen (2015), and Über Nachtfliegen, Zaunkönige und Meisterdiebe (2019). He has also written numerous articles and chapters on Brother Grimm studies, fairy-tale research, edition philology, German Romanticism, East German literature, and literature and early

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photography, and is the creator of the “Grimm-Portal” database at the University Library of Kassel. Line Esborg is Associate Professor of Cultural History at the University of Oslo, Head of the Norwegian Folklore Archives, and editor-in-chief of Tidsskrift for kulturforskning (the Norwegian journal of folklore, ethnology and cultural history). She has a range of publications in folklore, cultural history and digital heritage, including A History of Participation in Museums and Archives: Traversing Citizen Science and Citizen Humanities (2020), with Palmyre Pierroux and Per Hetland; Optegnelser. Isak Sabas folkeminnesamling/ Čállosat. Isak Saba álbmotmuitočoakkáldat (2019); and «En vild endevending av al virkelighet»: Norsk Folkeminnesamling i hundre år with Dirk Johannsen (2014). Recently (in 2021), she was rewarded funding from the Norwegian Research Council for a project on folklore and natural history, investigating the “methodological commons” in these two fields of knowledge that are normally seen as separated and divergent, using the pioneer P. Chr Asbjørnsen’s work as a point of departure. Terry Gunnell is Professor of Folkloristics at the University of Iceland. Author of The Origins of Drama in Scandinavia (1995), he is editor of Masks and Mumming in the Nordic Area (2007), and Legends and Landscape (2008) and co-editor of The Nordic Apocalypse: Approaches to Völuspá and Nordic Days of Judgement (2013) and Málarinn og menningarsköpun: Sigurður Guðmundsson og Kvöldfélagið 1858–1874 which was nominated for the Icelandic Literature Award in 2017. He has also written numerous articles and chapters on Old Nordic religions, folk legends and belief, festivals, folk drama and performance, and is behind the creation of the Icelandic folk legend database Sagnagrunnur, and two other digital databases on the creation of national identity and the early collection of folklore in Iceland in the late nineteenth century. Joep Leerssen is Professor of European Studies at the University of Amsterdam and parttime research professor at Maastricht University. A comparatist by formation, Leerssen studies post-1800 cultural history mainly as a transnational circulation of ideas and mentalities, his emphasis being on literary and discursive sources. Leerssen’s fields of inquiry are the history and theory of the humanities (Comparative Literature in Britain, 1800–2000 [2019]; Irish studies (Parnell and his Times [ed., 2020]); and the comparative history of national movements (National Thought in Europe, 3rd ed. 2018; and Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe [ed., 2018; also online at http://ernie.uva.nl]). 

Notes on Contributors

xv

John Lindow is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Scandinavian at the University of California, Berkeley. His research interests focus on medieval Scandinavian textual traditions (Old Norse-Icelandic literature and culture), especially related to myth and religion, and on more recent folklore of the Nordic region, especially legends, topics on which he has contributed numerous articles and book chapters. Among his books are Comitatus Individual and Honor (1975), Swedish Legends and Folktales (1977), Murder and Vengeance Among the Gods (1997), Norse Mythology: A Guide (2002), and, most recently, Old Norse Mythology (2020). With Jens Peter Schjødt and Anders Andrén, he is co-editor of the four-volume Pre-Christian Religions of the North: History and Structures (2020). Liina Lukas is Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Tartu. Her research interests include Estonian-German literary contacts (mutual perception, historical multilingualism, common folk heritage, the folk song as a source of inspiration, women’s poetry, etc.), German-Baltic literature, European including Baltic literatures in the eighteenth century, methodological and theoretical issues of comparative literature from the perspective of small literatures, literary translation and reception, etc. She is behind the creation of the Digital Text Repository of Older Estonian Literature (https://utlib.ut.ee/eeva). Recent publications: Co-editor of the anthologies Herder on Empathy and Sympathy and Empathy and Sympathy in Herder’s Thought (2020) [Brill’s Studies in Intellectual History], edited by E. Piirimäe, L. Lukas and J. Schmidt, and Political Dimensions of German-Baltic Literary Culture (2018), edited by L. Lukas, M. Schwidtal and J. Undusk. She has recently edited The History of Baltic Literary Culture (2021).  She is the head of the Estonian Comparative Literature Association and the Estonian Goethe Society. Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist was born in Dublin. She was educated at University College Dublin and has a PhD in Irish Folklore. She worked for many years as a librarian and archivist in the National Library of Ireland, as a Writer Fellow in Trinity College and University College Dublin, and an occasional lecturer in Folklore in University College Dublin. She was Burns Scholar at Boston College for Fall 2020. She is the author of more than 30 books, including seven collections of short stories, and several novels and plays as well as many scholarly articles and literary reviews. Her most recent books are Selected Stories (2017) and Twelve Thousand Days. A Memoir (2018) and Little Red and Other Stories (2020), and she is editor of Look! It’s a Woman Writer: Irish Literary Feminisms 1970–2020 (2021). She has

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been the recipient of many literary awards, among them the Stewart Parker Award for Drama, the Irish Pen Award for an Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature, and a Hennessy Hall of Fame Award. Her work has been widely translated. She is also a member of Aosdana, the Irish academy of writers and artists, and is President of the Folklore of Ireland Society. Ane Ohrvik is Professor in Cultural History at the University of Oslo, Norway. Her specialisation is the history of knowledge in early modern Europe and her written work includes publications on topics relating to magic and witchcraft, the history of medicine, rituals, book history, heritage, and folk religion. She is co-editor of Sagnomsust (2002) and Ritualer (2007) and has also co-edited special issues of journals on Magic and Text (Arv) and Reframing Pilgrimage in Northern Europe (Numen). Her most recent monograph is Medicine, Magic and Art in Early Modern Norway from 2018. She is currently working on a new book on the Norwegian witch trials entitled Witchcraft in Norway. Jonathan Roper works as a folklorist at the University of Tartu. He is interested in traditional verbal genres and is the author of English Verbal Charms (2005). He has also edited Charms and Charming in Northern Europe (2004), Charms, Charmers and Charming (2009), Alliteration in Culture (2011) and Dictionaries as a Source of Folklore Data (2020). His chief fieldwork has been conducted in Newfoundland. Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir is Associate Research Professor of Folkloristics at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies. She works both as an archivist and a researcher besides teaching courses on folkloristics at the University of Iceland. Author of Sagan upp á hvern mann (2011), she co-edited the Institute’s journal Gripla for two years (2017–2018) and is the editor of several books published by the Institute and other bodies. She has published a number of articles on storytellers and wonder tales, the collection of folktales in the nineteenth century, ethnomusicology, and folk poetry, in addition to editing material from the folklore archive of the Árni Magnússon Institute for various publications. John Shaw is an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Celtic and Scottish Studies, University of Edinburgh, where he served as Senior Lecturer in Scottish Ethnology at the School of Scottish Studies until his retirement. He is editor of the journal

Notes on Contributors

xvii

Scottish Studies, and since the 1960s has carried out extensive fieldwork recording the Gaelic oral and musical traditions of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, and Scotland. Collaboration with Gaelic tradition-bearers Joe Neil MacNeil and Lauchie MacLellan has produced Sgeul gu Latha/Tales Until Dawn (MacNeil 1987), and Brìgh an Òrain/A Story in Every Song (MacLellan 2000), as well as a more recent collection of traditional tales recorded in the field (Na Beanntaichean Gorma/The Blue Mountains 2007). His further publications in the fields of Gaelic ethnology, traditional narrative (social and historical contexts), comparative mythology, song and instrumental music have appeared in academic journals and collections in Europe and North America. He has also played an active role in the formation and development of Tobar an Dualchais/Kist O Riches and the Calum Maclean Project, digitised resources providing online access to Scotland’s major folklore sound archives. Kim Simonsen is a Fellow in Modern European Literature Study at the University of Amsterdam. He has been an Associate Professor at the University of Bergen and teaches at the University of the Faroe Islands. His doctoral thesis, Literature, Imagining and Memory in the Formation of a Nation-Travel Writing, Canonisation and the Formation of a National Self-Image in the Faroe Islands, set out to answer various questions such as the key relationship between self-image, literature and the formation of the Faroese nation in the early nineteenth century. He is the leader of both the network on Romantic Travel Writing to the Far North 1800–1900 and the network on North Atlantic Digital Repatriation and Cultural Heritage Network. He has been a Visiting Fellow at Oxford University, Stanford University and Columbia University and the University of Amsterdam, where he carried out his post-doctoral research. Simonsen is also a Board Member of the Nineteenth-Century Centre at the University of Århus and on the editing board of Romantik: Journal for the Study of Romanticisms. Fredrik Skott is the head of department of The Institute for Language and Folklore in Göteborg, Sweden. He has a PhD in history at Göteborg University, and is a docent in Nordic Folkloristics at Åbo Akademi University, and since 2021 has been the secretary of the Royal Gustavus Adolphus Academy for Swedish Folk Culture. Author of several books, such as Asatro i tiden (2000), Folkets minnen (2008), Påskkäringar (2013) and Vardagsskrokk (2021), he has also written numerous articles and chapters on folklore archives, the history of folkloristics, and folk belief and rituals. During the last few years, he has been involved in the creation of several digitial platforms and projects, such as Sägenkartan (The

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Map of Legends), Dialektkartan (The Map of Dialects) and Folke (part of the Swedish e-infrastruncture, Nationella språkbanken, a major portal for Swedish language research). Timothy R. Tangherlini is Professor in the Department of Scandinavian at the University of California, Berkeley. Author of Danish Folktales, Legends and Other Stories (2014), Talking Trauma (1999), and Interpreting Legend (1994), he has published widely in academic journals, including The Journal of American Folklore, Western Folklore, Journal of Folklore Research, Folklore, Scandinavian Studies, Danske Studier, PlosOne, Computer and Communications of the Association for Computing Machines. He has done extensive fieldwork on storytelling among paramedics, and shamanism in South Korea, as well as archival work on rural 19th century Denmark. His current work focuses on generative models of common story genres such as legend, rumour, personal experience narratives, and conspiracy theories. Ulrika Wolf-Knuts was Professor of Nordic Folkloristics at Åbo Akademi University, in Finland, and the author of Människan och djävulen: En studie kring form, motiv och funktion i folklig tradition (1991), and Ett bättre liv: Finlandssvenskar i Sydafrika: Om emigration, minnen, hemlängtan och nostalgi (2000). She was also the editor of Arv: Nordic Yearbook of folklore (1993–2002) and has written a number of articles on folk belief, vernacular religion, matters of identity, research history, and methods within folklore studies. Among other things she also served as the Secretary General of the Folklore Fellows’ Summer School in 1999; as Member and Chair of the Coimbra Group of Universities, Culture, Arts, and Humanities Task Force; as Chair of the SIEF Working Group on the Ethnology of Religion; and as Member and Chair of the board of the Donner Institute for Research in Religious and Cultural History. She retired from the Chair of Folkloristics in 2013. Susanne Österlund-Pötzsch PhD, holds the title of Docent in Nordic folkloristics at Åbo Akademi University and works as archivist at the Collection of Tradition and Language, in the SLS (Svenska Litteratursällskapet [Swedish Literature Society]) Archives, in Helsinki. Her research interests and publications have focused on FinlandSwedish Folkloristics, performance, practices of everyday life and various aspects of mobility, such as migration and everyday walking.

Introduction Terry Gunnell

As folklorists, when we think of the role of the Grimm brothers in the study of folklore, the default reaction tends to be to refer to the two volumes of Kinderund Hausmärchen (Children’s and Household Tales) published in 1812 and 1815 when the brothers were still in their late twenties.1 Much less attention is ever given to their follow-up work, Deutsche Sagen (German Legends), which was published in another two volumes in 1816 and 1818, and only translated into English as a whole for the first time by Donald Ward in 1981. In our enthusiasm for fairy tales, we tend to forget that in their own time, the Grimms themselves were mainly cited for their work on Deutsche Sagen and various medieval poems (Hildebrand und Hadubrand and Das Weissenbrunner Gebet [The Prayer of Weissenbrunn], and their translation of the Old Norse Poetic Edda). No such official recognition was ever given in Germany for Kinder- und Hausmärchen in their lifetimes. Indeed it is noteworthy that Wilhelm Grimm totally neglected to mention this work in his curriculum vitæ from 1831.2 All in all, it is evident that the fame and popularity that Kinder- und Hausmärchen was to start receiving in the latter part of the nineteenth century3 was not so much because it was a work of folklore but rather because it was seen 1 Much of this introduction has previously appeared as part of a longer, more detailed introduction to the Grimm Ripples project (Gunnell, “Grimm Ripples”) given in Folklore and Nation in Britain and Ireland, edited by Matthew Cheeseman and Carina Hart (2021). Both are based on a key-note paper presented at the Annual Conference of The Folklore Society (“Folklore and the Nation”), held at the University of Derby on 29th–31st March 2019. I am grateful to the editors and Routledge for being given the permission to reprint this material here. My thanks too to our peer-reviewer and Joep Leerssen for their constructive comments. 2 Kamenetsky, The Brothers Grimm and Their Critics, 20–21. 3 See Zipes, The Brothers Grimm, 17; and “Once There were Two Brothers Named Grimm”, xxviii–xxix. As noted here, the first edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen actually had relatively little success amongst the public; even after the 1819–1822 edition, the Grimms were better known for their philological work than their tales. As Jack Zipes notes, it was not until the 1870s that Kinder- und Hausmärchen began to receive the kind of attention it still receives today, although even at that time, this was essentially because of its value for children rather than because of its folkloric value. The Grimmian fairy tales first appeared in Danish in 1821 in a translation by Johan Fredrik Lindencrone (1746–1817) in Folke-Eventyr (Fairy Tales), and then in Danske Folkeeventyr (Danish Fairy Tales) by Mathias Winther (1795–1834) in 1823, the same year that they appeared in the English translation of Edgar Taylor (1793–1839) (German Popular Stories). This, however, was still a number of years after the appearance of Thiele’s first collection of Danish legends in 1817 [see below]). As Bengt Holbek points out,

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_002

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as containing enchanting and morally edifying material for children (something, of course, implied by its title): As Sir Francis Cohen (Sir Francis Palgrave [1788–1861]) worded it in a review for the Quarterly Review from 1819, Kinderund Hausmärchen was essentially “the most important addition to nursery literature.”4 Indeed, it is also worth bearing in mind that the review in question simultaneously also underlines that the material in Kinder- und Hausmärchen underlines “common origin”5 rather than national difference. As shown in the chapter by Holger Ehrhardt elsewhere in this volume, Deutsche Sagen set a quite different tone. This was not least because of the fact that its title contained the word “Deutsche”, a theme that had been growing in the Grimms’ work ever since the introduction to the second volume of Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1815) which had stressed that: if a search were conducted in all the hallowed regions of our fatherland, long neglected treasures would transform into fabulous treasures and help to found the study of the origins of our poetry. (will man noch jetzt in allen gesegneten Theilen unseres Vaterlandes suchen, es werden auf diesem Wege ungeachtete Schätze sich in ungeglaubte verwandeln und die Wissenschaft von dem Ursprung unserer Poesie gründen helfen.6) Similar ideas can be found in Jacob Grimm’s “Circular, Die Sammlung der Volkspoesie” (Circular Letter Concerning the Collection of Folk Poetry) (1815) which was designed to follow this plan up. The circular, which also underlines the idea of the Fatherland (“Vaterland”), now talks of Germany as a nation (“Deutschland”), stressing how “our literature, history and language cannot seriously be understood in their old and true origins without doing more

legends evidently led the way in almost all of the countries under discussion here: see Holbek, “Nordic Research in Popular Prose Narrative”, 145–146. Molbech’s Udvalgte Eventyr og Fortællinger (Selected Fairy Tales and Narratives) would not appear in Denmark until 1843. 4 Cohen, “Review of Fairy Tales”, 95; and Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, xiii. See also Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen, II, vii–ix; Zipes, The Brothers Grimm, 47; and “Once There were Two Brothers Named Grimm”, xxv and xxix; and Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, 11. See also Dasent, Popular Tales from the Norse, xv, which implies that the same view of fairy tales existed 40 years later (“They are Nursery Tales, in fact, of the days when there were tales in nurseries”). 5 Cohen, “Review of Fairy Tales”, 97. 6 Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812–1815), II, viii. Translation taken from Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, 213.

Introduction

3

exact research on this material” (“[…] ohne es genauer zu erforschen, vermögen weder unsere poesie, noch geschichte, noch sprache in ihren alten und wahrhaftigen ursprüngen ernstlich verstanden zu werden”7). The introduction to Deutsche Sagen written one year later is equally clear about the key value that the Grimms saw in the wide-ranging material contained in the collection. It ends with the statement that the brothers: recommend [their] book to devotees of German poesie, history and language and hope that it will be welcome to all as purely German fare. For it is our firm belief that nothing is as edifying or as likely to bring more joy than the products of the Fatherland. Indeed, an apparently insignificant, self-occasioning discovery and endeavour in the study of our own indigenous culture can in the end bring more fruit than the most brilliant discovery and cultivation of foreign fields. (My italics.) ([…] empfehlen unser Buch den Liebhabern deutscher Poesie, Geschichte und Sprache und hoffen, es werde ihnen allen, schon als lautere deutsche kost, willkommen sehn, im festen Glauben, dass nichts mehr auferbaue und grössere Freude bei sich habe als das Vaterländische. Ja, eine bedeutungslos sich anlassende Entdeckung und Bemühung in unserer einheimischen Wissenschaft kann leicht am Ende mehr Frucht bringen als die blendendste Bekanntwerdung und Andbauung des Fremden.8) (My italics.) It would have been difficult for readers to ignore the fact that this “purely German fare” included legends that actually came from Switzerland, Holland, Austria, France and Alsace-Lorraine.9 The brothers nonetheless deliberately decided against classifying the legends by area, thereby emphasising the idea of a shared cultural historical German Volksgeist over the local.10 In

7 8

9 10

Jacob Grimm, Kleinere Schriften, VII, 593. Translation taken from Zipes, The Brothers Grimm, 26; see also Grimm, “Circular Concerning the Collecting of Folk Poetry”, 5–6. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xxiv–xxv. Translation taken from Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 11. On the Grimms’ attitudes to German nationalism, see further Leerssen, National Thought in Europe, 180–185; Zipes, The Brothers Grimm, 6 and 26–28; and Bendix, In Search of Authenticity, 54–57. See also Kamenetsky, The Brothers Grimm and Their Critics, 26. See Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xvi–xvii; and The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 6–7, and the chapter on Deutsche Sagen by Holger Ehrhardt elsewhere in this volume. On the idea of the Volksgeist/ Geist des Volkes/ Seele des Volkes/ Geist des Nation (later incorrectly attributed to Herder), see Ó Giolláin, Locating Irish Folklore, 23–24.

4

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this context, it is noteworthy that the first volume ends with a legend from Schleswig,11 an area that at the time still formed part of Denmark.12 (On the background and content of Deutsche Sagen, see further the chapter by Holger Ehrhardt.) It should come as no surprise that within a year of the first volume of Deutsche Sagen appearing, another slim volume of legends hit the bookshop shelves in Denmark under the title of Prøver af Danske Folkesagn (A Sampler of Danish Folk Legends). Collected and edited by the young Danish librarian Just Mathias Thiele (1795–1874), it contained an introduction by Thiele’s fellow librarian and friend of Wilhelm Grimm, the aging historian Rasmus Nyerup (1759–1829), which immediately stressed the intimate connection between the legendary material contained in the book and not only the Danish tongue (“danske Tunge”13) but also the “spiritual nature of the nation” (“Nationens aandelige Natur”14). To Nyerup’s mind, this valuable material evidently had greater uses “beyond the interest it has for antiquarian, ethnographic and psychological work” (“foruden den antiqvariste ethnographiste og psychologiste Interesse”), for here, Nyerup believed, poets would “find material and subjects for further development” (“Stof og Æmne til videre Bearbejdelse”), polishing “the simple stone until it became the glossiest of crystals” (“den simple Graasten indtil den blev den blankeste Krystal”).15 A year later, in 1818, came the first volume of four of Thiele’s Danish legends, Danske Folkesagn (Danish Folk Legends: 1818–1823), underlining that the Romantic Nationalistic cultural tsunami created by Deutsche Sagen had well and truly begun in the Nordic area (see further the chapter on Thiele by Timothy R. Tangherlini). This work was followed in 1833 by the publication of Norske Sagn (Norwegian Legends), a collection that had been

11 12

13 14 15

Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, 464. As Joep Leerssen (National Thought in Europe, 182–185) has noted, Jacob Grimm later stated (in his Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache [1848]) that he also saw Jylland in Denmark as forming a natural part of Germany. Elsewhere (in “Ossian and the Rise of Literary Historicism”, 117), Leerssen reminds readers that Wilhelm Grimm evidently viewed early Danish literary material as belonging to a shared German-Germanic culture (in other words, material that had a shared cultural historical background: see further Wilhelm Grimm, “Ankündigung der Altdänischen Heldenlieder”, 174, dealing with Grimm’s translation, Altdänische Heldenlieder (Old Danish Heroic Poems) from 1811, a work that appears to have been seen as following on directly from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn), edited by Clemens Brentano (1778–1842) and Achim von Arnim (1781–1831), which the Grimm brothers had been closely involved with. Thiele, Prøver af Danske Folkesagn, iv. Unless otherwise stated, all translations from the Nordic languages are those of the present author. Thiele, Prøver af Danske Folkesagn, v. Thiele, Prøver af Danske Folkesagn, vi–vii.

Introduction

5

assembled by the Norwegian priest, Andreas Faye (1802–1869) (see further the chapter on Faye by Herleik Baklid). Just five years later, in 1838, the young Swedish librarian, Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius (1818–1899) began planning his own Swedish answer to Thiele’s collection with several fieldwork trips undertaken in the Värend area of Småland in southern Sweden (see further the chapter on Hyltén-Cavallius by Terry Gunnell and Fredrik Skott). Once again, the emphasis was placed on legends, material that Hyltén-Cavallius (like Nyerup and Faye before him) believed had the potential to “open the secret workshop of the popular imagination” (“oppnar folkfantasins hemliga verkstad”16). Similar developments had already begun taking place in Ireland, where, in 1825, probably under the influence of the work of the Grimms (and certainly with knowledge of Thiele’s work), Thomas Crofton Croker had published the first edition of his Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (see further the chapter on Croker by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist).17 Watching from the sidelines, the Grimms were so impressed by Croker’s work that they translated it into German under the title Irische Elfenmärchen (Irish Elven Fairy Tales) in 1826,18 along with an essay “Über die Elfen”19 (On the Elves). As will be noted below and elsewhere in this volume, this translation would come to have a direct influence on the form in which Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen (1812–1885) came to publish his own collection of legends in two volumes under the title of Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn (lit. Norwegian Huldre [Hidden People] Fairy Tales and Folk Legends) in 1845 and 1848 (see further the chapters on Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe by Ane Ohrvik and Line Esborg). Indeed, the influence from Croker (and the Grimms’ translation) is evident in the similar title (the huldre being the Norwegian equivalent of the Irish fairy and the German

16 17

18

19

Bringéus, “Inledning”, 58. As Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist notes, in 1828, the collection was reissued in an extended form of three volumes (now including the translation of the Grimms’ introductory article on elven beliefs from Irische Elfenmärchen along with a dedicatory letter to the Grimms: see Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1828), III, iii–xxviii. The term “Elfenmärchen” here is intriguing, since it refers to works which are actually legends. This underlines the degree to which borderlines between “fairy tales” and legends at this time were somewhat blurred, something also apparent in the titles of the Asbjørnsen’s collections (see above and below and the chapters by Ane Ohrvik and Line Esborg), and those that first appeared in Iceland which both use the word æfintýri (lit. “fairy tales”) even though they mainly contain legends (see the chapter on Jón Árnason by Gunnell). Grimm, Irische Elfenmärchen, vii–cxxvi; translated with additional material in Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1828), III, 1–154; see further Kamenetsky, The Brothers Grimm and Their Critics, 202–209.

6

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Elfen). The popularity of Asbjørnsen’s work is seen in the fact that it was republished in 1859, 1866 and then in an extended edition in 1870. By the 1840s however, the Grimmian wave was clearly in full flow. Both Thiele’s and Faye’s works were reissued in 1843 and 1844 respectively, and by that time Per (Pehr) Arvid Säve (1811–1887) had made his own unpublished collection of Gotlandic legends (in c. 1840).20 Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe (1813–1882) had meanwhile started publishing their influential collection of Norwegian fairy tales, Norske Folkeeventyr (Norwegian Folk Fairy Tales) in 1841–1842 (a collection which reached its final annotated form in the definitive edition of 1852), a work which had a direct influence on Svenska folksagor och äfventyr (Swedish Folktales and Fairy Tales) collected by George Stephens (1813–1895) and Hyltén-Cavallius, which was published in 2 volumes in 1844–1849 (see further the chapters on Asbjørnsen and Moe, and HylténCavallius and Stephens by Ohvik, Esborg, Lindow, and Gunnell and Skott). Like their predecessors, the editors of this Swedish collection saw their work as being capable of “arousing patriotic feelings in our compatriots, in addition to reviving the most often splendid sentiments that from time immemorial have existed at the heart of our native culture” (“att hos våra landsmän höja den fosterländska känslan, samt återlifva de oftast herrliga och storartade åsigter, som ifrån urål driga lider rört sig på djupet af vår inhemska odling”21). As I have shown in an earlier article (see also the chapter on John Francis Campbell by John Shaw),22 Asbjørnsen and Moe’s work would go on to directly influence the collection and publishing of folktales in Scotland (uniquely turning the focus here more on to fairy tales rather than legends). The highly popular translation of the Norwegian fairy tales by George Webbe Dasent (1817–1896) under the title of Popular Tales from the Norse in 1858 (without any mention of Asbjørnsen and Moe on the front page)23 would directly lead to the appearance of the first two volumes of the similarly titled Popular Tales of the West Highlands by John Francis Campbell (1821–1885) which appeared in four volumes in 1860 and 1862. One notes once again the echo in the form of title, along with the fact that (unlike its Nordic predecessors), Campbell’s collection (like Croker’s) seems to underline the regional rather than the national. There is no mention of the word “Scotland”. One wonders how politically careful this was.

20 21 22 23

See Palmenfelt, Per Arvid Säves möten med människor och sägner; and Bjersby, Traditionsbärare på Gotland vid 1800-talets mitt. Stephens and Hyltén-Cavallius, Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr, I, “Förord”. Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”. See Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”.

Introduction

7

The ripples were evidently reaching ever further north and, apart from in Scotland, legends were still leading the way (something that also applied in England, even though no national collection came into being there in spite of the efforts of men like William Thoms24 [1803–1885]: see further the chapter by Jonathan Roper]). In Iceland, possibly as a result of the call for the collection of Icelandic material made by George Stephens in 1845–1846,25 the librarian Jón Árnason (1819–1888) and future cleric Magnús Grímsson (1825–1860) had relatively unsuccessfully published their first small collection of legends (wrongly entitled Íslenzk æfintýri: lit. Icelandic Fairy Tales) in 1852. They were given encouragement to continue their work by another foreign cultural conduit, a close colleague of the Grimms, Konrad Maurer (1823–1902) who had carried out his own fieldwork in Iceland in 1858, before going on to publish the collected material in his Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart (Icelandic Folk Legends in Our Own Times) in Leipzig in 1860 (see further the chapter on Maurer by Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir). Two years later, in 1862, Jón Árnason published the first volume of two of his central Icelandic collection, Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri (lit. “Icelandic Folktales and Fairy Tales”) (see further the chapter on Jón Árnason by Terry Gunnell). The title is once again interesting, not least because it underlines further implicit links in the watery chain: it is a direct echo of the title of Hyltén-Cavallius’ and Stephens’ Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr, even though the material contained in the two works is totally different.26 The Icelandic collection is once again largely made up of legends (now accompanied by a number of fairy tales, showing that the two genres were now being seen as closely connected). The same emphasis on legends could be seen in the small Faroese collections of legends, “Færoiske sagn” (Faroese Legends) and “Færøiske Folkesagn” (Faroese Folk Legends), that had been published by the Faroese cleric, V. U. Hammershaimb (1819–1909) in 1846 (in the journal Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie), and 1849–1851 (in Antiquarisk Tidsskrift), another direct

24 25

26

See Roper, “Thoms and the Unachieved ‘Folk-Lore’ of England”. See Stephens, “Forslag til Islændernes Uudgivne Folkesagns og Sanges Optegnelse og Bevaring”; and Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”. See also Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir, “Þjóðsögur Magnússar Grímssonar”, 110–111. As Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir notes in “Jón Árnason, ævi og starf”, 98, it seems that the choice of the word þjóð (which can mean both “people” and “nation”) in the title was the work of Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1827–1889), who changed Jón Árnason’s “Alþýðusögur” (lit. “the stories of the common people”) to “Þjóðsögur” (lit. “the stories of the nation”) as the collection passed through Copenhagen on its way to Leipzig. It was also Guðbrandur who wrote the introduction to the collection (replacing that by Jón Árnason himself): see Guðbrandur Vigfússon, “Formáli”.

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result of Stephens’ 1845 call for collection which had placed stress on the collection of verses, games, legends and beliefs (see further the chapter by Kim Simonsen).27 Strangely, considering the fact that Stephens’ and HylténCavallius’ collection of Swedish fairy tales was being published at the same time, very little is said in Stephens’ call for material about fairy tales which, as in the Grimms’ own call from 1815 (see above), are broadly classed under the wider legendary heading of “folkesagn” (lit. folk legends). So much for the north. What then about the north-east? Logically, while Estonia now formed part of the Russian Empire, it was still strongly influenced by German culture, Tartu University remaining essentially Germanspeaking until 1893. While the emphasis in Estonia in the early nineteenth century came to rest more on myths than legends (in the work of figures like Garlieb Merkel [1769–1850], Kristian Jaak Peterson [1801–1822], and Friedrich Robert Faehlmann [1798–1850]), the influence of the Grimms was clearly evident in the work of both the Baltic-German and Estonian collectors from the 1840s onwards. It was particularly obvious in the work of Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald [1803–1882] who published both legends and fairy tales (seeing his famous epic Kalevipoeg as being essentially legendary material). This work would go on to play a crucial role in the Estonian national awakening of the second half of the nineteenth century (see further the chapter on Estonia by Liina Lukas).28 The key exception in the Nordic area in terms of the Ripples was Finland, which had been taken from Sweden by Russia in the war of 1808–1809 and seems to have had less direct contact with this present wave of Romantic Nationalism. Here, for logical reasons (the first version of the Kalevala having been published by Elias Lönnrot [1804–1884] in 1835), the focus remained on folk poetry which the initial wave of folklore collection inspired by the publication of James Macpherson’s Ossian (1760–1763) had concentrated on (see further the chapters on Finland and Oskar Rancken by Pertti Anttonen, and Ulrika Wolf-Knuts and Susanne Österlund-Pötzsch).29

27 28 29

See Stephens, “Forslag til Islændernes Uudgivne Folkesagns og Sanges Optegnelse og Bevaring”; and Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, 22. See also Ó Giolláin, Locating Irish Folklore, 67 and 78–79. On the role of the Kalevala in Finland, see also Ó Giolláin, Locating Irish Folklore, 79–82. The Jacobite James Macpherson (1736–1796) published Fragments of Ancient Poetry Collected in the Highlands of Scotland in 1760 (just 15 years after the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army at the Battle of Culloden), a work which was followed up in 1762 and 1763 by his Fingal and Temora. While the “authentic” background of these works as ancient poetry was much disputed at the time, there is little question that they fulfilled the cultural need for a northern “Homer”, and led to a wave of other publications of orally preserved poetry in Northern Europe, the most famous of which in the present context

Introduction

9

The process of folk narrative collection outlined above became the subject of the international project connected to the bi-centennial of the appearance of the second volume of Deutsche Sagen, which was kick-started with a seminar kindly financed by Professor Joep Leerssen and S.P.I.N. (The Study Platform on Interlocking Nationalisms) and held at the University of Amsterdam on 7th–9th December 2016. One of the key aims of the project was to try and understand what was “going on” in this Grimmian cultural tsunami that lasted just over 50 years (from the appearance of the first volume of Deutsche Sagen until that of the second volume of Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri), noting, among other things, the degree to which this wave was closely integrated into the creation of national culture that was taking place in most of the countries involved during this same period. Rather than looking at the narratives contained in the various collections, the aim here was to build on the earlier work of scholars such as Brynjulf Alver, Diarmuid Ó Giolláin, Bjarne Hodne, Pertti Anttonen and others,30 examining how these collections were meant to perform in their countries and not least how they actually performed during the time in question (and afterwards). Particularly interesting in this context was the comparative lack of attention that has been paid to Deutsche Sagen as

30

were Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (1765) by Thomas Percy (1729–1811); Reliques of Irish Poetry (1769) by Charlotte Brooke (1740–1793); Volkslieder (1778–1779) by Johann Gottfried Herder (see below); Ancient Songs (1790) and Ancient Engleish Metrical Romanceës (1802) by Joseph Ritson (1752–1803); Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802) by Walter Scott (see below); Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Alte deutsche Lieder, by von Arnim and Brentano (a work with which the Grimms were closely associated: see above); and Svenska Folk-visor från forntiden (1814–1818) by Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783–1847) and Arvid August Afzelius (1785–1871). As Joep Leerssen has argued, Ossian opened up the idea of literary historicism, in other words, the idea that literary works could be seen as being important for their antiquity and historicity (see Leerssen, “Ossian and the Rise of Literary Historicism”), something that would help inspire the idea that a national spirit could be found in the folklore of the people, a concept that was central for the movement under discussion in this present volume (see below). As Gauti Kristmannsson has suggested (“The Epic Nature of the Nation”, 92): “Both Macpherson and the Scottish literati had not only conjured up a new epic, translated or otherwise, but also introduced a new way of collecting and making new epic poetry from the new source of authority, the people.” See also Dundes, “Nationalistic Inferiority Complexes”; and in particular Hall, “James Macpherson’s Ossian”, and Meek, “The Sublime Gael”, which among other things note the role that Ossian played in forging the idea of the Highlands as being representative of Scottish culture as a whole (something epitomised by the appearance of King George IV in Highland dress in Edinburgh in 1822: see further McCrone, Morris and Kiely, Scotland the Brand, 56–61). Alver, “Folklore and National Identity”; Ó Giolláin, Locating Irish Folklore; Bjarne Hodne, Norsk nasjonalkultur; and Anttonen, “Introduction”; and Tradition through Modernity.

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the starting point for this wave of collection, and why this work has come to be so neglected by folklorists (in comparison to Kinder- und Hausmärchen). The emphasis on performance (as understood by scholars like Richard Schechner31) means a necessity to look at the backgrounds (what Schechner calls the “proto-performance”32) of the various collections that took place, considering not only their cultural and historical context, but also the ways in which the editors viewed the material that they were collecting, and how they meant their published material to be read and understood by readers at large. This means examining not only the introductions to the works in question, but also a wide range of personal letters written to friends, acquaintances and other people during and after the period of the collection, as well as reviews written about the works in question. In this context, it is also interesting to see how the nature of the collection and publication process changed as the ripples flowed north, and the degree to which the new budding folklorists followed the rules for collection and transcription that were originally set by the Grimms in Jacob Grimm’s earlier-noted circular and in the introductions they wrote for their various collections of folklore.33 As this book will show, equally interesting is the way in which over time, as they began to understand the nature of the oral tradition better, those involved in the publication of legends gradually stopped following the model of Deutsche Sagen whereby oral and written sources of legends were used in equal measure (a pattern evidently followed in both Thiele’s and Faye’s collections, although Thiele seems to have done his best to find oral versions of those narratives he found in written sources: see further the chapters on Thiele and Faye by Tangherlini and Baklid). For logical reasons, the focus began to be increasingly placed on the oral. This, however, leads to the key questions of language, “authenticity” and “authentic transcription”,34 and not least the information provided about individual storytellers and their art. As noted above, a central feature of almost all of the collections in question is the way in which most of them are given “national” titles, implying that the material they 31 32 33

34

See Schechner, Performance Studies. See also Gunnell and Rönström, “Folklore och Performance Studies: En introduction”. Schechner, Performance Studies, 39–51. Jacob Grimm, Kleinere Schriften, VII, 594 (translated in Zipes, The Brothers Grimm, 27; and “Circular Concerning the Collecting of Folk Poetry”, 6); and Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812–1815), I, viii (translated in Ellis, One Story Too Many, 13–14); and Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xii (translated in Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 5). (As is well known, the Grimms themselves failed to follow these rules: see Ellis, One Story Too Many.) On this particular question, see Bendix, In Search of Authenticity.

Introduction

11

contain “belonged” to the nation as a whole rather than local districts or even individual storytellers (the works of Croker and Campbell being somewhat different here for logical reasons: see below). Indeed, initially, individuals seem to have been seen essentially as tradition-bearers rather than creators. As this volume will show, by the time the ripples reached Scotland and Iceland, however, while the titles of most collections continued to stress the national, credit was increasingly being given to the storytellers and their place of residence, underlining the potential role of individual creativity and local environment (see especially the chapter on Jón Árnason by Gunnell). Of similar interest is the way the initial emphasis on the connection between legends and “history” (stressed by the Grimms in their introduction to Deutsche Sagen,35 and by some of those that followed in their wake, such as Andreas Faye36) gradually started moving into the background.37 As the chapters that follow will show, from an early point, an ever-increasing emphasis was placed on this legendary material (more so than the fairy tales that were beginning to appear alongside the legends) being ideal source material for the creation of new forms of national art and national imagery, something any potentially independent nation needed to have if it was to gain respect from other nations.38 In this context, one notes that while few of them were politically active themselves, many of the new collectors came to play central roles in the new cultural and political networks that were evolving in many northern countries during the period in question involving artists, linguists, historians, and politicians.39 Equally interesting is the way this material gradually began to find its way into schoolbooks as the century went on, and not merely as a form of entertainment. Indeed, these narratives were starting to be seen as material that all schoolchildren were expected to encounter, something that not only taught values, but also helped to create a shared cultural identity built on “traditional” roots. The consideration of these (essentially male) local cultural networks leads naturally on to the consideration of the new international networks of (once 35 36 37 38 39

Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, v–x. Faye, Norske Sagn, xvii. On this question of the historic value of folkloric material (see above), see further Leerssen, “Ossian and the Rise of Literary Historicism”. See further Ó Giolláin, Locating Irish Folklore, 72–74; Gellner, Nations and Nationalisms, 6–7 and 94–96; and Hroch, Social Preconditions of National Revival in Europe, 22–23. The process (seen as the first phase in the development towards nationhood) is effectively described in Gellner, Nations and Nationalisms, 57–61; Hroch, Social Preconditions of National Revival in Europe, 22–30; and Ó Giolláin, Locating Irish Folklore, 72–75. On the example of Scotland, see further Hobsbawn, Nations and Nationalism Since 1780, 41.

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again essentially male) folklorists that were beginning to evolve over time as the various collections started appearing on bookshelves and the collectors started comparing notes with each other. As the S.P.I.N. project has effectively demonstrated,40 the letter-writing networks that surrounded key figures like the Grimms, Walter Scott (1771–1832) and Asbjørnsen are truly awe-inspiring, especially when seen from the viewpoint of our age of e-mail, sms, Skype, Zoom, Facebook and Instagram. Letters took time to write and time to send. Nonetheless, as the numerous letters housed in the various archives show, the world inhabited by these national collectors was evidently becoming increasingly international. Bearing the above considerations in mind, one returns to the key questions of why legends rather than fairy tales seem to have led the way, and why certain leading countries such as England, France and Sweden failed to produce their own national collections of legends during the period, apparently prefering to focus on the local rather than the national (something already apparent in the names of the early Irish and Scottish collections). It is logical to start by considering why Deutsche Sagen should have had so much effect in its own time (even without being translated into other languages as was occurring with Kinder- und Hausmärchen), and why scholars have tended to ignore it in favour of Kinder- und Hausmärchen, a work which, as noted at the start, was only starting to gain its modern degree of attention at around the time that the initial wave started by Deutsche Sagen had reached Iceland. From the beginning, as Holger Ehrhardt shows in his chapter, the Grimms had underlined the difference between the two forms as being that: The fairy tale is more poetic, the legend is more historical; the former exists securely almost in and of itself in its innate blossoming and consummation. The legend, by contrast, is characterized by a lesser variety of colors, yet it represents something special in that it adheres always to that which we are conscious of and know well, such as a locale or a name that has been secured through history. Because of this local confinement, it follows that the legend cannot, like the fairy tale, find its home anywhere. Instead the legend demands certain conditions without which it either cannot exist at all, or can only exist in less perfect form. (Das Märchen ist poetischer, die Sage historischer; jenes stehet beinahe nur in sich selber fest, in seiner angeborenen Blüte und Vollendung; 40

See Leerssen (ed.), Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe, and https://ernie.uva .nl/.

Introduction

13

die Sage, von einer geringern Mannigfaltigkeit der Farbe, hat noch das Besondere, daß sie an etwas Bekanntem und Bewußtem hafte, an einem Ort oder einem durch die Geschichte gesicherten Namen. Aus dieser ihrer Gebundenheit folgt, daß sie nicht, gleich dem Märchen, überall zu Hause sein könne, sondern irgendeine Bedingung voraussetze, ohne welche sie bald gar nicht da, bald nur unvollkommener vorhanden sein würde.41) In short, legends are not only directly connected to our world and people and places that we know, but also, as scholars like Elliott Oring, Linda Dégh and Timothy R. Tangherlini have all underlined,42 tend to be presented as if they have some element of truth to them. As the Grimms themselves noted, they want to be believed.43 More than that, as David Hopkin has noted: As narrative tied history to geography, so the landscape itself was a daily lesson in communal values established by the village’s ancestors, a daily reminder of community honour won by one’s forefathers. […] The local was, whether he liked it or not, caught up in a narrative web of […] “belongingness”.44 As Tangherlini adds: “Psychologically, legend is a symbolic representation of folk belief and reflects the collective experiences and values of the group to whose tradition it belongs.”45 41 42 43

44 45

Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, v–vi. Translation taken from Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 1. Oring, “Legendary and the Rhetoric of Truth”; Linda Dégh (for example, Legend and Belief, 97); and Tangherlini, “‘It Happened Not Far from Here…’”, 385. As the Grimms write: “While it is the children alone who believe in the reality of fairy tales, the folk have not yet stopped believing in their legends; and the collective understanding does not attempt to differentiate between the real and the unreal. The reality of the wondrous is established sufficiently for the folk by the details that accompany narrative, that is, the undeniable familiarity with the nearby events and the visible existence of the site outweigh any doubts about the wondrous events associated with the location” (“Dei Kinder glauben an die Wirklichkeit der Märchen, aber auch das Volk hat noch nicht ganz aufgehört, an seine Sagen zu glauben, und sein Verstand sondert nicht viel darin; sie warden ihm aus den angegebenen Unterlagen genug bewiesen, das heißt, das unleugbar nahe und sichliche Dasein der letzteren überwiegt noch den Zweifel über das damit verknüpfte Wunder”): Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, viii, translation taken from Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 2–3. Lecture by David Hopkin quoted in Gunnell, “Introduction”, 17. (See also the chapter by Joep Leerssen on topo-narratives elsewhere in this volume.) Tangherlini, Interpreting Legend, 22.

14

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One can easily see how the legend could be more easily connected to the Romantic Nationalist thinking of the time than the fairy tale, which, as noted earlier, was already seen as being more “international” and more widely “shared” than the legend (see further the chapter on topo-narratives by Joep Leerssen). While as Dan Ben-Amos has underlined, “legends [actually] only appear to be specific,”46 they were certainly more applicable to the future visions of independent nations that were growing in the long nineteenth century, nations which had yet to come face to face with two world wars. One sees again and again in the introductions to these collections, reiterations of the earlier-noted Grimmian suggestion that “nothing is as edifying or as likely to bring more joy than the products of the Fatherland,” something which even in 1852 was still being clearly reflected in the suggestion by the Icelandic collectors that: “these folktales are the poetic creation of the nation” (“þessi æfintýri eru skáldskapur þjóðarinnar”47) (see further the chapters by Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir and Gunnell on Konrad Maurer and Jón Árnason). This inward-looking connection to the land and the nation is, of course, one of the main reasons for why folk legends were (at the time) somewhat less interesting (and relevant) to outsiders than the international Indo-European fairy tales were. It nonetheless also explains why legends and not least the beliefs and supernatural figures contained within them should have been drawn on for national symbols, symbols that even today one finds appearing on street signs and in souvenir shops. Indeed, as noted above, a number of influential Nordic (and German) scholars from the late-eighteenth century onwards had been arguing that considerations of Nordic and Germanic myth and folklore should be replacing the old emphases on Classical myth, art and literature that had dominated in the north.48 The argument was that if new forms of “national” art were to be created, works that would serve to unite the new independent nations, and educate people about their honourable national pasts, then this art should seek inspiration and form in the local and the national, and not least in the images found in the myth and legend that echoed the “true” spirit of the people and the land they inhabited. Such ideas, first encountered in the work of influential forerunners of the Romantic movement such as Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), Henrik Steffens (1773–1845), Adam Oehlenschläger (1779–1850) and N. F. S. Grundtvig

46 47 48

Ben-Amos, “Foreword”, x. Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson, Íslenzk æfintýri, iii. See Dundes, “Nationalistic Inferiority”, 8; Gauti Kristmannson, “The Epic Nature of the Nation”, 91; and “Ossian in the North”, 361–362; Leerssen, “Ossian and the Rise of Literary Historicism”, 112 and 117; and Berlin, Vico and Herder, 188–189.

Introduction

15

(1783–1872),49 were still being emphasised in the mid-nineteenth century by influential figures like the Danish art historian Niels Laurits Høyen (1798–1870) and the German literary historian Hermann Hettner (1821–1882).50 Høyen’s influential lecture in 1844 on the need for a national Nordic form of art (“Om Betingelserne for en skandinavisk Nationalkunsts Udvikling” [On the Meaning of a Development of Scandinavian National Art]) was archetypal in its stress on the importance of making use of the national historical and folkloric material that was coming to light as motifs for the new art that young people should be creating for their new potential nations.51 That these ideas were followed through can, of course, be seen especially clearly in Peer Gynt (1867) by Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906), with its music by Edvard Grieg (1843–1907). This enduring national work was based on legends collected in Gudbrandsdal in Norway by Asbjørnsen, and, of course, Ibsen himself had carried out his own fieldwork in Sogn, Romsdal and Gudbrandsdal in 1862, just five years before writing Peer Gynt.52 Grieg, meanwhile, drew heavily on Norwegian folk music. Other examples of such enduring “national dramas” (in this period) are Útilegumennirnir (The Outlaws) by Matthías Jochumsson (1835–1920); and Indriði Einarsson’s Nýársnótt (New Year’s Eve), performed in Iceland in 1862 and 1871.53 These too were based on motifs found in the new collections of legends, their authors directly following the advice and encouragement of the Icelandic painter Sigurður Guðmundsson (1833–1874), who had studied in Copenhagen, and went on to create the Icelandic national costume and establish the Icelandic national museum.54 The interconnected

49

50 51 52 53

54

On Herder, see, for example, Barnard, Herder’s Social and Political Thought, 55–63, and 70–76; Berlin, Vico and Herder, 158–165 and 186; Ó Giolláin, Locating Irish Folklore, 21–24; Wilson, “Herder, Folklore and Romantic Nationalism”; Leerssen, “Herder, Johann Gottfried”; and Eggel, Liebich, and Mancini-Griffoli, “Was Herder a Nationalist”. On Steffens, Oehlenschläger and Grundtvig, see, for example, Liamin, “Images and Imageries of Norse Mythology in German Sentimentalism and Romanticism”, 322–324; Præstgaard Andersen, “Ewald’s and Oehlenschläger’s Poetry Inspired by Old Norse Myth”, 334–335; and Lundgreen-Nielsen, “N. F. S. Grundtvig”, 606–608. See Hettner, Das Moderne Drama. See Høyen, Om Betingelserne for en skandinavisk Nationalkunsts Udvikling. See Meyer, Ibsen, 205–208. See Gunnell, “National Folklore, National Drama and the Creation of Visual National Identity”. Another good example of this process can be seen in the folkloric pantomime written by Croker for performance in London (see further the chapter on Croker by Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist). On Sigurður Guðmundsson, see further Karl Aspelund and Gunnell (eds.), Málarinn og menningarsköpun; and Gunnell, “National Folklore, National Drama and the Creation of Visual National Identity”. As noted here, Sigurður felt that the stage was “very important

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work of William Butler Yeats (1865–1939), J. M. Synge (1871–1909) and Lady Gregory (1852–1932) at the Abbey Theatre that formed part of the somewhat later “Celtic Twilight” would represent a high water mark of this approach.55 Indeed, for Yeats: “Folk-lore is at once the Bible, the Thirty-nine Articles, and the Book of Common Prayer, and well-nigh all the great poets have lived by its light.”56 Even today, one finds cinema directors in Nordic countries playing with the national images that have roots in those early collections (a typical example being Andre Øvredal’s Trolljegeren [Trollhunter] from 2010). In terms of visual art, the beliefs reflected in the legends provided new motifs for the work of several up and coming young artists, especially in the Nordic countries (such as Adolph Tidemand [1814–1876], Thomas Lundbye [1818–1848], Theodor Kittelsen [1857–1914], Erik Werenskiold [1855–1938], August Malmström [1829–1901], Johanne Mathilde Dietrichson [1837–1921] and not least, in a somewhat later period, John Bauer [1882–1918]: see in particular the chapters by Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist, Ohrvik and Esborg).57 Many of these artists, like the early national folklore collectors and Ibsen and Grieg, have come to earn a special place in their hearts of their nations with their works that underline the close connection between local landscape and national belief.58

55

56 57

58

nationally, historically, aesthetically, musically and in terms of all progress” (“merkil. í þjóðl. historisku, æsthetisku, musicölsku og öllu framfara tilliti”). Indeed, from the stage, he wrote, it was possible to “educate the whole nation in literature, singing, and music, and show audiences how people lived at different times, both mentally and visibly, and thus strengthen our nationality more than by any other means…” (“menta þjóðina í skáldskap, söng, músík, sína mönnum alla helstu þjóðsiði á öllum öldum, bæði andlega og útvortis, og stirkja með því þjóðernið vort meira…”): see Gunnell, “National Folklore, National Drama and the Creation of Visual National Identity”, 312. To Sigurður’s mind, the best source material for such purposes could be found in Jón Árnason’s new collection of folktales. As this volume will show, similar ideas were expressed by a number of those involved in collecting and publishing legends. See Leerssen, “The Theatre of William Butler Yeats” 2004; King, “J. M. Synge, ‘National’ Drama and the Post-Protestant Imagination”; Pethica, “Lady Gregory’s Abbey Theatre Drama”; and Gunnell, “National Folklore, National Drama and the Creation of Visual National Identity”. Yeats, Writings on Irish Folklore, Legend and Myth, 198. See also the chapter on Jón Árnason by Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume, and Gunnell, “From Sagen to Translated Sagnir” on the close connections between the frontispiece for the second edition of Deutsche Sagen in 1865; and that for the second volume of Icelandic Legends, the English translation of Jón Árnason’s folktales by Eiríkur Magnússon (1833–1913) and George E. J. Powell (1850–1904), which was published a year later in 1866. As the chapters by Tangherlini, and Gunnell and Skott below show, Thiele went on to become the secretary of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (Kunstakademiet)

Introduction

17

The importance of folk legends as a source of “national” art and imagery brings us back to the intriguing question of why such “national” collections of legends never appeared in England, France and Sweden (which admittedly received a national collection of fairy tales in the shape of Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr)? Asking the same question, Brynjulf Alver wondered whether this was because the energies of some of these countries were “focused on distant lands rather than on everyday life at home?” He adds that to his mind, neither Sweden nor Denmark: needed national symbols of a folk character. Both countries have always been independent, both have escaped long periods of foreign occupation, both have recent imperialist traditions. It is not surprising that it is in these countries that we find the seeds of Pan-Scandinavianism.59 This is certainly true of Sweden which saw itself as the cradle of Nordic civilisation. This feeling was evident from an early point in works like Atlantica (1679–1702) by Olof Rudbeck the Elder (1630–1702), and Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus (Historia om de Nordiska folket [The History of the Nordic People]: 1555) by Olaus Magnus (1490–1557); and much later in the establishment of the interestingly named Nordiska museet (Nordic Museum) in Stockholm (1873).60 With regard to France and England, it is noteworthy that while various collections of legends certainly did appear during the period in question, all of them tended to focus on local areas rather than the nation as a whole (see further Roper’s chapter on the situation in England).61 While Hyltén-Cavallius had dreamt of competing with Thiele by producing a better collection of “Swedish” legends (see above), the material he collected for this project never appeared

59 60 61

between 1875 and 1871, while Hyltén-Cavallius became the director of the Swedish royal theatres (Kung. Maj:ts hovkapell och teatrar) between 1856 and 1860. Alver, “Folklore and National Identity”, 17 and 19. See further Ó Giolláin, Locating Irish Folklore, 55–56, 88–90; and Westin, “Sweden: Uncontested National Independence.” In the end, the first “real” national collection of English legends did not appear until as late as 1890 in the shape of Edwin Hartland’s English Fairy and Other Folk Tales (see further the chapter by Jonathan Roper elsewhere in this volume). Important subsequent publications of legends include Katharine Briggs’ A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language in 1970–1971, which is roughly half legends and half fairy tales, and most recently, Jacqueline Simpson and Jennifer Westwood’s Lore of the Land: A Guide to England’s Legends (2005); and Westwood and Sophia Kingshill’s The Lore of Scotland (2009).

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in his lifetime (see further the chapter on Hyltén-Cavallius by Gunnell and Skott). A similar localised focus can be seen in Per Arvid Säve’s collection of Gotlandic legends which was made around the same time (see above). When HylténCavallius and Stephens’ “national” collection of fairy tales eventually came out in 1844–1849, it is worth noting that this work was very differently received from that of Asbjørnsen and Moe in Norway, never attaining the same central role in the nation’s heart (see further the chapter on Stephens by Lindow). The key difference between these countries and those others in the north that produced “national” collections of legends is that in spite of certain recent defeats, France and Sweden viewed themselves as being empires like Great Britain. Arguably, their countrymen knew “who” they were and what their flag stood for. These were nations that at this time were essentially looking outwards rather than inwards, something that resulted in a greater focus being placed on examples of local identity within the enormous entities that their nations had become.62 In Germany, Denmark,63 Norway, Iceland and Estonia (and, to some degree, also Scotland and Ireland), the movement went the other way.64 Here, the local became immersed in the national, and sometimes even became the national. The question of the local as national leads naturally to the central question of the spoken and the written language, and how collectors dealt with dialect in collections that were meant to represent national heritage. As Herder had argued, language was seen as being a central feature of the ideas of national

62

63

64

See further Dundes in “Nationalistic Inferiority Complexes”, 14; Hroch, Social Conditions of National Revival in Europe, 8–10; and Ó Giolláin, Locating Irish Folklore, 49–50 and 72, on the differences between the United Kingdom and France and Sweden and the other countries under discussion here. On Britain and France, see also Cinnirella, “Britain: A History of Four Nations,” 60–63; and Crowley, “France: The Archetype of a Nation State”, 68–75 and 87–93. While Denmark was still an independent nation in its own right, it was a nation under threat. As Diarmuid Ó Giolláin has underlined: “Folklore scholarship thrived above all in countries whose histories had been characterized by rupture rather than continuity…” (Ó Giolláin, Locating Irish Folklore, 76). In terms of rupture, as Tangherlini shows in his chapter, Danish national self-confidence in 1817 when Thiele’s Prøver af Danske Folkesagn appeared was very different to that of the Swedes. Unlike Sweden, Denmark had come out of the Napoleonic wars extremely badly. Copenhagen had been badly bombed by Nelson in 1801, and the Danish colony of Norway had been given to Sweden in 1814. SchleswigHolstein, meanwhile, was under dire threat from the German states in the south. The nation was in dire need of a shot of national pride (see also Leerssen, “Ossian and the Rise of Literary Historicism”, 117). On Norway, Finland and Estonia, see further Hroch, Social Conditions of National Revival in Europe, 33–43 and 62–85.

Introduction

19

culture, national history and national identity.65 A key problem with publishing collections of “authentic” local folk legends under a “national” (or even “area”) heading was that most of them were originally told in local dialects that did not reflect the official written languages that most educated people used.66 Indeed, no official decisions had been made as to how these dialects should be presented in writing. As noted above, Deutsche Sagen had been a mixture of spoken and written records, and as will be seen in the chapters that follow, its collectors, like many of the men who followed in their wake (Thiele, Hyltén-Cavallius and Jón Árnason), were librarians. In Deutsche Sagen, as the Grimms note in their original definition, the emphasis was initially more on the historical value rather than the mode of telling, but this was history as passed on by the people rather than by those in positions of power. These were the kinds of stories that many of us in the United Kingdom grew up with, of King Alfred and the cakes, Robert Bruce and the spider, William Tell and the apple, and King Canute and the waves. As Andreas Faye underlines in the introduction to his Norwegian collection, directly echoing the Grimms,67 this kind of material provided a different kind of historical insight.68 Its importance lay in the fact that it came from the bottom up, something that underlines exactly how much of a political and social revolution these new works actually represented at the time. In short, the grandparents of farm labourers were suddenly being presented to the world as the innate representatives of national heritage and the national spirit. In a sense, one might argue that the collectors, like the various late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century revolutions they had grown up with, were laying down the groundwork for the growth of socialism in the early twentieth century. As noted above, however, a key question was how to present to the “authentically transcribed” narratives of the rural storytellers in such a fashion that they would not only be understood by their learned middle-class readers, but also hold their attention. As the chapters that follow show, Croker, Faye, Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens all received criticism for the style in which they presented their material, and similar questions were raised about the way Asbjørnsen and Moe, on realising that there was no definitive version

65 66 67 68

See further Barnard, Herder’s Social and Political Thought, 56–62; Berlin, Vico and Herder, 165–172; and Ó Giolláin, Locating Irish Folklore, 72–73. See further Gellner, Nations and Nationalism, 42–44; and Hobsbawn, Nations and Nationalism Since 1780, 51–63. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, 7–10. Faye, Norske Sagn, v.

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of a folk tale, even from one storyteller, decided to drop accurate transcripts (something which was, of course, often near impossible, not least when you were listening to stories on horseback69). As various scholars have shown (see also the chapters by Ohrvik and Esborg), the approach of the two Norwegians was to note specific words and phrases but otherwise turn themselves into storytellers. Those collecting in Iceland faced another kind of problem: at least three stages of editorial work stood between the original words of the storytellers and the final versions that eventually appeared in print (see the chapters by Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir on Maurer, and Gunnell on Jón Árnason). In all of these cases, however, the local was once again being transformed into the national as the original spoken dialects were transformed into the standardised written language of the scholarly middle classes, thereby not only making it more accessible to the reading public, but also to those schoolchildren who needed to be introduced to the national heritage of their forefathers. An obvious transformation was taking place in the name of the creation of a new kind of “national” culture. As the ripples flowed north, they bore in their wake another key development. In short, local folklore was turning into international folkloristics, and a new field of study was gradually coming into being, meaning that the generation that followed would now be building on a solid foundation of experience that had not existed for their predecessors. Networks of collectors were also clearly taking shape (see, in particular, the chapter by Ohrvik). As noted above and regularly throughout this work, it is evident that in spite of the distance between them, many of the early collectors were for the most part well aware of each other’s work (something seen in the similarity in the titles of their works, as noted above), and also the fact that they were finding very similar material amongst their storytellers. They were all watched over with great interest not only by the Grimms themselves, but also, during the first years of the Ripples, by an admiring Walter Scott (see further the chapters by Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist and John Shaw). The sense of indebtedness to the Grimms felt by all is clearly depicted not only in the dedications to the various collections, but also their introductions, as well as in the countless letters that passed between those involved: as will be seen below, letters passed between the Grimms, Nyerup, Croker, Asbjørnsen and Konrad Maurer, while Thiele, Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens met Jacob Grimm in person. Maurer met Magnús Grímsson and Jón Árnason, and the latter met John Francis Campbell

69

See further Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 107–116; and Ørnulf Hodne, Jørgen Moe og folkeeventyrene. See also Holbek, “Nordic Research in Popular Prose Narrative”, 147.

Introduction

21

who knew Asbjørnsen and Moe’s translator George Dasent (who seems to have been an acquaintance of George Stephens in Sweden). Hyltén-Cavallius meanwhile met Hammershaimb in Copenhagen, and Croker (via the Grimms) would have a deep influence on Asbjørnsen’s style of writing. The expression “social network” has never been more fitting.

Figure 0.1

A Grimm network centring around folktale collection in the North

There is little question, though, that the Grimm Ripples did not only involve similar minded people. As their dates of birth underline, these men (and they were unfortunately only men) were also representatives of a particular generation that had grown up under similar cultural and political influences. They breathed the same Romantic Nationalistic air, and they had similar dreams. If nothing else, the intense 50 years of cultural creation covered by this book serves to underline the degree to which a particular generation of like-minded idealists can change a world and the way in which this world sees itself. Those of us involved in this project have the hope that, as a whole, this work will potentially help inspire the genesis of similar movements in the future, movements that are capable of viewing the national in a positive (rather than a negative) sense, as something that can be shared as part of a wider understanding of global humanity. As a group, we would like to express our thanks to Joep Leerssen and the S.P.I.N. project in Amsterdam, not only for helping arrange the earlier-noted seminar in Amsterdam that helped get this project off the ground when we

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failed to attract either N.O.S.H. or E.U. funding, but also for their continuing support and encouragement. Thanks are also due to Simon Halink for helping arrange the Amsterdam seminar; to Olga Holownia for help with various technical computer problems and illustrations; to our peer-reviewers for their constructive comments; to Felix Lummer for reading over the German quotations and translations of them; and to Brills for their support and help with the publishing process. Finally, we would naturally like to thank all our families for their patience over the years that it has taken to bring this project to fruition.

The Grimm Ripples – A Timeline: 1806–1870 1806: The Grimms are invited to start collecting by Clemens Brentano (1778–1842).70 1812–1815: The Grimms: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, I–II (with introductions). 1815: Jacob Grimm: “Circular, Die Sammlung der Volkspoesie”. 1816–1818: The Grimms: Deutsche Sagen, I–II (with introductions). 1817: Just Mathias Thiele: Pröver af Danske Folkesagn. 1821: J. F. Lindencrone: Folke-Eventyr: Danish translation of Kinder- und Hausmärchen. 1818–1823: Just Mathias Thiele: Danske Folkesagn, I–IV. 1819: The Grimms: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, I–II. (Expanded 2nd edition.) 1822: The Grimms: Kinder- und Hausmärchen, III. (With notes, analysis and comparative material.) (Third edition published in 1837; further editions are published during the Grimms’ lifetimes in 1840, 1843, 1850, and 1857.) 1823: Matthias Winther: Danske Folkeeventyr. 1823–1826: Edgar Taylor: German Popular Stories: English translation of Kinder- und Hausmärchen. 1824: Robert Chambers: Traditions of Edinburgh. 1825: Thomas Crofton Croker: Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland. 1825: The Grimms: Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Kleine Ausgabe: for children, which is republished in 1833. Ten authorised editions are then published during the brothers’ lifetimes.) 1826: Thomas Crofton Croker: Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland. (Second edition.) 70

Zipes, The Brothers Grimm, 10 and 25. Note that this timeline only includes material directly relevant to this present project dealing with the collection of folktales (and especially legends) in the north during the period in question (running from the time when the Grimms started collecting until the ripples have reached Iceland and started returning with translations of the Icelandic material). It does not include the wave of ballad collecting that preceded the ripples, or the later collections that followed in their wake after 1870.

Introduction

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1826: The Grimms: Irische Elfenmärchen: German translation of Fairy Tales and Legends of the South of Ireland. 1828: Thomas Keightley: The Fairy Mythology. (Includes translations from the legend collections of the Grimms and Thiele.) 1828: Thomas Crofton Croker: Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland. (Revised extended edition in three volumes. Further editions in 1844, 1859 and 1862.) 1828: M. L. A. Dufau: Contes Irlandais: French translation of Fairy Tales and Legends of the South of Ireland. 1829: Thomas Crofton Croker: Legends of the Lakes. 1831: Samuel Lover: Legends and Stories of Ireland. 1833: Andreas Faye: Norske Sagn. 1833: Robert Chambers: Reekiana, or Minor Antiquities of Edinburgh. 1834: William John Thoms: Lays and Legends of Various Nations: Germany. (Includes translations from Deutsche Sagen.) 1835: Jacob Grimm: Deutsche Mythologie. (Includes numerous references to folk beliefs and legends.) 1835: Elias Lönnrot: Kalevala. (First version.) 1837–1848: Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius collects legends in Småland. 1839–1870. Arvid August Afzelius: Svenska folkets sago-häfder, I–XI. c. 1840: P. A. Säve collects legends in Gotland. 1841: Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius: Blända och Värendsbornas arvsrätt (on legends of Småland). 1841–1844: Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe: Norske Folkeeventyr, I–II. 1842: Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius: Sägner om Kettil Runske (on legends of Smaland). 1842: Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Russwurm: Nordische Sagen der deutschen Jugend erzählt. 1842: Robert Chambers: Popular Rhymes of Scotland. (Third edition: Includes some tales.) 1843: Christian Molbech: Udvalgte Eventyr og Fortællinger. 1843: Just Mathias Thiele: Danmarks Folkesagn, I–II. (Extended edition of Danske Folkesagn.) 1843: Johann Wilhelm Wolf: Niederländische Sagen. 1844: Andreas Faye: Norske Folke-Sagn. (Re-issued Norske Sagn with new title.) 1844–1849: Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius and George Stephens: Svenska folk-sagor og äfventyr, I–II. 1844: Niels Laurits Høyen: Lecture: “Om Betingelserne for en skandinavisk Nationalkunsts Udvikling”. 1844: Jacob Grimm visits Copenhagen and Stockholm in the summer. 1844: Jacob Grimm: Deutsche Mythologie. (Second revised edition.) 1845: Johannes Wilhelm Wolf: Deutsche Märchen und Sagen.

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1845: Karl Müllenhoff: Sagen, Märchen und Lieder der Herzogthúmer Schleswig Holstein und Lauenburg. 1845–1846: George Stephens: Calls for collection of Icelandic legends and poems: Royal Nordic Society of Antiquities (Hið Konunglega Norræna Fornfræðafélag). 1845–1848: Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen: Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn I–II. 1846: V. U. Hammershaimb: “Færoiske Sagn”. 1848: Johan Oskar Immanuel Rancken calls for folklore recordings in Swedish Finland in Ilmarinen. 1848: Adalbert Kuhn, and Wilhelm Schwartz: Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche. 1849: James Orchard Halliwell: Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales of England. 1849–1851: V. U. Hammershaimb: “Færøiske Folkesagn”. 1850: Ivar Aasen: Ordbog over det norske Folkesprog. 1851: Vincent Thomas Sternberg: The Dialect and Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire. 1851–1852: Benjamin Thorpe: Northern Mythology I–III. (Includes translations of Thiele and others.) 1852: Magnús Grímsson and Jón Árnason: Íslensk æfintýri. 1852: Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe: Norske Folkeeventyr (extended edition with detailed introduction by Moe). 1852–1866: Eero Salmelainen (Erik Rudbeck): Suomen Kansan Satuja ja Tarinoita, I–IV. 1853: Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius and George Stephens: Svenska folk-sagor og äfventyr. (Reprinted.) 1853: Benjamin Thorpe: Yule-Tide Stories. 1854: Christian Molbech: Udvalgte Eventyr og Fortællinger. (Reprinted.) 1844: Jacob Grimm: Deutsche Mythologie. (Third edition.) 1855: Patrick Kennedy (as Harry Whitney): Legends of Mount Leinster. 1856: Eduard Pabst: Bunte Bilder, das ist: Geschichten, Sagen und Gedichte nebst sonstigen Denkwürdigkeiten Ehstlands, Livlands, Kurlands und der Nachbarlande. 1856: Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Russwurm: Sagen aus Hapsal und der Umgegend. 1857–1861: Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald: Kalevipoeg (Kalew’s Sohn): Eine estnische Sage. 1858: Sir George Webbe Dasent: Popular Tales from the Norse. (Translation of Asbjørnsen and Moe’s Norske Folkeeventyr with a detailed introduction; a second series of translations by Dasent appeared in 1874 under the title of Tales from the Fjeld.) 1858: Sir George Webbe Dasent: Popular Tales from the Norse. (Second enlarged edition.) 1859: Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen: Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn. (Second revised edition.) 1859: Patrick Kennedy: Fictions of Our Forefathers.

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1859: Andreas von Wittorf: Baltische Sagen und Mähren. 1859: Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen: Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn. (New edition.) 1860: Konrad Maurer: Ísländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart. 1860–1862: John Francis Campbell: Popular Tales of the West Highlands, I–IV. 1860–1864: Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald: Eesti-rahwa Ennemuistsed jutud ja Wanad laulud, noore põlwele mälestuseks korjatud ja kirja pandud. 1861: Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Russwurm: Sagen aus Hapsal, der Wieck, Oesel und Runö and Aberglauben, Märchen und Sagen in den russischen Ostseeprovinzen. 1862: Henrik Ibsen carries out fieldwork collecting folklore. 1862: Johan Oskar Immanuel Rancken: Några traditioner från Wörå. 1862–1864: Jón Árnason: Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri, I–II. 1863–1863: Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius: Wärend och wirdarne, I–II. 1864–1866: George E. J. Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon: Icelandic Legends, I–II. (Translation of material from Jón Árnason’s Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri.) 1866: William Henderson and Sabine Baring-Gould: Notes on the Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties. 1866: Peter Chr. Asbjörnsen: Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn. (New edition.) 1867: Henrik Ibsen: Peer Gynt. 1869: Patrick Kennedy: Evenings in the Duffrey. 1869–1881: Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald: Estnische Märchen, I–II. 1870: Patrick Kennedy: The Fireside Stories of Ireland. 1870: Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen: Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn. (Third extended edition.)

Chapter 1

Topo-narratives Joep Leerssen

1

Romantic Philology on Myth, Folktale and Saga

The Romantic Turn in philological studies is characterised by a two-track interest in Past and Peasant.1 The Past (and preferably the remote, primordial past) is studied as the nation’s root system, the repository of its most ancient and, consequently, its most authentic traditions. These traditions should, ideally, antedate the period when the nation became exposed to influences from the rest of the world (such as Christianity and Classical Antiquity), and thus present the cultural DNA in an unmixed, pure form. The approach was similar to that of linguists who, in attempting to reconstruct a language’s true, native origins, attempted to winnow out later loanwords from the assumed original Ur-vocabulary. Since the deepest, most authentic layers of the past are believed to antedate Latin- and Christian-imported literacy, the primal corpus is sought essentially in material and oral traces: in grave finds and other archaeological remains, and in the language itself, and the oral narratives that use it. The most highly prized narratives are those which reflect a pre-Christian, pagan society, and of which the medieval written text is considered to be a transcript of an older, oral tradition. The narratives in question are commonly mythological or epic-heroic in nature and often focused on conflict, leading to a view that privileges the pagan warrior aspects of the ancient Ur-society. If cultural expressions are considered to be expressions “of” something deeper, of an underlying type, mentality or imaginaire,2 these mythological accounts and the language used to express them (in its primordial characteristic features) come to be seen as the expressions of what we may call a “mother of all other types” or archetype which contains or reflects the nation’s original character, temperament, and world view. These attitudes were already implicitly, tacitly present in Principj di una Scienza Nuova (The Principles of A New Science: 1725) by Giambattista Vico (1668–1744); they also 1 The following general characterisations of Romantic philology, folklore and mythology are based upon my earlier articles ‘The Rise of Philology”; “Oral Epic”; and “Gods, Heroes, and Mythologists”. See these articles for further references. 2 See further Leerssen, “Intuiting Archetypes”.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_003

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informed the cultural historicism of the German Romantics with a philological mission which was reflected in the work of Joseph Görres (1776–1848), the Schlegels (Friedrich: 1772–1829; August: 1769–1845) and the Grimm brothers. What the Grimm brothers added, crucially, to this nativist antiquarianism was a new method (the comparative-historical reconstruction of phylogenetic or stemmatological descent lines in linguistic developments and textual transmission), and an interest in oral narrative. For them, oral literature expressed much more than just the sentimental and naïve imagination of honest and unspoiled rustics (the Rousseauesque and Herderian view, still reflected in Des Knaben Wunderhorn [The Boy’s Magic Horn: 1806–1808] by Achim von Arnim [1781–1831] and Clemens Brentano [1778–1842]). It also expressed much older and darker collective memories, eroded into homespun anecdote but rooted in the mythology and stark, primitive hero-tales of the distant ancestors. For the Grimms, the elves, dwarfs, dragons and underground magic of Kinderund Hausmärchen and Deutsche Sagen were distant echoes of the supernatural creatures found in the Icelandic Poetic and Prose Edda and the Sigurðr/ Siegfried material known from ancient Nordic and Germanic literature. Jacob Grimm was somewhat irked – as J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) was to be a century later3 – that his own country did not possess really archaic mythological material of its own, something that forced him to look to Scandinavian literature to trace a collateral mythological descent. While Tolkien grafted his own imaginary mythology onto one or two isolated, puzzling Anglo-Saxon words and references,4 Grimm made up the deficit by heavily extrapolating his Deutsche Mythologie (German Mythology: 1835) with material drawn from folk traditions and folktales. The Folk thus supplied what the Past wanted. Grimm’s yoking of the oral tradition and mythology, which involved upgrading the study of popular culture from patronising sentimentalism to serious ethnography, was, of course, hugely influential, and not least in the Nordic world which had inspired Grimm’s envy for archaic myth in the first place. However, if we wish to trace how this two-pronged Past/Folk approach spread and ramified, it is first necessary to clarify the vocabulary, which, as it moved between the various Germanic languages involved (German, the Scandinavian languages, and the English of this article) became hugely muddled. The exercise is slightly priggish but indispensable.5 Among other things, it will help us

3 Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie (1835), 6–7; and Shippey, “A Revolution Reconsidered”, 13–14. See also Tolkien, The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, 230–231. 4 The standard work on this is still Shippey, The Road to Middle Earth. 5 Naturally, a substantial body of work exists involving the reflections on genre in folklore studies and Märchenforschung which can only be referred to here in passing. On legend

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to chart the development of the “Grimm Ripples” – that is the Grimms’ influence on folklore and folktale study in the Nordic world – without too much bothersome conceptual noise on the analytical line. It will also alert us to a very important function of the material activated by the Romantic philologists: their role in linking not only Past and Peasant, but also narrative and location: in other words, developing a sense of tradition and a sense of place. The two are particularly tightly interlaced and entangled in the crucial concept of Sage, which, as I will show below, moved from referring to high pagan antiquity to folktale to contemporary tourism. My point of departure is the language of the Grimms, German, and the various genre designations encountered in the titles or sub-titles of the various Romantic-philological publications. One can start by mentioning in passing loose designations like Erzählung and Überlieferung.6 An Erzählung can be any tale, that is a story told in a linear, uncomplicated fashion, either orally or as part of a literary genre in which it commonly refers to short stories or novellas, including those freshly invented by contemporary authors. An Überlieferung is a tradition or a verbal account of a tradition, in the root sense of the word: that is, something handed down from generation to generation. The use of such terms testifies to the charm that the oral tradition and oral storytelling had for Romantic and post-Romantic literature, which attempted to imitate its directness and intimacy. The other end of this spectrum of genre designations is marked by the word Mythos, which carries a heavily technical charge, referring to the elements of mythologies in the academic sense of the word: primordially ancient tales explaining the origin of the world and formulating a pagan belief-system. Situated on the semantic spectrum between Erzählung and Mythos are three related terms, Märchen, Sage, and Legende, which have different shades of meaning but are used by German scholars and collectors rather unsystematically. It is worth remembering that the Grimms did not single-handedly coin these concepts or open up the field; they intervened in a thriving praxis which has now been largely overshadowed and obscured by them. The titles of folkloric works published in German prior to Deutsche Sagen contain a fairly unspecific welter of genre appellations: Volksmärchen der Deutschen (German Fairy Tales: 1782–1786) by Johann Musäus (1745–1787); Sagen der Vorzeit (Legends of the Past: 1787–1798) by Veit Weber (Leonhard scholarship, see, for example, Tangherlini, “‘It Happened Not Too Far from Here….’” and the various sources cited there. 6 See, for example, von der Hagen (ed.), Gesammtabenteuer; Dahn, Am Hof Herrn Karls: Vier Erzählungen; and Hurt, Beiträge zur Kenntnis estnischer Sagen.

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Wächter: 1762–1837); Neue Volksmärchen der Deutschen (New German Fairy Tales: 1789–1793) by Christiane Naubert (Benedikte Naubert: 1756–1819); “Das Märchen” (“Mährchen”) (Fairy Tales: 1795) by Johann Wolfgang Goethe (1749–1832); Volksmärchen (Fairy Tales: 1797) by Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773– 1853); Volcks-Sagen (Folk Legends: 1800) by Johann Karl Christoph Nachtigal (“Otmar”; 1753–1819); Des deutschen Mittelalters Volksglauben und Heroensagen (The Folk Belief and Heroic Legends of the German MIddle Ages: 1815) by Friedrich Ludwig Ferdinand von Dobeneck (1770–1810); Die Mährchen vom Rhein (The Fairy Tales of the Rhine: 1810–1812) (published as Rheinmärchen [Rhine Fairy Tales] in 1846) by Brentano; Volks-Sagen, Märchen und Legenden (Folk Legends, Fairy Tales and Legends: 1812) by Johann Gustav Büsching (1783–1829); Die Sagen und Volksmährchen der Deutschen (The Legends and Fairy Tales of the German People: 1814) by Kaspar Friedrich Gottschalck (1772–1854); and Idyllen, Volkssagen, Legenden und Erzählungen aus der Schweiz (Idylls, Folktales, Legends and Stories from Switzerland: 1815) by Johann Rudolf Wyss (1782–1830). If anything, the Grimms were more precise in their chosen titles; but Kinder- und Hausmärchen and Deutsche Sagen had complicated, even confusing analogues in the neighbouring languages (Dutch, English and the Nordic languages) into which they were translated, as will be noted below.7 Märchen is the diminutive of the word root Mär, meaning literally “orally spread news, or rumour” (cf. the Dutch mare, as in vermaard, meaning ‘widely reputed’).8 As described in the Grimms’ own Deutsches Wörterbuch (A German Dictionary: 1854), in German usage Märchen has gravitated to the connotation of the fantastically fictional, which is what the brothers meant when they called their seminal collection Kinder- und Hausmärchen, meaning “Fairy tales told domestically to children.”9 The temporal and local setting of these stories

7 On the translation of material from Deutsche Sagen into English prior to Ward’s complete translation in 1981, see further the chapter on the English Grimmians by Jonathan Roper elsewhere in this volume. 8 Etymologies asserting a derivation from the proto-Germanic *mērijaz < PIE *mēros (excellent, famous), may be a confusion with an altogether different lexical lineage that also includes Latin merus. This semantic field refers to the intrinsic splendour of an object, rather than the fact that reports are told about it, or about anything else. It is also important to avoid any confusion with the word Mahr (cf. nightmare) < PIE *mor- (monster, evil spirit). 9 It is worth noting that translations of Kinder- und Hausmärchen into other languages make use of entrenched analogous terms which do not really correspond to, and indeed sometimes distort, the Grimms’ precisely-chosen appellation. The Dutch have opted to use sprookjes for Märchen, a word derived from sproke, meaning a formulaic oral tale or saying. The Nordic eventyr (cf. the Icelandic ævintýri) highlights the excitingly wayward nature of the storyline,

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can be quite unspecific, as can be seen from the famous opening formulas “Once upon a time…”/ “Es war einmal”. Legende, derived from the medieval Latin for “reading material”, sensu stricto, refers originally to fairy tales of medieval origin often involving religious themes, including the miracles wrought by saints, as in the legend of St Cecilia retold in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (as “The Second Nun’s Tale”). In English, however, the term is used more loosely, and also covers secular fanciful tales with a period setting, such as the “Genevieve of Brabant” or “Lady Godiva” tales, or Washington Irving’s “Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. In the nineteenth century, it came to be used regularly as a translation for the German Sage, as in Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1825) by Thomas Crofton Croker (1798–1854); Lays and Legends of Various Nations: Germany (1834) by William Thoms (1803–1885) which included translations from Deutsche Sagen; and the translation of Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri (Icelandic Folktales and Wonder Tales) by Jón Árnason (1819–1888) as Icelandic Legends (1864–1866). It is noteworthy that a collective-demotic origin is not as strongly implied in the word Legende as it is in the other terms: while in German we encounter the words Volksmärchen and Volkssagen, there seems to have been no call for Volkslegenden.10 This brings us, finally, to the word Sage. The Grimms published their Deutsche Sagen in 1816 as a sequel to the Kinder- und Hausmärchen. The different titles are telling, and the differentiation was a recent insight for the Grimms. In 1808 they had used the word Sage in a generic, unspecified manner,11 but by 1815, the Sage was starting to be distinguished from the Märchen

10

11

whereas the English fairy tale gravitates to the register of romance and the supernatural. (Interestingly enough, all of these terms were also used for legends, as in Asbjørnsen’s Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn [1845]; and the Icelandic Íslenzk æfintýri [1852], and even the Grimms’ Irische Elfenmärchen [1826] as a translation of Croker’s Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland [1825]: see further the chapters elsewhere in this volume by Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist, Ohrvik and Gunnell.) In English, although the translation of the title by Margaret Hunt (1831–1912) as Household Tales (1884) was in fact very apt, the compound folk- and fairy tale has, of course, become dominant. These words stress the demotic-traditional provenance, like the German Volksmärchen (a widespread term, not often used by the Grimms themselves). As a “fanciful tale with a specific setting” (as per the title of Klemm, Attila nach der Geschichte, Sage und Legende dargestellt, the word Legende is prone to loose usage, and is often twinned with myths or fairy tales. In their titles, Dutch collections habitually twin “Sagas and Legends” (Sagen en legenden) as an expression for “wondrous tales about long ago”. In a similar fashion, the wondrous tales told about various locations along the Rhine are known in German as Rheinsagen and in English as Rhine Legends. See further below. This can be seen in the title of Jacob Grimm’s article “Gedanken: wie sich Sagen zu Poesie und Geschichten verhalten” (“Considerations: How Sagen Relate to Poetry and History”:

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on the basis of the fact that it has a nationally territorial setting, rather than a domestic or juvenile one. Indeed in their introduction to Deutsche Sagen (see below), the Grimms clearly distinguish this variety of folk tale by the specificity of its location, the most famous Sagen clearly belonging to those places which have the greatest national renown.12 What meanings, crossovers and misunderstandings did these entangled genre labels engender when the Grimms’ interest in oral culture was transmitted to the Nordic countries, home of the Icelandic “sagas”? That is a complex question. As a field guide for the book that follows, I hope the semantic gradations outlined above may serve to explain the problems involved. Of particular interest here, however, is the way in which the Grimms’ folklore, as a meeting ground between literary interest and scholarly agenda, came to be disseminated, and how it served to articulate a meaningful connection between locale and narrativity, place and story, in the nation’s imaginaire.

2

Storybooks and Book Stories

“Mythology” and “folklore” share a specific semantic ambivalence: they refer both to a cultural praxis and to an academic field of study. Much as “mythology” refers to both a body of world-explaining tales and to a scholarly preoc-

12

see Grimm, “Gedanken”), a text which shows the brothers’ early mythological and ethnographic interest in traditional-oral literature: “As poetry and history have flowed in one and the same river ever since the earliest times of peoples, and the Greeks have praised Homer as a father of history, we must not entertain any doubts about the fact that that the grandeur of German history has remained concealed in the old Nibelungen for an overly long time. […] since it is the task of history to recount the life of peoples and their living deeds, it is clear that traditions, too, form part of this.” (Wie Poesie und Geschichte in der ersten Zeit der Völker in einem und demselben Fluß strömen, und wenn Homer von den Griechen mit Recht ein Vater der Geschichte gepriesen wird, so dürfen wir nicht länger Zweifel tragen, daß in den alten Nibelungen die erste Herrlichkeit deutscher Geschichte nur zu lange verborgen gelegen habe. […] da die Geschichte das zu thun hat, daß sie das Leben der Völker und ihre lebendige Thaten erzähle, so leuchtet es ein, wie sehr die Traditionen auch ihr angehören.”) (Translation by Felix Lummer.) For the Grimms, the core definition of Sage is its combination of a legendary wondrous account with a real-world localisation. This renders the word quite different from how surrounding languages use it: Dutch usage connotes a folktale that is heroic rather than domestic, the English saga denotes a historical tale of almost epic grandeur spanning various generations. The title of Galsworthy’s Forsyte Saga (1922) seems semi-ironically to be calqued, as a bourgeois derivation, on the more extensive Icelandic family sagas, such as Laxdæla saga. The Nordic usage of Saga is quite unspecific, an “account”, referring to anything that has been related, be it mythological, legendary/heroic or social-historical.

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cupation with those tales, so too does “folklore” refer to both a set of popular cultural practices and to a scholarly way of studying those practices. This means that the output of mythological or folkloristic research often straddles the fields of imaginative literature and philological or academic scholarship. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a legion of publications presented the reading public with an array of folktales, myths, manners and customs in the form of appealing or inspiring leisure-time reading. The numerous popular editions (often for children) of the Grimms’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen, or Asbjørnsen and Moe’s Norske Folkeeventyr (Norwegian Folk Fairy Tales: 1841–1844) are clear examples how scholarly undertakings could end up taking the form of literary classics aimed at the general public. Indeed, from the start, many collections of this kind, such as Gods and Fighting Men (1904) by Lady Gregory (1852–1932) (containing Gaelic myths and hero-tales) and Walhall (1880) by Felix (1854–1912) and Therese Dahn (1845–1929), were published deliberately for a general readership. These texts stand at one end of a sliding scale that leads, by way of The Golden Bough (first published 1890) by Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941) or The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) by Joseph Campbell (1904–1987), to the opposite end of the scale: academic ethnography and mythology- or folklore-studies. In the case of mythology, this would prove debilitating for the subject’s ambition to become an established academic discipline in its own right; it never grew into anything more than something that provided a background perspective or Hilfswissenschaft, remaining firmly tethered to the generally-cultural rather than the academically-professional end of the scale. The history of folklore studies is more evenly balanced between academia and the general public. It is thus important to recognise the subject’s fundamental ambivalence: Each publication in the field experienced contradictory gravitational pulls towards either general-interest or academicprofessional readers. This development has meant that the international dissemination of folklore can follow trajectories in different cultural fields: that of belles lettres in their international translation (editions of myths, legends and fairy tales in different languages; popularisations, anthologies, and even appearances in tourist guides); and that of scholarship as a transnational working field, in which actors are directly in touch with each other’s work. Indeed, the Grimms and their adepts were regularly broadcasting their insights in two different directions: that of the general readership in their own country, and that of the academic readership internationally (see fig. 1.1). This means that each text’s spin-off (adaptations, translations, re-editions, revisions and follow-ups) could cross between nationally or academically bounded readerships, and that each spin-off’s own spin-off could do likewise. As noted elsewhere in this volume (in the chapter by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne

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Figure 1.1 Types of readership

Almqvist), Croker’s Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland was first translated into German as Irische Elfenmärchen (Irish Elven Fairy Tales) as part of a learned exchange between Croker and the Grimms, but thanks to the Grimms’ wide fairy-tale outreach the collection has since become household reading in this German form. As this shows, the rippling diffusion pattern of the Grimm’s influence is a complex, multidimensional one, something that is true of most manifestations of cultural dynamics. Though complex, it is nonetheless neither random nor chaotic. As noted above, the early dissemination of the Grimmian interest in oral literature was driven by a curious asymmetry: while the theory and method were German, many of the myths, sagas and poems they drew on were Nordic. The two cultures, in other words, were seen as being ideally complementary. Within Germany, the ongoing methodology (by Jacob Grimm in the Deutsche Mythologie, and by his later adepts such as Wilhelm Mannhardt [1831–1880] in Wald- und Feldkulte [Wood and Field Cults: 1875–1877]) was to apply mythological theory to non-mythological material (folktales, folklore and other forms of popular culture), thereby establishing a connection with earlier Nordic myth and saga. In the Nordic countries, this led to scholars reinventorising and re-evaluating saga and myth material along Grimmian lines (the narratives being seen as providing ethnographic insights into primitiveauthentic social orders and pagan belief systems).13 13

See, for example, Liestøl, Upphavet til den islandske ættesaga (1929), translated into English as The Origin of the Icelandic Family Sagas (1930).

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This development established a set of gridlines along which one can trace the manifold influences fanning out from the Grimms into the philological study and Romanticisation of Nordic myths, sagas and folktales. As is well known, these influences were complex and multipolar. They involved various intermediaries like Henry Weber (1783–1813), George Stephens (1813–1895), George Webbe Dasent (1817–1896), Konrad Maurer (1823–1902) and Eiríkur Magnússon (1833–1913);14 translations-of-translations; entangled crossconnections between scholars from the various Nordic countries; and adaptations that came to take on a life of their own (something seen in the huge international success of Frithiof’s Saga (1820–1825) by Esaias Tegnér (1782–1846), a Swedish-Romantic reworking of Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna15). To trace these entangled associations, it is necessary to identify the main types of connection. The first of these is the classical one of prosopography: how individuals relate to each other in an exchange network and how this network can be traced over time as a form of “collective biography”. Prosopography has in numerous inspiring instances been effectively linked to the evolution of science and knowledge production.16 However, in the present case two added points of complexity would have to be factored in. One is the transnational nature of the network as opposed to the patriotically national commitment of the individual actors and the rootedly national nature of the material they worked on; the other is the ongoing vacillation between the general literary and the professionally academic direction of their work. This additional dimension comes especially into focus if one juxtaposes various different ways of looking at the prosopographical network that connected the Nordic philologists in the Grimm generation. Classically, the nodal points in such a network analysis would be the human actors, with their letters, institutional affiliations, travels and other communications as the connecting lines, the “ideas”, insights, models and theories emerging more or less spontaneously from the meeting of two or more minds. However, here an additional, book-historical approach may be needed, with books and texts as the organizing focus. Habent sua fata libelli, indeed. Books and texts are not only the encapsulation media of knowledge production and literature, 14

15 16

See further the chapters by John Lindow, Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir and John Shaw elsewhere in this volume (on Stephens and Maurer, and Dasent’s influence on John Francis Campbell (1821–1885). See also Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”. See further Wawn, The Vikings and the Victorians, 117–141. See, for example, Fangerau, “The Evolution of Knowledge from a Network Perspective”; and REDES: Revista hispana para el análisis de redes sociales, 21.1 (2011), a special issue on network analysis in the historical sciences. See especially Bertrand, Guzzi-Heeb and Lemercier, “Introducción”.

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at best linking authors and readership; they also communicate with each other, human authors and readers acting as intermediaries between one book and another.17 Thus Kinder- und Hausmärchen spawns Deutsche Sagen, which inspires Thiele’s Prøver af Danske Folkesagn (A Sampler of Danish Folk Legends: 1817) and Croker’s Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland. This then in turn spawns the translation Irische Elfenmärchen which influences the format of Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn (Norwegian Huldre [Hidden People] Fairy Tales and Folk Legends: 1845–1848) by Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen (1812–1885), each of these in turn spawning translations, adaptations and more of their own.18 Such an approach emphasises the fact that books can also function as connectors in a network, rather than just as unidirectional products moving from authors to a (passive-receptive, collective, anonymous) readership. Books can also serve as bidirectional connections between author and author. They are dedicated, translated, and reviewed, and the role-division between author and recipient is changeable, individuals being capable of playing the roles of both author and recipient at different moments. These viewpoints may be useful sightlines for considering the complex and challenging landscape of the “Grimm Ripples”.

3

The Past Is a Magic Mountain: Narrating Places, Visiting Histories

Amidst all of these multi-parameter complexities, there is one factor which is remarkably salient and constant in the field of the Sage: the penchant for toponymical origin-motifs. Legends are regularly told to explain why a certain place has such-and-such a name (so-called “aetiological legends” relating to place names). These toponymical motifs are certainly not a Romantic or a philological invention. They are widespread in human narrative culture and can be encountered in many narratives from distant periods and places. They are even too universal to be included in the Stith Thompson’s Motif-Index of Folk Literature, which notes under motif A1617 (“Origin of Place-Name”): “No attempt is given here to collect references to place-name origins. Stories of this 17

18

This object-centred view of communication is theoretically worked out in Bruno Latour’s Actor-Network Theory (cf. Latour “On Actor-Network Theory”), and elegantly illustrated in a daring simile in Artúro Pérez-Reverte’s novel, The Club Dumas: books on a shelf are said to “communicate through their authors, just as the egg uses the hen to produce another egg”: Pérez-Reverte, The Club Dumas, 316. See further the chapters by Ane Ohrvik and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist elsewhere in this volume.

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kind are world-wide.” Indeed, the phenomenon is often overlooked because of its very ubiquitousness.19 It is remarkably prominent in the Irish tradition, where an entire genre of learning was dedicated to etymological topography: the so-called Dindshenchas or “place-lore”, which involves written compilations dating back to the twelfth century. To clarify the topic, one can give a few random examples from this worldwide repertoire. The first is a bargaining dialogue that takes place between Lot and God, in Genesis 19.20–22: “Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.” And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar [little]. Another example can be found in the ancient Irish epic Táin Bó Cuailgne (in Thomas Kinsella’s translation): Cúchulainn swore an oath in Methe that from this time on, whenever he laid eyes on Ailill and Medb, he would hurl a sling-stone at them. It was then he shot a sling-stone south across the ford and killed Medb’s squirrel as it sat close to her neck. Hence comes Méthe Tog, Squirrel Neck, as the name of that place. He killed also a pet bird perching close to Ailill’s neck; from which comes Ath Méthe nEuin, or Bird Neck Ford.20 Yet another appears in the Old Icelandic Hrafnkels saga, in Hermann Pálsson’s translation: Thorgeir asked how they could best take Hrafnkel by surprise and Sam said he knew the answer to that. He turned sharply from the path and up 19

20

It might be noted that the section of the Motif-Index dealing with “Topological” motifs (A900–999) covers only features of landscapes, rather than place names. The folklore of place names has been addressed by W. F. H. Nicolaisen in a variety of approaches (supernatural place names; the use of narrative-embedded names for landscape features; the use of place names in narratives, and so on) but Nicolaisen only occasionally addresses the toponymical narrative as a type or trope. See, for example, Nicolaisen, “The Prodigious Jump”; and “Place Names and their Stories”. The Táin, 96.

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the mountainside and then along the ridge between Hrafnkelsdale and Jokulsdale and until they reached the mountain above the farm at Adalbol. There were grassy slopes stretching up to the moor and the hillside slope steeply down to the farm below. Sam dismounted and said, “If you take my advice, we’ll all get off here. We’ll leave the horses behind, with twenty men to watch them, and the remaining sixty will make a rush down to the farm. The slope is so steep we’ll be quicker without the horses. I don’t expect many people at Adalbol will be up at this hour.” They did as Sam suggested; this place has been known as Hrossageilar ever since.21 For the Grimms, such topographical anchoring was, indeed, one of the defining features of what made a tale a Sage. As they put it in their preface: The fairy tale is more poetic, the legend [Sage] is more historical; the former exists securely almost in and of itself in its innate blossoming and consummation. The legend, by contrast, is characterized by a lesser variety of colors, yet it represents something special in that it adheres always to that which we are conscious of and know well, such as a locale or a name that has been secured through history. Because of this local confinement, it follows that the legend cannot, like the fairy tale, find its home anywhere. Instead the legend demands certain conditions [i.e. a concrete situatedness] without which it either cannot exist at all, or can only exist in less perfect form.22 (Das Märchen ist poetischer, die Sage historischer; jenes stehet beinahe nur in sich selber fest, in seiner angeborenen Blüte und Vollendung; die Sage, von einer geringern Mannichfaltigkeit der Farbe, hat noch das Besondere, daß sie an etwas Bekanntem und Bewußtem hafte, an einem Ort oder einem durch die Geschichte gesicherten Namen. Aus dieser ihrer Gebundenheit folgt, daß sie nicht, gleich dem Märchen, überall zu Hause seyn könne, sondern irgend eine Bedingung voraussetze, ohne welche sie bald gar nicht da, bald nur unvollkommener vorhanden seyn würde.23)

21 22 23

Hrafnkel’s saga, 57. Grimm, The German Legends, 1. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, v–vi.

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The Sage is, in fact, a transitional form between Märchen and History: often fanciful, supernatural, and sometimes chronologically unspecific, but commonly linked to specific heroes and places that have a place in the nation’s cultural memory. Indeed, some tales that now feature in today’s canon of popular bedtime stories were originally classified by the Grimms as Sagen, rather than fairy tales, as with the various Frau Holla and dwarf tales, and the legend of the Pied Piper of Hameln (legend 244 in Deutsche Sagen).24 Many moralistic legends about virtue being supernaturally rewarded or vice supernaturally punished were also included by the Grimms in their collection of Sagen on the strength of their having been tagged with a local setting. The same applies to certain tales about werewolves, witchcraft and satanic ruses (which give the Grimms’ collection its folkloristic and proto-mythological appeal). Other themes which we would now consider as belonging more to the literate and literary genre of medieval romance are also found here: tales of Charlemagne, “Tannhäuser” and “Lohengrin”.25 The most obviously national Sage in the Deutsche Sagen collection was without doubt that linked to the Kyffhäuser Mountain in Thuringia, where the medieval Emperor Barbarossa (who had died while on the crusades, and had in tradition become a typical “once and future king”) was said to await his re-emergence. Apparently that moment would come when the medieval Reich was restored in its proper glory and unity.26 This was a theme that unambiguously chimed with the malaise of the post-1806 years, when the Holy Roman Empire had been dissolved under Napoleonic pressure by Francis II (taking the Ersatz style of “Emperor of Austria” as Francis I). Accordingly, the Barbarossa Sage was immediately picked up into literary circulation as a poetic myth:27 the poet Friedrich Rückert (1788–1866) wrote his ballad “Barbarossa” as early as 1817 (a year after the appearance of the theme in the first volume of Deutsche Sagen). In this literary usage, the theme became a direct political allegory with ham-fisted contemporary relevance, expressing the enduring Reichsidee, that is, the yearning for a restoration of the abolished Reich.28 The literary potential of the Sage was obvious. Not only did Barbarossa become a trope in art and literature as well as a political myth, “Tannhäuser” 24 25 26 27

28

Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, 330–333. See Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, 246–247 and II, 102–141 and 306–311. See Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, 29–30 and 33. The term “myth” is used here in its contemporary technical meaning as a story which, while factually untrue, is morally meaningful and habitually reasserted and recycled in order to articulate a common cultural memory or sense of collective identity: see Münkler, Die Deutschen und ihre Mythen, and specifically on Barbarossa, Kaul, Friedrich Barbarossa im Kyffhäuser. See Leerssen, “Once upon a Time in Germany”.

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and “Lohengrin” also reached the ultimate Parnassian pinnacle by being turned into Wagner operas. However, what caught on most prominently was not the matière as such, but rather the topographical formula: the combination of a real place with a supernatural tale. Various famous legendary landmarks on the Rhine such as the Drachenfels, Rolandseck and the Lorelei rock would go on to find literary fame of their own, vitiating the demotic, oral-collective (“national”) rootedness which was so cardinally important for the Grimms.29 Interestingly enough, these three sites (unlike the “Mouse Tower” at Bingen30) are absent from Deutsche Sagen. Indeed, at the end of their introduction, the Grimms explicitly state that they have omitted many Rhine-related tales (Rheinsagen) because they had been apprised of the imminent publication of this corpus by Nicolaus Vogt (1756–1836) in Frankfurt.31 Vogt, a conservative political thinker with a literary bent, did indeed bring out three volumes of Rheinische Geschichten und Sagen (Rhenish Stories and Legends) in 1817 (a fourth volume under the separate title of Geschichte des Verfalls und Untergangs der Rheinischen Staaten [A History of the Dissolution and Downfall of the Rhenish States] was appended in 1833). The Grimms were nonetheless obviously wrong-footed by the title, because Vogt’s work is completely dedicated to antiquarian disquisitions about the medieval and ancien-régime history of the Rhine regions, and does not include any legends or other folktales, thereby providing another example of the problems with terminology during this period. Curiously, it was in the gap between the works of Vogt and the Grimms that Rheinsagen would come to proliferate, eventually forming part of the most fecund genre of all. This was due largely to the rise of tourism during the same period. As early as 1806, an influential travelogue had appeared evoking the river’s picturesque scenes: Mahlerische Ansichten des Rheins von Mainz bis Düsseldorf (Picturesque Views of the Rhine from Mainz to Düsseldorf) by the Baden-based Aloys Schreiber (1761–1841), translated in 1819 as Manuel des 29

30 31

While the brothers insisted on the oral-popular authenticity of the material in Deutsche Sagen and the fidelity of their own procedure, as they note in their introduction, they largely rely on earlier collections, frequently inserting materials “preserved by ancient writers” (“die uns alte Schriftsteller aufbewahrt haben”: Grimm, The German Legends, 4; and Deutsche Sagen [1816–1818], I, xii), such sources regularly being noted at the head of the narrative. See Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, 328–329. “Finally, we wish to state expressly that we intentionally withhold a large body of Rhine River legends after we received word from Voigt that he was planning to publish an edition of such legends in Frankfurt during the coming year” (“Ausdrücklich ist hier noch zu bemerken, daß wir vorsätzlich […] mehrere Rheinsagen auf die erhaltene Nachricht: Voigt wolle solche zu Frankfurt in diesem Jahr erscheinen lassen, zurücklegen”): Grimm, The German Legends, 10; and Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xxiv.

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Voyageurs sur le Rhin (A Manual For Travellers of the Rhine). This work canonised those places of interest that should be noted by visitors, a little like an early Baedeker or Lonely Planet guide. Schreiber would keep up this kind of production into the 1820s and had many imitators. One of the notable moments in Schreiber’s and Vogt’s book was the account of the “Lurley” (ley referring, in the local toponymy, to a rocky hillside or outcrop). The swirling waters around the foot of the rock are described, along with the dangers this posed for the local fishermen and other boatmen, and comments about the rock-face’s acoustic qualities, personified, in Classicist fashion, as the nymph Echo.32 In 1818, Schreiber added an appendix to his later Handbuch für Reisende am Rheine von Schaffhausen bis Holland (A Manual for Travellers of the Rhine from Schaffhausen to the Netherlands) which among its 17 folk legends (“Volkssagen aus den Legenden am Rhein und am Taunus” [Folk Tales from the Legends from the Rhine and from the Taunus]) included that of the “Jungfrau auf dem Lurley” (Maiden on the Lurley).33 All of these ingredients had been highlighted a few years previously (1801) in a ballad by Brentano (“Zu Bacharach am Rheine” [In Bacharach am Rheine]), which involved an accursed femme fatale (“Lore Lay”), knights, a boat and multiple drownings.34 Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) then followed up on the tradition again in 1824. Here the echo-maiden became a siren, fatally luring passers-by to their deaths with her beguiling songs; looking upward at the high crag, their rapture causes them to neglect the perils of navigation and drown.35 Heine’s poem “Das Lied von der Loreley” (The Song of the Loreley), made famous when Friedrich Silcher (1789–1860) set it to music in 1837, calls the story “a folktale from ancient times” (“ein Märchen aus alten Zeiten”), in spite of the fact that it was anything but. The dissemination of literature into topo-narratives thus brings a new field into view: faux folktales and quasi-sagas for tourists. This is certainly what many of these Rheinsagen, a wildly flourishing genre in the following decades, amount to: literary in origin with a quasi-medieval or quasi-folksy diction proper to the Romantic period, they were vulgarised as wondrous legends for the benefit of Rhine tourists – both real ones and armchair travellers. While in its subtitle the proto-typical collection of Rheinsagen (1837) by the Arndt- and Grimm adept Karl Simrock (1802–1876), pretends to be taken “from the mouth

32 33 34 35

Schreiber and Vogt, Mahlerische Ansichten des Rheins, II, 10. Schreiber, Handbuch für Reisenda am Rheine: Volkssagen, 63–65. Brentano, Godwi, 507–510. Heine, “Drei und dreissig Gedichte”, 242–243. On these works, see further Lentwojt, Die Loreley in ihrer Landschaft.

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of people and German poets” (“aus dem Munde des Volks und deutscher Dichter”), it is in fact nothing more than an anthology of verse (much of it by Simrock himself) linking romantic tales to various locations between Rotterdam and the Swiss Alps, carefully arranged in an upstream direction. In his preface, Simrock proffers the volume to travellers as a “poetic travel companion” (“poetischer Reisebegleiter”) which also has the aim of stimulating national-historical interest among juvenile readers.36 From this time onwards, we find poetical travel companions flooding the Rhine market. Many of them were in fact purveyed by English writers deliberately for English tourists. A good example is Legends of the Rhine and the Low Countries (1831) by Thomas Colley Grattan (1792–1864), an adventurous roving writer originally from Ireland but settled in the Low Countries. This became a century-long best-seller following up a similar production from 1830 by James Robinson Planché (1796–1880), Lays and Legends of the Rhine. Planché was a London costume historian, playwright, and stage designer known for his sensational theatrical effects and high local/historicist coloration. He instilled the same sensationalist approach to his travel writing, linking the sights to various “Anecdotes and Recollections, Historical and Legendary, of the Towns, Castles, Monasteries, &c., upon the Banks of the River, and their Inhabitants and Proprietors, Ancient and Modern.”37 Behind the Grimms’ backs, the Rhine was thus itself becoming a repository of a range of accounts referred to as “legends” or “Sagen”, which were in fact essentially literary efforts dumbed-down for tourist entertainment, designed to be combined with saccharine landscape vistas, chromolithographs and souvenir trinkets.38 Teasing out all these connections may seem wayward since we are erring away from Hrafnkell, Njáll, Sigurðr, Siegfried and all the heroic, epic and mythical features that the Grimms discerned as lying within the vestigial echoes of the popular tradition. Nonetheless, the tourist travel guide, that most banal of all genres, is in fact a very important part of the diffusive network of the Sage across readerships and languages. What was intuitively picked up and kept alive here was a crucially important stance: the relish for dovetailing location and narrative. Nineteenth-century tourism was turning picturesque beauty spots into a concentrated travel experience – a modern, commercial bourgeois

36 37 38

Simrock, Rheinsagen, iv. This is the subtitle of another travelogue by Planché: Descent of the Danube, from Ratisbon to Vienna, during the Autumn of 1827 (1828). There is a very substantial body of literature on Rheinromantik. See, for example, CeplKaufmann and Johannig, Mythos Rhein; Kiewitz, Poetische Rheinlandschaft; and Beller and Leerssen (eds.), The Rhine.

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form of a “walkabout” for tourists, spinning them out into veritable “songlines” of cultural memory. Once-upon-a-time tales were romantically linked to locations and trajectories in a form of embroidered topo-narrative. In the poetics of the genre, these accounts had to be old, collective and traditionallytransmitted: that is what rendered them as authentic as the places that they described. These were arguably features that characterised all post-Grimm and postWalter Scott tourism in the nineteenth century. The romantic and the picturesque were merged with beautiful and exotic spots to make them the settings of beautiful and exotic tales, many of these sites coming to be named after these topo-narratives. Such names are nothing if not evocative, and immediately suggestive of storyline ramifications. The examples (such as “The Hag’s Glen”, “The Devil’s Punchbowl”, “The Moor’s Sigh”, “Ellen’s Isle”, and the many, many “Lovers’ Leaps”) are too twee and too banal to dwell on, but too numerous and too widespread to ignore.39 Between them, they testify to something that, too diffuse and too widespread to be registered by Stith Thompson, may be a very important human way of linking a sense of place to a sense of history: in other words, by grounding stories in places, and by vivifying places with stories.40 As noted above, Simrock had a twofold purpose for his Rheinsagen, and the second of these, that inspiring young readers with an interest in national history, is worth recalling in conclusion. There is no doubt that the Grimms would have recognised the national-pedagogical value of these popularised legends. A sense of place and a sense of history were two key components in recognising oneself as part of a country. There is little question that the Romantic taste for topo-narratives deserves closer scrutiny – even if to pursue that point we need to venture into some very unexpected genres and practices. 39

40

As Mark Twain observed in his Life on the Mississippi (1883): “There are fifty Lover’s Leaps along the Mississippi from whose summit disappointed Indian girls have jumped” (Twain, Life on the Mississipi, 579). (Wikipedia lists 45 such places worldwide.) “The Moor’s Sigh” (“El suspiro del Moro”) is an early-attested tale telling of the sadness of Boabdil at the loss of Granada in 1492. The tale’s localisation on the mountain offering a final vista on Granada was brought into currency by Washington Irving’s The Alhambra: A Series of Tales and Sketches of the Moors and Spaniards (1832) (later Tales of the Alhambra: 1832), in which Boabdil’s sigh was also romanticised into “the last sigh” (Irving, The Alhambra, 161). Ellen’s Isle, in Loch Katrine, was named after the character in Scott’s Lady of the Lake, thereby rendering the spot famous for the incipient tourist trade. See further Rigney, The Afterlives of Walter Scott. See also Simpson and Westwood, The Lore of the Land, for a number of similar place names in Britain. See further Gunnell, “Narratives, Space and Drama”; and “Legends and Landscape in the Nordic Countries”.

Chapter 2

The Grimm Brothers’ Deutsche Sagen: Collection Plan, Sources, Critiques, Reception Holger Ehrhardt

1

Early Insights and the Collection Plan of the Brothers Grimm1

The folklore collections by the Brothers Grimm (see fig. 2.1), Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children’s and Household Tales) and Deutsche Sagen (German Legends: see fig. 2.2) were preceded by a number of intense studies into Old German poetry and its origins. In his earlier 1807 treatise on the difference between Minnegesang (lit. “love song”) and Meistergesang (lit. “song of the meister singer”),2 Jacob Grimm (1785–1863) had proposed a model of literary history involving “the epic folk poetry of the past (the Nibelungenlied and its fellow works)” (“Vergang der epischen Nationalpoesie [des Nibelungenliedes und seines Anhangs]”3). Almost historically analogous with the ongoing establishment of the Kingdom of Westphalia on Hessian soil under the rule of Napoleon’s brother Jérôme, Jacob Grimm assumed that Old Germanic folk poetry had been displaced by Romantic scholarly lyricism. He accordingly postulated the principle that a philological study of the sources would be the only way to discern the historical authenticity of such poetry. Any consideration of the national aspects that lay behind the genesis of the Grimms’ collections of fairy tales and legends needs to bear in mind the historical context of the time. The Romantic turn – away from classical Antique and French cultural influence and towards the pre-Christian Germanic past – took place under the political auspices of the French occupation in which French had taken over as the official language, and must be seen as a form of intellectual resistance to the cultural hegemony of the occupants. The first sentences of the foreword of Kinder- und Hausmärchen should therefore be read from a political viewpoint:

1 Translation: Paul Irving Anderson, except where otherwise stated. 2 Minnesang is German courtly love poetry from the twelfth until the beginning of the fourteenth century. Meister(ge)sang is the continuation of the Minnesang tradition, mostly by scholarly craftsmen (Meisters). 3 Jacob Grimm, “Beweis, dass der Minnesang Meistergesang ist”, 675.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_004

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Figure 2.1 The Grimm brothers, by Ludwig Emil Grimm (1843)

Figure 2.2 Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vol. I (1816). Title page

The Grimm Brothers’ Deutsche Sagen

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When a storm or some other mishap sent by the heavens destroys an entire crop, it is reassuring to find that a small spot on a path lined by low hedges or bushes has been spared and that a few stalks remain standing. (Wir finden es wohl, wenn Sturm oder anderes Unglück, vom Himmel geschickt, eine ganze Saat zu Boden geschlagen, daß noch bei niedrigen Hecken oder Sträuchen, die am Wege stehen, ein kleiner Platz sich gesichert und einzelne Aehren aufrecht geblieben sind.4) This cautious imagery gave way to the clearer commitment that appeared in the foreword to Deutsche Sagen, authored in 1816 after the breakdown of Napoleon’s empire. Now the “essence of the legends” (“Wesen der Sage”) is introduced by tying cultural German heritage firmly to the “borders of the fatherland” (“Grenzen des Vaterlands”).5 While the Romantic turning towards a lost national antiquity can initially be understood as patriotism, from the time of the War of Liberation (1813–1815), one can see a mutation into a growing nationalism, something that can also be witnessed in the collections of the Grimm brothers. In another essay entitled “Von Übereinstimmung der alten Sagen” (On the Correspondence of Ancient Legends) written in the same year as Grimm’s treatise on the difference between Minnegesang and Meistergesang (1807), Grimm expounded on the notion of “folk tradition” for the first time. To his mind, one could detect a clear correspondence between certain traits found in legends, 4 Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812–1815), I, v. Translation taken from Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, 204. 5 Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, v. Translation based on Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 2. With regard to the understanding of the “borders of the fatherland”, and the ideas of German heritage implied by this collection, in their foreword, the Grimms underline the importance of historical cultural background. As they write: “We would have liked to base a regional classification not on the mountains and rivers, but according to the regions inhabited by the various branches of the Teutonic peoples, regardless of political boundaries. In this regard, however, there has been so little solid and reliable study carried out that one would first have to pave the way for such an undertaking with a far more careful investigation of regional dialects and legends, which until now, have, for similar reasons been so maligned and neglected.” (“War also eine andere Eintheilung, nicht nach Gebirgen und Flüssen, sondern nach der eigentlichen Richtung und Lage der deutschen Völkerstämme, unbekümmert um unsere politischen Grenzen, aufzustellen; so ist hierzu so wenig Sicheres und Gutes vorgearbeitet, daß gerade eine sorgsamere Prüfung der aus gleichem Grund verschmähten und versäumten Mundarten und Sagen des Volks erst muß dazu den Weg bahnen helfen.”): Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xvi–xvii. Translation based on Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 7. See further the “Introduction” to this volume which includes further quotes from the Grimms’ foreword to Deutsche Sagen.

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songs, and poems: “the echo of such occurrences has spread throughout the nation” (“der Schall solcher Begebenheiten durch das ganze Volk verbreitet worden ist”6). A year later, Wilhelm Grimm (1786–1859) formulated this idea more precisely, basing it on an original unity of poetry and history that was now lost: Very little about the deeds of those times has been saved by the historians. […] But the poetry that now came into being preserved it. Those things that foreigners or foreign educated churchmen who no longer formed part of the nation were incapable of recording in their tedious books went on living in the mouths and hearts of the common people. They told each other and their children the life histories of their fathers […]. (Wenig haben die Geschichtschreiber von den Thaten jener Zeiten aufbewahrt. […] Aber die Poesie bewahrte es auf, die jetzt entstand. Was Fremden oder Geistlichen mit fremder Bildung, nicht mehr zur Nation gehörig, in ihre trocknen Bücher aufzuschreiben unmöglich war, das lebte fort in dem Munde und dem Herzen eines jeden unter dem Volk. Sie erzählten sich und den Nachkommen das Leben ihrer Väter […].7) In 1813, in the midst of the period in which the Brothers Grimm were collecting, and between the publications of their fairy tale and legend collections, Jacob Grimm propounded his “Gedanken über Mythos, Epos und Geschichte” (Thoughts on Myth, Epic and History) in Deutsches Museum, edited by Friedrich Schlegel (1772–1829). From his “reflections on ancient fables and legends” (“Betrachtung alter Fabel und Sage”) which are largely based on etymological considerations, one learns that “there is no vain reason, no invention, but true poetry behind it” (“kein eitler Grund, keine Erdichtung, sondern wahrhafte Dichtung liegt”8). The key question now was how legendary truth relates to historical truth. The basis for such retrospective thoughts about the history of national culture had been laid down previously by Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) in the late eighteenth century. In his 1774 treatise, Auch eine Philosophie der Geschichte zur Bildung der Menschheit (Also a Philosophy of the History for Educating Humanity), Herder had developed an approach to history which – 6 Jacob Grimm, “Von Übereinstimmung der alten Sagen”, 571. 7 Wilhelm Grimm, “Ueber die Entstehung der altdeutschen Poesie und ihr Verhältniß zu der nordischen”, 79. 8 Jacob Grimm, “Gedanken über Mythos, Epos und Geschichte”, 53–75.

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departing from the cultural ideal of Classical Antiquity – shifts the view from the present to the origins, thereby ascribing central importance to one’s own ancient history.9 Over the decades that followed, this shift of perspective grew into the Romantic Zeitgeist; it also oscillated in the thought of Friedrich Carl von Savigny (1779–1861), the academic teacher and mentor of the Brothers Grimm: according to von Savigny, the historical development of law is always an expression of a particular national spirit.10 It was not by chance that Jacob Grimm referred to this idea in 1814 when he told his teacher that this is what they were attempting “to do with our collections of fables and legends, as Epko von Repko said: ‘I have not made this up, it was brought to us ages ago by our good ancestors’” (“Märchen und Sagensammlungen tun wie Epko von Repko, dies Recht hab ich nicht erdacht, ‚es habens vor Alters auf uns bracht unsere gute Vorfahren‘”11), something that underlines the legal historical genesis that lies behind the work of the Brothers Grimm. The decisive impetus behind the collection of folk narratives in prose came from Clemens Brentano (1778–1842) and Achim von Arnim (1781–1831).12 In 1805, the latter published his essay “Von Volksliedern” (On Folk Songs) in the appendix to the first volume of their song collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn). Here he asked his readers to send in material of the kind reflected in the title of the collection: “songs, legends, sayings, tales, and prophesies, melodies” (“Lieder, Sagen, Sprüche, Geschichten und Prophezeihungen, Melodieen”13). A model for the Grimms’ work on the fairy tales can be found in Clemens Brentano’s editing of a fairy tale taken from the novel by Hans Michael Moscherosch (1601–1669), Gesichte Philanders von Sittewald (The Works of Philander von Sittewald),14 as well as the record of the fairy tale “Van dem Machandelboom” (The Almond Tree) by Philipp Otto Runge (1777–1810).15 Brentano had asked the Grimms to carry out research into literature and later, when he noticed what extensive collections they had made 9

10 11

12 13 14 15

With regard to literary historicism, it is worth noting that Herder himself had been strongly influenced by James Macpherson (1736–1796) and Ossian: see further Herder, “Auszug aus einem Briefwechsel über Ossian und die Lieder der alten Völker”; and Leerssen, “Ossian and the Rise of Literary Historicism”. On Ossian, see further the chapter on Scotland by John Shaw elsewhere in this volume. See further the chapter by Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir on Konrad Maurer (1823–1902) who came from a similar background and had similar ideas. Schnack and Schoof, Briefe der Brüder Grimm an Savigny, 174 (letter from Jacob Grimm to von Savigny, dated 29th October 1814). Epko von Repko (also Eike von Repgow: c. 1180–c. 1233), was the compiler of the Sachsenspiegel code of law. See Rölleke, Die älteste Märchensammlung der Brüder Grimm, 341. Brentano, Sämtliche Werke und Briefe: Historisch-kritische Ausgabe, I. i, 441. [Brentano], “Johann Michael Moscherosch”, 24–26. Runge, “Von den Mahandel Bohm”, 229–237.

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and how much knowledge they had evidently accumulated, he invited them to cooperate on subsequent volumes of Des Knaben Wunderhorn. In 1807, he even succeeded in convincing his friend and fellow editor, Achim von Arnim, to spend some time in Kassel, where volumes 2 and 3 of their folksong collection were in progress, writing: We can do it extremely well here, much better than back in Heidelberg. Because here I have two very dear, dear Old German trusty friends by the name of Grimm who I earlier interested in ancient poetry, and who, after two years of intense, most rigorous studies, I have found to be so knowledgeable and so rich in terms of notes, experience, and multi-faceted views, that I am somewhat frightened at the modesty they exhibit with regard to the treasure that is in their possession. (Wir können es hier außerordentlich gut und besser noch als damals in Heidelberg. Denn ich habe hier zwei sehr liebe, liebe altteutsche vertraute Freunde, Grimm genannt, welche ich früher für die alte Poesie interessirt hatte, und die ich nun nach zwei Jahre langem fleißigen, sehr consequenten Studium so gelehrt und so reich an Notizen, Erfahrungen und den vielseitigsten Ansichten der ganzen romantischen Poesie wiedergefunden habe, daß ich bei ihrer Bescheidenheit über den Schatz, den sie besitzen, erschrocken bin.16) All in all, it can be said that the Grimms’ move to the collecting of folk narrative can be characterised as being a synthesis of Herder’s late Enlightenment view of history; the idea of national spirit being found in law; their own intensive study of literature; and their practical work with von Arnim’s and Brentano’s folk song collection.

2

The Distinction between Two Literary Genres: Fairy Tales and Legends

A peek into the literature that was being read by the Grimms at this time is provided by a letter written by Wilhelm Grimm to von Savigny in 1809 in which he writes:

16

Steig, Clemens Brentano und die Brüder Grimm, 8 (letter from Brentano to von Arnim, dated 19th October 1807).

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Now we need to get to know the progress of the legends, to scan and collect excerpts from all the great monuments of folk poetry from every period, that is the Bible, Homer, Hesiod, Thousand and One Nights, all the Old Nordic poetry, all the Old German ones all over again. (wir müssen nun, den Gang der Sagen kennen zu lernen, alle Denkmäler der Nationalpoesie jeder Zeit mit dieser Rücksicht durchlesen und excerpiren. Also die Bibel, Homer, Hesiod, Tausend und eine Nacht, alle nordische Dichtungen, aufs neue die sämmtlichen Altdeutschen.17) In the early years, the Grimms’ collection rarely distinguished between fairy tales and legends by genre, as can be seen in the so-called “Sagenkonkordanz” (Legend Concordance) begun in about 1808, an alphabetically ordered “index on individual pages […] in which all parallel passages [of motifs] found in legends are identified” (“Index auf einzelnen Blättern […] worauf alle Parallelstellen, welche dieselbe Sage haben, angegeben sind”18). It contains features and motifs from both legends and fairy tales, as illustrated by the following example: Coward enjoys undeserved happiness 1. The Legend of Cowardly Waldemar Wilkinasaga ch. 235 ff. 2. Fairy tale of the tailor who becomes king (cf. Kindermärchen) (Feiger macht unverdientes Glück 1. Sage vom feigen Waldemar Wilkinasaga cap. 235 ff. 2. Märchen vom Schneider, der König wird [conf. Kindermärchen.])19 As Heinz Rölleke has remarked, the Brothers Grimm seem to have applied the concept of the Sage (legend) “in the original sense – to all oral folk tradition” (“dem ursprünglichen Sinn entsprechend – auf alle mündliche Volksüberlieferung”20). As the dating of the original fairy tales sent to Brentano

17 18 19 20

Schnack and Schoof, Briefe der Brüder Grimm an Savigny, 67 (letter from Wilhelm Grimm to Savigny, dated 15th March 1809). Schnack and Schoof, Briefe der Brüder Grimm an Savigny, 75 (letter from Jacob Grimm to Savigny, dated 31st August 1809). Rölleke, Briefwechsel der Brüder Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm: I. 3: Sagenkonkordanz, 125. Rölleke, “Grimms ,Deutsche Sagen‘”, 705.

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shows, it was not until 1810 that any separation of collected materials took place. The forewords of the first volumes of Kinder- und Hausmärchen in 1812 and Deutsche Sagen in 1816 make reference to this gradual process of recognising and distinguishing genre types. According to the 1812 foreword, fairy tales “are […] clearly distinguishable from local folk legends which are attached to real places or to the heroes of history” (“sehr bestimmt von den eigentlich localen Volkssagen, die an leibhafte Oerter oder Helden der Geschichte gebunden sind”21) (emphasis in the original). In spite of this, one finds a whole series of fairy tales mentioning real places in the first edition of the Kinderund Hausmärchen of 1812–1815, and even in those that came later.22 This is explained in the foreword to Deutsche Sagen, in the statement that both genres “intermingle with one another in infinite combinations and intertwinings, often resembling one another to a greater or lesser degree” (“in unendlichen Mischungen und Wendungen in einander greifen und sich mehr oder weniger ähnlich werden”23). In one case, this shift is quite palpable, since the fairy tale “Die heilige Frau Kummerniß” (Saint Solicitous), published only in the second volume of the first edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen, reappears (to be sure, from a different source) as legend 329 in Deutsche Sagen, now under the title “Die Jungfrau mit dem Bart” (The Maiden with the Beard).24 Going in the opposite direction, we find a curious case of the Grimms forgetting an account by Dorothea Viehmann (1755–1816), their well-known source for fairy tales, which was originally in the manuscripts of their collection of legends,25 and (coming from yet another source) ultimately came to be published as KHM 195, “Der Grabhügel” (The Grave Mound), in the sixth edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1850). Despite such overlapping between the two genres, the Grimms emphasise that the distinctions between story, legend, and fairy tale are some of the few borders that can be drawn in oral literature.26 This is why the distinction of the two genres was elaborated still further when the two volumes of legends were 21 22

23 24 25 26

Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812–1815), I, xiii. Translation taken from Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, 208. Kinder- und Hausmärchen (KHM) (1812) 22: Stadt Franecker in Westfriesland; KHM 27: Bremen; KHM 31 II: Geslinger Thal; KHM 33: Schweiz, Rom; KHM 37: Schwarzenfelsischen, Spanien; 1815: KHM 92 (nur in Variante): Amsterdam; KHM 96: Keuterberg; KHM 119: Mosel; KHM 125: Nordsee; KHM 137: Ostindien; KHM 138: Werl, Soest; KHM 139: Brakel; KHM 154: Rhein; and KHM 158: Rom, Regensburg, Trier, Straßburg. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, vii. Translation taken from Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 2. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, 426–427. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: Preußischer Kulturbesitz: Nachlass Grimm 1756, IV, fol. 193–194. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xv–vi.

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being edited. The foreword gives an account of this process, albeit using an archaically dark, organic-metaphorical language that is occasionally difficult to understand: The fairy tale is more poetic, the legend is more historical; the former exists securely almost in and of itself in its innate blossoming and consummation. The legend, by contrast, is characterised by a lesser variety of colors, yet it represents something special in that it adheres always to that which we are conscious of and know well, such as a locale or a name that has been secured through history. Because of this local confinement, it follows that the legend cannot, like the fairy tale, find its home anywhere. Instead the legend demands certain conditions without which it either cannot exist at all, or can only exist in less perfect form. (Das Märchen ist poetischer, die Sage historischer; jenes stehet beinahe nur in sich selber fest, in seiner angeborenen Blüte und Vollendung; die Sage, von einer geringern Mannichfaltigkeit der Farbe, hat noch das Besondere, daß sie an etwas Bekanntem und Bewußtem hafte, an einem Ort oder einem durch die Geschichte gesicherten Namen. Aus dieser ihrer Gebundenheit folgt, daß sie nicht, gleich dem Märchen, überall zu Hause seyn könne, sondern irgend eine Bedingung voraussetze, ohne welche sie bald gar nicht da, bald nur unvollkommener vorhanden seyn würde.27) According to the Grimms, legends are like the dialects of a language to which “one encounters the strangest words and images that have survived from ancient times” (“Namen, Örter und Sitten aus der ältesten Zeit festhaften”); they are more serious and demand to be reflected upon, whereas the fairy tale, which “has preserved portions of proto-Germanic material without names” (“Theile der urdeutschen Heldensage erhalten haben, ohne Namen”28), corresponds more to a rather childlike view of the world. What fairy tales and legends have in common, they argue, is that they reflect history in the same way, mixing feelable, concrete experiences with something transcendent, for both children and adults. This is the way in which ancient historical events are preserved in the folk consciousness. 27 28

Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818) I, v–vi. Translation taken from Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 1. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, vi. Translation taken from Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 2.

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In order to be able to appreciate these explanations in their proper context, something explained in the next section of the foreword, “Treue der Sammlung” (The Truth and Reliability of The Collection29), it is necessary to undertake a brief excursus into the collection of fairy tales. In their foreword to Kinder- und Hausmärchen from 1812, the brothers had written the following about the accuracy of their collections: We have tried to collect these tales in as pure a form as possible […]. No details have been added or embellished or changed, for we would have been reluctant to expand stories already so rich by adding analogies and illusions; they cannot be invented. A collection of this kind has never existed in Germany. (Wir haben uns bemüht, diese Märchen so rein als möglich war aufzufassen, […]. Kein Umstand ist hinzugedichtet oder verschönert und abgeändert worden, denn wir hätten uns gescheut, in sich selbst so reiche Sagen mit ihrer eigenen Analogie oder Reminiscenz zu vergrößern, sie sind unerfindlich. In diesem Sinne existirt noch keine Sammlung in Deutschland.30) It has become not only a columnist’s topos, but also the conviction of some scholarly representatives that this editorial confession by the Brothers Grimm should be treated as youthful presumption and even as a deliberate deception. If we accept a certain youthful zeal on the part of the brothers, this easily overlooks the fact that particular, virtually self-contradictory phases can be observed in terms of an approach to accuracy as the fairy tales were being edited. One can thus speak of a “mythological phase” lasting until about 1815 as the search for and preservation of mythologems came into focus. Following this, until 1819, came a phase of “cleansing” those elements that “might have been of foreign origin or that could have been adulterated by additions” (“fremden Ursprungs oder durch Zusätze verfälscht”31) or contained a “phrase not appropriate for children” (“für das Kinderalter nicht passenden Ausdruck”32). The phase beginning in 1825, but mainly evident after 1833 and 1836, 29 30 31 32

Translation taken from Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 4. Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812–1815), I, xviii–ix. Translation taken from Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, 210. Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1819–1822), I, xiv. Translation taken from Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, 220. Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1819–1822), I, viii. Translation taken from Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, 217.

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meanwhile, has to be seen as a “stylising or literarisation phase” (“Stilisierungsoder Literarisierungsphase”) in which Wilhelm Grimm created his archetypical fairy-tale style using sophisticated archaic rhetoric which nonetheless, with a few exceptions, leaves the core content of the transmissions untouched.33 Regarding legends, on the other hand, the Grimms remarked that their “accuracy and truth” (“Treue und Wahrheit”34) had struck them immediately. Like Johann Gottfried Herder, they saw their collection as containing natural poetry that contained an amalgam of history, mythology, and lyricism and could not be genetically untrue. Traits lost in transmission renew themselves, and even if they are invented by human hand, they will be an expression of a semiconsciously revealed truth.35 Here one can see the religiosity of the Brothers Grimm becoming tangible as legendary traditions are treated almost as relics of divine revelation. The fact that the brothers in no way contradicted the theological cosmogonies of their times can also be seen in other ways.36 A joint examination of the two forewords underlines the fundamental philological position of the Brothers Grimm with regard to their recording of oral (and, in the case of legends, also historical) traditions. Whereas, in 1812, they say regarding the fairy tales: “No details have been added or embellished or changed […]” (“Kein Umstand ist hinzugedichtet oder verschönert und abgeändert worden […]”37), in 1816 they say with regard to the legend: “It has […] been our task to follow the exact words as faithfully as was feasible, but not necessarily to adhere slavishly to them” (“An die Worte war sich, so viel thunlich, zu halten, nicht an ihnen zu kleben”38). The Grimms’ creed can be found in the dialectical resolution of both statements: the core of their approach is to be true “even in trivial details” (“bis ins kleinste”39). Nonetheless, they occasionally feel the need to rid the texts of what they considered to be artificial 33 34

35 36 37 38 39

See Winzer, Permanente Metamorphosen, 131–139. Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1819–1822), I, xv. Translation taken from Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, 220. The use of the concepts “Treue und Wahrheit” seems to have been somewhat vague for the Grimms. On one hand it refers to mythological truth (containing or preserving aspects of Germanic mythology), and on the other, something that lacks false additions. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818) I, xi and xiv. See Ehrhardt, “Zum Alter der Märchenbeiträgerinnen und -beiträger der Brüder Grimm”, 52–54. Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812–1815), I, xviii; translation taken from Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, 210. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xii; translation taken from Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 5. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xii; translation taken from Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 5.

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additions, thereby reinstituting a sense of their originality. This is palpable in a letter from Wilhelm Grimm to von Armin in which he complains about the “false, intolerable chivalric novel style” (“falsche[n ihm] unerträgliche[n] Ritterromanenstyl”40) of the collection of legends by “Otmar” (Johann Karl Christoph Nachtigal; 1753–1819), Volcks-Sagen (1800).41 Such alterations would nonetheless later face criticism from scholars.42 In the following section of their foreword to Deutsche Sagen, when the Grimms talk of the “diversity” (“Mannigfaltigkeit”) of their collection,43 they are essentially referring to the various versions and traditions that exist of one and the same legend which, as in the case of the figure of Frau Holle,44 sometimes shift into the fairy tale genre. In this context, one finds a telling insight into the philology of “edition”, which also holds true for Classical philology. In short, corrupt traditions occasionally contain good readings that have roots in a lost original and therefore cannot be neglected. In this way, the Brothers Grimm explain the inclusion of various sometimes only fragmentary versions of narratives into their collection.45

3

The Sources and the Creation of the Collection

Between 1807 and 1812, the Brothers Grimm managed to put together 86 fairy tales for their first volume of Kinder- und Hausmärchen, and between 1813 and 1815, another 70 for the second volume. The collection of legends published between 1816 and 1818, on the other hand, included a total of 579 items. Numerically speaking, it is somewhat amazing to see that these legends are much less often found all over Germany than the fairy tales.46 This is, of course, explained by the nature of the sources: whereas most of the fairy tales were obtained 40 41 42 43 44

45 46

Steig, Achim von Arnim und Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, 315–316 (letter from Wilhelm Grimm to von Arnim, dated 26th January 1815). Otmar, Volcks-Sagen. See Uther, “Die Deutschen Sagen der Brüder Grimm im Spiegel ihrer Kritiker”, 728. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xii; translation taken from Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 5. In his later Deutsche Mythologie (1835), Jacob Grimm describes Frau Holle (Holdâ) as being: “the kind, benignant merciful goddess and lady” (“eine freundliche, milde, gnädige göttin und frau”): Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie, 164; and Teutonic Mythology, 266. She also appears in KHM 24 and in Deutsche Sagen 4–8: Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, 6–11. See also below on the “Circularbrief” (Circular letter) which specially emphasises the value of fragments. See Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, vi.

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from the oral tradition, in the case of the legends they had to revert largely to written works from the sixteenth and seventeenth century, and to the works of Johannes Prätorius (1630–1680)47 in particular. Starting in 1808, one finds a number of references in the correspondence of the Grimms to the collection of legends from books. Jacob, for example, points to the wonderful old legends contained in the novel Tristan by Gottfried of Strassburg (d. 1210) and the works of Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241), and to their absence in Preußens ältere Geschichte (The Ancient History of Prussia) by August von Kotzebue (1761–1819).48 Wilhelm Grimm meanwhile approached Henrik Steffens (1773–1845), asking for assistance in finding old Nordic legends and folk songs.49 In December 1809, he wrote to Jacob: “I am enlarging our legend collection with some items that I consider to be the most important […]” (“Unsre Sagen Sammlung wird auch durch einiges von mir vermehrt werden und ich halte sie allerdings für das wichtigste […]”50). Their library was later expanded to include other appropriate literature, such as Idyllen, Volkssagen, Legenden und Erzählungen aus der Schweiz (Idylls, Folktales, Legends and Stories from Switzerland: 1815) by Johann Rudolf Wyss (1782–1830), and Die Sagen und Volksmährchen der Deutschen (The Legends and Fairy Tales of the German People: 1814) by Kaspar Friedrich Gottschalck (1772–1854).51 In his Wunderhorn, von Arnim had already called attention to the VolcksSagen (Folk Legends) published in 1800 by Johann Karl Christoph Nachtigal (1753–1819) under the pseudonym of “Otmar” as a model,52 and Jacob Grimm saw this collection as being so exemplary that he had intended including it alongside his own Kinder- und Hausmärchen as an example worth imitating in his Viennese “Circularbrief wegen Aufsammlung der Volkspoesie” (Circular Letter Regarding the Collection of Folk Poetry: 1815: see further below).53 47

48 49 50 51 52 53

Johannes Praetorius (Hans Schultz/ Praetorius Zeitlingensis) was a German writer, historian and compiler. The Brothers Grimm mainly used his Weltbeschreibung (1666), but also his Saturnalia (1663); Blockes-Berg (1668); Glücks-Topf (1669); Rübezahl (1662), Wündschel-Ruthe (1667); and Alectryomantia (1680). See Rölleke, Briefwechsel zwischen Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, I.1, 109, 152, 156, 168, 176, 186 and 431. Rölleke, Briefwechsel zwischen Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, I,1, 168 (letter from Wilhelm to Jacob Grimm, dated 28th August 1809). Rölleke, Briefwechsel zwischen Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, I,1, 194 (letter from Wilhelm to Jacob Grimm, dated 3rd December 1809). Rölleke, Briefwechsel zwischen Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, I.1, 365 (letters from Jacob to Wilhelm Grimm, dated 2nd and 3rd October 1814). See von Arnim and Brentano, Des Knaben Wunderhorn, I, 441. See Rölleke, Briefwechsel der Brüder Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, I.1, 419 (letter from Jacob to Wilhelm Grimm, dated 10th and 14th February 1815).

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The striving to find oral sources of the legends continued with astounding energy, much as it had for Kinder- und Hausmärchen, friends, acquaintances and correspondents being drawn into the collection activities. In May 1811, for example, Jacob Grimm enquired of the Westphalian envoy in Copenhagen, Hans Georg von Hammerstein-Equord (1771–1811): “It would be most desirable, Count, if you could find some simple people who retain the feeling and pleasure for this simplicity and youthful memory to unsophisticatedly record such (prose) traditions […]” (“Könnten Sie Herr Graf, einfache Leute, die für diese Einfachheit und Jugenderinnerung Gefühl und Freude sich erhalten haben, zur unschuldigen Niederschreibung solcher (prosaischen) Tradition finden, so wäre das höchst erwünscht […]”54). In this early phase of collection, one oral contribution from Köterberg in Weser Bergland stands out owing to the fact that Wilhelm Grimm reports it in a letter to August von Haxthausen (1792–1866): “On the barren summit, there was a shepherd tending sheep whom he asked about old stories; he also told us some very good ones […]” (“Auf der kahlen Kuppel waidete ein Schäfer, den wir um alte Erzählungen angingen, er hat auch einiges ganz gute mitgetheilt […]”55). These stories included the “Sage von der Springwurzel” (The Spurge Root),56 the oriental origin of which is elucidated by Wilhelm Grimm in Altdeutsche Wäldern (Old German Forests).57 The orally contributed legends grew slowly in number as a result of similar enquiries by friends and acquaintances. Following a visit to the von Haxthausen family and the Droste-Hülshoff sisters in Bökendorf in 1813, Wilhelm Grimm reported that they knew a lot of “fairy tales, songs, legends and sayings” (“Märchen, Lieder und Sagen, Sprüche”58) that he had recorded. From acquaintances in Frankfurt, Wilhelm Grimm heard the folk legend of the Sachsenhäuser Bridge (“von der Sachsenhäuser Brücke”59). While mailings from their brother, Ferdinand (1788–1845), in 1816 contained mainly legends taken from books, “some pieces were recorded orally” (“einige Stücke [waren] 54 55 56 57 58 59

Gottzmann, Briefwechsel der Brüder Grimm mit Hans Georg von Hammerstein-Equord, 62 (letter from Jacob Grimm to Hammerstein, dated 20th May 1811). Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: Preußischer Kulturbesitz: Nachlass Arnswaldt, Kst. 5: 155, 3a (letter from Wilhelm Grimm to August von Haxthausen, dated 8th August 1813). Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, 11–13. Wilhelm Grimm, “Sage von der Springwurzel”, 89–95. See Rölleke, Briefwechsel der Brüder Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, I.1, 252 (letter from Wilhelm to Jacob Grimm, dated 29th July 1813). Rölleke, Briefwechsel der Brüder Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, I.1, 452 (letter from Wilhelm to Jacob Grimm, dated 4th September 1815). See also Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, 267–268: legend 185 (“Die Sachsenhäuser Brücke zu Frankfurt”) with a note on its origin, stating “orally, from Frankfurt” (“Mündlich, aus Frankfurt”).

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aus dem Munde aufgenommen”60), and in June 1816, August von Haxthausen brought along “a couple of legends from Jenny [Droste-Hülshoff]” (“ein Paar wenige Sagen von der Jenny [Droste-Hülshoff]”61). All in all, the two volumes of Deutsche Sagen contain 91 legends derived from oral tradition, and 494 which were gleaned from literary sources.62 Approximately 20 persons can be identified as having been contributors of oral legends.63 At the start of 1815, Jacob Grimm, in his role as the Envoy of the Electorate of Hessia at the Viennese Conference, together with the Wollzeilergesellschaft, a literary society for the collection of folk poetry,64 sent out the earlier-noted “Circularbrief” in an attempt to acquire “all that there is in the way of song and legend from the common German country-people” (“unter dem gemeinen deutschen Landvolke von Lied und Sage vorhanden”65). What he sought were “legends in prose […] local legends which are told and known for their explanation of certain localities such as mountains, rivers, lakes, marshes, castle ruins, towers, rocks, and all monuments of remote antiquity” (“Sagen in ungebundener Rede […] Localsagen, die zur Erklärung gewisser Örtlichkeiten (wie Berge, Flüsse, Seen, Sümpfe, zertrümmerte Schlösser, Thürme, Steine und alle Denkmäler der Vorzeit sind) erzählt und gewußt werden”66) (emphasis in the original). In addition to these, epic traditions also ought to be collected: folk songs and rhymes, pranks, puppet shows, jests, folk festivals, manners, customs, games, celebrations, old laws, superstitions and phraseologisms. These materials should be recorded: in the most exact and detailed fashion from the mouths of the informants, faithfully and truthfully, without any cosmetic touch-up or addition, and where feasible in and with their very own words 60 61 62 63 64

65

66

Rölleke, Briefwechsel der Brüder Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, I.1, 475 (letter from Jacob to Wilhelm Grimm, dated 2nd June 1816). Rölleke, Briefwechsel der Brüder Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, I.1, 475 (letter from Jacob to Wilhelm Grimm, dated 2nd June 1816). See Erfurth, Die „Deutschen Sagen“ der Brüder Grimm, 103. Erfurth, Die „Deutschen Sagen“ der Brüder Grimm, 105. See Schupp, ‚Wollzeilergesellschaft‘ und ‚Kette‘. The name of the society was taken from that of their society’s meeting place on a street named Wollzeile near St Stephen’s cathedral in Vienna: Schupp, ‚Wollzeilergesellschaft‘ und ‚Kette‘, 10. German quoted from the copy in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: Preußischer Kulturbesitz: Nachlass Grimm 1575, 6, fol. 1. Translation taken from Jacob Grimm, “Circular Concerning the Collecting of Folk Poetry”, 5. German quoted from a copy kept in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: Preußischer Kulturbesitz: Nachlass Grimm 1575, 6, fol. 1. Translation taken from Jacob Grimm, “Circular Concerning the Collecting of Folk Poetry”, 6.

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(getreu und wahr, ohne Schminke und Zuthat, aus dem Munde der Erzählenden, wo thunlich in deren selbsteigenen Worten, auf das genaueste und umständlichste aufgefaßt werden67) and, if possible, even in the local dialect. The fact that fragments also had value was also pointed out. Secluded villages were recommended as being ideal collecting places, as well as certain occupational groups such as shepherds, fishers, miners, and/ or old people, women, and children. In a postscript, Jacob Grimm also underlines the Old German materials that can be found in monasteries. The “Circularbrief” was printed in February 1815,68 and by 14th April 1816, over 360 copies had been sent out.69 One reply to this call came, for example, from the notary Peter Truffer (1774–1830) living in the town of Visp in the Canton of Wallis who contributed six legends and one fairy tale, “Die drei Sprachen” (The Three Languages) which was included in the fairy tale collection as KHM 33. The first volume of Deutsche Sagen appeared in May 1816,70 work on the second becoming so intensified at the start of 1817 that Wilhelm could report to von Hammerstein in July 1817 that the manuscript was now finished and contained “everything relevant that can be found in the historical works of Tacitus, Jornandes [sic], and Paulus Diaconus going up to the medieval chronicles” (“sich bei den Geschichtsschreibern von Tacitus, Jornandes [sic], Paulus Diaconus bis auf die Chroniken des Mittelalters hierhergehöriges findet”71). To von Savigny, he declared that this second volume “has been edited with a few exceptions by Jacob alone” (“bis auf wenige Ausnahmen vom Jacob allein ausgearbeitet ist”72). Not only in Jacob Grimm’s turn towards grammatical studies, but even here during the editing of the Deutsche Sagen, the brotherly

67

68 69 70 71 72

Quoted from the copy in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: Preußischer Kulturbesitz: Nachlass Grimm 1575, 6, fol. 1. Translation taken from Jacob Grimm, “Circular Concerning the Collecting of Folk Poetry”, 6. See Rölleke, Briefwechsel der Brüder Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm, I.1, 418–419 (letter from Jacob to Wilhelm Grimm, dated 10th February 1815). The number of copies sent out was recorded by both Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in a copy that they retained. See also Petzoldt, “Einleitung”, 11*–13*. Beilage zu den Berlinischen Nachrichten von Staats- und gelehrten Sachen 71, 13th June 1816; and Intelligenz-Blatt zur Leipziger Literatur-Zeitung 153, 22nd June 1816: 1223. Gottzmann, Briefwechsel der Brüder Grimm mit Hans Georg von Hammerstein-Equord, 106–107 (letter from Wilhelm Grimm to Hammerstein, dated 6th July 1817). See Schnack and Schoof, Briefe der Brüder Grimm an Savigny, 269 (letter from Wilhelm Grimm to Savigny, dated 6th June 1818).

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cooperation was increasingly giving way to the individual leanings of the two brothers.73 The share of oral legends was markedly considerably lower in the second part of Deutsche Sagen which contained only six references to them.74 This fact is explained by Jacob Grimm in the foreword to the second volume when he states that a legend “about a strange formation of rock” (“um die seltsame Bildung eines Felsens”) is easier to collect than one “about the fame of even the most noble families” (“um den Ruhm selbst der edelsten Geschlechter”75). As Grimm notes, unlike the first volume, in which the legends chosen focus on enchanted characters, mythological creatures, professions, places and so on,76 the historical legends contained in the second volume come under the heading of “Legends of Teutonic Tribes and of Royal Families” (“Stamm- und Geschlechtssagen”77) which rarely deal with authenticated historical events, but rather a legendary truth that obeys its own laws, something which they felt, up until now, had not been taken into account. To their mind, they contain the “merely emaciated and fragmentary remains of what was once the mighty treasure hoard of ancient German folk poetry” (“magre und bröckelhafte Ueberbleibsel von dem großen Schatze uralter deutscher Volksdichtung”78). The order of the second volume follows a chronology as well as the various Germanic tribes,79 and begins with the writings of Roman historians. The text of the legends does not follow previously published versions of the material precisely, but rather, drawing on both Latin and German sources, adopts a mixed, uneven prose style that disregards any original poetic forms. At the end of the foreword, Jacob Grimm raises the possibility of a further volume of local legends being published later, as well as an “investigation of the entire corpus of materials” (“Untersuchung des gesamten Vorrathes”80), in other words a potential scholarly volume containing a commentary or explanatory notes. Without such material, he says in a letter in 1818, “the book is not anything; whether anything will come of this will have to be seen when we edit the

73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

See Ehrhardt, “Von der Geschichte der Sage zur Geschichte der Sprache”, 9. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), II, legends 448b, 457, 483, 487, 556 and 565. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), II, iii–iv. See Rölleke, “Grimms ,Deutsche Sagen‘”, 715. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), II, iv; translation taken from Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, II, 1. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), II, vi; translation based on Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, II, 2. See Deutsche Sagen (1994), 716, in which Rölleke underlines this tribal ordering. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), II, xiv; translation taken from Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, II, 6.

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commentary […]” (“das Buch [sei] noch nichts; ob etwas daraus werden wird, muß sich zeigen, wenn wir den Commentar ausarbeiten […]”81). For various reasons, neither this additional volume, nor a new edition of the Deutsche Sagen was realised during the Brothers’ lives.82 From the autumn of 1816 onwards, Jacob Grimm was increasingly concerning himself with the oldest remnants of the German language. The phase of fraternal cooperation had come to an end. For the next 20 years, Jacob Grimm mainly dedicated himself to his Deutsche Grammatik (German Grammar).

4

Criticism and the Reception of the Legend Collection

Jacob Grimm evidently paid close attention to the reception of the Deutsche Sagen and recorded twelve reviews chronologically in the margins of both volumes of his private copies (Handexemplare) of the collection.83 These are all the reviews that have been identified to date. The first review published in the Intelligenz-Blatt des Morgenblattes on 16th July 1816 was, according to a note by Jacob Grimm, written by Friedrich Wilhelm Gubitz (1786–1870), and was printed in four additional places which have often been overlooked but are worth being included here.84 Gubitz’s laudatory review sticks close to the foreword, emphasising the faithfulness and truth in tone and wording, the manifold nature of the collection, and the precise indication of sources. Ferdinand Grimm nonetheless braced his brothers for a more unfriendly review that was about to appear in a Berlin journal: “In the Freimüthigen, someone (possibly Horn) has written a dirty review of the legends; nothing of the sort (like that which appears in the Jen. Z. [Jenaischen Allgemeinen Literatur-Zeitung]) can be called criticism; it excites gossip, as has happened everywhere, and great displeasure” (“Im Freimüthigen hat einer (vielleicht Horn) die Sagen schmutzig angezeigt, da dergleichen (so wie auch in d.

81 82 83

84

Schnack and Schoof, Briefe der Brüder Grimm an Savigny, 270 (letter from Jacob Grimm to Savigny, dated 6th August 1818). See Kindermann-Bieri, “Vorwort”, 12–13. See Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: Preußischer Kulturbesitz: Nachlass Grimm 84 (vol. 2) and 86 (vol. 1). They are listed in Uther, “Die Deutschen Sagen der Brüder Grimm im Spiegel ihrer Kritiker”, 736–737. Allgemeiner Anzeiger der Deutschen 200, 28th July 1816: 2082; Beilage zur Frankfurter Ober-Postamts-Zeitung 223, 10th August 1816; Intelligenzblatt der Zeitung für die elegante Welt 32, 15th December 1818; and Beilage zur Frankfurter Ober-Postamts-Zeitung 356, 23rd December 1818 (see below). Additional identical reviews of the second volume also appear in the last two papers mentioned above.

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Jen. Z.) keine Kritik genannt werden kann, so erregt das Geschwätz, wie es auch überall geschehen, nur großen Unwillen”85). The anonymous reviewer, who was not Franz Horn (1781–1837), but rather Garlieb Merkel (1769–1850), the chief editor of the journal writing anonymously, does not go about his work squeamishly. He describes the book as an “immense cartload of useless rubble and rocks” (“ungeheure[n] Karren voll unnützen Schuttes und Steinbrocken”), among which “one can hardly find two that have any poetic value, and there is no trace of anything historical in this collection” (“vielleicht nicht zwei, die einigen poetischen Werth haben, und von historischem kann bei dieser Sammlung gar nicht die Rede sein”); they are rather “the notions of old German women and their like” (“die Einfälle Altdeutscher Weiber und ihrer Gleichen”).86 The foreword, he adds, is full of “mystical-sentimental bombast” (“mystisch-sentimentalem Bombast”87). Another unfriendly review88 appeared in the Jenaischen Allgemeinen Literatur-Zeitung undersigned “L. P.” (behind which Jacob Grimm suspected to be the brother-in-law of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), Christian August Vulpius [1762–1827]) quotes, like Merkel in the Freimüthigen, the first sentence of the foreword as a lead-in. The sources, the author goes on to write, are limited; moreover, the editors appear to be “quite unfamiliar with a number of legend collections, that is the works of a Misander, Quirsfeld, Zenner, Ernst, Hohndorf, etc.” (“die Werke eines Misander, Quirsfeld, Zenner, Ernst, Hohndorf u.s.w. gar nicht zu kennen”89). The author adds that the source value 85 86 87

88

89

Steig, Über Grimms “Deutsche Sagen”, 59–60 (letter from Ferdinand to Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, dated 8th September 1816). [Merkel], review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, Ernst und Scherz oder der alte Freimüthige 23, 19th August 1816: 89. [Merkel], review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, Ernst und Scherz oder der alte Freimüthige 23, 19th August 1816: 89. The present author is nonetheless uncertain whether this review actually “argues for a contemporary preoccupation with the literatures of all (European) nations […] and stands in direct contrast to the efforts of all those […] who occupy themselves exclusively with the Old German literary canon” (“Dieses Plädoyer für eine gegenwartsbestimmte Beschäftigung mit der Literatur aller (europäischen) Völker steht in direktem Gegensatz zu den Bemühungen all derer, die sich ausschließlich mit altdeutschen Literaturdenkmälern beschäftigen”) as Uther suggests in “Die Deutschen Sagen der Brüder Grimm im Spiegel ihrer Kritiker”, 723. It might be noted that unfriendly criticism of this kind was not limited to Deutsche Sagen. A similarly negative review of Kinder- und Hausmärchen had appeared in 1815 (see below), and others would appear in 1820 following the publication of the second edition: see Winzer, Permanente Metamorphosen, 82–84. L.P., review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, Jenaische Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung 156, August 1816: 311. The authors referred to are, among others, Misander [that is Peter Paul Nitzschka], Johann Quirsfeld (1642–1686), and Gottfried Zenner (1656–1721).

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of the legends of Johannes Prätorius, which the Brothers Grimm had singled out as being especially valuable, is made questionable by a malicious historical report from 1689. According to this work written by Wilhelm Ernst Tentzel (1659–1707), Prätorius was: a strange fellow who ran around everywhere in Leipzig asking people what was new? Following this, some of the many lusty young men in the store cellars would think up something and humour him with it, and all of this he noted on his writing board and later used to embellish his balderdash. (ein wunderlicher Kauz gewesen, der zu Leipzig allenthalben herumgegangen und die Leute gefragt, was es Neues gäbe? Daher ihrer viel, sonderlich die lustigen Bursche in den Kaufmanns-Gewölbern, etwas erdichtet und ihm vorgeschwatzt, welches er Alles in seine Schreibetafel […] aufgezeichnet, und hernach seine Scartequen damit ausgeziert90). In July 1816, Gubitz’s earlier-noted laudatory critique was nonetheless reprinted in the Allgemeinen Anzeiger der Deutschen,91 and then once again two weeks later in the supplement to the Frankfurter Ober-Postamts-Zeitung.92 In the following year (1817), another review in the Literatur-Blatt of the Morgenblatt für gebildete Stände (1817) emphasises the Grimms’ sources, their use of Prätorius and those legends collected “from oral tradition” (“nach mündlicher Tradition”), as well as the “narrative style” (“Erzählungsweise”) of the work.93 A similar review in the Sprach- und Sittenanzeiger der Deutschen calls the collection estimable (“schätzenswert”), but criticises its minimal literary editing work, while mentioning that town chronicles are an overlooked source for local legends.94 The second volume was then advertised by Achim von Arnim in the Berlin Gesellschafter in August 1818. Even if this review was inspired by Wilhelm 90 91 92 93 94

L. P., review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, Jenaische Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung 156, August 1816: 312. [Gubitz], review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vol. I, Allgemeiner Anzeiger der Deutschen 200, 28th July 1816: 2082. [Gubitz], review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vol. I, Beilage zur Frankfurter Ober-PostamtsZeitung 223, 10th August 1816. Anonymous, review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vol. I, Literatur-Blatt zum Morgenblatt für gebildete Stände 3 1817: 12. Anonymous, review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vol. I, Sprach- und Sittenanzeiger der Deutschen 74 and 75, September 1817: 298–300, and 301–302.

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Grimm and remains by and large laudatory, it nonetheless raises questions about the value of the sources. The most difficult one is that of “discovering the point at which in many legends tradition ceases and where […] invention has generated the same legend in different places without there being an oral tradition behind this” (“bei vielen Sagen den Punkt zu aufzufinden, wo die Tradition aufhört und wo die […] Erfindung dieselbe Sage an verschiedenen Orten ohne eine solche Mitteilung wieder hervorgebracht hat”95). On the other hand, in agreement with the foreword of the second volume,96 von Armin sees the legends as having historical value. The next review of the second volume was also authored by a friend, Georg Friedrich Benecke (1762–1844) who in the Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen defended the book against over hasty criticism, advising both readers and the authors to read it slowly, suggesting to the authors that they should add indexes of persons, places, authors.97 In December 1818, Gubitz’s laudatory review of the first volume was once again reprinted in both the Intelligenzblatt der Zeitung für die elegante Welt and the supplement to the Frankfurter Ober-Postamts-Zeitung. Unnoticed by the Grimms, it was now expanded to include a brief review of the second volume which runs as follows: The legends gathered together in this volume follow on directly historically; the author calls them tribal and family legends. They must have been collected from old history books and chronicles with great effort and caution, extensive use being made of handwritten materials. The same gracefulness of the narrative and the manifold nature (216 legends) that gained so many friends for the first part of this collection (local legends obtained from the oral tradition) characterise this work as well. (Die in diesem Bande zusammengestellten Sagen schließen sich unmittelbar an die Geschichte an; der Verfasser nennt sie Stamm- und Geschlechtssagen. Sie mußten mit vieler Mühe und Umsicht aus alten Geschichtsbüchern und Chroniken gesammelt, auch handschriftliche Hülfsmittel fleißig benutzt werden. Dieselbe Anmuth in der Erzählung und eben die Mannigfaltigkeit (216 Geschichten), welche dem ersten

95 96 97

von Arnim, review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vol. II, in Erfurth, Die „Deutschen Sagen“ der Brüder Grimm, 57. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), II, iv–v. Benecke, review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vols I and II, Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen 177, 5th November 1818: 1766–1767.

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Theile dieser Sammlung (Localssagen aus mündlicher Ueberlieferung geschöpft) so viel Freunde erwarb, zeichtet auch diese aus.98) In April 1819, an anonymous review by Franz Horn appeared in the Leipzig Zeitung für die elegante Welt which followed the Grimms’ argument that the legends should be treated as a product of humanity in its youth. The reviewer sees German character traits being revealed in the 217 historical legends, including “a serious sense of justice, devotion, duty, […] piety, […] individual self-sacrifice for the sake of everyone else, orientation to moral ideals, etc” (“der ernste Sinn für Recht, Treue, Wahrheit, […] Frömmigkeit, […] Aufopferung des Individuellen zum des Ganzen willen, seine Richtung zum Sittlichidealen u. s. w.”).99 He describes the stylistic implementation as being of “a noble archaic style” (“in edlerm Sinne alterthümliche Weise”) which “merges sensibly with the character of the content” (“mit dem Charakter des Inhalts sinnvoll verschmolzen”100). A long review by Franz Joseph Mone (1796–1871) which appeared in May 1819 in the Heidelberger Jahrbüchern der Litteratur is dedicated to both volumes of Deutsche Sagen.101 In the spirit of the Brothers Grimm, Mone praises the work as being a first step in a still incomplete collection of folk narrative, the spiritual world of which is still fathomable. For this reason, the reviewer says he will restrict himself to assessing the external features, the faithfulness and completeness, the stylistic simplicity, and the reference to sources, seeing the number of fragments that have been handed down to be indicative of a lost treasure. Departing from the Grimms’ position, however, Mone does not see the local legends as having been derived from “the native surroundings” (“der heimathlichen Oertlichkeit”). All the same, he does see the surroundings as having preserved a close connection to the heroic legends. The age of the legends, something the Grimms had not paid much attention to, is considered in more diachronic terms by Mone. For him, the date of a legend’s creation is not as relevant as the processes involved in its historical transmission: “transformations, transitions, reorganisations, their apparent demise, and the like” 98

99 100 101

[Gubitz], review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vols I and II, Intelligenzblatt der Zeitung für die elegante Welt 32, 15th December 1818, and Beilage zur Frankfurter Ober-PostamtsZeitung 3560, 23rd December 1818. [Horn], review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vols I and II, Zeitung für die elegante Welt 65, 1st April 1819: 517. [Horn], review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vols I and II, Zeitung für die elegante Welt 65, 1st April 1819: 517. Mone, review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vols I and II, Heidelberger Jahrbücher der Litteratur 12.31, May 1819: 490–495.

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(“Verwandlungen, Uebergänge, Umgestaltungen, ihr scheinbarer Untergang u. dgl.”102). One can almost recognise the methodology that would later be employed by Jacob Grimm in his Deutsche Mythologie (German Mythology: 1835) when Mone asks to see “how Christian moral doctrine gradually penetrated the pagan property of the prehistoric world and shaped it differently” (“wie allmählig die christliche Sittenlehre in dieses heidnische Gut der Vorwelt eingedrungen und es anders gestaltet [hat]”103). Mone also points to comparative legend scholarship and to the religious and theological origins that lie behind the archaeological evidence, seeing a key to this knowledge as lying in the divine origin of ancient culture which he defends against rationalistic “condescending know-it-alls” (“absprechende Wisserey”104). In Mone’s review of the second volume, support is once again given for several aspects of the position developed in the Grimms’ foreword, for example, the idea that old songs are the basis of all tribal legends. Some criticism is nonetheless raised of the distinction made between historical legend and written history, and between legends of individuals and heroic song, as well as of the “flowerly style” (“blümelnde Sprache”) used in the forewords that “clouds the sharpness and clarity of the investigation” (“die Schärfe und Klarheit der Untersuchung verwische”105). Following the scathing criticism earlier voiced in the Jenaische Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung in August 1816, a short note on the second volume appeared in the same journal in November 1819 which, while it criticised the selection of the tales, praised the narrative style.106 A final more extensive, but once again generally negative review of Deutsche Sagen appeared in the Leipziger Literatur-Zeitung of 10th February 1820 which was dedicated to the first volume. Here, the bulk of the tales in the first volume are judged to be insignificant, and evidence “of blind madness and pious superstition” (“des blinden Wahns und des frommen Aberglaubens”107). Alongside “much meaningful and rich content” (“viel Sinnigem 102 103 104 105 106 107

Mone, review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vols I and II, Heidelberger Jahrbücher der Litteratur 12.31, May 1819: 491. Mone, review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vols I and II, Heidelberger Jahrbücher der Litteratur 12.31, May 1819: 491–492. Mone, review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vols I and II, Heidelberger Jahrbücher der Litteratur 12.31, May 1819: 492. Mone, review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vols I and II, Heidelberger Jahrbücher der Litteratur 12.31, May 1819: 494–495. B. V., review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vols I and II, Jenaische Allgemeine LiteraturZeitung 207, November 1819: 232. Anonymous, review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vol. I, Leipziger Literatur-Zeitung 35, 10th February 1820: 279.

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und Gehaltvollem”), the collection is said to contain “much fatuous and meaningless material” (“so manches Abgeschmackte und Bedeutungslose”) and be overall poor in quality.108 The Grimms’ printing of variants is also criticised, as is the fact that the “manifoldness” of the collection (“Mannigfaltigkeit”) is not arranged according to region. The value of the sources, and not least that of Prätorius’s collection is also once again called into question. A short, but more laudatory review of the second part, obviously written by another reviewer, appeared a few weeks later.109 Jacob Grimm’s reactions to these reviews can be found in several of his letters. After the first volume had been received unfavourably in two influential papers, he feared, not entirely unfoundedly, that these could prove damaging to the overall reception of the legends in Germany: As he writes to his brother Ferdinand in September 1816: I will be happy if the legends go well; admittedly the fairy tales were not reviewed at all,110 but these poor legends have already been attacked by x in the Freimüthigen and more recently in the Jenaer L. Z. by that ass Vulpius (L. P.) which could do them damage. That is why I hesitate to offer Nicolai111 the second volume that is ready to go to press, even though it is in many ways more important than the first one and will interest an even wider readership. (Es soll mir lieb sein, wenn die Sagen gut gehen; die Märchen wurden wenigstens gar nicht recensirt, aber diese armen Sagen sind nun schon von Merkel im Freimüthigen und neuerdings in der Jenaer L. Z. von dem Esel, dem Vulpius (L. P.), angefochten worden, welches ihnen doch schaden könnte. Ich scheue mich daher Nicolai den zweiten Band, der ganz zum Druck fertig liegt, anzubieten, wiewohl er in vieler Hin-

108 109 110

111

Anonymous, review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vol. I, Leipziger Literatur-Zeitung 35, 10th February 1820: 279. Anonymous, review of Grimm, Deutsche Sagen, vol. II, Leipziger Literatur-Zeitung 48, 25th February 1820: 384. This was not actually true. In their personal copy of Kinder- und Hausmärchen (see note 83 above), the Grimms note four reviews, including that in Wiener Allgemeinen Literaturzeitung, on 2nd March 1813; one by August Wilhelm Schlegel (1767–1845) in Heidelbergische Jahrbücher der Litteratur 46 (1815), 728–730; and the largely negative review in the Leipziger Literatur-Zeitung 1815 (see below). See further https://www.grimm-portal .de/viewer/fullscreen/1433243313511_1/5/. Friedrich Nicolai (1733–1811). Deutsche Sagen had been published by the Nicolaische Buchhandlung.

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sicht wichtiger, als der erste wird und auch ein größeres Publicum intereßirt.112) Jacob Grimm started to resign himself to negative literary criticism following the reviews of the second volume. On 4th June 1820, he wrote to his colleague Karl Lachmann (1793–1851), already starting to look ahead to Deutsche Mythologie: In time, the myths will need to be ordered and investigated much like the forms of language, and then more joy will accompany my work; there is so much that remains instructive in the folk legends and fairy tales, which is why those reviewers who love to praise dialect dictionaries do not judge our collections of legends and fairy tales as foolishly, prefering to remain silent, rather than suppress the little attention they have gained among the readership. Others who do not quite disapprove of the matter and purpose are gagged by noblesse. (Mit der Zeit müssen die Mythen auch ordentlich wie die Sprachformen gestellt und untersucht werden, dann wird größere Freude dabei seyn; an den Volkssagen und Mährchen ist doch mancherlei Lehrreiches haften geblieben, darum sollten die Recensenten, welche Idiotiken zu loben pflegen, unsere Sammlungen von Sagen und Mährchen nicht so läppisch beurtheilen, und lieber ganz dazu schweigen, als das Bischen Aufmerksamkeit darauf beim Publicum niederdrücken. Anderen, welche Sache und Zweck nicht gerade misbilligen, stopft Vornehmheit den Mund.113) The short overview of the German reception given above reveals a concentration of the negative reviews in a particular group of journals: the Freimüthigen, the Jenaischen Allgemeinen Literatur-Zeitung and the Leipziger LiteraturZeitung. The former, a Berlin journal, and its editor Garlieb Merkel had in general an anti-Romantic tendency.114 The author of the review in the Jenaische Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung, meanwhile, who the Grimms had imagined was Vulpius (probably because his brother-in-law Goethe was the co-founder

112

113 114

Steig, “Über Grimms ‚Deutsche Sagen‘”, 60 (letter from Jacob to Ferdinand Grimm, dated 11th September 1816). See also Erfurth, Die „Deutschen Sagen“ der Brüder Grimm, 26 (letter from Jacob Grimm to Joseph Görres, dated 18th June 1817). Leitzmann, Briefwechsel der Brüder Jacob und Wilhelm Grimm mit Karl Lachmann, I, 144 (letter from Jacob Grimm to Lachmann, dated 4th June 1820). See Uther, “Die Deutschen Sagen der Brüder Grimm im Spiegel ihrer Kritiker”, 723.

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of this journal), remains uncertain. It is nonetheless noticeable that a similarly scathing review was published in the Leipziger Literatur-Zeitung, a journal purely dedicated to reviews and edited by Leipzig University professors which had earlier slammed the first edition of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen in 1815.115 Whether it was the extensive work on his Deutsche Grammatik (1816–1840), or Jacob Grimm’s disappointment about the reception of the two collections, it is not possible to determine in any definitive way why the further volumes of legends announced in the foreword to the Grimms’ second volume of legends (see above) never came to light. In spite of the more positive reception that Deutsche Sagen clearly received in other countries (see the rest of this volume), no further editions, reprints, or additional material ever appeared in Germany for the folk legends during the lifetimes of the Grimm brothers. It was only several years after Jacob Grimm’s death, in 1865–1866, that Wilhelm Grimm’s son Herman (1828–1901) went on to edit a second, larger edition containing not only several more legends but also information about the sources (taken from the Grimms’ notes). A third edition then followed in 1891, with additional material taken from the Grimms’ handwritten annotations. Following Herman Grimm’s death, a fourth edition by Reinhold Steig (1857–1918), the administrator of the Grimm estate, restored the consecutive numbering of the legends that had been altered in the last two editions. As noted in the Introduction, in terms of translation into other languages, Deutsche Sagen has naturally been overshadowed by those of Kinder- und Hausmärchen. While translations of various legends appeared in England and Ireland,116 the only full translation of both volumes seems to be that carried out in French by Jean-François-Napoléon Theil (1808–1878) under the title Traditions allemandes (1838). It was not until 1981 that a complete English translation undertaken by Donald Ward (The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm) appeared. A Danish translation from 1824 sometimes mentioned in scholarly works is a bibliographical misunderstanding: such a work does not exist.117

115 116 117

Anonymous, review of Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen, 2 vols. Leipziger LiteraturZeitung, 52, 2nd March 1815: 409–416. See the chapters by Jonathan Roper and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist elsewhere in this volume. See Denecke, Jacob Grimm und sein Bruder Wilhelm, 85. This misunderstanding is due to Karl Justi’s Grundlage zu einer Hessischen Gelehrten- und Schriftsteller-Geschichte vom Jahre 1806 bis zum Jahre 1830, which contains two biographies of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Following mention of the move of the Brothers Grimm to Göttingen, Justi added

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With regard to the twentieth-century editions, Heinz Rölleke’s annotated and text-critically revised edition published in 1994 stands out, as does the earlier 1993 edition by Barbara Kindermann-Bieri. Kindermann-Bieri’s third volume includes 161 unpublished legends taken from the estate of the Brothers Grimm in lieu of the third volume containing local legends previously announced by Jacob Grimm (see above).118 As Ludwig Denecke observed in 1971, “a ‘Bolte/Polívka’ for the legends” (“leider ein ‘Bolte/Polívka’ zu den Sagen”) – five volumes containing comprehensive philological research and a comparative motif register of the legends – is unfortunately still lacking.”119

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bibliographical additions to the appendix (p. 831), in which he erroneously took Lindencrone’s Folke Eventyr (1821) to be a translation of Deutsche Sagen” into Danish, rather than of Kinder- und Hausmärchen. Volume 3 consists of 161 legends recorded by the Brothers Grimm in a sheaf of papers which actually contains a total of 206 legends. The remaining legends were not included in this edition because they contain “mainly just simple notes, key words, or fragments of legends […] written down in many different hands” (“meist nur flüchtige Notizen, Stichworte oder Sagenfragmente […] in den unterschiedlichsten Handschriften zu Papier gebracht”): Kindermann-Bieri. “Vorwort”, 14. The quote refers to the five-volume annotated edition of Anmerkungen zu den Kinderund Hausmärchen edited by Johannes Bolte (1858–1937) and Georg (Jiří) Polívka from 1913 to 1932.

Chapter 3

The Accidental Folklorist: Thiele’s Collection of Danish Folk Legends in Early Nineteenth-Century Denmark Timothy R. Tangherlini

1

Introduction

In October of 1817, the young Danish library assistant, Just Mathias Thiele (1795–1874: see fig. 3.1), published a slender volume of Danish folk legends, Prøver af Danske Folkesagn (A Sampler of Danish Folk Legends: see fig. 3.2), telling in the foreword briefly about how the collection came to be: Increasingly enticed by the many both historical and poetic gold nuggets that lay here and there unseen on the fields and along the well-worn paths, I have, over the past summer, by comparing oral traditions with printed and hand-written chorographic works, collected more than two hundred folk legends of varying worth from Sjaelland.1 (Altid mere og mere lokket af de mange baade historiske og poethiske Guldkorn, der ligge hist og her useete paa Marker og alfare Veie, har jeg i afvigte Sommer, ved at sammenholde mundtlige Traditioner med trykte og haandskrevne chorographiske Værker, indsamlet flere end to hundrede sjællandske Folkesagn af forskjællig Værdi.2) With his reference to both the historical and poetic aspects of folk legends, Thiele drew a direct line from his collection to the Grimm brothers’ Deutsche Sagen published one year earlier. In the foreword to the first volume of that collection, Jacob Grimm had proposed a distinction between the fairy tale and the legend, writing: “The fairy tale is more poetic, the legend is more historical” (“Das Märchen ist poetischer, die Sage historischer”3). Thiele’s use of the characterisation was hardly coincidental, as he himself concluded his introduction 1 Unless otherwise noted, all translations are those of the author. 2 Thiele, Prøver af Danske Folkesagn, ix. 3 Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, v.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_005

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Figure 3.1 Just Mathias Thiele by J. L. Lund (1832): Bakkehusmuseet

Figure 3.2 Just Mathias Thiele, Prøver af Danske Folkesagn (1817). Title page

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to Prøver with a long citation from Jacob Grimm’s foreword to Deutsche Sagen in an attempt to motivate others to collect legends throughout Denmark.4 Thiele’s slight book was unusual for several reasons. First of all, it was the first hint that the collection, study and publication of legends were poised to become a sizeable enterprise in nineteenth-century Scandinavia. Second, and perhaps more importantly, it was the first early conscious product of deliberate and extensive folklore fieldwork in Scandinavia. Yet, despite the enthusiastic reception of both Prøver af Danske Folkesagn, and the more substantial Danske Folkesagn (Danish Folk Legends) published over the ensuing six years (1818–1823), Thiele’s engagement with folklore would come to drop off dramatically. In his initial zeal, Thiele had imagined that he would do for Denmark and Danish folklore what the Grimm brothers had done for Germany and German folklore, something spurred on no doubt by the enthusiastic response the Grimm brothers had given his first collection. In a letter written to Rasmus Nyerup (1759–1829), Thiele’s boss at the Royal Library (Det Kongelige Bibliotek) who had written the foreword to this first volume, Wilhelm Grimm wrote:5 We welcome Thiele’s “Specimens of local legends”, so please encourage the author to continue the collection work to which you have already introduced him. We would be particularly happy to see a work like that as a counterpart to our own. My brother has reviewed and recommended it in a journal in Göttingen (Wünschelruthe 1818, No. 50, S. 200). (Thieles Probe von Volkssagen ist uns sehr willkommen, muntern Sie den Verf., da Sie ihn doch schon eingeführt haben auf in dem Sammeln fortzufahren. Wir würden ein solches Werk als ein Gegenstück zu dem unsrigen mit besonderer Vorliebe empfangen. Mein Bruder hat es in einer Göttinger Zeitschrift (Wünschelruthe 1818, No. 50, S. 200) angezeigt und empfohlen.6) After several years of collecting and editing, however, Thiele became increasingly disinterested in the stories he was hearing from his rural informants, writing in the introduction to the third volume of the 1818–1823 collection:

4 Thiele, Prøver af Danske Folkesagn, x; cf. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xxv–xxvi. 5 Thiele, Prøver af Danske Folkesagn, iii–viii. 6 Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 78 (letter to Rasmus Nyerup dated 28th August 1818). For the very positive review, see Grimm, “Eine dänische Sammlung von Volkssagen”.

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When an honest farmer begins to tell, I can, more often than not, as soon as I’ve heard him start, say, “OK, be quiet now, my good man! I’ll tell you the rest!” (Naar nu en ærlig Bondemand begynder at fortælle, kan jeg som oftest, naar jeg blot har hørt ham begynde, sige ham, «Ja, tie nu, Fa’er! Saa skal jeg fortælle jer Resten!»7) Instead, Thiele decided to pursue other interests. 20 years later, he admittedly reignited the folkloric flame, but only briefly. His on-again, off-again engagement with folklore over his long and varied career as a librarian, secretary to the King, poet, dramatist, art conservator, museum curator, and assistant to and biographer of the Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770–1844) thus poses somewhat of a riddle. Thiele seems to have stumbled onto the idea of collecting folklore, and particularly legends, quite by accident. In 1816, as an honorarium for writing twelve sonnets for a New Year’s collection of short literary works, Hertha, compiled by Rasmus Nyerup and published by Thiele’s brother Hans (1787–1839), he received a copy of the Grimms’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen,8 which he prized greatly. The following year, as he began his work at the Royal Library, he became entranced by a chance encounter with the Grimms’ legend collection. Unbeknownst to him, Jacob Grimm had begun drafting an outline of the goals of folk collection which Thiele seems to have intuited.9 In any event, Thiele was far more successful at following their advice than they ever were.10 With access to the entire library collection, much as the Grimms had done with Deutsche Sagen,11 he began copying down excerpts of legends from various books and manuscripts, piecing together the various versions he found into what he felt were poetically consistent complete versions.12 In May 1817, Thiele spent a long weekend at Nysø, the manor house of his friend Henrik Stampe (1794–1876) on the south-eastern coast of Sjælland.13 He 7 8 9 10

11 12 13

Thiele, Danske Folkesagn (1818–1823), III, v–vi. Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 82. See further note 47 above on the suggestion that Thiele may have had access to Grimm’s Circular through Nyerup. On the advice in question, see Jacob Grimm, “Circular, die Sammlung der Volkspoesie betreffend”. It is worth noting that in his autobiography, Thiele underlines his prior awareness of Deutsche Sagen: see Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 84. See further the chapter by Holger Ehrhardt on Deutsche Sagen elsewhere in this volume. Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 84. Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 85.

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let it be known that he was interested in old stories, and his host arranged numerous opportunities for him to listen to stories told by the manor farm’s tenants and day labourers. Buoyed by this experience and a similar experience at the nearby Gisselfeldt castle during that same trip, he launched himself into collecting. Yet his subsequent forays into the countryside seem to have been inspired as much by his love of walking, a Romantic engagement with nature, and the favour of a particular young woman who had caught his eye as by his interest in folklore.14 Despite the accidental nature of Thiele’s interest in legend collecting, his work had a considerable impact not only in folklore circles but also – and perhaps more importantly to him – in literary circles. Thiele was evidently an early source of inspiration and support to H. C. Andersen (1805–1875) and a near constant, albeit peripheral, figure at the literary salons of Frederikke Brun (1765–1835) and Kamma Rahbek (1775–1829). Thiele, a social climber by nature and an aspiring poet, was fascinated by these gatherings, which were attended not only by poets, dramatists, artists, and authors but also by the wealthy patrons who supported the development of literature and art in Copenhagen and other European capitals. Caught up in the Romantic currents of the time, like many others such as Adam Oehlenschläger (1779–1850) and Niels Laurits Høyen (1798–1870), Thiele saw folklore mainly as a source of inspiration for literary creation and not as an object of study in and of itself. Hans Ellekilde (1891–1966), in a summary of Thiele’s impact in Danish literature, suggests that his legend collections: […] have had the greatest impact on Danish literary art as a source of material and as a source of inspiration for poets such as H. C. Andersen, J. L. Heiberg [1791–1860], Blicher [1782–1848], Ingemann [1789–1862], Poul Møller [1794–1838], Chr. Winther [1796–1876], H. P. Holst [1811–1893], and many lesser spirits, among them the poet J. M. Thiele himself. ([…] har haft den største Betydning for den danske Digtekunst som Stofkilde og som Inspirationsmulighed for Digtere som H. C. Andersen, J. L. Heiberg, Blicher, Ingemann, Poul Møller, Chr. Winther, H. P. Holst og mange mindre Aander, deriblandt Digteren J. M. Thiele selv.15)

14 15

Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 85–95. Ellekilde, “Thieles folkesagn”, 112.

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Writing in the foreword to Prøver, Nyerup16 emphasised this aspect of folklore as well: These accounts could be useful in other contexts beyond the interest it has for antiquarian, ethnographic and psychological work. They can help poets find material and subjects for further development. Many a lovely tragedy was, as is known, first a fairy tale or legend, and found, after many centuries of circulation, an enthusiastic singer, whose spirit polished the simple stone until it became the glossiest of crystals. (Disse Efterretninger kunne, foruden den antiqvariste ethnographiste og psychologiste Interesse, ogsaa i en anden Henseende medføre Nytte. De skaffe Poeterne Stof og Æmne til videre Bearbejdelse. Mangen herlig Tragædie var, som bekjendt, først et Eventyr eller Sagn, og fandt efter Aarhundreders Forløb en begejstret Sanger, hvis Aand polerede den simple Graasten indtil den blev den blankeste Krystal.17) It is perhaps tempting to dismiss Thiele’s folklore efforts as those of a dilettante. Yet his thoughtful engagement with his collected material and the thoroughness of his library research countermands such an evaluation. It is more productive to explore the scope of Thiele’s early collection, and the impact of his collecting efforts as a model for subsequent field collecting throughout the Nordic world, as well as a model for folklore classification work. With regard to the former, one sees in his field collecting trips a clear inspiration for ethnographic fieldworkers such as Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (1812–1885) and Jørgen Moe (1813–1882) in Norway; Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius (1818–1889) in Sweden; and Evald Tang Kristensen (1843–1929) in Denmark.18 With regard to the latter (folklore classification work), it is worth noting that Thiele’s later edition, Danmarks Folkesagn (Folk Legends of Denmark: 1843: see below), appeared at the very start of a flurry of broader publication and classification of folklore in Scandinavia, including Danmarks gamle Folkeviser (The Ancient Folk Verse of Denmark: 1853–1976) edited by Svend Grundtvig (1824–1883), HylténCavallius’ and George Stephens’ Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr (Swedish Folktales and Fairy Tales: 1844) and Asbjørnsen and Moe’s Norske Folkeeventyr

16 17 18

Nyerup was not only the prior librarian at the Royal Library, but also Denmark’s leading folk ballad scholar: Tangherlini, “Rise of Folklore Scholarship”, 49–51. Thiele, Prøver af Danske Folkesagn, vi–vii. See the chapters on Asbjørnsen, Moe, and Hyltén-Cavallius by Ane Ohrvik, Line Esborg, Fredrik Skott and Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume.

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(Norwegian Folk Fairy Tales: 1841–1844 and 1852) and Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn (Norwegian Huldre Fairy Tales and Folk Legends: 1845–1848). Tracing the development of Thiele’s legend collections thus allows one to follow the development of fieldwork collecting in the Nordic region and the establishment of systematic approaches to the organisation of folklore. The following study situates Thiele’s folklore work in the context of both early nineteenth-century Scandinavian literary culture and his life among the intellectual and economic elite of Denmark. Mapping Thiele’s movements through the Danish countryside during the year and a half of productive fieldwork that he carried out largely on Sjælland in 1817 and 1818 and supplemented during a stay on the island of Møn in 1822 provides a visual summary of early folklore collecting in Scandinavia. Through the use of historical GIS, we can derive a best-guess summary of his travels. This brief study of Thiele’s folklore collecting and publication of Danish legends places his work in the context of the Grimms’ pioneering work with legends, considers the impact of his collections in Scandinavia, and explores the advent of fieldwork and ethnographic collecting as an emerging method for the study of folklore.

2

Thiele’s (Long) Life outside of Folklore

Thiele was born into a bourgeois family in Copenhagen, the fifth child of Johan Rudolph Thiele (1736–1815), a successful owner of a well-regarded printing house, and Anna Koed de Hemmer (1758–1812), a minister’s daughter, who died when Thiele was 17. Her death presaged the collapse of the house of Thiele.19 The state bankruptcy the following year in 1813 financially ruined the family, and soon thereafter Thiele’s father died. Rather than deal with a complicated probate, the brothers decided on a distribution that left the printing house to Thiele and his nine-year-older brother, Hans. This division of the property turned out to be fortuitous for the aspiring poet and occasional folklorist, granting him easy access to a press and connections to binderies.20 Thiele was not initially interested in academic pursuits. Although he started his formal studies at Borgerdydskolen, the school of choice for Copenhagen’s upwardly mobile bourgeoisie, and studied at the Royal Academy of Art (Det

19 20

Altogether, there were seven boys in the Thiele household. The oldest, Thomas, was Just’s half-brother. The following review of Thiele’s life is based on information in Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger; and Bøgh, “J. M. Thiele”.

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Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi), he never felt invested, nor particularly competent, in these pursuits. Instead, oddly inspired by the bombardment of Copenhagen (1807) by the English fleet in which his family house was hit and nearly destroyed by an artillery shell, his initial interest lay in the military:21 The military spirit and acquaintance with some boys who had become “free corporals” or artillery cadets seemed likely to have a definitive impact on my future life. When there were questions at home, “What should Just become?”, from my perspective it was already decided: I wanted to be an artillery cadet or a free corporal. (Den militaire Aand og nogle Bekjendtskaber med Drenge, der vare blevne «Fricorporaler» eller Artilleri-Cadetter, syntes paa denne Tid at skulle have en afgjørende Indflydelse paa min fremtidige Livsbane, naar der i Hjemmet var Spørgsmaal om: «Hvad Just skulde være?» fra min Side var det afgjort: jeg vilde være Artillericadet, eller Fricorporal.22) Thiele’s interest was short lived and, after a fateful dream on the night before he was to enlist, he pivoted back to the world of the arts, music and literature.23 This sudden shift in attention would become, throughout his life, something of a habit. Returning to school, Thiele enrolled at the Metropolitanskole where he initially thrived. The school was not only important for Thiele’s intellectual development, but also his social development. Here he made the acquaintance of Theodor Münter (1789–1841) and Peter Tutein (1797–1885), and through these connections, found himself a frequent guest on the estate of the aforementioned Frederikke Brun.24 Brun’s salons, in turn, put him in contact with the Danish literary elite, the aristocracy and the royal family.25 Perhaps the most helpful connection for the young aspiring poet was his friendship with the older composer Christian E. F. Weyse (1774–1842) with 21 22 23 24

25

An excellent overview of the bombardment of Copenhagen by the British during the Napoleonic Wars can be found in Munch-Petersen, Defying Napoleon. Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 39. Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 40–41. Münter was the son of Bishop Friedrich Münter (1761–1830), and nephew of Frederikke Brun. Peter Adolph Tutein, the master of the Royal Hunt, was the owner of Marienborg on the island of Møn, and a leading figure in agriculture and politics. Consequently, Thiele could count among his friends the physician Christian Møhl (1798–1830), the school teacher Niels Krarup (1792–1842), the theologian Andreas G. Rudelbach (1792–1862), and the poet and philosopher Poul Møller (1794–1838).

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whom he solved a puzzle proposed by the Danish author Jens Baggesen (1764–1826).26 Baggesen subsequently became an admirer of Thiele’s writing, and he, along with the earlier-noted Rasmus Nyerup, helped Thiele gain increasing visibility in the world of letters.27 Bored with the strict curriculum of the Metropolitanskole, Thiele finished his first exams (artium) in 1817 under the private tutelage of his friend Andreas Rudelbach (1792–1862).28 Through his tireless social networking, and his close connection with Nyerup, Thiele was appointed as an intern at the Royal Library in Copenhagen in 1817. At the time, the library was engaged in systematically cataloging their entire collection and, although the work was tedious, Thiele seems to have had singular powers of concentration, a character trait that not only served him well as he began working with folklore during this period, but was also one that he relied on during the years he spent restoring the Royal Copper Engraving collection (Den Kongelige Kobberstiksamling) (see below).29 The cataloging work also put him in daily contact with both the substantial library collection that included early folkloric materials in books and manuscripts, and new books arriving from abroad, such as the legend collections of the Grimm brothers. Nyerup, his boss at the library, had been in contact with the Grimms, particularly Wilhelm, since 1809, a correspondence that continued through 1824.30 Thiele’s friendship with Christian Holten (1800–1873), the son of Nicolaj Holten (1775–1850), Denmark’s richest man, had a profound impact on his life. Thiele had become increasingly close with Christian in 1818 while studying for the second part of his exam. In 1819, after completing his exams and undertaking a walking tour of Germany and Italy partially financed by Frederikke Brun’s husband, Constantin (1746–1836), Thiele returned to Denmark where he soon fell in love with Christian’s younger sister, Ida (born 1803). Unfortunately, she died of measles in 1820. Grief-stricken, Thiele focused his efforts on writing. He took rooms at Bakkehus, the home of Kamma Rahbek, where he found him-

26

27

28 29 30

A discussion of the puzzle and its solution can be found in Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 72–73. Baggesen published the challenge as a 61-page quatrain (Baggesen Det evige Sindbillede). This connection also led indirectly to Thiele’s acquisition of the Grimm’s Kinder- und Hausmärchen (see above). Baggesen and Nyerup had been two of the main figures who established the Scandinavian Literary Association (Det skandinaviske Litteraturselskab) in 1796, with a goal of establishing closer literary and linguistic ties between the Scandinavian countries. Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 83; Bøgh, “J. M. Thiele”, 185. Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, II, 85. See Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 1.

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self enveloped in the literary salons that took place there, and where he also – somewhat unexpectedly – became adept at making decorative boxes, a skill that later proved useful when he was charged with restoring the Royal Copper Engraving collection. During this entire time, Thiele remained very close to the Holten family, and in 1829, he married Ida’s sister Sophie (1806–1835). With her, he had two children, Ida and Johanne, the former of whom became the subject of not only a H. C. Andersen tale, but also a famous painting by Christian Købke (1810–1848).31 With Sophie Holten’s death in 1835, however, Thiele’s close connection to the Holten family diminished considerably, Sophie’s father generously fostering the two young girls on his large estate. Thiele’s career was also advanced by Prince Christian Frederik (later Christian VIII) whom he had met and become close with during visits to Brun’s estate.32 Through a confluence of connections, good luck, hard work and an apparently sincere and engaging personality, Thiele rose quickly through the ranks of the Royal Library, eventually becoming the Royal Librarian in 1839, with detours as the secretary and librarian of the Royal Art Academy (1825) and a professor (1828). This latter post provided him with apartments in Charlottenborg Castle in Copenhagen where he lived until his death. In 1838, he was appointed personal secretary to Prince Christian and, the following year, once Christian had become king, the king’s personal librarian. Thiele remained a close royal confidant until the king’s death. Thiele’s royal connections also brought about his long relationship with the great Danish artist, Bertel Thorvaldsen. Thiele had initially met the sculptor on a trip to Italy in 1824 which, oddly enough, had been financed by Prince Christian’s father after Thiele had presented him with a beautifully bound copy of Danske Folkesagn (1823).33 Thiele was amused by this unexpected twist, where his work on Danish legends facilitated his travel to Italy, and eventually launched his career as an art administrator (and not a folklorist). Writing in his memoirs, Thiele says: After I had announced myself to the watchman of the day and was now waiting to be presented to his Majesty, I went over to one of the deep 31 32

33

Andersen, “Den lille Idas Blomster”; and Købke’s painting, “Ida Thiele” from 1832. Christian Frederik (1786–1848) ascended the throne in December 1839 and was crowned king in June 1840. For six months in 1814, he served as king of Norway from 17th May 1814 until his abdication in October of that year: see Hammer, “Christian 8”. Because he was afraid that each one of the four volumes looked too insubstantial by itself, Thiele had the work bound as two volumes. This doubling up of the volumes became the standard binding for the collection later on.

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window bays to unpack the books which I was going to present, and to secretly enjoy the paternal joy of seeing my books clothed in red Saffiano leather with gold engraving. Amazing! As I stood there filled with vain happiness, it oddly occurred to me, as I looked at these two rectangular things, that it was they that had helped me to fly! (Da jeg i det store, tæt fyldte Audientsværelse havde meldt mig for den jour havende Adjutant og havde Udsigt til engang omsider at blive indladt til Hans Majestæt, gik jeg hen i en af de store Vinduesfordybninger, for at udpakke Bøgerne, som jeg skulde overrække, og for hemmeligt at nyde den Faderglæde, at see mine Bøger i rødt Saffian med Guld snit. Forunderligt! Idet jeg stod der i denne forfængelige Glæde og aabnede Pakken, slog det underligt ned i mig, ved Synet af disse to firkantede Stykker, at det jo var dem, der havde hjulpet mig til at kunne flyve!34) When Thiele returned to Denmark in 1825, he not only assumed the post at the Royal Academy of Art, but also set to writing an overview of Thorvaldsen’s career. This work was financed in large part by his future father-in-law and included hundreds of copper engravings. Indeed, copper engravings became something of an obsession with Thiele and, for seven years, he worked as the head curator of the Royal Copper Engraving collection, removing tens of thousands of copper engravings from backing sheets, and cataloguing this unparalleled collection.35 By 1838, Thiele had also been appointed to serve as Thorvaldsen’s private secretary. Amid all these unexpected detours, the opportunities to work on folklore were few and far between. Clearly, however, folklore was still on his mind since by 1840 Thiele had begun planning for a larger, expanded, and properly systematised version of his earlier collection. As with the previous collection, he felt that the key role of such a collection would be as a great source for poetic and literary inspiration.36 At the same time, he recognised the role it could play in the increasingly consistent approach to folklore collecting and systematisation that was becoming a hallmark of mid-nineteenth-century Nordic folklore.

34 35

36

Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, II, 31–60. The copper engravings had been amateurishly and more or less randomly glued onto backing paper. Thiele had learned a great deal about glue while making boxes at Bakkehus, and consequently was able to solve a conservation problem that had stumped some of the best conservators of the time. Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, II, 77.

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81

The First Folklore Collector in Denmark

It was during his work in the Royal Library that Thiele had first become interested in collecting and publishing folklore. Writing in his memoirs, he notes: With the opportunity I had now to sniff about in old books and manuscripts, the thought soon occurred to me to collect Danish folk legends which, up to that point, had received such little respect that, had I not been able to lean on the fact that the Grimm brothers had already collected the German folk legends, most people in Denmark would have considered my undertaking as utter folly. And so I began, along with the relatively uninteresting cataloging, to slowly collect folk legends from the old books and manuscripts. (Ved den Leilighed, jeg her havde til at snuse om mellem gamle Bøger og Manuskripter, opstod snart den Tanke i mig, at samle paa danske Folkesagn, som indtil den Tid var saa lidet paaagtede, at havde jeg ikke kunnet støtte mig til at Brødrene Grimm allerede havde samlet de tydske Folke sagn, vilde de Fleste i Danmark have betragtet mit Forehavende som Daarskab. Jeg begyndte altsaa, ved Siden af det lidet interessante Catalogarbeide, saa smaat at samle Folkesagn ud af gamle Bøger og Manuskripter.37) Thiele also had ready access to the countryside through his network of wealthy landowning friends. One of Thiele’s earliest childhood friends was the earliermentioned Henrik Stampe, the son of Baron Holger Stampe (1754–1827), whose house in Copenhagen was close to Thiele’s childhood home.38 The two stayed close as they became young men, and continued to meet at various gatherings of artists and literary figures, with Weyse and Frederikke Brun never far from the picture. Given the rhythms of life among the aristocracy, it is little surprise that Thiele’s friend Henrik invited him for a ten-day stay at Nysø, the Stampe manor farm near Præstø in south-western Sjælland:

37 38

Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 84. The wife of Stampe’s son Henrik, Jonna Drewsen (1827–1878), later became one of Thorvaldsen’s greatest benefactors, and built him a studio at the estate in Nysø, as well as supporting the renovation of his apartments in Charlottenborg palace, where Thiele also resided.

82

Tangherlini

[…] and so it happened that, in May 1817, he arranged a large visit to Nysø, to which Hornemann39 along with a couple of his children, Emil and Rosa, and Weyse with some of his circle, among them a law student who lived upstairs from me, C. A. Bluhme [1794–1866], later the prime minister and a Knight of the Order of the Elephant, along with my mediocre personage, had all been invited. The excursion lasted from the 20th to the 29th May and was incredible fun. On a large “Holsteen wagon” we rolled off down the road with great merriment and laughter; at that time one needed an entire day, from the early morning to the evening, to get from Copenhagen to Præstø. ([…] saaledes gik det til, at der af ham, i Mai 1817, arrangeredes et stort Besøg paa Nysø, i hvilket Hornemann med et Par af sine Børn, Emil og Rosa, og Weyse med nogle af hans Kreds, deriblandt en juridisk Candidat, som boede ovenpaa, C. A. Bluhme, siden Premierminister og Ridder af Eleph., og min Ringhed skulde deeltage. Denne Udflugt varede fra d. 20de til d. 29de Mai og var meget morsom. Paa en stor «holsteensk Vogn» rullede vi under Spøg og Latter henad Landeveien, men dengang behøvede man en heel Dag, fra den tidlige Morgen til Aften, for at komme fra Kjøbenhavn til Præstø.40) It was, however, completely coincidental that this invitation coincided with Thiele’s Grimmian-inspired interest in legends, and his belief – like that of many others – that the Grimms had spent considerable time travelling around the countryside doing fieldwork, an idea that the Grimms had themselves implied in their introduction to Deutsche Sagen:41 The business of collecting, as soon as one is serious about it, is well worth the effort, and finding something is still the closest thing to that innocent pleasure of childhood, when, in moss and bushes, one surprises a brooding bird on its nest. As with the bird so is it with the legends: the leaves must be quietly lifted, and the branches carefully parted, so as not to disturb the people. Then one can catch a furtive glimpse into their strange but modest nature, smelling of fallen leaves, meadow grass, and fresh rain. 39 40 41

Jens Wilken Hornemann (1770–1841) was a professor of botany. Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 85. Dollerup, Tales and Translation, 155; for another translation, see Grimm, The German Legends, I, 11.

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(Über das Geschäft des Sammelns, sobald es einer ernstlich Thun will, verlohnt sich bald der Mühe und das Finden reicht noch am nächsten an eine unschuldige Lust der Kindheit, wann sie in Moos und Gebüsch ein brütendes Vöglein auf seinem Nest überrascht; es ist auch hier, bei den Sagen, ein leises Aufheben der Blätter un behutsames Wegbiegen der Zweige, um das Volk nicht zu stören und um verstohlen in die seltsam, aber bescheiden in sich geschmiegte, nach Laub, Wiesengras und frischgefallenem Regen riechende Natur blicken zu können.42) When the party arrived at Nysø, Thiele quickly turned to putting into practice what the Grimms had discussed in theory: I made use of the stay at Nysø to collect folk legends in the local area, and when the old Baron and tutor, Cand. Repholtz,43 was deeply interested in my work, I didn’t have to wander alone to those places where they thought there might be something to find but, instead, the old people on the manor were brought to the manor farm and fed, so they’d tell me what they knew about the past. On a two-day excursion from Nysø to Gisselfeldt, where our entire party had been invited, I met the Danneskjold family, who were absolutely lovely. Already that first evening, the count himself laid out a table with discovered antiquities and showed me around the old castle, whereby I received several more enrichments for my legend collection, just as I, on a little excursion to Møns Klint, also got several more contributions. (Opholdet paa Nysø benyttede jeg til at indsamle Folkesagn i den nærmeste Omegn, og da den gamle Baron og Huslæreren, Cand. Repholtz, interesserede sig levende for mit Forehavende, førtes jeg ikke alene omkring til Steder, hvor man troede der var Noget at finde, men gamle Folk paa Godset hentedes til Gaarden og trakteredes, for at fortælle mig, hvad de vidste om Fortiden. Paa en Excursion fra Nysø i to Dage til Gisselfeldt, hvor det hele Selskab var indbudet, gjorde jeg Bekjendtskab med den Danneskjoldske Familie, som var meget elskværdig. Allerede den første Aften dækkede Greven selv et Bord med fundne Oldsager for

42 43

Thiele, Prøver af Danske Folkesagn, 10; originally Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xxv–xxvi. See also Grimm, Deutsche sagen (1816–1818), I, xii, xiv–xv, and xx. Matthias Repholtz (1791–1825) was educated as a theologian and employed as a private tutor by Baron Stampe. He was later a priest in Sakskøbing. He authored Beskrivelse over Baroniet Stampenborg.

84

Tangherlini

Figure 3.3

Thiele’s first field collecting trip in May 1817, where he visited Nysø, Gisselfeldt, and Møens Klint: 146 km

mig og viste mig omkring i den gamle Borg, hvorved jeg imodtog flere Berigelser til min Samling af Folkesagn, ligesom jeg ogsaa paa en Udflugt fra Nysø til Møens Klint fik mange flere Bidrag.44) It was the success of this initial excursion that encouraged Thiele to produce his first collection of Danish legends, which he was able to publish a few short months after his visit at Nysø. A small map (fig. 3.3), of the trip reveals where Thiele travelled during this first excursion.

4

Prøver af Danske Folkesagn

The small collection of legends that Thiele published based on his library research and this one week of fieldwork was far from comprehensive. It included a total of 18 legends in 36 pages of text. There appears to be no organisational principle at work in the collection, although it opens with a strongly nationalistic legend of the Danish hero, Holger Danske. Of the stories, eleven

44

Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 86.

85

The Accidental Folklorist Table 3.1

Contents and sources of legends in Prøver af Danske Folkesagn (1817)

Title

Oral

1. Olger Danske 2. Brøndhøj 3. Pillegrim Stenen 4. Mangelbjerg og Gillesbjerg 5. Agersøe 6. Helenes Kilde 7. Thyres Hul i Borreveile Skov 8. Høierup Kirke 9. Tiis Søe 10. Natravnen 11. Øen Bogøe 12. Hellig Anders 13. Altarbægeret 14. Tuel Søe 15. Kirkelammet og Helhesten 16. Beenløse 17. Kong Valdemars Jagt 18. Storken, Svalen og Viben

X X X X X X X

Ms

X

X X

X X X X X X X X X

X X

X X

are based entirely on oral accounts, two are based entirely on manuscripts, and five are based on a combination of oral and written accounts (see Table 3.1). As Thiele notes in the foreword to the collection (and as he points out in his memoirs), one of the main goals of the publication was to develop a network of collectors who could help produce a more comprehensive collection: And so, at the end of May when I returned to Copenhagen after these remarkably pleasant days, my collection of Danish legends, which I had transcribed from old books and manuscripts at the library, had been greatly supplemented by the things that I had found in the peasants’ oral accounts. But people did not really know what I was trying to accomplish with these old, crazy stories that no one believed in or cared about. To find collaborators and to make it more clear that it wasn’t nursery tales but historical legends that still lived among the folk, I published a small pamphlet, “Prøver af danske Folkesagn”, which many received with not too poor an interest.

86

Tangherlini

(Da jeg saaledes, efter disse meget behagelige Dage, i Slutningen af Mai vendte tilbage til Kjøbenhavn, var min Samling af danske Folkesagn, som jeg paa Bibliotheket havde udskrevet af gamle Bøger og Manuskripter, betydeligt forøget ved det, jeg havde fundet i de gamle Bønders mundtlige Meddelelser. Men Folk vidste længe ikke, hvad det var, jeg vilde med disse gamle, tossede Historier, som dog Ingen nu troede paa eller brød sig om. For at skaffe mig Medarbeidere og for at gjøre det begribeligt, at det ikke var Ammestuehistorier, men historiske Sagn, som endnu levede i Folket, udgav jeg et lille Hefteskrift: “Prøver af danske Folkesagn”, som hos Mange mødte en ikke ringe Interesse.45) Thiele’s call for helpers was similar in many regards to Jacob Grimm’s circular from Vienna (1815) in which he had spelled out the types of materials in which he and his brother were interested.46 Indeed, as Dollerup suggests, it is quite possible that Thiele’s interest in legends was indirectly influenced by the Vienna circular, which may have been sent to Nyerup.47 Thiele’s encouragement to others to collect folklore was well-received and led to a large number of submissions from throughout the country. These submissions in turn formed the basis for his expanded collections from 1818–1823 and the final collection from 1843. They also were a motivating factor for Mathias Winther (1795–1834) to produce his own collection of Danish fairy tales, Danske Folkeeventyr (1823).48 On a trip through Odense, Thiele met with Winther, whom he described as a “a zealous co-collector” (“en nidkjær medsamler”).49 Winther and his circle of collectors were also the most likely source for the considerable number of legends from Fyn printed in Danmarks Folkesagn vols 2–4.50 Thiele was delighted – and somewhat overwhelmed – at the positive reception his book received, writing in his memoirs: My Prøver af Danske Folkesagn had made people happy. From Count Christian Stolberg [1748–1821],51 I received an invitation to Windeby and 45 46 47 48

49 50 51

Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 87. See also Thiele, Prøver, ix–x. Dollerup, Tales and Translation, 351–352. Dollerup, Tales and Translation, 155. Mathias Winther (1795–1834) trained as a surgeon but eventually left medicine to pursue his literary passions while publishing a muckraking journal, Raketten: see Bricka, Dansk biografisk Leksikon, XIX, 69–71. Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 136. Ellekilde, “Thieles folkesagn”, 134. Stolberg was wealthy, and considered himself an author, although critics of the time were quite sanguine in their evaluation of his talents, Johannes Scherr writing: “Stolberg

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with that an epic, “The White Woman”, which he gave me, and from the Grimm brothers I received a copy of “Deutsche Sagen”, and then later, when the theatre scenery painter Wallich52 [1779–1845] came back from Scotland, he brought me greetings from Sir Walter Scott [1771–1832],53 along with a copy of his “Romances and Ballads”, which he inscribed saying it was in thanks for my folk legends. It should be noted that the greetings from Stollberg and from W. Scott came somewhat later, after a few volumes of the folk legends had been published. Both Molbech [1783–1857]54 and I were invited to the well-known patron Bülow [1751–1828] at Sanderumgaard as well as to Geheimeraad Gyldencrone [1796–1852] at Moesgaard near Århus. (Mine Prøver af Danske Folkesagn havde nemlig gjort Lykke. Fra Grev Christian Stolberg havde jeg modtaget en Indbydelse til Windeby og dermed et Epos: «Die weisse Frau», som han forærede mig – ja fra Brødrene Grimm modtog jeg et Exemplar af «Deutsche Sagen», og endnu senere, da Theatermaler Wallich kom tilbage fra Skotland, bragte han mig en Hilsen fra Sir Walter Scott til ligemed et Exemplar af hans «Romances & Ballades», hvori der var skrevet, at dette var til Tak for mine Folkesagn. Dog maa det bemærkes, at disse Hilsener fra Stollberg og fra W. Scott først kom senere, da et Par Bind af Folkesagnene vare udgivne. Baade Molbech og jeg vare indbudne saavel til den bekjendte Mæcenas Bü low

52

53

54

[…] was a quite unimportant person in whose empty brain there might have once been enough youthful enthusiasm for him to exude a degree of Teutonic and other kinds of bombast” (“Stolberg […] var et ganske ubetydeligt menneske, i hvis tomme hjerne der kun en tid havde samlet sig noget af den kraftgeniale ungdomsenthusiasme, saa han gav noget teutonisk og andet bombast fra sig”): Scherr, Almindelig litteraturhistorie, II, 188. Ahron Wulff Wallick (also known as Arnold) was an important scenery painter who studied both in Paris and Rome, and was employed at the Royal Theatre (Det Kongelige Teater): Bricka, Dansk biografisk Leksikon, XXVIII, 227. On Walter Scott, see further the chapter on John Francis Campbell by John Shaw elsewhere in this volume. A copy of Thiele’s Danske Folkesagn from 1818–1820 is listed in the catalogue of books in Scott’s library (which also contained a copy of the original Deutsche Sagen; see The Catalogue of the Library of Abbotsford, 52 and 54). I am grateful to John Shaw for bringing this to my attention. Christian Molbech, who also worked at the library, was a literary critic and historian who later went on to become the director of the Royal Theatre, and a founder of the influential Historisk Tidskrift In 1843, he published Udvalgte Eventyr og Fortællinger (Selected Fairy Tales and Other Narratives), which contained translations of many of the Grimms’ fairy tales, as well as a number of other fairy tales from other countries inclding Denmark, Sweden and the British Isles. On Molbech’s influence on the Swedish folklorist, Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius, see further the chapter on Hyltén-Cavallius by Terry Gunnell and Fredrik Skott elsewhere in this volume.

88

Tangherlini

paa Sanderumgaard som til Geheimeraad Gyldencrone paa Moesgaard ved Aarhuus.55) Perhaps most important to Thiele was the recognition that his small collection received from the Grimm brothers. In August 1818, Wilhelm mentions the collection in a letter to Nyerup, which also contains a reference to the positive review Jacob Grimm had given the collection (see above). Nyerup may well have sent the Grimms a copy, or they may have acquired it in other ways. In any event, one month later, Thiele, doubtlessly on the advice of Nyerup who was in frequent correspondence with Wilhelm, sent a deeply flattering letter to the brothers, presenting them with a (presumably inscribed) copy of Prøver (Fig. 3.4): My most honoured Grimm! May I, as a literary kinsman and younger brother in Denmark send you my first collection of Danish folk legends that, through your encouragement and example, have been saved from oblivion, which unfortunately hides far too much from the zealous searcher. It is my greatest wish that you will receive it as a sign of the brotherly affection and love with which your name fills me as soon as I see it, and a thank you for every happy childhood hour your Kinder-Märchen has once again brought me, and especially for the fortunate purpose your Deutsche Sagen awoke in me to continue that work in Denmark. I hope that your authorship has had the same wakening force in Norway and Sweden, and I hope to complete what I have started in Denmark. Already this winter I expect to be able to publish the second collection, and if I am fortunate to receive a Royal stipend to undertake some collecting trips in Jylland and the islands, the work will become even more comprehensive. Yours, Just Thiele (Mine ærede Grimm! Faa jeg som litterær Slægtning og yngre Broder i Danmark oversende Dem første Samling af de danske Folkesagn, jeg under Deres Opmuntring

55

Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 97.

The Accidental Folklorist

Figure 3.4

89

Letter from Thiele to the Grimm brothers written in Copenhagen, 26th September 1818

og Exempel, har reddet fra en Forglemmelse, der desværre skjuler alt for meget for den nidkjære Eftersporrer, er det mit inderlige Ønske, at De ville optage det som et Tegn paa den broderlige Hengivenhed og Kjærlighed, hvormed deres blotte Navn befjæler mig, saa tidt det kommer mig for Øje, som en Tak for hver barneglad Time, Deres Kinder-Märchen har igjen bragt mig, og især for det lykkelige Forsæt, Deres Deutsche

90

Tangherlini

Sagen vakte i mig til at fortsætte dette Værk i Danmark. Maatte dog Deres Autorskab have haft samme vækkende kraft i Norge og Sverrig, saa haaber jeg, at fuldføre, hvad jeg har begyndt i Danmark. Endnu i vinter, mener jeg, at kunne udgive den 2. samling, og dersom det lykkes mig, hvad jeg med grund haaber, at jeg kan erholde en ringe Kongs Understøttelse til at gjøre Fodvandringer i Jylland og på Øerne, skal dette Værk med hvert Sjælenavn gaaen større Fuldstændighed imøde Deres Just Thiele) After nearly a year had passed, Wilhelm sent Thiele a letter through Nyerup, in July 1819 asking:56 “Please convey the enclosed letter to Mr. Thiele, whose address I do not have. We look forward to the continued success of his investigations” (“Sie haben wohl die Güte an Hrn. Thiele, dessen Adressen ich nicht besitze, einliegenden Brief abgeben zu lassen. Wir nehmen grossen Antheil an dem glücklichen Fortgange seiner Untersuchungen”57). Although it is only speculation, it seems likely that the letter Nyerup was asked to convey to Thiele precipitated Thiele’s visit later that summer to Kassel, during his long walking tour of Germany and northern Italy with his friends, Carl Moldenhawer (1795–1870), a good friend and colleague from the library, Hans Holm (1792–1832), an auditor for the military, and, for part of the trip, the earliernoted Henrik Stampe. He writes:58 In Kassel I had a literary visit to make to the Grimm brothers, who received me hospitably, and after we had been up on “Wilhelmshöhe” and to the theatre in the evening, we walked the next day to Göttingen where we, above all else, wanted to see the library. (I Cassel havde jeg et literairt Besøg at aflægge hos Brødrene Grimm, som toge meget venligt imod mig, og da vi saa havde været paa «Wilhelmshöhe» og om Aftenen i Theatret, gik vi næste Dag til Göttingen, hvor vi, fremfor Alt, skulde see Bibliotheket.59)

56 57 58 59

Cf. Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 80. Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 80. Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate the letter from Wilhelm Grimm to Thiele that Grimm had enclosed in his letter to Nyerup, and the contents remain unknown. Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 121.

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Several months later, Wilhelm sent a copy of the new edition of the fairy tales to Thiele (September 1819), writing: “Please convey to Mr. Thiele the accompanying copy of the fairy tales” (“Die Einlage an Hrn. Thiele bitte ich nebst 1 Exemplar der Märchen gefälligst abgeben zu lassen”60). This appears to be the last contact between Thiele and the Grimms.

5

Building on Prøver: Routes of Collection

Thiele’s enthusiasm for collecting gathered steam through the summer of 1817 and continued through the next year. It is somewhat difficult to piece together his collecting, as he did not document his trips in the same comprehensive manner that later collectors such as Tang Kristensen did.61 Hans Ellekilde nonetheless managed to develop a “best guess” overview of Thiele’s collecting trips which reveal the extent to which Thiele concentrated on Sjælland, and this will be drawn on in the following.62 Thiele was himself aware of this collecting bias, already writing in the foreword to Prøver that he believed there was a great deal more to collect in Jylland: While the majority of these [legends] have been collected on short walking trips in but a few regions of Sjælland, it seems likely that they can barely comprise a third of what there must still be extant, and everyone agrees that Jylland alone owns more than probably all of the Danish islands combined. (Da den største Deel af disse ere blevne indsamlede paa smaae Fodvandringer, kun i enkelte Egne af Sjælland, synes det antageligt, at de neppe udgjøre Trediedelen af hvad der endnu maa være tilbage, og derom ere alle enige, at Jylland alene eier flere, end alle Danske Øer tilsammentagne.63) His words proved to be prophetic, as Tang Kristensen later focused on Jylland, collecting tens of thousands of legends during his five decades of sustained fieldwork starting in 1867.64 60 61 62 63 64

Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 81. See Tangherlini and Broadwell, “Sites of (Re) Collection”; and Storm, Nicol, Broughton, and Tangherlini, “Folklore Tracks”. Ellekilde, “Thieles folkesagn”. Thiele, Prøver af Danske Folkesagn, ix. See Tangherlini, Danish Folktales, Legends and Other Stories.

92

Tangherlini

Thiele was an enthusiastic walker and a lover of nature. In a relatively general description of one of his first field trips, he writes: With my backpack on my shoulders, I set off during the holidays from Sorø over Pedersborg, Bromme and Tersløse, past Vedbygaard, to the area near Nørager, on the 31st of the month (May 1817), all the time engaged with listening to and writing down whatever the peasants would tell me. It wasn’t that easy to get these stories picked out of these old men and women. As soon as I began to ask them, they became suspicious and thought that I wanted to spy on their beliefs, and because of that, I quickly learned to never go in to the ministers. I sat down, ideally in bad weather, with the poorest peasants, gave the children small pictures or books that I brought along, and after I had become a bit more at home, I’d put my map out on the table and use that as an opportunity to talk about nearby towns. It always puzzled the people that I could see on that piece of paper which towns and roads were nearest by, and once the conversation had gotten going, I would begin telling what people here or there had told about that church or that old mound, etc., and then it wouldn’t take long before I got corrections or other stories, although always with the remark that that’s what they believed in the old days; these days no one believed in such things. And things would go really well like that until I took out my pencil to write what they’d told – and with that their storytelling was usually over. (Med min Randsel paa Ryggen begav jeg mig nu i Ferien fra Sorø over Pedersborg, Bromme og Tersløse, forbi Vedbygaard til Egnen om Nørager den 31te s. M., altid underveis beskjæftiget med at høre og at nedskrive, hvad Bønderne vilde fortælle mig. Det var imidlertid ikke saa meget let at faa disse Historier pillede ud af gamle Mænd og Kvinder. Saasnart jeg begyndte at udspørge dem, bleve de mistænkelige og troede, at jeg vilde udspionere deres Tro, og af denne Grund lærte jeg snart aldrig at tage ind til Præsterne. Jeg slog mig helst til Ro, især i daarligt Veir, hos de fattigste Bønder, gjorde Børnene Foræringer af Billeder eller af smaa Bøger, jeg havde med, og naar jeg var bleven lidt hjemme, lagde jeg mit Reisekort frem paa Bordet og tog deraf Anledning til at tale om andre, nærliggende Byer. Det for undrede da de Omstaaende, at jeg paa dette Papir kunde see, hvilke Byer og Veie der laa nærmest omkring, og naar saa Talen var kommen lidt i Gang, begyndte jeg med at fortælle, hvad man her eller der havde fortalt om denne eller hin Kirke, denne eller hin gamle Dysse o.s.v., og nu varede det ikke længe, førend jeg mødte Berigtigelser, eller andre

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The Accidental Folklorist Table 3.2

Presumed dates and references for Thiele’s collecting trips

Trip # Dates

Destination

Trip length Reference (km)

1 2 3 4 5

20–29th May, 1817 July–August 1817 August 1817 August 1817 21st August, 1817

Nysø Sorø Sorø Sorø Sorø-Copenhagen

146 152 72 34 79

6 7 8 9

August–September 1817 July 1818 July–August 1820 1822

Sophienholm Års Lindegård Møn

405 677 670 295

Liv I: 86a Ellekildeb Ellekilde Ellekilde Ellekilde; Liv I: 91 Liv I: 91 Liv I: 97–9 Liv I: 136–9 Liv I: 181–4

a Here and elsewhere in the table, Liv refers to information provided in Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger. b Here and elsewhere in the table, this refers to information provided in Ellekilde, “Thieles folkesagn”.

Historier, dog altid med den Bemærkning, at saadant troede man i gamle Dage, men nu troede man ikke paa Sligt.65) Thiele’s selection of western Sjælland was apparently also motivated by his burgeoning crush on Gitte, the daughter of the historian, government minister, and later head of the Royal Library, Ove Malling (1748–1829), who was spending that summer at the farm of her uncle, Niels Gjersing (1783–1835).66 Whatever Thiele’s motivations for choosing his collecting areas, Ellekilde’s disentanglement of Thiele’s collecting routes allows us to develop a chronology of his collecting, as well as a series of maps that provide insight into when and where he collected.67 Altogether, Thiele appears to have made eight trips in addition to his first trip in May 1817 (see Table 3.2). 65 66

67

Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 87. Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 207; and Ellekilde, “Thieles folkesagn”, 18. Birgitte “Gitte” Christiane Malling (1800–1866) married Johannes Søbøtker Hohlenberg (1795–1833) in 1826 and traveled with him to Seranpore, north of present day Kolkata in India with the Danish East India Company. She returned home with her children after his death: see Ferguson, “Settlement of the Danes”, 628–629; and http://www.foreningen-trankebar.dk/. Ellekilde, “Thieles folkesagn”.

94

Tangherlini

Figure 3.5

Field trip, July–August 1817: 152 km

In July of 1817, invigorated by the success of his first collecting trip in May of that year (see above), Thiele set off for Sorø.68 Ellekilde, basing his description of the field trips on the original manuscripts to Thiele’s memoirs, sets the date as 31st July, and the route takes Thiele from Nørager to Bromølle, Kundby, Vognserup, Holbæk, Aagerup, Frydendal, Eskildstrup, and back to Sorø. He then remains in Sorø through the 20th August, making at least two more collecting trips before returning to Copenhagen on the 21st (figs 3.5–3.8). The trips during the summer of 1817 were largely done on foot, so that over the course of a month, Thiele managed to walk nearly 300 kilometres. After his return to Copenhagen, Thiele set out once again for another collecting trip, this time to Sophienholm on the last day of August, working through much of September 1817 (fig. 3.9). During the visit, Thiele made numerous excursions, and Ellekilde proposes that the following series of trips took place in northern Sjælland: After a visit to Frederikke Brun at Sophienholm on 31st August, he set off again on a walking trip to Frederiksborg, either on the 3rd or 4th September 1817. On 12th September, Thiele was back again at Sophienhom. It

68

Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 87.

The Accidental Folklorist

Figure 3.6

95

Field trip August 1817: 72 km

is possible that, during the intervening week, Thiele took a walk up to Tisvilde and the northern Odsherred (Rørvig and Højby parishes) and perhaps set his course for home over Frederiksværk, Slangerup and Værebro back to Sophienholm […]. Thiele must also have been in Helsingør and the north Sjælland town of Gurre at one point or another during the long collecting summer of 1817. ([E]fter et Besøg paa Sophienholm hos Fru Friderike Brun den 31. August, begav han sig atter paa en Fodtur til Frederiksborg d. 3. og 4. September 1817. Den 12. September var Thiele atter paa Sophienholm. Det er muligt, at Thiele i den mellemliggende Uge har været en Fodtur i Tisvilde og det nordlige Odsherred (Rørvig og Højby Sogne) og maaske har lagt Hjemvejen over Frederiksværk, Slangerup og Værebro til Sophienholm […]. Thiele ogsaa maa have været i Helsingør og det nordsjællandske Gurre paa et eller andet Tidspunkt af den store Indsamlingssommer 1817.69) Thiele’s enthusiasm for collecting began to wane, perhaps because his attentions had turned away from Gitte Malling. 69

Ellekilde, “Thieles folkesagn”, 118.

96

Tangherlini

Figure 3.7

Field trip August 1817: 34 km

In the summer of 1818, Thiele set off once again to collect, this time accompanied by Christian Molbech, with the intention of collecting material on Fyn and Jylland. It seems likely that Thiele was beginning to consider doing more comprehensive fieldwork in Jylland at the same time as he was trying to develop a network of collectors. Thiele was clearly becoming increasingly bored with the process of collecting folklore, having many more exciting irons in the fire, including his smoldering literary aspirations and preparations for the second part of his exams. The trip was, nevertheless, successful.70 That said, it also marked his last collecting trip for nearly two years (fig. 3.10). In 1819, Thiele fell in love with Ida Holten, and the two planned to marry, but she died of measles later that year. He had recently been promoted to “kopist” at the Royal Library (see above) and began work on his larger, expanded collection of legends. After grieving for several months, he finally found himself able 70

He completed the second part of his exams on 23rd October 1818: Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 99.

The Accidental Folklorist

Figure 3.8

97

Field trip 21st August 1817. Thiele collects some material on his way back to Copenhagen from Sorø: 79 km

to consider traveling again. In the summer of 1820, along with Ida’s brother Christian, he embarked on an excursion to Falkensteen manor near Slagelse, owned by the chemist Ludvig Manthey (1769–1842), the brother-in-law of Holten’s father. Thiele notes: “For four days I took advantage of the stay at the manor farm for antiquarian excursions in the area and collected there a number of folk legends” (“I fire Dage benyttede jeg dette Ophold paa Herregaarden til antiquariske Excursioner i Omegnen og samlede der en Deel Folkesagn”71). The excursion was long, but was not nearly as intensively focused on folklore collecting as his earlier forays into the field (fig. 3.11). Thiele’s final folklore-collecting trip took place in the summer of 1822, when he visited his childhood friend Peter Tutein at Marienborg and continued on to the island of Møn (fig. 3.12). 71

Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 136.

98

Tangherlini

Figure 3.9

6

It is unclear how many small excursions Thiele made while staying at Sophienholm. The route(s) here aggregate Ellekilde’s surmise of where Thiele must have visited during this stay, based on Thiele’s diaries and the stories that were printed in Danske Folkesagn: 405 km.

The Expanded Collection of 1823

From 1818 through the publication of the four volumes of Danske Folkesagn, Thiele spent considerable time organising not only his own materials, but also the materials that he had received from the numerous collectors throughout the country. The first volume appeared in 1818, the second in 1819, the third in 1820, and the final volume in 1823. Even though Thiele was eager to move beyond the project, he felt compelled to continue working on the project as his publisher paid him well. As he writes: I was still engaged with the publication of the folk legends and received what was for me a considerable income, as my publisher, Seidelin, paid me twenty rixdollars per page. Nevertheless, I worked conscientiously,

The Accidental Folklorist

Figure 3.10

99

Thiele’s trip with Christian Molbech, July 1818: 677 km

and the income never seduced me to sacrifice the least bit of my honour as an author. (Med Udgivelsen af Folkesagnene var jeg stadigt beskjæftiget og havde heraf en, for mine Forhold, ikke ubetydelig Indtægt, da min Forlægger, Seidelin, betalte mig 20 Rdl. for Arket. Dog arbeidede jeg samvittighedsfuldt, og Indtægten forførte mig aldrig til at offre det Allermindste af min Forfatterære.72) Thiele was nonetheless distracted time and again while completing the work. He continued to harbour the dream of becoming an author and playwright, and spent time working on his drama, Kynast (1821).73

72 73

Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 131. Kynast was Thiele’s second play, after Pillegrimen (The Pilgrim: 1820) which premiered at the Royal Theatre on 13th May, 1820, and was presented a total of three times, twice in

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Tangherlini

Figure 3.11

Thiele and Christian Holten’s route in late July 1820. The map is missing the ferry route from Aarhus to Kalundborg: 670 km.

Because of the manner in which Danske Folkesagn was published, there was little apparent organisation to the volumes. Nevertheless, Thiele evidently spent a great deal of time editing, comparing, and collating his texts. This work aligned well with other work that he was assigned at the library, particularly Molbech’s comparative study of ballads (1823). Thiele found the work engaging although he was not sure how well he and his colleagues had succeeded. Nevertheless, years later, he sent a great deal of these notes and preliminary work to Svend Grundtvig, quite possibly in response to Grundtvig and Ley’s circular soliciting ballad collections, “Om Kæmpeviserne, til danske Mænd og Qvinder” (On Hero Ballads, to Danish Men and Women: 1843), thereby adding to the expanding folklore networks started by the Grimms’

season 72 and once in season 73: see Jensen, Dansk forfatterleksikon. Kynast seems not to have been performed. It was nonetheless later republished in Thiele, Vragstykker.

The Accidental Folklorist

Figure 3.12

101

Thiele’s last substantive folklore collecting trip. On this trip, he managed to get stranded on the small islands of Femø and Fejø (Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 183): 295 km.

circular and continued by Thiele’s call for collaborators in Prøver. As Thiele writes: In a little brochure that Molbech published around that time (1822) about medieval ballads, in one of the notes, he praises greatly the outcome of our work (with the transcription of ballads from various codices). Later, when I learned about Svend Grundtvig as a young up and comer who wasn’t afraid of taking on that work which we had let go more or less, I gave him my lists and other notes and preliminary work, but how much he got out of it I can’t really say. (I en lille Brochure, som Molbech i disse Aar udgav om Viserne fra Middelalderen, har han i en Anmærkning hæderligt omtalt Udbyttet af vort

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Tangherlini

Arbeide. Da senere Svend Grundtvig blev mig bekjendt som en yngre Stridsmand, der ikke frygtede for at optage det Arbeide, vi saaledes havde ladet falde, overgav jeg ham mine Lister og andre Forarbeider, men hvorvidt han har haft nogen Nytte deraf, skal jeg ikke kunne sige.74) Yet, even as he was completing the last volume of Danske Folkesagn, Thiele’s attentions lay elsewhere, and he soon turned his efforts to his career in the arts and administration. He would wait another 20 years before publishing folklore again.

7

1843: A Return to Folklore and the Classification of Legends

In 1843, Thiele published a somewhat enlarged, and considerably edited version of the 1818–1823 collection, this time with the title Danmarks Folkesagn. Although he excised 40 smaller legends from his earlier collections, he added an additional 300 legends to this work, many of them derived from manuscripts and books.75 In his words: “Over the course of the summer, I enriched literature with a new edition of my legends, a work that had engaged me for a longer time” (“I Løbet af denne Sommer berigede jeg Literaturen med en ny Udgave af Folkesagnene, et Arbeide, der i længere Tid havde beskjæftiget mig”76). The greatest achievement of Danmarks Folkesagn lies in Thiele’s systematisation of the legend material. In the first two volumes, Thiele divides legends into four main subcategories: Historical Legends, Place Legends, Nature Legends, and Supernatural Legends. As such, his work prefigured a great deal of the classification work that would mark the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in folklore studies. He then provided an additional second and third level of classification, in effect devising a three-level ontology for the classification of folk narrative (Table 3.3). While one can certainly quibble with the various categories he devised, this classification would echo throughout the later collections of Tang Kristensen and others. Rounding out his folklore career, Thiele added one final work to his folkloric oeuvre, the third volume of Danmarks Folkesagn, entitled “Den danske Almuens overtroiske Meninger” (The Danish Peasantry’s Superstitious

74 75 76

Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, I, 185. Ellekilde, “Thieles folkesagn”, 127. Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, II, 104.

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The Accidental Folklorist Table 3.3

Classification system for Danmarks Folkesagn

Major classification

Secondary classification

Historical (vol. 1)

Historical events Historical personages and family legends Legends about towns and different places Churches and monasteries Farm legends Legends about ministers and cunning men Treasure and treasure hunters Legends about robbers Lakes, bottomless swamps, rivers and fjords Springs Sand dunes, caves, and boulders Forests, trees and parched grass About the plague Rats The Devil Witches and the like Various revenants Trolls

Place legends (vol. 1)

Nature (vol. 2)

Supernatural (vol. 2)

Minor classification

Moundfolk, elves, dwarves Merfolk Nissen Church-grims Changelings Werewolves The mare Hyldemor Lindorm Pond horse, church-lamb, ditch-pig, night-raven, lygtemand, basilisks Superstition (vol. 3)

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Beliefs), a precursor to Tang Kristensen’s Jyske Almueliv series.77 Unlike his earlier collections of stories, this volume consisted mainly of descriptions of folk practices and customs, various non-narrative oral expressive forms such as spells and sayings, and an overview of customs and beliefs. Thiele’s goal of working on this volume was still connected to his vision of folklore in the service of writers and poets, writing: “Alongside my dramatic productions, I worked this year on organising a collection of the peasants’ superstitious beliefs, which I published as a supplement to the Danish legends” (“Ved Siden af mine dramatiske Productioner var jeg i dette Aar beskjæftiget med Ordningen af en Samling til den danske Almues overtroiske Meninger, der endnu henlaa som Efterslæt af Folkesagnene”78).

8

Conclusion

Thiele’s Prøver af Danske Folkesagn marks the first substantial foothold of the Grimms’ work with legends in Scandinavia. One of the most intriguing aspects of the work was the extent to which it relied on the confluence of Thiele’s unusual position in the library, his broad social network among landed aristocrats and the urban intelligentsia, and his access to the countryside. The legends themselves are greatly flawed, the product of Thiele’s heavy editorial hand, yet it is evident that they awakened in many scholars, school teachers, and authors alike an interest in rural culture and rural storytelling. Ellekilde himself notes that Thiele’s collections are extremely difficult to use: The problem with Thiele’s Danske Folkesagn lies in the fact that Thiele, unlike his successors, Svend Grundtvig and Evald Tang Kristensen, does not give us the individual legend recordings one by one with exact information concerning informant and collector. No, Thiele combines older written recordings from literature and manuscripts and quite new recordings from his own or his many collaborators’ collections into an often poetically valuable but scientifically unfortunate whole. (Vanskeligheden ved Thieles Danske Folkesagn ligger i, at Thiele ikke som sine Efterfølgere, Svend Grundtvig og Evald Tang Kristensen, giver os de 77

78

See Thiele, “Den danske Almues overtroiske Meninger” (1860); and Kristensen, Gamle folks fortællinger om det jyske almueliv (1891–1894); and Gamle folks fortællinger om det jyske almueliv. Tillægsbind (1900–1902). Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, II, 171.

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enkelte Sagnopskrifter, hver for sig, med nøjagtige Oplysninger om Meddeler eller Optegner. Nej, Thiele kombinerer ældre Opskrifter fra Litteratur og Manuskripter og ganske friske Optegnelser fra hans egen eller hans mange Medarbejderes Indsamlinger sammen til en ofte digterisk værdifuld, men videnskabelig uheldig Helhed.79) That said, Thiele’s work was revolutionary in certain respects. With Thiele, one gets the first consistent, dedicated attempts at fieldwork in the Nordic countries.80 While Tang Kristensen brought folklore fieldwork up to a level of scientific professionalism that fundamentally changed the contours of Danish folklore, Thiele’s initial forays into the countryside of Sjælland provided a clear model, irrespective of whether his motivation came from a slightly misleading statement made by the Grimms. Equally important were Thiele’s rigorous attempts in later years to systematise his collections, ushering in an approach that would allow for comparative work across the hundreds of thousands of stories that Nordic folklorists began to amass in the last decades of the nineteenth and the early decades of the twentieth century. The Grimm brothers were perhaps unaware of the wave that was building to the north, but Thiele’s willingness to dive in certainly amplified the ripples that came from the south. 79 80

Ellekilde, “Thieles folkesagn”, 113. Cf. Christiansen, Tang Kristensen og tidlig feltforskning i Danmark, 70.

Chapter 4

“You Can Therefore Rightly See These Folk Legends as a Reflection of Your Own!”: The Grimm Brothers and the Norwegian Collector of Folk Legends, Andreas Faye Herleik Baklid

1

Introduction1

On 17th May 1834, Andreas Faye (1802–1869: see fig. 4.1) wrote a letter to Jacob Grimm, including a copy of his newly published collection of legends, Norske Sagn (Norwegian Legends: see fig. 4.2), the first real collection of folk material to be published in Norway. In the letter, he expresses his wonder and respect for the Grimm brothers, as well as a sense of humility. He also sincerely expresses his gratitude for the pleasure their folk legends and fairy tales have given him, stressing that if he had had no knowledge of them, it is unlikely that he would have come up with the idea of collecting and publishing the Norwegian legends. He continues: “You can therefore rightly see these folk legends as a reflection of your own!” (“De kan derfor med rette betragte disse Sagn som en Gjenklang af Deres egne!”2). To the best of my knowledge, this is the only letter Faye wrote to the Grimms, and the only direct contact he had with them. Bearing in mind this relatively short letter which expresses both inspiration and respect, this chapter will discuss how, and to what extent, the Grimms and other scholars and individuals might have inspired and influenced Andreas Faye’s work on legends, including an analysis of the networks Faye had, both nationally and internationally. Towards the end of the chapter, some discussion will be made of Faye’s inspirational effect, and the additional ripples that the publications of his work created.

1 Translation from Norwegian (and German): Jeanne Marie Schoenwandt. I would like to thank Jan Faye Braadland, and Kristoffer Vadum, the head of research at the East Agder Museum and Archive in Kuben, for their invaluable help in locating some of the source material for this chapter. 2 Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 308.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_006

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The Grimm Brothers and Andreas Faye

Figure 4.1 Andreas Faye, by Christiane Schreiber

2

Early Interest in Folk Legends and History

Andreas Faye was born in 1802 in Drammen,3 a town located less than 30 miles south-west of Oslo. His father was a ship’s master, later going on to become a broker and a fire officer.4 The family were known members of the town’s citizenry. At the age of eight, Andreas was sent to live with Pastor Christian Holst (1743–1824) in Røyken, not far from Drammen, for his schooling, lasting a period of three to four years.5 In recollections, it is said that Faye was “an inquisitive boy, who listened intensely to the serious discussions of his elders, especially when they were about history and the war; but also to the fairy tales and legends which boys and girls told to please their little favourite […]” (“videbegjerlig Gut, der med spendt Opmerksomhed lyttede til de ældres alvorlige Tale, især naar den dreiede sig om Historien og om Krigen; men ogsaa til de Eventyr og Sagn hvor[ved] Gutter og Jenter glædede deres lille Yndling […]”6). During his stay with Pastor Holst, Andreas missed having playmates of his own age, and listening to the tales and legends told by the servants, farmers and the

3 Braadland, “Faye, Andreas”, 78. 4 Braadland, “Faye, Andreas”, 78; and Scheel, “Faye, Christopher”, 87. 5 Aust-Agder museum og arkiv, avd. Kuben (AAMAK): PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: II, 1, 3; and Det norske riksarkiv (NRA): Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: VI, 1. 6 AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: II, 2, 10a–10b.

108

Figure 4.2

Baklid

Andreas Faye, Norske Sagn (1833). Title page

children of the farmers he went to school with became a way for him to make up for this.7 He also read Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla, which contains the sagas of the early Norwegian kings up to 1177. As Faye writes: “Almost every

7 NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: VI, 11.

The Grimm Brothers and Andreas Faye

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winter’s evening, the little guy could be seen bent over Snorre8 which lay in his lap and he never tired of reading” (“Nesten hver Vinteraften saa noen den lille Fyr at sidde bøiet over Snorre, som laa paa hans Knæer og som han aldrig blev kjed af at Læse”9). An interest in history and oral storytelling was thus already stirring in Andreas Faye as a boy.

3

The European and Norwegian Roots of the Collection of Legends

The background and subsequent publication of the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), and Prøver af Danske Folkesagn (A Sampler of Danish Folk Legends: 1817) and Danske Folkesagn (Danish Folk Legends: 1818–1823) by Just Mathias Thiele (1795–1874) have been considered in previous chapters, and clearly laid the foundations for the similar legend collections that would appear in Norway. When Jacob Grimm reviewed Prøver af Danske Folkesagn in a German journal in June 1818, he states that he is looking forward to the quick publication of all of Thiele’s Danish legends,10 simultaneously expressing his hope that legends also be collected in Norway and Sweden: Would it not be fortunate if Norway, Gotland and Sweden also gave some attention to collecting what must have been more faithfully preserved there than anywhere else considering the peaceful, enduring nature of these lands; there is little doubt about what the inseparable German and Nordic histories would gain from such a venture. (Wollte es nun das Glück, dass man in Norwegen, Gothland und Schweden ebenfalls aufmerksam würde und sammelte, was sich in der ruhigen, dauerhaften Natur dieser Länder treuer als irgendwo erhalten haben muss; so wird sich recht deutlich zeigen, welchen Gewinn die unzertrennliche deutsche und nordische Geschichte aus einer solchen Unternehmung ziehen kann.11) There were, however, others who were calling for the collection of the Norwegian legends during Faye’s childhood. In 1809, The Royal Norwegian Society for 8 9 10 11

Snorre (the Norwegian form of the Icelandic name Snorri) is often used by Norwegians to refer to Heimskringla. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: II, 2, 10b. Grimm, “Eine dänischen Sammlung von Volkssagen”, 200. Grimm, “Eine dänischen Sammlung von Volkssagen”, 200.

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Baklid

Development (Det Kgl. Selskap for Norges Vel) had been founded, an association that had come into being as a result of the strong currents of patriotism that were now running in the country.12 The association was divided into subject areas, or “classes” based on the various disciplines. From 1814, a new class scheme of “Philosophy and History” came into being. About this, it was stated: […] the implication is that it will work to ensure the promotion of information, and above all to spread and maintain love for the Fatherland, and taste for what is precious and beautiful. It should pay attention to all of the ancient archaeological remains of the Fatherland, and its ancient language and myths, and seek with care to save from ruin and forgetfulness all that remains of the past. ([…] paaligger det at virke til Oplysningens Fremme og til Alt, hvad der kan udbrede og vedligeholde Fædrenelands-Kjærlighed samt Smag for det Ædle og Skjønne. Den bør henvende sin Opmærksomhed paa alle Oldtids-Mindesmærker i Fædrenelandet, paa dets gamle Sprog og Myther, og søge med Omhyggelighed at redde fra Undergang og Forglemmelse, hvad endnu deraf er tilbage.13) Between 1816 and 1817, Cornelius Enevold Steenbloch (1773–1836), a professor of history at the University of Christiania, was a member of the Philosophy and History class,14 and, as will be seen below, in 1813, he had been one of the first to publish Norwegian legends. In this connection, it is interesting to note that while he was involved, his class also proposed the establishment of a prize for the best collection of folk legends and myths, although the extent to which this proposal was actually pursued by the Society is unclear.15 Although the evidence for this is missing, it is not unreasonable to think that Steenbloch might have been the initiator of the prize. Whatever the case, just a few years later, in October 1819, now directly inspired by Thiele’s work with legends, an anonymous article in Morgenbladet encouraged the need for a collection of Norwegian legends: One perhaps not so insignificant part of the research into antiquities is that of gathering folk legends, […], which, from times of old, have been

12 13 14 15

See “Det_Kongelige_Selskap_for_Norges_Vel” in https://snl.no. Hasund, Det Kgl. Selskap for Norges Vel, II, 37–38. Hasund, Det Kgl. Selskap for Norges Vel, II, 39. Hasund, Det Kgl. Selskap for Norges Vel, II, 41.

The Grimm Brothers and Andreas Faye

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preserved by the country folk […], and it would be desirable if a Norwegian scholar, especially a country parson, were also willing to contribute in this way […]. (En maaskee ikke uvæsentlig Deel af Oldgranskningen er det, at samle Folkesagn, […], der fra gamle Tider af have vedligeholdt sig i Almuens Mund […], og ønskeligt var det, om ogsaa en Norsk Lærd, især en Præst paa Landet, vilde medvirke til denne Retning […].16) The recording of legends in Norway was admittedly not entirely new, as arguably it can dated back to the late sixteenth century,17 many topographic writers also writing down legends in the 1700s.18 In 1813, the aforementioned Cornelius Steenbloch had printed a reworked version of the legend “Guri Kunnan” in a publication by the Danish literary historian and language researcher Rasmus Nyerup (1759–1829), who would later go on to be closely involved in Thiele’s legend-collecting project.19 Of particular interest in this context is the fact that shortly before publishing “Guri Kunnan”, Steenbloch wrote a letter to Jacob Grimm in which he included this story. The letter is in itself evidence of the growing engagement and interest that Steenbloch had in folk narratives.20 Starting in 1816, the writer and lawyer, Conrad Nicolai Schwach (1793–1860), also began recording legends, among other things, about churches, church ruins and “bautasteiner”.21 Among his earliest recordings, we find legends from different places in southern Norway, such as Valdres and Lindesnes.22 From the beginning of the 1820s, the Rev. Simon Olaus Wolff (1796–1859) was similarly involved in recording legends,23 several more recordings being made in the years that followed,24 mostly from Mo in Telemark, although some also came from Hardanger.25 Elsewhere, it is clear that Magnus Brostrup Landstad 16 17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25

“Oldsager: Folkesagn”, 2299. Biskop Jens Nilssøns visitasbøger og reiseoptegnelser 1574–1597, 393–394. Bø et al., Norske segner, 44. Frigge: Poetisk Nytaarsgave 1813, 60–111; and Faye, Norske Sagn, 12. On Nyerup’s connections with Thiele, see further the chapter on Thiele by Timothy R. Tangherlini elsewhere in this volume. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Nachlass Grimm 1668, fol. 1–4. Letter to Jacob Grimm from C. Steenbloch dated 14th May 1812. Schwach, Thelemarkiske optegnelser, 32–36. Bautasteiner are ancient memorial stones from the Bronze and Iron Age that have been set up in the landscape. Schwach, Thelemarkiske optegnelser, 32–36. Berge, Simon Olaus Wolff, 33–34. Wolff, Riarhammeren eller Spøgeriet og to andre sagnfortellinger, 34–38. Wolff, Riarhammeren eller Spøgeriet og to andre sagnfortellinger, 34; and Berge, Simon Olaus Wolff, 33.

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Baklid

(1802–1880) had already recorded several legends in 1825.26 It is worth noting that like Thiele, all three men seem to focus on legends, paying little attention to fairy tales. All the same, it is clear that up until 1833, the recording of legends in Norway was comparatively scattered. In spite of the earlier-noted encouragement, it would be 20 years from when Norway became a free and independent country in 1814 until the first real Norwegian collection of legends came to be published.27 How can this be explained? Probably during the first years after attaining independence, Norwegians had been mainly concerned with political nationalism. Cultural nationalism, with its roots in the German romanticism in which Herder and the brothers Grimm were key players needed to wait some time before it could start gaining a proper foothold.28

4

Faye’s Renewed Interest in Legends

As mentioned above, Andreas Faye, as a child, had always been fond of legends. When he became a student at the University of Christiania (now the University of Oslo) in 1823, his interest in the history of his homeland was piqued once again, and along with that, his interest in folk traditions (“Almuens Traditioner”29). Stories and peasant storytelling clearly fascinated him, and as he writes: “Hearing these in the place itself, where they have drawn on the naivety and credulity of the peasant and his language, has given them an interest that is impossible to reproduce” (“At höre disse paa Stedet selv, hvor de skulle have tildraget sig med den Bonden egne Naivitet og Troverdighed og i hans Sprog er gived dem en Interesse, som er umulig at gjengive”30). The resurgence of Faye’s interest in legends, and his commitment to them, was inspired by various hiking trips he took in south-eastern parts of Norway during his studies to parts of Telemark, Vestfold, Hedmark, Toten, Hadeland and Ringerike (see fig. 4.3).31 These wanderings led him to write down the legends he heard or 26 27

28 29 30 31

Landstad, Skrifter I, 211–212. Norway’s union with Denmark came to an end in early 1814, and that same autumn Norway became part of a new personal union with Sweden, both countries sharing the same monarch. On the basis of this agreement and the revised Constitution of 1814, Norway was granted the position of being a free and independent country within the union between the two countries. Aarnes, “Nasjonen finner seg selv”, 130. NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv VI, 11. NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv VI, 11. NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv VI, 11.

The Grimm Brothers and Andreas Faye

Figure 4.3

113

This map shows schematically the region in the south-eastern part of Norway where Faye was on hiking trips in the 1820s.

learned about from others. In addition to these, he also collected those legends he found in topographic accounts.32 The material was largely collected

32

The accounts in question are various works about Norway’s nature, society and people written from about 1750 until about 1810.

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Baklid

because it entertained him and was a source of enjoyment. At the time, however, he did not intend to publish them as a book.33 During his studies at the University of Christiania, Faye became acquainted with Steenbloch who, as noted above, was a professor of history. Although Faye was not particularly impressed by most of his professors’ lectures, he was inspired by Steenbloch’s teaching, and not least his introduction to the history of Norway.34 Indeed, Steenbloch was also Faye’s “Private Tutor and Mentor” (“Privatpræseptor og Velynder”35), meaning he had the special task of advising and supporting Faye throughout his university studies. This naturally meant that Faye had a relatively close relationship with him, leading Faye to refer to him as “my great patron” (“min store Patron”36). That this relationship with Steenbloch was invaluable to Faye is also evident from a diary entry by Faye in July 1826 in which he expresses his great pleasure at seeing Steenbloch, who had recently returned from Denmark.37

5

Professional Contacts and Network

Faye’s connection to Steenbloch appears to have been both personally and professionally inspiring. As was noted above, Steenbloch had been one of the first to publish Norwegian legends. It is also noteworthy that in the aforementioned letter that Faye sent to Jacob Grimm in 1834 (see above), he extends Steenbloch’s greetings,38 underlining not only that his associations with Steenbloch were continuing at that time but also that Steenbloch had earlier been in touch with the Grimms. There were, however, several other individuals who came to be important to Faye, influencing him both in his work with legends and his interest in the past. During his studies, Faye also became acquainted with his peer, the earlier-noted Magnus Brostrup Landstad, who was also studying theology.39 As Landstad later comments in a letter to Faye: “Because of our slightly longer acquaintance, I have the honour of associating myself with you[…]” (“Paa Grund af den Smule ældre Bekjendtskab, jeg har den Ære at tilregne mig med

33 34 35 36 37 38 39

NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv VI, 11. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv II, 2, 44a–44b. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv II, 2, 44b. AAMAK, PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 7: Diary entry, 8th September 1828. AAMAK, PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 6: Diary entry, 20th July 1826. Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 308. AAMAK, PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 5: Diary entry, 28th July 1824.

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Dem, […]”40). Although the degree to which each man stimulated the other’s interest in legends cannot be ascertained from the extant source material, it is not unreasonable to suggest that they actually inspired one another. As noted above, Landstad had begun to write down legends when he was a student in 1825 (at the same time that he and Faye were studying together),41 and he would later become one of Norway’s most important collectors of legends.42 When Faye completed his theological studies in 1828, it might have been expected that he would enter the priesthood. He nonetheless chose instead to allow his considerable genuine interest in the past and in history to lead his choice about where he wanted to live and the type of work he wanted to have. Several years earlier, he had made the acquaintance of Jacob Aall (1773–1844), a parliamentarian and iron works owner from Næs-on-Tvedestrand,43 who, like Faye, had nourished a strong interest in history and Norse literature.44 It was in order to be located in geographical proximity to Aall so that he could discuss historical themes with him and make use of his rich library that Faye took a teaching position at the secondary school in Arendal in Agder, in southeast Norway, where he was able to teach history.45 Faye’s warm relationship with Aall is evident from the way he refers to him as his “fatherly friend the honourable Jacob Aall” (“faderlige Ven Hedersmanden Jacob Aall”46). Aall would come to play a key role in Faye’s later recording and collecting of legends, and it is thus worth saying a little more about his background. During the course of his studies in Copenhagen in and about 1790, Jacob Aall had become friends with the theologian and philologist Peter Erasmus Müller (1776–1834), the historian Laurits Engelstoft (1774–1851) and the philologist Børge Thorlacius (1775–1829),47 who had instilled in him a strong interest for ancient history and the sagas.48 This engagement with the Norse sagas and language clearly expressed itself when, in 1812, Müller financed the printing of 40 41 42

43 44 45 46 47 48

NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv XI, 5. Landstad, Skrifter I, 211–212. Landstad’s collection of legends are: Gamle Sagn om Hjartdølerne (Ancient Legends on the People of Hjartdal: 1880); Ættesagaer og Sagn fra Telemarken (Family Stories and Legends from Telemark: 1924); Mytiske Sagn fra Telemarken (Mythical Legends from Telemark: 1926); and Fra Telemarken: Skik og Sagn (From Telemark: Customs and Legends: 1927). Before this, he had also published a large collection of folk songs: Norske Folkeviser (Norwegian Ballads: 1853). AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv II, 1, 16. Worm-Müller, “Aall, Jacob”, 18–19. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv II, 1, 16. NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv XI, 1. Jernvernverkseier Jacob Aalls Optegnelser 1780–1800, 50. Worm-Müller, “Aall, Jacob”, 18–19.

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the edition of Vatnsdæla saga ok Saga af Finnboga rama edited by Erich Christian Werlauff (1781–1871) and, in 1814, Bjørn Haldorsens islandske Lexicon (Bjørn Haldorsen’s Icelandic Lexicon), edited by Rasmus Rask (1787–1832).49 He additionally offered the Icelander Finnur Magnússon (1781–1847) a yearly salary to obtain transcripts of manuscripts in Icelandic.50 Müller had become a professor of theology at an early point, later going on to become a bishop. In spite of this, history and the sagas took up a great deal of his time. Müller wrote several pieces on the sagas, his major work bearing the title Sagabibliothek (The Saga Library: 1817–1820) which contains an overview of all of the sagas, their background, nature and interconnections.51 It was around this same time (between 1816 and 1820) that Jacob Aall translated and published Laxdæla saga (Laksdøla saga) and parts of Njáls saga (Njåls saga).52 Also worth noting is that Müller and Wilhelm Grimm were already corresponding by 1816, although the focus of these letters is on Old Norse literature rather than folklore.53 Aall’s second friend from his time spent in Copenhagen, Professor Laurits Engelstoft, was someone who had become specially interested in how the people of a nation could be brought to embrace the values and mores of their society, and to love their homeland. He was also particularly concerned with the idea of unity in the history and destiny of the Nordic people.54 In spite of this interest, it appears that he did not correspond with the Grimms.55 Børge Thorlacius, on the other hand, a philologist and professor of classical languages, was corresponding with Wilhelm Grimm between 1812 and 1818.56 Thorlacius, who was also interested in Old Norse, was also a member of the Royal Commission for the Preservation of Antiquities (Den Kongelige Commission til Oldsagers Opbevaring), and together with the earlier-noted Christian Werlauff, continued to work between 1813 to 1826 on the edition of Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla that Thorlacius’ father Skúli (1741–1815) had started.57 Werlauff, who formed part of the same circle of acquaintances around Aall, was a librarian as well as a professor whose responsibilities lay in the teaching of Nordic history and antiquity. Like Thorlacius, he was for many years a member of the Royal Commission for the Preservation of Antiquities, alongside 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57

Stubhaug, Jacob Aall i sin tid, 541. Worm-Müller, “Aall, Jacob”, 19. Steenstrup, “Müller, Peter Erasmus”, 602–606. Beyer, “Slekten fra 1814 og Henrik Wergeland”, 31. Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 136–144. Steenstrup, “Engelstoft, Laurits”, 342–346. Cf. Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm: Contents. Cf. Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 127–134. Ræder, “Thorlacius, Børge”, 616–618.

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his endeavours in the purely historical, also publishing Old Norse sagas (see above), and in 1815, King Sverrir’s En tale mot biskopene (Speech against the Bishops), which had been addressed to the Norwegian bishops at the end of the twelfth century.58 While Werlauff himself does not seem to have corresponded with the Grimms,59 the situation was otherwise with regard to the aforementioned Finnur Magnússon, who was also a member of Aall’s circle of acquaintances and more directly involved in the collection of popular antiquities.60 Finnur was himself an antiquarian, and from 1815, the year in which he became a professor, lectured at the University of Copenhagen in Old Norse literature and mythology, his scholarly work including, in particular, work on the Poetic Edda and the mythological material it contained. He was also a member of the Royal Commission for the Preservation of Antiquities, and the Arnamagnean Commission (Den Arnamagnæanske Kommission), which managed the ancient manuscripts that had been collected by the Icelander Árni Magnússon (1663–1730), and the vice-president of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries (Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab). In 1829, Finnur was appointed to the Gehejme archives as an archivist.61 Three letters from 1830 that have been preserved show that Finnur corresponded with Wilhelm Grimm in this period, the oldest of them showing that Finnur was especially concerned with customs and popular belief.62 This, then, was circle of acquaintances that Andreas Faye came into contact with when he spent time in Copenhagen in both 1828 and 1831, encountering a wide range of people working in the arts and the sciences who inspired him to publish his legends.63 All of the five aforementioned acquaintances of Aall certainly met Faye when he stayed in Copenhagen, some of them having greater significance than others. Peter Erasmus Müller, to whom Aall had

58 59 60 61

62 63

Petersen, “Werlauff, Erich Christian”, 329–336. Cf. Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm: Contents. On Finnur Magnússon and the collection of folklore, see further the chapter on Jón Árnason by Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume. Jón Helgason, “Magnússon, Finnur”, 234–238. Finnur’s interest in folklore is also seen in two letters written to Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen in 1841 and 1842: see Norsk Folkeminnesamling (NFS) Asbjørnsen Brev: Letters from Finnur Magnússon to Asbjørnsen, dated 14th July 1841, and 28th May and 14th November 1842. Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 203–211. Faye’s longer stay in Copenhagen in 1831 was related to a European study trip he was undertaking, the main aim of which was to research the history of other countries and their systems of education: see further Nasjonalbiblioteket (NB): Håndskriftsamlingen, MS 2422 80: En Mindekrands. See also Braadland, Echoes of the Brothers Grimm from Thule, 11.

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recommended Faye, would perhaps have the greatest influence.64 When Faye visited Müller for the first time during his first stay in Copenhagen, it was admittedly with some nervousness. As he writes: With trepidation, I encountered the sharp-minded author of Sagabiblioteket, one of the most learned men of the Nordic countries; and I was comfortably surprised to see a simple free man in slippers and an old grey coat; a man whose noble appearance reveals so much spirit along with a goodness that had such an effect on me that I could never be bored of looking at him and even less of speaking with him. (Med spendt Opmærksomhed traadte jeg ind til Sagabibliotekets skarpsindige Forfatter og en af Nordens lærdeste Mænd; men hvor behagelig blev jeg ikke overrasket ved at træffe paa en simpel fri Mand i Listetøfler og en gammel graa Frakke; en Mand, hvis ædle Aasyn røber saa megen Aand forbunden med en Godmodighed, som ganske indtog mig og gjorde at jeg ikke kunde blive kjed af at see paa ham og endnu mindre af at tale med ham.65) Faye was clearly fascinated by Müller, and during his stays in Copenhagen, he was often a guest at his home. Müller’s influence on Faye with regard to the publication of his legends is noteworthy and will be returned to later in this chapter. As instructed by Jacob Aall, Faye also established contact with Werlauff who Faye describes as a “handsome, pale and bent-over man with a gentle face that is not uninteresting” (“en smuk, bleg, krogede Mand med et blidt Ansigt der ikke er uinteressant”66). Even though there is no evidence that they exchanged points of view on folk legends when they met,67 Werlauff clearly influenced Faye. He had earlier written the article “Bemærkninger over Folkesagnene om en nordisk Kæmpeslægt i Oldtiden” (Remarks on those Folk Legends Concerning a Great Nordic Family in Olden Times) for the magazine Athene in 1815, before the Grimms had published their Deutsche Sagen, in which he characterises legends as remnants of the past depicting “the individual character of a people” (“ethvert Folks individuelle Charakteer”) associated with “the history of human culture” (“menneskelige Culturs Historie”), ideas which reflect 64 65 66 67

AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: II, 1, 17. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 7: Diary entry, 9th August 1828. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 9: Diary entry, 10th April 1831. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 9: Diary entry, 10th April 1831.

The Grimm Brothers and Andreas Faye

Figure 4.4

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Andreas Faye’s network of acquaintances in the Copenhagen arts and sciences scene

thoughts that the Grimms would later express in their introduction.68 Faye shares this view about the legends in his own preface to Norske Sagn, also citing Werlauff on this point.69 Faye also came into contact with other important figures in the Copenhagen arts and sciences scene (see fig. 4.4). In one of his diary entries, he notes: “Bishop P. E. Müller, Oehlenschläger, Ørsted. What a triumvirate! I count those hours I enjoyed in their company among the most interesting in my life” (“Biskop P. E. Müller, Oehlenschläger, Ørsted. Hvilket Triumvirat! Blandt mit Livs interessanteste Timer regner jeg med Rette dem, som jeg nød i deres Selskab”70). Faye had contacted the renowned poet and playwright Adam Oehlenschläger (1779–1850) on his own initiative during his stay in 1828, and a long-term friendship developed between Faye and Oehlenschläger and his wife.71 Oehlenschläger had personally introduced aspects of Romanticism to

68

69 70 71

Werlauff, “Bemærkninger over Folkesagnene om en nordisk Kæmpeslægt i Oldtiden”, 193. See also the chapter on the Grimms and Deutsche Sagen by Holger Ehrhardt elsewhere in this volume. Faye, Norske Sagn, iii. NB: Håndskriftsamlingen, MS 2422 80: En Mindekrands. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 7: Diary entry, 9th August 1828; and III, 9: Diary entry, 20th February 1831; and Braadland, Andreas Fayes brevveksling med Adam og Christian Oehlenschläger.

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Danish poetry, as well as elements relating to Norse antiquity, including Old Norse mythology,72 something seen especially well in his famous poem Guldhornene (The Golden Horns) about two drinking horns made of gold from the Roman Iron Age that were found in Denmark. In addition to being an author, Oehlenschläger was also professor of aesthetics,73 and he and his wife went on corresponding with Faye throughout the entire 1830s.74 Faye sent them a copy of Norske Sagn when it was published.75 It was with some wistfulness that Faye left Copenhagen in April 1831, writing that: “In days to come, it will be a joy to me, as it is now an honour, to have known a P. E. Müller, an Oehlenschläger, and so on” (“I kommende Dage vil det være mig en Glæde, som det nu er min Stolthed, at kjendt en P. E. Müller, en Oehlenschläger, osv”76). Indeed, it was at Oehlenschläger’s that Faye had met up, as well as conversed with, the moral philosopher and lawyer Anders Sandøe Ørsted (1778–1860), who was Oehlenschläger’s brother-in-law.77 Faye had also encountered and had discussions with the influential museologist and archaeologist Christian Jürgensen Thomsen (1788–1865) when he visited what he called “The Antiquarian Museum” (“det antiqvariske Museum”78) probably the Old Norse Museum (Oldnordisk Museum)79 which Thomsen was curator of.80 Thomsen was also secretary for the earlier-noted Royal Commission for the Preservation of Antiquities. An extremely diligent curator, during his time in these roles, he ensured a considerable growth in the size of the museum’s collections and the proper display of objects, as well as managing the museum’s opening to the public.81 The dissemination of ancient history to the public was thus an important aspect of Thomsen’s activities. Faye met several other prominent people from the arts and sciences scene during his stays in Copenhagen, the most interesting of whom in the context of this present work, was Just Mathias Thiele whom Faye met at the Royal Library (Det Kongelige Bibliotek) where Thiele was assistant librarian.82 Faye describes 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82

Sørensen, “Adam Oehlenschläger” in http://denstoredanske.dk; and Andersen, “Oehlenschläger, Adam Gottlob”, 521. Andersen, “Oehlenschläger, Adam Gottlob”, 523. Braadland, Fayes brevveksling, 39–72. Braadland, Fayes brevveksling, 47. NB: Håndskriftsamlingen, MS 2422 80: En Mindekrands. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 9: Diary entry, 20th February 1831. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 7: Diary entry, 27th August 1828; and III, 9: Diary entry, 10th March 1831. Kjær, “Thomsen, Christian Jürgensen”, 221. Kjær, “Thomsen, Christian Jürgensen”, 221. Kjær, “Thomsen, Christian Jürgensen”, 222. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 7: Diary entry, 22nd August 1828.

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Thiele as “a very beautiful little man” (“en ganske vakker liden Mand”), his diary suggesting that he found Thiele an agreeable person.83 Faye also met the earlier-mentioned literary historian, Rasmus Nyerup,84 who, as has been noted, was closely involved in Thiele’s project, and had earlier published Old Danish folk songs in collaboration with two others,85 as well as collaborating with Steenbloch on the publication of Norwegian legends. Faye also met with the language researchers, Christian Molbech (1783–1857) and Rasmus Rask, and the writer of fairy tales, Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875),86 and visited the theologian and poet N. F. S. Grundtvig (1783–1872),87 who, in 1817, had encouraged readers of the magazine Dannevirke to record legends.88 Apart from what he says about his meetings with Thiele and Grundtvig, Faye provides little or no information about his conversations with the latter individuals. Even though Grundtvig’s wide-ranging interests partially overlapped with Faye’s, there is no evidence that they conversed about Old Norse literature, mythology, or folk legends.89 After staying in Copenhagen until mid-April 1831, Faye continued his travels in Europe south to Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy and France.90 In Weimar, he had the opportunity to meet the aging and well-known German poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), who received him well.91 Based on Goethe’s own diary entries and a letter written by Faye himself, it appears that the two did not discuss poetry, but rather Norwegian mountain guides, minerals, geology and the Norwegian educational system.92 Later in Dresden, Faye met with the author Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773–1853) who was an important source of inspiration for early Nordic romanticism,93 but was found by Faye to be “somewhat forced in conversation” (“noget tvunget i sin Conversation”94). In Dresden, he also met the Norwegian painter Johan Christian Dahl 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94

AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 7: Diary entry, 22nd August 1828. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 7: Diary entry, 27th August 1828. Auken et al., Dansk litteraturs historie, II, 56. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 7: Diary entries, 22nd and 27th August 1828; and III, 9: Diary entry, 20th February 1831. AAMAK, PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 9: Diary entry, 22nd March 1831. Skar, “Thiele og hans danske folkesagn”, 6. Cf. Skar, “Thiele og hans danske folkesagn”, 6. NB: Håndskriftsamlingen, MS 2422 80: En Mindekrands. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: II, 1 and 18. Braadland, Echoes of the Brothers Grimm from Thule, 12–13; and Edvardsen, Sagnsamleren og hans ambassadør, 133–136. Auken et al., Dansk litteraturs historie, II, 144. On Tieck, see also the chapter on Icelandic folk narrative collection by Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume. NB: Håndskriftsamlingen, MS 2422 80: En Mindekrands: Diary entry, 2nd June 1831.

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(1788–1857),95 who is considered to have been a key figure in the field of art during the first phase of Norwegian Romantic Nationalism,96 making substantial contributions to the preservation of Norwegian cultural heritage.97 As can be seen from the above, the young Faye evidently sought out the acquaintance of key figures in the arts and sciences during his trips to Copenhagen and Europe, figures who obviously provided him with a number of scholarly impulses and stimuli. As mentioned above, however, one individual in particular had special relevance for his work with the legends: Bishop P. E. Müller.

6

Precursors to Norske Sagn

Faye’s stay in Copenhagen in 1831 clearly had a determining role in his future work, his general interest in folk legends and not least, the publication of Norske Sagn.98 On 20th February, he had dinner at the home of Bishop Müller, a meeting which would come to play a central role in the publication not least because it was here that Müller called for a Norwegian collection of legends.99 Faye himself writes that the legends he had collected up until that point would most likely have not seen the light of day if Müller had not intervened, noting that: “in comparison with the legends of other nations, regrettably Norway had offered nothing in spite of being a mountainous region where you would expect to find material, and asked me if anything like that could be expected” (“at man for Sammenligningens Skyld med de övrige Nationers Sagn, meget beklaget at man ikke havde nogen for Norge der som Bjergland lod vente Adskilligt, og spurgt mig om man ikke kunde vente nogen saadan”100). The implication was that this would provide interesting results.101 Faye then noted that he had collected several legends and gave some examples of these. This was met with great interest by Bishop Müller, who provided recommendations as to how a collection of legends should be “put together” (“udstyres”)

95 96 97 98

99 100 101

NB: Håndskriftsamlingen, MS 2422 80: En Mindekrands: Diary entry, 20th May 1831. Bjarne Hodne, Norsk nasjonalkultur, 88–89. Bjarne Hodne, Norsk nasjonalkultur, 89. Faye writes in a draft for the preface for his collection of legends that he stayed in Copenhagen in 1830 (NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: VI, 11). This must be a mistake because his diary makes it clear that this was in 1831. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 9: Diary entry, 20th February 1831. NRA, Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: VI, 11. AAMAK, PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 9: Diary entry, 20th February 1831.

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and published.102 For the sake of comparison, Müller asserted, it would be necessary to familiarise oneself with existing collections of legends: those by Thiele, Grimm and certain (unnamed) Englishmen.103 He next pointed out with regard to how the legends should be recorded, “that one should not embellish them, but tell them in a simple but readable language, not in the various dialects, and ascribe them to certain periods, for example, the pagan, St Olaf’s, and so on” (“at man ei maatte udpynte dem, men kun fortælle dem i et simpel, men læseligt Sprog, ei i de forskjellige Dialekter, og henføre dem til visse Syklusser, f. Ex. den hedenske, St. Olafs osv”104). On 13th April, Faye bade farewell to Bishop Müller, who had also given him a copy of his thesis from 1812 dealing with legends and Snorri’s sources: Om Avthentien af Snorres Edda og beviset derfra kan hentes for Asalærens Ægthed (On the Authenticity of Snorri’s Edda and the Proof It Gives for the Authenticity of the Eddic Poems).105 When Faye later that year returned home to Arendal, now inspired by Bishop Müller, he got down to work with the legends, his notes making it apparent that he was making use of non-Norwegian collections of legends as a guide, for example Thiele’s Danske Folkesagn, the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen and Wilhelm Grimm’s German translation of Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland by Croker (1798–1854), published under the title of Irische Elfenmärchen (Irish Elven Fairy Tales).106 In other words, it is clear that Faye was heeding Bishop Müller’s suggestion that he familiarise himself with the earlier published collections of legends.

7

A Network of Collectors and the Publication of Norske Sagn

Faye had acquired the legends contained in Norske Sagn partly through conversations and correspondence, and partly by going through topographical

102 103

104 105 106

NRA, Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv VI, 11. AAMAK, PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 9: Diary entry, 20th February 1831. On the English and Irish collections that were available at this time, see further the chapters by Jonathan Roper and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist elsewhere in this volume. Considering what is stated below, the likelihood is that Müller was referring to Croker’s collection of Irish legends. AAMAK, PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 9: Diary entry, 20th February 1831. AAMAK, PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 9: Diary entry, 13th April 1831. NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: VI, 10B, 63–66 and 69–70. With regard to Croker and this translation, see further the chapter on Croker by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist elsewhere in this volume.

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accounts and other written sources.107 Records show that among those who contributed to the collection were the earlier-noted Cornelius Steenbloch, and another professor of history, Rudolf Keyser (1803–1864), as well as the student of law and later professor of history, Peter Andreas Munch (1810–1863); the well-known Norwegian writer Henrik Wergeland (1808–1845); the pastors and authors Simon Olaus Wolff and Wilhelm Henrik Buch (1798–1890); the lawyer and author Conrad Nicolai Schwach (1793–1860); and the teacher and author Niels Matthias Aalholm (1811–1894).108 As mentioned earlier, Wolff and Schwach had already begun recording legends around 1820. When it was completed, Faye presented his collection of legends to several learned men, including Professor Steenbloch, and all of them encouraged him to publish it.109 By the end of September and beginning of October in the fall of 1832, the work on Norske Sagn had advanced to such an extent that Faye was able to send out invitations for subscriptions to the book which were printed in two newspapers, Den Vestlandske Tidende and Morgenbladet.110 Here, he asserts that aim of the collection was “[…] to fill a gap in our [Norwegian] literature” (“[…] at afhjælpe et Savn i vor Litteratur”111). The book was then published by N. C. Halds Bogtrykkerie in Arendal in the summer of 1833. The book’s nearly 150 legends came from Lindesnes in the south to Nordland in the north, the only areas left out being Norway’s most northerly regions, Troms and Finnmark. In short, it is clear that the legends in the collection came from the greater part of the country, as well as from the Swedish province of Bohuslän (Nor. : Båhuslen), which had formerly been part of Norway.

8

Norske Sagn and the Influence of the Grimm Brothers

Considering Faye’s letter to Jacob Grimm noted at the start, it is surprising that Faye does not mention the Grimms in his preface as the sources of inspiration to Norske Sagn, instead talking of Bishop Müller and Steenbloch as his key influences.112 Indeed, in his letter to Jacob Grimm, he mentions that Steenbloch had encouraged him to publish his collection in order to fulfil an old

107 108 109 110 111 112

Faye, Norske Sagn, viii. Braadland, “Andreas Faye og det nasjonale gjennombrudd”, 64; and NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: Letter to Andreas Faye from P. A. Munch, dated 13th March 1833. NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: VI, 11. Braadland, Echoes, 15. Faye, “Subscriptions-Plan”, 87. Faye, Norske Sagn, viii.

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promise made by Steenbloch to Grimm.113 At the same time, he makes it clear that he was familiar with the Grimms’ legends,114 clearly expressing his enthusiasm for them. Indeed, in his notes, he describes Deutsche Sagen as “[…] an exquisite work, which can be categorised as a classic of its genre” (“[…] et fortræffeligt Værk, som i hit Slags kan kaldes classisk”115). It is nonetheless evident that he studied the first volume more closely than the second, noting that he only flipped through the latter.116 Interestingly enough, we find no other comment about the degree to which the Grimms inspired and influenced his work with legends. While this is something that has been argued about for quite some time by researchers,117 the only one to go into this question in any detail is Jan Faye Braadland in his Echoes of the Brothers Grimm from Thule (1996). Considering the fact that Faye had Deutsche Sagen in front of him, there is good reason to consider the question of Grimmian influence in a little more detail.

9

Collecting the Legends

With regard to the collection of the legends, there are obvious similarities between Faye’s work and that of the Grimms, and Thiele. In the preface to the Deutsche Sagen, the Grimms write that they collected the legends by looking through old books and by writing down oral accounts of legends,118 an approach which Thiele also used.119 Like his predecessors, Faye also extracted legends from older works, and not least various topographical accounts. Nonetheless, he also made recording of legends as they were told, and collected legends that others recorded for him.120 About half of his material comes from earlier publications. A third were collected by him personally, with his assistants collecting a further sixth.121 113 114 115 116 117

118 119 120 121

Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 308. Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 308. NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: VI, 10B, 70. NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: VI, 10B, 70. See, for example, Moe, “Det national gjennembrud og dets mænd”, 51; Boberg, Folkemindeforskningens historie, 268; Ørnulf Hodne, Jørgen Moe og folkeeventyrene, 39; Braadland, Echoes, 15–20; Amundsen, “Fortelling og foredling”, 57, and “Samlere, forskere og folkeminner på 1800-tallet”, 30–31; and Eriksen, “Folkeminner”, 33. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xx. Thiele, Af mit Livs Aarbøger, 120 and 124–125. See further the chapter on Thiele by Timothy R. Tangherlini elsewhere in this volume. NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: VI, 11; and Faye, Norske Sagn, vii. Moe, “Det national gjennembrud”, 50–51.

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The Perception and Value of a Collection of Legends

In the preface to Norske Sagn, Faye lists six main points relating to the perception and value of collecting folk legends. In the following subchapter, these will be examined one-by-one, considering also whether they might have a background in the introduction to the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen. 1. According to Faye, legends dealing with supernatural beings were closely related to ancient Norse mythology, and could provide detailed information about it.122 He also argues that the similarities between Norwegian and most Northern European legends can provide interesting information about these peoples’ shared heritage and familial relations.123 In other words, he argues that they enable people to look backwards in time and gain historical knowledge about their country of birth. In his words: “[…] obscure historical memories of the olden times can thus be regarded as being the first element of our many legends about supernatural beings” (“[…] dunkle historiske Minder fra den høie Old kunne altsaa betragtes som det første Grundstof til vore mange Sagn om overnaturlige Væsener”124). The Grimms similarly point to Deutsche Sagen’s links to the past in their introduction.125 In short, like the Grimms, Faye emphasises the value of legends as historical documents, echoing the Grimms’ statement that the main difference between legends and fairy tales is that the former are based to a greater degree on history.126 While the Grimms also argue somewhat loosely that the legends of supernatural beings such as dwarfs and giants have their origins in pagan times,127 Faye goes somewhat further, noting that the Norwegian legends of supernatural beings have a relationship to both the Poetic and the Prose Edda recorded in Iceland in the thirteenth century.128 It is not unreasonable to believe that here we can see the influence of P. E. Müller whose earlier-noted thesis from 1812 had dealt directly with the Prose Edda, and in 1812 published his thesis Om Avthentien af Snorres Edda og beviset derfra kan hentes for Asalærens Ægthed (On the Authorship of Snorri’s Edda and Whether the

122 123 124 125 126 127 128

Faye, Norske Sagn, iii. Faye, Norske Sagn, iii. Faye, Norske Sagn, xvii. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, v. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, v. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xvii. Faye, Norske Sagn, iii.

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2.

3.

4.

129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136

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References in This Can Be Used to Demonstrate the Authenticity of the Edda).129 Faye also claims that the legends can be of interest to natural scientists, justifying this by the close connection that exists between nature and the content of the legends. The landscape is reflected in the legends, and different landscapes evidently had an influence on the narratives told in each area.130 This is something that the Grimms never mention explicitly in their introduction to Deutsche Sagen, but was clearly of interest to Müller who was particularly interested in this aspect of the legends, saying he was expecting interesting contributions from Norway as a “Bjergland” (“mountainous region”).131 Indeed, Werlauff had also noted the close connection between the legends and nature in his 1815 article about folk legends.132 Faye maintains, furthermore, that collections of legends about both supernatural beings and historical events could serve as valuable raw material for poets, hoping his collection of legends would serve as a handbook for young poets and writers.133 This is an idea also found in Rasmus Nyerup’s preface to Thiele’s Prøver af Danske Folkesagn, in which Nyerup writes that legends “provide poets with raw materials and subjects to elaborate on” (“skaffe Poeterne Stof og Æmne til videre Bearbejdelse”134). Interestingly enough, this is an idea that the Grimms never mention in their introduction to Deutsche Sagen. Indeed, Jacob Grimm seems to have strongly disagreed with such a use of legends if we consider his review of Thiele’s book in which he notes, among other things, that this would be involve problems of language and rhyme, and be a misuse of the legends.135 Instead, the Grimms recommend their book to lovers of German poetry, language and history.136 Faye claims next that the historical legends provide interesting and important historical knowledge about people’s homeland and the actions of great men, even if the truth in them may vary. The legends, he

Steenstrup, “Müller, Peter Erasmus”, 605. Faye, Norske Sagn, iv. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: III, 9: Diary entry, 20th February 1831. Werlauff, “Bemærkninger over Folkesagnene”, 194. Faye, Norske Sagn, iv–v. Thiele, Prøver af Danske Folkesagn, vi. See further the chapter on Thiele by Timothy R. Tangherlini elsewhere in this volume. Grimm, “Eine dänischen Sammlung”, 200. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xxiv.

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writes, should be seen as “expressions of reality” (“Aftryk af Virkeligheden”), which reflect the way people remember unusual and extraordinary events.137 As he puts it: “In several of the historical legends reported in this collection one finds a number of not entirely unimportant contributions that affirm, inform and supplement the witness of history and characterise bygone times” (“I flere af de i denne Samling meddeelte historiske Sagn findes ikke aldeles uviktige Bidrag, der stadfæste, oplyse og supplere Historiens Vidnesbyrd og characteriserede svundne Tider”138). Faye buttresses his opinion by referring to the Grimms’ statements in their preface about the close relationship between history and the legend:139 It ventures into places and locales that have long since become inaccessible to our official history. But for the most part, history and legend flow together, intermingling with one another as in rivers where the greener waters of a tributary stream can long be discerned after the two rivers have joined together. (Noch geht sie an Örter und Stellen, die unsere Geschichte längst nicht mehr erreichen kann, vielmal aber schließen sie beide zusammen und untereinander; nur daß man zuweilen die an sich untrennbar gewordene Sage, wie in Strömen das ausgenommene grünere Wasser eines anderen Flusses, noch lange zu erkennen vermag.140) 5.

6.

137 138 139 140 141 142

Faye also argues that the legends will not exclusively be of interest to locals but will also be of interest to outsiders,141 something that the Grimms seem unconcerned with. Finally, Faye believes that the collection of legends will be of pedagogic importance, serving as “benevolent and entertaining reading” (“uskadelig Morskabslæsning”), replacing the oral folktales which were in the process of disappearing.142 Once again, this is something that the Grimms do not touch on in their introduction. Faye, Norske Sagn, v. Faye, Norske Sagn, v. Faye, Norske Sagn, v. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, x; English translation taken from Grimm, The German Legends, I, 3. Faye, Norske Sagn, v–vi. Faye, Norske Sagn, vi.

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On the basis of the above, several fundamental likenesses are apparent if one compares the approaches of the Grimms to legends and those of Faye. However, one can also see other influences (from Müller and Nyerup) as well as Faye’s own views, uninfluenced by the Grimms’ introduction or their notions about legends mentioned elsewhere.

11

The Organisation of the Legends

In Norske Sagn, Faye groups the legends in six main categories in the following order: 1. Supernatural beings 2. Warriors and kings 3. Saint Olav 4. The Black Death 5. Historical legends 6. Diverse legends The categorisation of the material shows that he largely heeded Bishop Müller’s advice about grouping by time period, Faye’s placing of supernatural beings first most likely being due to his belief (noted above) that these beings had some connection to Old Norse mythology.143 Next come those legends about warriors and kings. In his introduction to this category, Faye writes that several activities, which, in certain places, are attributed to giants or trolls (jutuler), such as the throwing of stones at churches, are elsewhere said to be those of “their more human descendants, warriors and kings” (“deres mere menneskelige Efterfølgere, Kjæmperne og Kongerne”144). In other words, Faye links these legends to an earlier phase of history. These narratives are followed by those historical legends about Saint Olav/ Ólafr, who was king of Norway at the beginning of the eleventh century, and the Black Death, which ravaged Norway in around 1350. Faye categorises the group of legends that follows generally as historical legends (“Historiske sagn”), “not because all these legends can be considered to be reliable, historical facts, but because they deal with persons and events that have become historical” (“ei fordi at alle disse Sagn kunne betragtes som paalidelige, historiske Facta; men kun for saavidt, at de angaae Personer og Tildragelser, der ere blevne historiske”145). Faye’s categorisation of legends here might be regarded as 143 144 145

Cf. Faye, Norske Sagn, iii. Faye, Norske Sagn, 91. “Jutuler” (cf. the Old Norse jötnar) are the same as mountain trolls. Faye, Norske Sagn, 151.

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somewhat inconsistent considering the fact that this category did not include the two earlier-mentioned groups of historical legends linked to the Middle Ages that are found throughout the country. In spite of this, it is clear that the categorisation of legends by chronology reflects Faye’s profound interest in history (and the Grimms’ emphasis on the historical value of this material). As noted above, in Faye’s collection, legends of supernatural beings appear before historical legends which to some degree echoes the arrangement and sequencing of the material in the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen and shows him following Müller’s recommendation that he should keep the earlier collections in mind. It might be remembered that the first volume of Deutsche Sagen contains those legends related to special sites and places while legends more related to history are placed in the second volume.146 It is nonetheless clear that Faye’s materials were subject to a far more developed and orderly presentation and a more precise sequence.

12

The Reproduction of the Legends

In the preface of Norske Sagn, Faye emphasises that he is publishing the legends “as he has received them, without additions or deletions and without embellishment” (“som han har erholdt dem, uden at lægge til eller tage fra og uden Udpyntning”147). In other words, he is arguing that he published the legends without changing anything in them, either linguistically or with regard to content, leaving the reworking and editing of texts to others. The reader is encouraged to be satisfied with the simple but genuine form of the Norwegian legends.148 Faye’s principles for reproduction are clearly in accordance with the principles laid down in the Grimms’ 1815 circular which had stressed the need for oral literature to be faithfully recorded: “It is extremely important that these items are to be recorded faithfully, without any embellishment and additions, from the mouth of the tellers, in and with their own words in the most exact and detailed way […]” (“Es ist vor allem daran gelegen, dasz diese gegenstände getreu und wahr, ohne schminke und zuthat, aus dem munde der erzählenden, wo thunlich in und mit deren selbsteigenen worten, auf das genaueste und umständlichste aufgefaszt werden […]”149). Similar ideas had been stressed in 146 147 148 149

Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xvi. Faye, Norske Sagn, viii. Faye, Norske Sagn, viii. Grimm, Kleinere Schriften, VII, 594; translated in Zipes, From Enchanted Forests, 27.

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the introduction to Deutsche Sagen in which the Grimms advocate that the legends must be reproduced in such a way that “what lies inside is not damaged in the least” (“ihr Innerstes bis ins kleinste nicht verletzt”) and that “things and circumstances are truthfully compiled” (“Sache und Thatumstände lügenlos gesammelt werden”150). At question was therefore the desire to present as faithful as possible a reproduction of the legends, without being a slave to them.151 Even if a clear correspondence between the Grimms’ and Faye’s principles for publishing the legends can be established, it is still not unreasonable to assume that Bishop Müller, who was most likely very familiar with the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen, probably had the greatest influence. As noted above, Müller’s clear and concise advice with regard to the publication of legends is noted by Faye in his diary. This advice was also fully in line with the Grimm’s principles of reproduction. The extent to which the Grimms themselves adhered to their own principles for the consistent reproduction of legends is naturally open to question. Even if they advocated that narratives should be reproduced “with fidelity and truth” (“mit Treue und Wahrheit”), comparisons of earlier drafts of their fairy tales with those that were subsequently published has demonstrated that they significantly departed from their own principles.152

13

Introductions, Additional Information and Commentary

With regard to prefaces, additional information and commentary, one finds both similarities and clear differences between the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen and Faye’s Norske Sagn. As indicated above, Faye has a clearer division and organisation of the legends than the Grimms. He also provides an introduction to each of the first five main categories of legends providing them with a cultural-historical background and context. Apart from the introduction itself, no such introductions to different types of legend can be found in Deutsche Sagen.153 This difference can most likely be attributed to Faye’s affinity for the

150 151 152 153

Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xii. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xii. Ørnulf Hodne, “Brødrene Grimm og norsk eventyrsamling”, 116; and Ellis, One Story Too Many. Like the Grimm brothers, Thiele has no such introduction to his Danske Folkesagn. As is noted in their introduction (Grimm, Deutsche Sagen [1816–1818], I, xx), the Grimms had planned to put together a volume of notes at a later date (as they had done with Kinder-

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historical whereas in the case of the Grimms, the primary interests were in language and literature. Another interesting difference between the two works can be seen in the way that in his introduction and comments to the main category of “supernatural beings” (“Overnaturlige væsener”), Faye not only provides historical and cultural-historical background but also information about comparable supernatural beings found in several other European and Northern European countries, thereby once again fulfilling Bishop Müller’s desire to see more emphasis on international comparison.154 Unlike Faye, who in many cases provides a detailed and insightful commentary, the Grimms only provided a brief and supplemental commentary to their first edition. On the other hand, a fundamental principle shared by both the Grimms and Faye is that the sources of the various legends should be given, that is information about which written source the legend is taken from and whether its recording has been derived from an oral account.155 Information about the name of the storytellers, however, is not provided by Faye.

14

Reviews of Norske Sagn

The publisher of Norske Sagn had the book ready for distribution by the summer of 1833, and on 21st September of that same year, the weekly paper Vidar published an anonymous review of the book written by the young Peter Andreas Munch (who, as noted above, had been involved in some of the collection). Faye had sent a copy of the collection of legends to Munch so that Munch could write a review in the journal.156 The day after the review was

154

155

156

und Hausmärchen). However, the notes did not appear until the second edition from 1865, edited by Herman Grimm (1828–1901), in which they are assembled on the basis of the brothers’ handwritten comments. As is well known, Jørgen Moe’s introduction to the second edition of Norske Folkeeventyr from 1852 contains a detailed comparison of the fairy tale traditions of different countries. Whether Moe was inspired by Faye’s approach in his collection of legends is difficult to determine. Moe’s comparisons were nonetheless clearly in line with the disciplinary interests of the time. It might be noted that Thiele’s comments on the legends in his Danske Folkesagn are somewhat more extensive than those found in Deutsche Sagen, thereby providing a potential model for Faye. Thiele also carefully notes the sources of all of his legends. See further the chapter on Thiele by Timothy R. Tangherlini elsewhere in this volume. NB: Håndskriftsamlingen: Brevsamling 19: Letter to Andreas Faye from P. A. Munch, dated 22nd September 1833. Vidar was published by Det norske Studentersamfund of which Munch was editor at this time.

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printed, Munch wrote a letter in reply to Faye, which he had postponed until after the review had been published. The letter is characterised by his concern about Faye’s reaction to the review. His concern seems justified because Munch’s evaluation of the work was crushing. In his letter, Munch clearly states that he hopes that Faye will not hold anything against him personally even if he has been hard in his judgment, and “that we can both separate our scientific differences from our personal relationship” (“at vi begge kunne lade vor videnskabelige Uenighed være fjærnet fra vort personlige Forhold”157). Munch concludes his letter with the following words: “I conclude by once again commending your friendship, and hoping that as a true scientist, you will set yourself as an example to the rest of the crowd in this country” (“Jeg slutter med atter at anbefale mig til Deres Venskab, og haaber, at De som en ægte Videnskabsmand vil foregaae den store Hob her i Landet med et godt Exempel”158). Munch’s review starts by saluting Faye for the work he has done in bringing the legends back to life, although critique abounds for the selection of legends, for their arrangement, for the linguistic approach, for the information provided, and for the weakness in source criticism.159 The criticism nonetheless focuses on the way in which Faye has presented the legends, and here Munch is particularly hard: […] the lack of lively representation reveals itself throughout the writing. We talked earlier about the importance of this for giving the legends meaning, and – indeed – one can hardly find a legend collection that has less meaning than the present one, in which the presentation seems throughout to rest like a smothering fog over the preserved material. One looks in vain for any genuine poetic sense, for a naive and expressive form of storytelling. ([…] den Brist paa belivet Fremstilling, som røber sig overalt i Skriftet. Vi talte forhen om Vigtigheden deraf, endog til at give Sagnene Betydning, og – sandelig – man vil neppe kunne træffe en Sagnsamling, der er mere betydningsløs, end nærværende, hvor Fremstillingen synes næsten overalt at hvile som en kvælende Taage over den opbevarede Begivenhed.

157 158 159

NB: Håndskriftsamlingen: Brevsamling 19: Letter to Andreas Faye from P. A. Munch, dated 22nd September 1833. NB: Håndskriftsamlingen: Brevsamling 19: Letter to Andreas Faye from P. A. Munch, dated 22nd September 1833. Munch, “Norske Sagn, samlede og udgivne af A. Faye”, 44–47.

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Nogen ægte poetisk Opfatning, nogen naiv og udtryksfuld Fortællemaade søger man forgjeves.160) For Munch, “lively storytelling” (“livlig Fortællemaade”) does not necessary conflict with the reliability of a legend. For anyone passing on legends, it is important to perceive the characteristics and the main themes of the narratives, and to have the ability to highlight these.161 Faye did not allow such criticisms of his reproduction of the legends go unanswered. Two months later, a response was published in Vidar, Faye stating that he found it odd that Munch, who had personally contributed to both the collection and the reviewing of several of the legends included in the manuscript should have been so critical of the work.162 Faye points out that he had consulted with several scholars, writing that: Everybody felt that the legends, passed on as they sounded amongst the people, would be of more interest, at least for the learned portion of the public and especially for those who admire our olden times and history, than if they had been decorated and reworked by a collector or publisher. (Alle vare da af den Mening, at Sagnene, meddelte saaledes som de lyde blant Folket, vilde i det mindste for den videnskabelige Deel af Publicum, og fornemmelig for Yndere af vor Oldtid og dens Historie have langt mere Interesse, end naar de bleve udpyntede og bearbeidede af en Samler eller Udgiver.163) Faye claims that his mission as a collector was completed by virtue of his having examined the authenticity of the legends, and transmitted them as they were presented to him, arranging them into categorical classes, and presenting them with a thorough commentary.164 In short, Faye’s approach outlined in the preface of Norske Sagn is explained in his response: As shown above, his method of reproducing the legends would seem to be consistent with the principles of reproduction outlined by the Grimms. It is evident that Faye wanted no truck with literary and poetic adaptations of legends. In a letter dated August 1834 and written to the county official and representative at the

160 161 162 163 164

Munch, “Norske Sagn, samlede og udgivne af A. Faye”, 45. Munch, “Norske Sagn, samlede og udgivne af A. Faye”, 45. Faye, “Svar paa den Recension over norske Sagn”, 125. Faye, “Svar paa den Recension over norske Sagn”, 119. Faye, “Svar paa den Recension over norske Sagn”, 119.

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Eidsvoll National Assembly of 1814, W. F. K. Christie (1778–1849),165 Faye writes that he feels neither desire nor any call to romanticise the legends.166 Indeed, his critical stance to any reworking of legends is also clear in a comment written around the time that Norske Sagn was published about Thomas Crofton Croker’s Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland: “The stories themselves often seem to me too drawn out and to contain too much unwanted content from the author himself […]” (“Fortelligene selv forekommer meg ofte alt for lang trukne og at indeholde formeget uvedkommende og formeget af Forfatteren selv […]”167). Others took similar exception to Munch’s highly critical review. At about the same time as Faye’s defensive stand in Vidar, the newspaper Den vestlandske Tidende printed an anonymously written response which had a somewhat more polemic tone.168 The author was later shown to be Simon Olaus Wolff, who, as noted above, had also been involved in the collection of material.169 Faye also received support and encouragement through private correspondence. One such letter came from the Oehlenschläger couple. In a letter dated 27th February 1834, Fru Oehlenschläger writes, “Oehlenschläger has read your folk legends with pleasure and does not really understand what moves the author [of the review] to trash them” (“Deres Folkesagn har Oehlenschläger lest med Fornøielse og indseer aldeles ikke hva der har kundet bevæge Vedkommende til at dodle dem”170). Indeed, in the November 1833 issue of his monthly publication, Prometheus, Oehlenschläger had given Norske Sagn a concise and positive review, printing one of the legends that had appeared in the book.171 Fru Oehlenschläger says that she herself felt that the book 165

166 167 168 169 170 171

W. F. K. Christie was a lawyer and one of the most central figures in the National Assembly in 1814 at Eidsvoll where the constitution for a free, independent Norway was composed. He was also important in the negotiations with Sweden about the union that autumn, and in the following year, was appointed governor of Bergenhus Stiftamt, the highest, secular office in the administrative district. Christie nevertheless remained deeply engaged in the cultural nation building of Norway, with special interests in folk culture, language, history and archaeology. He began to record dialect words among peasant populations early in the nineteenth century, making recordings of folklore, including legends, that can be traced back at least to 1824. His interests included both intangible and tangible cultural heritage which led to him playing a central role in the founding of Bergen Museum in 1825: see Fossen, “Christie, Wilhelm Frimann Koren”, 205–206; Indrebø, “Innleiding”, 12 and 48; and Christie, Norsk Dialect-Lexicon, 132–134, and 147. Christie, Norsk Dialect-Lexicon, 223. NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: VI, 10B, 69. With regard to Croker’s work, see the chapter on Croker by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist elsewhere in this volume. “Bedømmelse af den i Bladet Vidar, No. 58”, 161–163 and 166–168. Braadland, “Andreas Faye og det nasjonale gjennombrudd”, 81. Braadland, Fayes brevveksling, 49. Oehlenschläger, “Anmærkning”, 288.

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was a “worthy undertaking” (“fortienstligt Foretagende”), and that Danes and Swedes, as well as Norwegians, owed Faye a debt of gratitude.172 The earliernoted Werlauff was so enthusiastic about Faye’s ordering of the legends and his manner of presentation that he voiced a wish that Denmark would produce a collection of legends of a similar quality.173 W. F. K. Christie, meanwhile, said that he had read the legends several times with “true pleasure” (“sand Fornøjelse”), also noting that he had found many valuable pieces of historical and literary information.174 Finnur Magnússon also honoured Faye, commenting that he felt the collection was not only superb but also rich in content.175 In addition to this, and of equal interest is that Finnur gave his unreserved support for the way in which Faye had presented his legends: […] I think you have found the correct means of presenting folk narratives. That is how they interest and teach the legend-researcher. Any poetic embellishment of them, on the other hand, would be uncertain and misleading, and of no use at all for such researchers. ([…] troer jeg at De har truffet den rigtige Maade ved Almuefortællingernes Fremstilling. Saaledes interessere og belære de Sagnforskeren. En digterisk Indklædning af dem vilde derimod blive usikker og vildledende, ja endog, for slige Grandskere, af aldeles ingen Værdi.176) These were not the only people to support Faye privately. In other letters, both Niels Aalholm and Jørgen Aall take exception to Munch’s criticism, characterising the review as being both “a masterpiece of impertinence” (“et Mesterstykke af Impertinenter”) and “cruel” (“meget inhuman”).177 In spite of the fact that Faye received much favourable and encouraging feedback, Munch’s criticism would go on to set the standard of assessment for Faye’s work in scholarly circles for many decades to come. The later Norwegian collector of folktales, Jørgen Moe (1813–1882), for example, characterised 172 173 174 175 176 177

Braadland, Fayes brevveksling, 49. Botten-Hansen, “Provst Andreas Faye”, 34. Christie, Norsk Dialect-Lexicon, 221. NB: Håndskriftsamlingen: Brevsamling 1: Letter to Andreas Faye from Finnur Magnússon, dated 5th June 1834. NB: Håndskriftsamlingen: Brevsamling 1: Letter to Andreas Faye from Finnur Magnússon, dated 5th June 1834. NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: XI, 3: Letter to Andreas Faye from Niels Aalholm, dated 27th September 1833 and letter to Andreas Faye from Jørgen Aall, dated 23rd December 1833.

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Faye’s reproduction of the legends as “Cancellistiilprøver”,178 that is to say, as examples of the use of a bureaucratic and administrative language. Moe’s son, Moltke Moe (1859–1913), Norway’s first professor of folklore, would later provide the following damning evaluation of Faye’s work with legends in the early twentieth century: “A lover of science”, that’s the expression. This describes him well; only his love was mostly an unhappy one, in spite of his industry and all the knowledge he possessed. A more unsuitable subject than the poetry of the people cannot be easily imagined for him. (“Videnskabselsker” – det er ordet. Det var han i høi grad; kun at hans kjærlighed ikke sjelden var ulykkelig – til trods for hans gavnelyst og alle hans mange kundskaber. Og et emne, som han passede mindre for end folkedigtningen, kan ikke let tænkes.179)

15

An Extended Network

In spite of unfavourable criticism it received, the publication of Norske Sagn led to an expanded scholarly network for Faye, and it was not long before he started planning a new collection of legends.180 He correctly admits to W. F. K. Christie in a letter dated August 1834 that Munch’s unfavourable review had nearly destroyed both his “desire and courage” (“Lyst og Mod”) to continue his work with legends. At the same time, he argues that the earlier-noted letter he had received from Christie had convinced him that among his “countrymen existed men who possessed enough of a sense of the historical to prefer the simple telling of the legends to a romanticised treatment of them […]” (“Landsmænd fantes Mænd, der besad historisk Sands nok til at foretrække

178 179

180

Fra det nationale gjennembruds tid, 226. On Moe, see further the chapters by Line Esborg and Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in this volume. Moe, “Det national gjennembrud”, 50–51. As late as 1999, one still finds the literary historian Olav Solberg being critical of Faye’s way of presenting his legends, which Solberg sees as dry: see Solberg, Norsk folkedikting, 41. The folklorist Olav Bø (1918–1998), on the other hand, had a more nuanced understanding of Faye’s approach. In 1974, while he questions the overall results of Faye’s approach, he argues that they are dependable: see Bø, Norges Litteraturhistorie, 431–432. Christie, Norsk Dialect-Lexicon, 223–224.

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den simple Fortælling af Sagnene for den romantiserede Behandling […]”181). Similar encouragement had come from Finnur Magnússon.182 Faye’s work encouraged Christie to develop his own efforts to collect folk legends in Norway. In 1832, Christie had been encouraged to assist Faye by recording his own collection of legends, but had not sent Faye this material because he believed Faye was already familiar with it. This had led to several of these legends not being included in the original Norske Sagn. Christie nonetheless now presented them to Faye for inclusion in the new edition which was published in 1844 including 20 additional legends.183 While Faye does not specify exactly which materials comes from Christie in this new edition, now entitled Norske Folke-Sagn, he thanks Christie for his contributions in the preface.184 The aforementioned new preface is largely identical to that in the first edition, except for an additional section at the end written in 1843 in which Faye mentions Christie, Bernt Moe (1814–1850), Jørgen Moe and P. Chr. Asbjørnsen (1812–1885) as additional contributors.185 The 20-year-old student, Bernt Moe had sent a letter to Faye in February 1835 when other students had told him that Faye was planning to issue a supplementary volume of Norske Sagn. Moe’s letter had contained several new legends taken, for example, from parish reports (kallsbøker), material which had not been included in the original publication.186 The letter from Bernt Moe is of particular interest here because it also included some legends collected by Moe’s friend P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, who was also a student at this time.187 Asbjørnsen, together with Jørgen Moe, would later became the most prominent collectors and publishers of Norwegian folklore, publishing their collection of fairy tales, Norske Folkeeventyr (Norwegian 181 182 183 184

185

186 187

Christie, Norsk Dialect-Lexicon, 223. Christie, Norsk Dialect-Lexicon, 224. Christie, Norsk Dialect-Lexicon, 221–222. Faye, Norske Folke-Sagn, vii. Regarding Christie’s legends, Gustav Indrebø (1889–1942) writes that Christie makes use of “a mostly learned, referring style, like Faye” (“mest ein lærd, refererande stil, som Faye”): see Indrebø, “Innleiding”, 28. Faye, Norske Folke-Sagn, vii. On Jørgen Moe and P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, see further the chapters written by Line Esborg and Ane Ohvik elsewhere in this volume. Bernt Moe was clearly interested in history, and later became an assistant at the Norwegian National Archives (Det norske riksarkiv), where he worked with biographies of historical figures: see Jansen, “Moe, Bernt”, 261–262. NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: VI, 12, D: Letter to Andreas Faye from Bernt Moe, dated 3rd February 1835. NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: VI, 12, D. Letter to Andreas Faye from Bernt Moe, dated 3rd February 1835.

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Folk Fairy Tales), between 1841 and 1844, while Asbjørnsen’s own collection of legends, Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn (Norwegian Huldre Fairy Tales and Folk Legends), would appear in 1845–1848. Bernt Moe’s letter from 1835 provides the basis for the assumption that Faye’s publication of the legends had originally aroused Asbjørnsen’s interest in recording folktales,188 an assumption strengthened by the fact that there are no earlier mentions of Asbjørnsen doing any recording.189 Indeed, data on borrowings from the library of the University of Christiania shows that it was only after Norske Sagn had come out, and Munch’s review had been published, that Asbjørnsen began to borrow folk literature from the library.190 It must therefore be a reasonable conclusion that it had been Faye’s work that had both inspired and had a decisive influence on Asbjørnsen’s collecting activities and his decision to publish Norwegian folklore, something that has previously received little attention from folklorists.191 In a letter written in March 1835, Faye was already describing Asbjørnsen as a “most extraordinary ambassador of legends” (“overordentlig Sagn Ambassadeur”),192 and Asbjørnsen himself sent several legends to him,193 noting as early as October 1836 that he was himself considering publishing a collection of legends.194 After this, he sent no further contributions to Faye’s collection. It is, however, worth noting that in his reply to Asbjørnsen, Faye praised Asbjørnsen with regard to his proposed collection of legends, offering to provide advice.195 Exactly when Faye got in touch with Jørgen Moe is unclear. On the basis of Moe’s letters, they met at least a few years before 1839, at a gathering at the home of Bernt Moe.196 Although parts of their correspondence relate to folk 188 189 190 191

192 193 194 195 196

Cf. Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 60; and Bakken, “Omkring Asbjørnsen”, 463. Cf. Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 60. Cf. Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 65. See further the chapter on Asbjørnsen by Line Esborg elsewhere in this volume. Moltke Moe asserts in Fra det nationale gjennembruds tid, 56, that Munch’s review “provided the support that led Landstad, a few years later, to record legends from Telemark in a similarly folkloristic form” (“gav stødet til, at Landstad faa aar efter tog sig for at nedskrive Telemarkens sagn i jevn folkelig fortælling […]”). However, he does not justify or extrapolate any further on this. NFS: Asbjørnsen brev F: Letter to P. Chr. Asbjørnsen from Andreas Faye, dated 25th March 1835. NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: VI, 12, D. Letter to Andreas Faye from P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, dated 25th April 1835. NRA: Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv: XI, 3. Letter to Andreas Faye from P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, dated 8th October 1836. NFS: Asbjørnsen brev F: Letter to P. Chr. Asbjørnsen from Andreas Faye, dated 8th January 1837. Fra det nationale gjennembruds tid, 178.

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songs, they also exchange views on the publication of legends. In a letter to Jørgen Moe written early in the New Year of 1840, Faye writes that he is already negotiating with the publisher Guldberg about a new and improved edition of Norske Sagn and asks Moe to send him legends for inclusion in this work. Moe obliged.197 Faye obviously had confidence in Moe’s scholarly qualifications, because he asks Moe if he can critically review the new collection of legends for both language and content. He also asks Moe to provide information about the geographical location of his legends.198 In the same letter, Faye expresses his feelings about the principles of reproducing legends in metaphorical but no uncertain terms: You can see that I consider the legends to be historical, and although I do not deny the fact that they would gather more general interest if they were treated poetically, I nonetheless believe that in other respects it is beneficial that they be treated in a more prosaic form so that in the future people will be able to see what these children looked like in their naked form, before the poets got hold of them and dressed them up. (De seer, at jeg tager Sagnene som Historike [sic.], og uagtet jeg ikke negter, at de vilde vinde mere i almeen Interesse, naar de bleve behandlede digterisk, saa troer jeg dog at det i andre Henseende er gavnligt, at en Prosaisk har behandlet dem, forat man i Fremtiden kan see hvorledes disse Børn saa ud i deres Nøgenhed, inden Digterne toge sig af dem og klædte dem.199) The quote underlines that Faye was still maintaining the same principles of reproduction. Moe’s response to the request reveals basic and clear disagreement with this approach, urging Faye to “Tell as the people do!” (“Fortæl som folket!”200). He continues by saying: The language becomes simpler and perhaps lacking in artistry, but it is precisely this that makes it so powerful and characteristic; and above all, the way in which it is presented is given a sense of the credibility that so enthrals us when we hear a legend being told orally by the people. 197 198 199 200

AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: VII, 1. Letter to J. Moe from Andreas Faye, dated 6th January 1840; and Fra det nationale gjennembruds tid, 187. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: VII, 1. Letter to J. Moe from Andreas Faye, dated 6th January 1840. AAMAK: PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv: VII, 1. Letter to J. Moe from Andreas Faye, dated 6th January 1840. Fra det nationale gjennembruds tid, 186.

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(Sproget bliver simplere, og vel kunstløst, men netop derved kraftigt og betegnende; og fremfor Alt: Foredraget faaer hiint Præg af Troværdighed, der griber os saa, naar vi høre Sagnet i Folkemunde201). In addition, Moe questions whether the legends would not gain greater credibility and a more genuine popular tone if they were more distinctly separated from the “philosophising or historicising introductions” (“fra de philosopherende eller historiske Indledninger”202). Moe was obviously far from enthusiastic about Faye’s means of reproducing of legends; indeed, in a later letter to Asbjørnsen from 15th February 1844, he writes sarcastically that Faye is still waiting impatiently to get his proof-read legends back: “As if they could be corrected” (“Som om de lod sig corrigere”203). Faye’s way of reproducing legends certainly contrasts with that of P. Chr. Asbjørnsen in later times. As noted elsewhere in this volume,204 Asbjørnsen edited the legends in a more literary fashion, and, following the method set by Croker, wrote framework accounts that gave the reader a sense of the situations in which narratives were told.205 This was an approach also followed by Landstad.206 In spite of the continuing criticisms that were being voiced about Faye’s style, the new edition from 1844 showed no change in approach. He kept tightly to the Grimm brothers’ principles of reproduction. It was also clear that his work was already inspiring others to collect and publish folk material.

16

More Ripples

As has been noted above, and will be seen elsewhere in this volume, the ripple effects of the Grimms’ work in Norway did not stop at Andreas Faye. Some of those individuals who were inspired by Faye’s work have already been noted. There were, however, other effects that can be traced directly back to Faye’s work in the shape of his students who recorded legends, and the ways in which his legends were used as raw materials for new literary and artistic works (as he had hoped) and came to be used as tools for the teaching of reading.

201 202 203 204 205 206

Fra det nationale gjennembruds tid, 186. Fra det nationale gjennembruds tid, 187. Fra det nationale gjennembruds tid, 253. See further the chapters on Asbjørnsen by Ane Ohrvik and Line Esborg elsewhere in this volume. Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 135–137. Baklid, “‘Disse Sagn, som her leveres […]’”, 29–30. See above on Landstad’s work.

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The Teacher-Training College in Holt: A New Centre for Collection

In 1839, Faye had become the head of the diocese of Kristiansand’s teachertraining college in Holt. His interest in the legends was clear from his work with the students who Faye asked to write down their own local legends.207 Indeed, Faye’s surviving papers from the college show that the students recorded many legends.208 Interestingly enough, some of those who graduated from the college during the period in which Faye headed it, and in later years, would go on to become key names in the collection of Norwegian folklore. These included Johan Theodor Storaker (1837–1872) and Ole Fuglestvedt (1843–1902) who published a collection of legends together in 1881.209 Storaker also went on to collect large quantities of Norwegian folklore related to popular belief with the help of his own students.210

18

Faye’s Legends as Literary and Artistic Raw Material

One of Faye’s hopes in publishing his collections of legends was, as will be recalled, the idea that they would provide literary raw material to poets and writers.211 In his critique of the first edition, P. A. Munch had asserted that: “This collection is of little use to the poet and the novelist” (“For Digteren og Romanskriveren er saaledes denne Samling kun lidet brugbar”212). It nonetheless turns out that Munch was completely wrong in this regard. While it is difficult to provide an exhaustive review of all the authors who were inspired by Faye’s legends and/ or used them as raw material, it is nonetheless worth noting several key figures. One of these was the author Johan Sebastian Welhaven (1807–1873) who clearly used several of Faye’s legends as a source of inspiration for his ballads, the legend of “Dyre Vaa og Troldet ved Totak”213 (Dyre Vaa and the Troll of Totak) and the legend of “Kivlemøerne”214 (The Maidens of Kivle) being poetically transformed into ballads with the modified 207 208 209 210

211 212 213 214

Sølvkisten stander i Hanekam, 99. See Sølvkisten stander i Hanekam. Sølvkisten stander i Hanekam, 105. Cf. Bø, Folketradisjon og kulturarv, 73. Also worth noting in this connection are Torkell Mauland (1848–1923) and Jørgen Løvland (1848–1922), both of whom collected folklore. The latter would go on to become Norwegian prime minister as a member of the political party Venstre, and was a man who was particularly concerned with Norwegian cultural independence. See further Sølvkisten stander i Hanekam, 105. Faye, Norske Sagn, iv–v. Munch, “Norske Sagn, samlede og udgivne af A. Faye”, 46. Faye, Norske Folke-Sagn, 19. Faye, Norske Folke-Sagn, 232.

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titles, “Dyre Vaa”215 and “I Kivledal”216 (In Kivle Valley). Welhaven’s ballad “Asgaardsreien”217 (The Asgard Ride) which was also derived from one of Faye’s legends,218 would become a source for the famous painting “Åsgårdsreien” by the painter Peter Nicolai Arbo (1831–1892).219 The second author that should be mentioned in this context is Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906).220 As the literary historian Fredrik Paasche notes, Ibsen’s wellknown play, Gildet på Solhaug (The Feast at Solhaug: 1855), shows clear influence from several of Faye’s legends, among others being “Ridderspranget”221 (The Knight’s Jump), “Ridder Audun paa Aalhus”222 (“Audun the Knight at Aalhus”), and “Kivlemøerne”223 (The Maidens of Kivle).224 Ibsen had also written the unfinished play Rypen i Justedal in 1850 under the pseudonym Brynjolf Bjarme, inspired by Faye’s retelling of “Rypa i Justedalen” (The Justedal Grouse).225 Features of the same legend, can also be found in reworked form in Ibsen’s Olaf Liljekrans (1856) and in his only and unfinished opera libretto Fjeldfuglen (The Mountain Bird: 1859),226 and characteristics of “Ætlinger af den gamle norske Adel”227 (Descendants of Old Norwegian Nobility) can be found in the play Fru Inger til Østeraad (Lady Inger of Østeraad: 1854).228 Elements of other legends in Faye’s collection can also be found in the plays Brand (1866) og Peer Gynt (1867).229 As has already been noted, Faye’s collections of legends also had an influence upon visual art by artists such as Arbo and Theodor Kittelsen (1857–1914),

215 216 217 218 219 220

221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229

Welhaven, Samlede skrifter, IV, 249–251. Welhaven, Samlede skrifter, IV, 246–248. Welhaven, Samlede skrifter, IV, 229–234. Cf. Bjarne Hodne, Norsk nasjonalkultur, 65 and 67. Bjarne Hodne, Norsk nasjonalkultur, 93–94. Ibsen’s personal interest for legends arose early in his life, and in the early 1860s, he received a scholarship to collect folk songs and legends: see Braadland, Fayes brevveksling, 33; and Meyer, Ibsen, 205–208. The extent to which his legend collecting trips were directly motivated or inspired by Faye’s legends is unclear. All the same, as has been noted above, there is no doubt that the legends influenced his early written work. Faye, Norske Folke-Sagn, 215–216. Faye, Norske Folke-Sagn, 171–172. Faye, Norske Folke-Sagn, 232. Paasche, Gildet paa Solhaug, 38–50. https://www.ibsen.uio.no/DRVIT_RJ%7CRJht.xhtml; and Faye, Norske Folke-Sagn, 129–131. https://www.ibsen.uio.no/DRVIT_Fj%7CFjht.xhtml; and https://www.ibsen.uio.no/ DRINNL_Fj%7Cintro_background.xhtml. Faye, Norske Folke-Sagn, 175. Paasche, Gildet paa Solhaug, 39. Braadland, Fayes brevveksling, 33. On Ibsen’s borrowings from Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen’s legends, see further the chapter on Asbjørnsen by Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in this volume.

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who, in 1900, published a book called Svartedauen (The Black Death), a collection of poems and drawings based on Faye’s legends about “The Black Death”.230 Several of the illustrations for this book have gone on to become part of Norwegian cultural heritage.

19

Faye’s Legends as Tools in the Teaching of Reading

As noted above, another of the main points made by Faye in his introduction to Norske Sagn was that he hoped that the collection of legends would serve as a source of sentimental and harmless reading for Norwegian children.231 This soon came true in 1843 when the Rev. Peter Andreas Jensen (1812–1867), an editor of children’s reading books, published Læsebog, til Brug for vore Skolers nederste og mellemste Classer ved Underviisningen i Modersmålet (A Reading Book, for Use in the Teaching of the Mother Tongue for the Lower and Middle Classes of our Schools), in which two legends from Faye’s collection were used: “St. Olaf paa Ringerige”232 (St Olav at Ringerike) and “Præsten i Hallingdalen”233 (The Pastor of Hallingdal).234 In later editions of the book from 1849 and 1855, Jensen also included the legend of “Vattennaas Kirke”235 (Vattennaas Church).236 The ripple effects of the Grimms’ and Faye’s work on the legends had now evidently reached the classrooms of Norwegian schools. In this way, knowledge about the legends was spread to future generations, in part as a means of instilling what were increasingly coming to be seen as national values.

20

Conclusion

The letter that Faye sent Jacob Grimm in May 1834 noted at the start of this chapter might have given the impression that the Grimm brothers were the

230 231 232 233 234 235 236

Faye, Norske Sagn, 133–148, and Norske Folke-Sagn, 125–140. See also Hølaas, Th. Kittelsen, 150–151. Faye, Norske Sagn, vi. Faye, Norske Sagn, 118–120. Faye, Norske Sagn, 240–242. Læsebog, til Brug for vore Skolers nederste og mellemste Classer ved Underviisningen i Modersmålet (1843), vii, 101–103 and 105–106. Faye, Norske Sagn, 115–116. Læsebog, til Brug for vore Skolers nederste og mellemste Classer ved Underviisningen i Modersmålet (1849), viii and 252–253; and Læsebog til Brug for vore Skolers nederste og mellemste Classer ved Underviisningen i Modersmålet (1855), ix and 323–324.

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sole decisive sources of inspiration for Faye’s Norske Sagn. As the chapter as a whole has demonstrated, things were somewhat more complicated. Evidently, a number people had either direct or indirect influences on Faye’s work with collecting and publishing folk legends in Norway, and not least the professor of history, Cornelius Enevold Steenbloch, and the Danish bishop, Peter Erasmus Müller. As has been shown, sources show that the latter was the main catalyst for Faye’s first publication of the legends. At the same time, as the chapter has shown, there is little question that the Grimm brothers and Deutsche Sagen both inspired and influenced Faye in a number of ways, and that several clear similarities can be seen between Faye’s and the Grimms’ collections of legends. Evidently both the Grimms and Faye had similar perceptions about the essentially historical value of legends, and their connection to the culture of the past and even pagan times. To their minds, legends also provided additional knowledge about Northern Europe’s common history. In a disciplinary context, however, it is clear that Faye’s means of reproducing the legends in written form gave birth to a vigorous debate in Norway with regard to how such oral folk narratives should be published. There is no question that Faye was inspired by the Grimms’ ideal of legends being rendered verbatim without any additional poetic or literary treatment. Others, however, such as Jørgen Moe, argued that all folktales should be reproduced in accordance with the narrative methods of the social group that oversaw the form and content of the nation’s cultural production and heritage, paving the way for a more literary reworking of the legends. This debate would help shape Asbjørnsen’s and Moe’s perception of how traditional narratives should be represented, something reflected in their more famous representations of folktales from the early 1840s. Unlike Faye, they came to see themselves as belonging to the folktale tradition and as storytellers rather than being exclusively collectors.237 As has been noted, during his lifetime, Faye faced a great deal of criticism for the way in which he reproduced the legends, criticism which came to characterise all scholarly discussions of his work for many decades. In recent times, however, two ground-breaking studies have sought to rehabilitate Faye’s reputation, and given him the honour he rightfully deserves,238 underlining the fact that Faye was essentially a collector and publisher of legends, not a teller of them.239 In terms of source value, it can be argued that Faye’s material 237 238 239

Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 82. Braadland, Echoes; and Amundsen, “Fortelling og foredling”. See further the chapters by Line Esborg and Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in this volume. Cf. Braadland, Echoes, 15.

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has more worth than many of those legends that have been reworked as literature. From an international perspective, Faye, through his Norske Sagn and Norske Folke-Sagn was clearly one of those figures who made real the Grimms’ dream of bringing legends from the various northern European countries together in order to compare them. Indeed, it is evident that Faye did not only unearth Norwegian legends, but also placed them in a comparative context, something that was becoming increasingly facilitated by the various works that were appearing as the Grimmian ripples spread north. In short, there is little question that the first real publication of Norwegian legends owed a great deal to the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen. From the perspective of a young nation such as Norway, the appearance of Deutsche Sagen was thus very important. Faye’s Norske Sagn would lead to other many waves and ripples of inspiration, drawing others to collect themselves, or to create new works of art. As reading material for children, Faye’s legends helped instil a new sense of national spirit. It could thus be argued that they played a key role in helping to unite all levels of Norwegian society, and establish a sense of shared Norwegian national identity.

Chapter 5

Mapping the Knowledge Network of the Norwegian Folklore Collector Peter Christen Asbjørnsen in the Nineteenth Century Ane Ohrvik

1

Introduction I have fared far, lived for fourteen days amid the mountains, slept on reinmoss, fed me fladbread and sour milk and had nothing but Juniper bark to smoke for many days. But, to counterbalance such hardship, have I seen all of the Rondane that is above ground and some caves that belong to the Undergroundfolk, have climbed the highest hills of Österdal, looked down over the aisle of the Glommen, the forest of the Ellas and viewed from afar the brown mountains of the Swedish border, the intermediate dales and the hills above Röros; and strength, health and a little more have I gleaned from the […]1 and greymoss covered mountains of your noble Fatherland.2

This description of the experiences of the Scottish author, Robert Meason Laing (1815–c.1886),3 in the rough and unrefined Norwegian countryside in 1842 are both poetic and romantic. Receiving this report was Laing’s Norwegian friend and folklore collector Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (1812–1885: see fig. 5.1) residing in Christiania, the capitol of Norway. Laing was one of many artists, authors, academics, politicians, publishers and the like who came to form part of Asbjørnsen’s extensive network.4 This was a network Asbjørnsen communicated with on a regular basis through letter writing, something that in different ways both influenced and contributed to his engagement with

1 Uncertain transcription. 2 Norsk folkeminnesamling (NFS) Asbjørnsen brev: letter from Laing, dated 23rd September 1842. 3 Sources disagree on Laing’s time of death and range from 1866 to 1886. 4 Laing came to Norway in 1840 and ended up staying there for several years, making it his base for travelling and writing, and, not least, for keeping Asbjørnsen company on his collecting trips: see Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 122–127; and Hansen, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 97–105.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_007

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Figure 5.1 Photograph of Peter Christen Asbjørnsen from 1856 (aged 44)

the Norwegian folk tradition in the decades that followed the publication of Deutsche Sagen in 1816–1818. This chapter will focus on the evolution and nature of this network. Although the bulk of letters relating to this network left by Asbjørnsen have formed part of the Norwegian Folklore Archive (Norsk Folkeminnesamling: NFS) since its beginning in 1914, the letters themselves have never previously formed part of any systematic study.5 The initiative of the present Grimm Ripples project has offered a perfect opportunity to rectify this neglect. This present study thus represents the first attempt to provide an overview of the collection of letters and the cultural and social network that 5 When Asbjørnsen died, his archive was managed by Moe’s son, Moltke Moe (see below), who only a year after Asbjørnsen’s death become a professor in Norwegian, specialising in folk tradition. In 1907, Moltke Moe (together with Alexander Bugge [1817–1929], the son of Sophus Bugge [1833–1907]), donated his extensive collection of material to the Norwegian state on the condition that a Norwegian Folklore Archive would be established. One year after Moltke Moe’s death, the archive (NFS) became a reality and today holds the most prominent and important Norwegian folklore collections from the nineteenth century. For further reading on the history of the Norwegian folklore collection, see Kverndokk, “Norsk Folkeminnesamling”; and Kristoffersen, Kampen om folkeminnesamlingen.

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lies behind them. Among other things, it will present various examples of, and reflections about, the nature of Asbjørnsen’s communications, underlining his role as a cultural conduit at the heart of the Grimm Ripples. Asbjørnsen, however, was not the first to take interest in and start collecting folk tradition in Norway. The very first person to systematically collect and publish Norwegian legends had been Simon Olaus Wolff (1796–1859), who, between 1821 and 1833, had published poetry, several legend-based stories and various national sketches,6 publications that were partly based on the folklore collection he had undertaken in the Telemark area prior to and during his work there as a minister from 1825 to 1833.7 Wolff’s efforts were arguably the first Norwegian response to Jacob Grimm’s call for the collection of folkloric material in his review of Prøver af Danske Folkesagn (A Sampler of Danish Folk Legends) by J. M. Thiele (1795–1874), which was published in 1818.8 According to Grimm, such material would have great value for the study of both German and Scandinavian history: Would it not be fortunate if Norway, Gotland and Sweden also gave some attention to collecting what must have been more faithfully preserved there than anywhere else considering the peaceful, enduring nature of these lands; there is little doubt about what the inseparable German and Nordic histories would gain from such a venture. (Wollte es nun das Glück, daß man in Norwegen, Gothland und Schweden ebenfalls aufmerksam würde und sammelte, was sich in der ruhigen, dauerhaften Natur dieser Länder treuer als irgendwo erhalten haben muß; so wird sich recht deutlich zeigen, welchen Gewinn die

6 Among Wolff’s most important contributions in this context are Wolff, “Halgrim: Et Sagn fra den Sorte Død” (1821); “Hardangerne: En National Fortælling” (1822); “Brudstykker af en Thellemarks-Vandring i Sommeren 1822” (1823); “Botnedalen: Et Sagn til Prøve paa en med Tiden Udkommende Samling” (1828); and Riarhammaren Eller Spøgeriet: En Nationalskizze efter Et Sagn (1833). 7 Hodne, Simon Olaus Wolff, 7. 8 Hvam Hult, Framing a National Narrative, 27. On Thiele, see further the chapter by Timothy R. Tangherlini elsewhere in this volume. It is symptomatic that Wolff, like many of the most central collectors and publishers of folklore in Norway in the nineteenth century such as Andreas Faye (see below), Jørgen Moe (see below), and Magnus Brostrup Landstad (1802–1880) were ministers. On the relationship between ministers and the collection of folklore, see further Amundsen, “The Folk in the Church”; and Gunnell, “Clerics as Collectors of Folklore in Nineteenth-Century Iceland”.

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unzertrennliche deutsche und nordische Geschichte aus einer solchen Unternehmung ziehen kann.9) Whether Wolff was personally aware of Grimm’s call for the collection of Norwegian material is unknown. It was, however, neither Wolff nor Andreas Faye (1802–1869), who published the first large collection of Norwegian legends in 1833, who would eventually come to receive the main credit for the Norwegian contribution to folklore collecting and publishing in a national context.10 This laurel wreath would come to be worn by Asbjørnsen and his friend, the theologian and folklore collector Jørgen Moe (1813–1882: see fig. 5.2) with their publications of folktales (both legends and fairy tales) and folk songs from 1840 onwards.11 Much of the earlier academic attention that has been given to Asbjørnsen and Moe has for logical reasons focused on their fieldwork, their principles for collecting and publishing, and the collections themselves.12 By shifting the focus here to concentrate on the networks that surrounded these two men, and in particular the aforementioned collection of letters left by Asbjørnsen, this chapter aims to highlight a new side of their work and cultural influence that has received far too little attention in a Norwegian context. 9

10

11

12

See Grimm, “[Rez.] Pröver af danske folkesagn, samlede af J. M. Thiele”. Others, of course, had already put similar notions forward. One example is Rasmus Nyerup (1759–1829), who says the same with regard to Danish material in his introduction to Thiele’s Prøver: “It is high time these stories are written down before it becomes too late to think of them in a few decades. […] It thus seems that Hr Thiele is doing a good deed by saving what is left of such legends from destruction” (“Det er paa den høie Tid at deslige Beretninger føres i Pennen, inden det om faa Decennier vil være for sildigt at tænke derpaa. […] Det synes derfor at være en god Gierning, at Hr. Thiele herved begynder at redde fra Undergang hvad der endu af slige Sagn er til overs”): Thiele, Prøver af Danske Folkesagn (1817), vi. Unless otherwise noted, all translations in this chapter are those of the present author. I would also like to express my thanks to Dirk Johannsen for his help with the German translations, and to Terry Gunnell for his detailed feedback on the various drafts of the chapter as well as for proofreading and language editing. Arne Bugge Amundsen has argued that Faye never received the credit he deserved for his works in Norway in his own time or later: see Amundsen, “Fortelling og foredling”. See also the chapter on Faye by Herleik Baklid elsewhere in this volume. For a review of this material, see the chapter by Line Esborg elsewhere in this volume. As Terry Gunnell has pointed out, as with that of Faye (see above), the work of Asbjørnsen and Moe has not received the international attention that it deserves, especially with regard to their efforts in trying to follow the Grimms’ directions regarding collecting: see Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, 13. See, especially, Larsen, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen; Bø, Grambo, Hodne and Hodne, Norske segner, 11–60, and Norske eventyr, 11–62; Hodne, Jørgen Moe og folkeventyrene, Eventyret og tradisjonsbærerne, and Jørgen Moe og folkevisene; Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen; Hansen, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen; and Hvam Hult, Framing a National Narrative.

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Figure 5.2 Lithograph of Jørgen Moe by C. Simonsen

Asbjørnsen’s national and international network of communications, which began to evolve in the 1830s, would develop and expand continuously over time until his death in 1885. In this period he engaged in frequent letter writing with a wide range of people, many of whom went on to take positions of cultural importance at home and abroad. They include a number of other folklore collectors in Northern Europe including the Grimm brothers themselves whose work was a chief inspiration for the later work of Asbjørnsen and Moe in Norway. It is especially interesting to consider the structure of Asbjørnsen’s network and the topics that characterised his communications relating to the exchange of knowledge and the role of folklore. The chapter will begin by considering how the exchange of cultural knowledge within Asbjørnsen’s network can be seen as forming a “knowledge community” resembling that referred to elsewhere as a “Republic of Letters” (see below). It will be followed by a brief background presentation of the collaborative work undertaken by Asbjørnsen and Moe to provide some context, before going on to consider the particular network that came into being around Asbjørnsen, noting not only the numbers involved but also two main features

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of this network: first of all, its practical side and then the different forms of knowledge exchange that took place within the network. Towards the end of the chapter, Asbjørnsen’s communications with the Grimms will be presented in more detail, underlining the degree to which this contact contributed to inspiring and shaping Asbjørnsen’s engagement with folklore. In short, the chapter aims to demonstrate how intellectual exchanges such as these provided an influential background for Asbjørnsen’s (and to some extent also Moe’s) cultural project in Norway which centred around their publications of Norwegian folk narratives.13

2

A Knowledge Community

One of the best ways in which to examine the exchange of knowledge, scholarly influence and the reception of contemporary ideas like those under examination here is through a lense like that provided by the concept of the “Republic of Letters”. This concept has been used to refer to the self-proclaimed metaphysical community of scholars and intellectuals in early modern Europe that exchanged knowledge, viewpoints and perspectives with each other in various forms of communication that transcended national borders. The community in question was, to use the words of Anthony Crafton, a republic with “no borders, no government, and no capital.”14 First coined in Latin as “respublica literaria” in a letter from the early fifteen century,15 the idea of the “Republic of Letters” developed over time, eventually becoming a well-established means of referring to this kind of knowledge exchange, several journals in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries going on to use the term in their titles, the journals then becoming concrete representations of the intellectual communities that lay behind them.16 Most studies dealing with the “Republic of Letters” have focused on the period from the Renaissance to 1800 at which time the metaphysical transnational community came under pressure from nationalism and later on various 13

14 15 16

See further the chapter by Line Esborg elsewhere in this volume on the information provided by the forewords to their publications. Further discussion can be found in Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, 14–17. Crafton, Worlds Made by Words, 9. The term appears in a letter by Francesco Barbaro (1390–1454) to Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459), dated 6th July 1417: see Bots and Waquet, La République des lettres, 11–13. For more on the journal writings, see the discussions in Goldgar, Impolite Learning; Goodman, The Republic of Letters, 137–82; Crafton, Worlds Made by Words; and Krefting, Nøding and Ringvej, Eighteenth-Century Periodicals as Agents of Change.

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forms of intellectual specialisation.17 Indeed, the nature of the knowledge that characterised the “Republic of Letters” during the early modern period had been based essentially on ideas relating to imperial, linguistic and political hegemony. The knowledge exchange of the modern era would develop in other directions. There are, however, reasons for extending the concept into later times if one considers, for example, Peter Burke’s argument about changes in modes of communication.18 While the active exchange of knowledge, viewpoints and perspectives did not undergo any fundamental change on the threshold to modernity, the way in which this material travelled certainly did. And while the production of knowledge did not come to a halt, the focus of this knowledge shifted, now driven by new ideas and preconditions as new subjects were discovered and developed, and new groups and networks formed.19 As noted above, this chapter will primarily focus on the nature of the exchange of knowledge that took place in Peter Christen Asbjørnsen’s network, in which handwritten letters (both inland and international) were used to exchange folklore material and discuss academic theories and perspectives. The letters in question document the degree to which the budding Norwegian folklorists (and especially Asbjørnsen) nurtured their international contacts. This, of course, was a period when central concepts such as “folk” and “nation” were still under construction and subject to various forms of interpretation which would go on to have a significant political and cultural impact on the process of nation-building that was taking place in Northern Europe during the early and mid-nineteenth century.20

17 18

19

20

This is true for most research contributions on the “Republic of Letters” including those referred to here. In his study of the various modes of communication used at different times in “The Republic of Letters”, Burke talks of “the horse-drawn republic” which lasted until 1800; the “steam republic” which lasted from 1800 until 1950; the “fly republic” which lasted from 1950 until 1990; and most recently the “digital republic”, with reference to contemporary society: see Burke, “The Republic of Letters as a Communication System”. For more on the intellectual developments and debates that took place in Europe during the nineteenth century, see Baycroft and Hopkin, Folklore and Nationalism in Europe During the Long Nineteenth Century; Leerssen, National Thought in Europe; and Leerssen (ed.), Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe. For a recent study of the similar developments that were taking place in Iceland at this time, see Karl Aspelund and Gunnell, Málarinn og menningarsköpun, the Icelandic word menningarsköpun meaning literally the “creation” of culture.

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Asbjørnsen and Moe: A Brotherhood

According to the Norwegian folklorist Knut Liestøl, the Norwegian folklore collectors Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe became “blood brothers” when in their early youth they sealed their vows of friendship by literally exchanging blood.21 There is no doubt that their friendship was particularly strong and that their collaboration throughout the period that they worked together was highly successful. The two men were driven by a shared interest in Norwegian folk life, language and poetry and the ways in which these served to reflect the uniqueness of Norwegian culture. In his very first publication, a yearbook of legends and fairy tales published in 1837 (in which Jørgen Moe published some poetry anonymously), Asbjørnsen presents his view of folktales in a short introduction: The home of the legends and fairy tales is the realm of fantasy. It is within this realm that the natural man exists, a figure who in his way of thinking is unable to find solutions to the riddles of life and explanations for the wonders of nature; here he finds an explanation for the hidden and the incomprehensible […] which dates from a time when these people were in their childhood. The rich fantasy and naivety of this age can thus be seen as a characteristic of all true folktales and fairy tales. Everything in them is insightful and poetic; everywhere, storytelling replaces contemplation. […] In its own and highly engaging way, the legend often unites a sense of deep moral truth or religious conviction with imaginative poetry. (Fantasiens Rige er Sagnets og Eventyrets Hjem. Derhen tyder naturmennesket, der ei paa Tænkningens Vei formaaer at søge Opløsningen paa Livets Gaader og Forklaring over Naturens Undere; der finder han en Forklaring for det Skjulte og Ubegripelige [og] hidhører fra en Tid, da Folket var i sin Barndomsalder. Denne Alders Fantasirigdom og Naivitet er derfor charakteristisk for alle ægte Folkesagn og Eventyr. Alt i dem er anskueligt og poetisk; overalt træder Fortelling i stedet for Betragtning. […] På en egen og høist indtagende Maade forener Sagnet ofte Erkjendelsen af en dyb moralsk Sandhed eller af en religiøs Overbeviisning, med en fantasifuld Digtning.22) 21 22

Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 37. Asbjørnsen, Nor: En Billedbog for den norske Ungdom, 61–62. On this book, see further the chapter by Line Esborg elsewhere in this volume.

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We know that Asbjørnsen borrowed the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen from the University Library (Universitetsbiblioteket) in Christiania in 1835, and that Moe had started his reading of Kinder- und Hausmärchen in 1837.23 The reading of works by the Grimms nonetheless goes back to 2nd December 1832 when the 20-year-old Asbjørnsen is recorded as having borrowed the first volume of Deutsche Grammatik.24 In the years to follow, the publications by the Grimms would be borrowed regularly from the University Library until a regular correspondence with the Grimm brothers themselves ensured the actual deliverance of the latest publications.25 Letters between Asbjørnsen and Moe during this early period make it evident that their preparations for their collections of legends and fairy tales had started,26 the aforementioned publication from 1837 allegedly instigating Jørgen Moe’s wish to join the efforts of Asbjørnsen, Moe then promising Asbjørnsen on 22th January 1838 that he would like to “be associated with you in a published collection” (“associere mig med dig til en udkommende Samling”27). The most intensive years of their collaboration stretched from the mid1830s until the publication of a new collected edition of Norske Folkeeventyr (Norwegian Folk Fairy Tales) with a detailed academic introduction (by Moe) in 1852, after which Moe departed from working on Norwegian folklore.28 This abrupt change in focus has been seen as resulting from a form of “mid-life crisis” which led to Moe completing his theological education that same year, before going on to serve first of all as a church minister and then later as a bishop in Kristiansand in the south of Norway for the rest of his life. Peter Christen Asbjørnsen was the son of a glazier in Christiania and the daughter of a church minister. Of five siblings, Asbjørnsen was the only one to survive childhood.29 Not much is known of his childhood apart from what he himself chose to share with others later in his life. According to his own 23 24 25

26

27 28 29

Edvardsen, “Om kunsten å målbinde eventyr”, 47. Hvam Hult, Framing a National Narrative, 31. The letters between Asbjørnsen and Jacob Grimm confirm a regular sending of books between the two men which goes back to the first documented letter between them in 1844. Krogvig, Fra det nasjonale gjennembrudd, 44–49. This book contains letters written by Moe to Asbjørnsen and others, as well as various letters written by Asbjørnsen to Moe during the period from 1828 to 1865. Krogvig, Fra det nasjonale gjennembrudd, 44–49, and 148. On this collaboration and the various works produced, see further the chapter by Line Esborg elsewhere in this volume. Regarding Asbjørnsen’s childhood, see, for example, Edvardsen, En dør til Asbjørnsens verden; Hvam Hult, Framing a National Narrative, 11–56; Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 13–44; Hansen, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 9–46; and Larsen, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, 6–7.

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accounts, the importance, joy and appreciation of walking in and experiencing nature awakened at an early age: Throughout the whole week we would be looking forward to this afternoon [on Sundays] which we would spend in the free nature, from enjoying the fragrant cherry branches we would split to the willow flutes we would twist, to the sparkling mountain crystals we would find, to the sweet strawberries that we would gather. (Hele den lange Uge glædede vi os til denne Eftermiddag [på søndagen], vi skulde tilbringe i det Frie, til de duftende Hægkviste vi skulde bryde, til de Siljefløiter, vi skulde vride, til de funklende Bjergkrystaller, vi skulde finde, til de søde Jordbær, vi skulde sanke.30) Since Asbjørnsen came from a family of limited means, his path into higher education went by way of a preparatory course undertaken in the countryside of Ringerike. This was where he met Jørgen Engebretsen Moe who had been born in 1813 on the farm of Moe, in Ringerike, approximately 40 kilometres west of Kristiania31 (now Oslo), the capitol of Norway.32 Moe’s father Engebret (1780–1849) was uneducated but highly talented. In addition to running a large farm with no less than 41 persons in his household, he became engaged in local politics and was elected to become a member of parliament at the age of 35. Among the eight children that constituted the Moe family, several were artistically gifted – a heritage most probably received from their mother, Marthe Jørgensdatter Moe (1786–1846) – something which was expressed first and foremost in the shape of various poetic writings. This gift, along with other artistic ambitions, was something that followed Jørgen Moe throughout his life. As a farmer’s son in a large household, Moe was exposed to travelling workers, servants and his own sisters telling fairy tales and legends from an early age. While Asbjørnsen recalled his childhood experiences in the free and open landscape, Moe would later focus on the storytelling settings he witnessed in his childhood as follows: 30 31

32

Here cited from Bø, 50 Kroner, 16. From 1624 onwards, the city was named Christiania after the Danish-Norwegian King Christian IV who built a new city in a new area after a big fire had destroyed most of the old town of Oslo. From the late nineteenth century until the city changed its name back to Oslo in 1924, it was called Kristiania. For biographical information regarding Moe, see, for example, Hodne, Jørgen Moe og folkevisene, 8–51, and Jørgen Moe og eventyrene, 16–39; Hvam Hult, Framing a National Narrative, 11–56; and Moe, “Det nationale gjennembrudd og dets mænd”, 144–326.

Mapping the Knowledge Network of Peter Christen Asbjørnsen Do you remember in the long winter night You sat by the bright chimney flame on the stool between your siblings, while an old grey woman told you, her little ones a fairy tale, one of the peculiar ones.

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Du husker vel Naar i den lange Vinterkveld Du sad ved lyse Skorstensflammen Paa Krakken mellem Søskend sammen, Imens en Mutter, gammel, graa, Fortalte Eder, sine smaa, Et Eventyr, et av de sære.33

Folk poetry and the folk beliefs expressed as part of storytelling thus formed a key part of Moe’s socio-cultural upbringing, cultural features he sought to revisit and reexperience throughout the course of his life.34 Since his father had decided that Moe should enter the path of study, he undertook a preparatory course nearby his home for his examen artium between 1826 and 1830 and studied theology in Christiana in the 1830s.35 It was during the 1820s that he first met Peter Christen Asbjørnsen who had been sent from Christiania to Ringerike for the same purpose. From that time onwards, Moe and Asbjørnsen remained close friends, or “brothers” as they called each other in the letters sent between them.36 Unlike Asbjørnsen, Moe married and had six children of whom five survived. Of Moe’s children, Moltke Moe (1859–1913) would be the one who followed most closely in the footsteps of his father’s interest in folk tradition, later becoming the first Norwegian (and Nordic) Professor in Folkloristics at the University of Oslo in 1886.37 In the mid-1860s, Jørgen Moe formally handed over all his folkloric material to Asbjørnsen, allowing him to do with it whatever he wanted. Asbjørnsen, on the other hand, never abandoned the project of collecting and publishing folk traditions and prior and subsequently to Moe’s retreat to the church, wrote several other books. Of these, three were volumes of legends published in 1845, 1847 and 1879 in which Asbjørnsen followed in the footsteps of the Grimms, Thiele, Faye, and especially Thomas

33 34 35 36 37

Krogvig, Fra Det Nationale Gjennembruds Tid, 13. See, for example, Krogvig, Fra Det Nationale Gjennembruds Tid I; and Hodne, Jørgen Moe og folkeeventyrene and Det norske folkeeventyret. Examen artium was the admission exam for attending the universities in Denmark and Norway. This exam existed in Norway until 1981. Moe would, for example, sign his letters “your ever-devoted brother” (“Din dig altid hengivne Broder”): see Krogvig, Fra Det Nationale Gjennembruds Tid, 92. For more on Moltke Moe, see Liestøl, Moltke Moe; Amundsen and Eriksen, Folkloristiske klassikere, 116–137; and Kristoffersen, Kampen om folkeminnesamlingen.

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Crofton Croker (1798–1854).38 He nonetheless became engaged in numerous different activities and different disciplinary studies over the course of his lifetime, especially after Moe left their project, devoting himself increasingly to an early interest in natural science and zoology. Indeed, he wrote articles on subjects as diverse as economics, nutrition, forestry, the cultivation of marshes and handicrafts, even publishing a cook book at one point.39 Asbjørnsen would also become the first Norwegian to disseminate the evolutionist ideas proposed by Charles Darwin (1809–1882) in his On the Origin of Species from 1859 in a 13-page long journal article entitled “Darwins nye skapbningslære” (Darwin’s Doctrine on the Creation) a little over a year after Darwin’s publication first appeared.40 If one considers the 15 honorary memberships to which Asbjørnsen was elected by various Nordic and European scientific communities as well as several national memberships, of which the oldest scientific society in Norway founded in 1760, the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters (Det Kongelige Norske Videnskabers selskab) in Trondheim is the most prominent, it is evident that his standing as a natural and humanistic scientist both inside and outside of the Norwegian borders has been highly underestimated.41 Asbjørnsen’s ability to reach out to people and to nourish

38

39

40 41

See Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn I (lit. Norwegian Huldre [Hidden People] Fairy Tales and Folk Legends, 1845); Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn II (1847); and Norske Folke- og Huldreeventyr i Udvalg (1879). There has been some discussion about where Asbjørnsen received his literary inspiration with regard to integrating the legends in these collections into larger narrative frames. Crocker’s Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland published in 1825 might have been one of the works that inspired him since it can be documented that Asbjørnsen was very much aware of it in Grimm’s German translation Irische Elfenmärchen (Irish Elven Fairy Tales: 1826), and borrowed it from the University Library numerous times from 1832 onwards: see Hvam Hult, Framing a National Narrative, 31. On Grimm, Faye, Thiele and Croker, see further the chapters on them by Holger Ehrhardt, Timothy R. Tangherlini, Herleik Baklid and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist elsewhere in this volume. On the question of the influence of Croker, see also the chapter by Line Esborg. Asbjørnsen published his cook book under a pseudonym (“Clemens Bonifacius”), while the numerous books on natural science aimed at children, youth and adults were all published under his legal name. See, for example, Asbjørnsen, Naturhistorie for Ungdommen (1838–1849); and Lærketræet samt den nyere tydske Bartrædyrkning (1855); Om Skovene og et ordnet Skovbrug i Norge (1855); Om Skovtørk og Markaat (1861); and Om Kaffeen (1861); and “Bonifacius”, Fornuftigt Madstel (1864); and Norsk Landmandsbog for 1868 (1868). See Asbjørnsen, “Darwin’s nye Skabningslære”. See also Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 193–196. Diplomas and grant letters preserved in the Norwegian Folklore Archive testify to this: In 1852, Asbjørnsen became an honorary member of the Isis Society for the Promotion of Natural History in Dresden (Isis Gesellschaft für naturkunde in Dresden). In 1858, when he graduated from the Royal Saxon Academy of Forestry (Köninglich Sächischen Akademie

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relationships by means of letter-writing is also evident from the number of letters he left behind. Jørgen Moe was far less of a networker than Asbjørnsen. While he also engaged in letter writing, writing letters to Asbjørnsen and other friends and associates at home and abroad as well as his family, it seems as if the task of networking was primarily left to Asbjørnsen, especially the international branch of it.42 Indeed several of the letters left in the Norwegian Folklore Archive testify to Moe being largely in the background in these matters. While he is obviously kept informed by Asbjørnsen with regard to different communications and discussions that took place within the network, he himself is mainly present as a point of reference, someone from whom and to whom Asbjørnsen sends greetings.

4

Sketching Asbjørnsen’s National and International Networks

The basis for this present study is the collection of approximately 1,621 letters from Asbjørnsen’s private archive which are held by the Norwegian Folklore Archive. The majority of these are nonetheless letters written to Asbjørnsen rather than by him, leaving us with one-sided communications in most cases. The focus here, however, will not be on those communications that took place between Asbjørnsen and Moe themselves but rather those with other

42

für Forstwirtschaft) in Tharand, he became an honorary member of The Society for German Cultural History (Der Verein für Deutsche Kultur-Geschichte) in Weimar. He later became a member of The Society for Special, and in Particular Nationalistic Natural History (Die gesellschaft für specielle, besonders vaterländische naturgeschicte) and the Saxon Society for the Preservation and Research of National Antiquities (ThüringischSächsische Gesellschaft für Erhaltung und Erforschung des vaterländischen Alterthums) in Leipzig. Later, he was granted membership of The Finnish Literary Society (Det finske litteraturselskapet) in Helsinki (1860); The Imperial-Royal Zoological and Botanical Society (Die Kaiserlich-Königliche-Zoologisch-Botanische Gesellschaft) in Vienna (1863); The Natural Science Society (Der naturwissenschaftliche Verein) in Hamburg (1863), the National Academic Society in Cherbourg (Sociéte imperiale académique de Cherbourg) (1872); The Royal Society of Arts and Sciences (Kungliga vetenskaps och Witterhets samhället) in Göteborg (1873); and the British Scandinavian Society (1876: on this, see further Sir Edmund Gosse’s Correspondence with Scandinavian Writers, 72). In addition to this, he received a number of academic prizes and awards during his lifetime. The letters of Jørgen Moe are kept in various archives including the National Library (Nasjonalbiblioteket) and the National Archive (Riksarkivet). From the letters kept in the National Library, it is evident that his network was more regional and “national” than that of Asbjørnsen, see: https://www.nb.no/hanske/brev/aarsliste.php?id=8884.

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people which reflect Asbjørnsen’s external network. Indeed, the letters that passed between Asbjørnsen and Moe themselves have been examined in some detail in other works dealing with the two men (see references given earlier in this chapter). What is clear from them is that from his earlier years when he first started writing letters, Asbjørnsen evidently had frequent communication with Jørgen Moe after they became friends, although these letters are not included in the Norwegian Folklore Archive.43 Judging from the letters preserved in the archive, Asbjørnsen’s most intense networking periods were between 1854 and 1860 and from 1865 until he passed away in 1885 (see below).44 These periods correspond with his most productive years when he had become well-established as a writer, scholar and natural scientist. Asbjørnsen’s wider network which the letters under discussion reveal is comprised of close to 500 individuals and ten institutions.45 The group of people involved have highly diverse professional backgrounds reflecting Asbjørnsen’s own diverse polymathic approach to knowledge, and includes philologists, historians, folklore collectors and folklorists, natural scientists, artists and illustrators, authors, publishers, diplomats, teachers, politicians, early feminists,46 church ministers, farmers, and military personnel – just to mention the most prominent categories. As fig. 5.3. illustrates, the largest group of people were, not surprisingly, academics. Indeed, letters from natural scientists (especially those connected to Asbjørnsen’s profession within forestry), historians, folklorists, philologists and other academics make up close to 40% of his received communications. If one looks at this group in more detail, it is noteworthy that Asbjørnsen’s cultural network includes leading Norwegian artists such as Peter Nicolai

43

44

45 46

As noted above, letters between Asbjørnsen and Moe in their earlier years can be found in Krogvig, Fra Det Nationale Gjennembruds Tid. Two other works focus mainly on the letters between Asbjørnsen and Moe and the Grimms: see Krogvig, Til Gerhard Gran; and Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm. Together, these works compensate slightly for the lack of letters by Asbjørnsen elsewhere. See also Sir Edmund Gosse’s Correspondence with Scandinavian Writers, 55–76, which contains both sides of the communication between Edmund Gosse and Asbjørnsen (see below). I would like to express my gratitude to Anna Karlsson who worked as a research assistant for the Norwegian part of the Grimm Ripples project in 2017, assisting with the sorting of Asbjørnsen’s letter collection and the digitalisation of the photographs connected to it. She is also responsible for the various figures presented in this subchapter. One of the few to discuss Asbjørnsen’s network in more detail is Hans Hansen in his biography of Peter Christen Asbjørnsen from 1932: see Hansen, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 343–379. The network under scrutiny in this particular study is, for logical reasons, essentially, male oriented. While Asbjørnsen also corresponded with a number of women on diverse subjects, the correspondences in question were less folklore oriented.

Mapping the Knowledge Network of Peter Christen Asbjørnsen

Figure 5.3

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Letters received by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen: Network arranged by profession

Arbo (1831–1892: one letter), Hans Gude (1825–1903: 29 letters), Gerhard August Schneider (1842–1873: three letters), Otto Ludvig Sinding (1842–1909: 14 letters), Vincent Stoltenberg Lerche (1837–1892: 15 letters), Eilif Peterssen (1852–1928: eleven letters), Theodor Kittelsen (1857–1914: twelve letters) and Adolph Tidemand (1814–1876: five letters), and authors such as Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910: three letters), Johan Sebastian Welhaven (1807–1873), Jonas Lie (1833–1908: six letters) and Alexander Kielland (1849–1906: four letters). While Asbjørnsen’s network was evidently larger than that reflected solely by the Norwegian Folklore Archive’s letter collection, the key value of this collection is that it provides a useful cross-section of the people, professions and nationalities that Asbjørnsen communicated with.47 It is a crosssection that reflects Asbjørnsen’s thirst for knowledge, his artistic interests, his 47

It should be noted that the National Library in Norway has another smaller collection of letters written to and from Asbjørnsen from the period 1841–1855. This collection contains correspondences with central Norwegian figures that whom we know Asbjørnsen knew and communicated with, but who do not appear in the NFS letter collection. Among these are Norwegian authors like Ivar Aasen (1813–1896) and Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906), the artist Erik Werenskiold (1855–1938), and editor, politician and prime minister Johan

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interest in people and cultures, and above all a deep-felt obligation and drive to bring forth what he saw as culturally distinct to Norway. Approximately 30% of the letters come from Norwegian contacts writing either from Norway or from abroad. An impressive 70% of the network communication is thus made up by contacts from abroad, those from Germany representing by far the most important foreign network, making up 24% of the total collection. 17% of the letters come from unidentified persons, but letters from Sweden, Denmark and England make up the next largest categories with 6–4% each. All in all, letters from 21 countries are represented in the collection, which also includes letters from contacts in Russia, Malta and the USA. It is noteworthy that Asbjørnsen was very systematic in his networking. Evidence of this can be seen in the notebooks he kept in which he registered all of the letters received and sent each year (see fig. 5.4). Whether he kept such a register from the very start of his networking has not been confirmed, but a couple of the notebooks which form part of the material in Norwegian Folklore Archive underline the detailed way in which he recorded his communications, essentially as a means of keeping track of ongoing obligations towards those he communicated with.48 In this respect, the notebooks are particularly interesting, because they provide us with a useful indication of the discrepancy between the number of letters that currently form part of the collection in the Norwegian Folklore Archive, and the actual number of letters written and received by Asbjørnsen

48

Sverdrup (1816–1892): see the online records: https://www.nb.no/hanske/brev/aarsliste .php?id=1297. In connection with Asbjørnsen’s associations with Ibsen, who carried out his own folklore fieldwork in the early 1860s (see Meyer, Ibsen, 205–208), it is worth remembering that Ibsen was heavily inspired by Asbjørnsen’s publications of folk legends. As Marte Hvam Hult notes, Ibsen’s appropriation of Asbjørnsen’s themes is particular evident in his famous play Peer Gynt from 1867 in which the first two acts elaborate on motifs drawn from two stories retold by Asbjørnsen in his Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn as part of the account entitled “Høifjellsbilleder” (Mountain Images): see Hvam Hult, Framing a National Narrative, 78–86. Peer Gynt, however, was not the first play by Ibsen to draw heavily on Norwegian legends: see further the chapter on Faye by Herleik Baklid elsewhere in this volume, where Ibsen’s borrowings from Faye’s legends are discussed in more detail. Asbjørnsen seems to have been equally systematic in administrating the economic side of his own household – perhaps out of necessity since he often ended up broke. The National Library holds many of his manuscripts and books including other notebooks in which he kept track of all his expenses including those for tobacco, travel, visits to the barber and “dinner with beer” (“middagsspise og Øl”): see Granrud, “‘Duel Paa Liv Og Død’”, 175–176.

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Figure 5.4

163

NFS Asbjørnsen brev: notatbok [notebook] 1879

during the years recorded in the notebooks. The notebooks available covering the years between 1877 and 1883 show that the letters currently in the archive cover roughly only 27% of the number of letters actually received by Asbjørnsen during this particular period (see fig. 5.5).49 The topics addressed in the letters can be roughly divided into two main categories. Those in the first category relate to the more practical side of networking, such as making arrangements for physical meetings at home and abroad; recommendations being requested for colleagues and friends, or for the letter writers themselves; the exchange of tokens related to genuine interests or ambitions, such as personal portraits; diverse transactions regarding publications; drafts of agreements for publications; sketches for illustrations in planned publications; and formal invitations regarding the membership of scientific societies. The second category of topics in the letters relates more directly to the general exchange of knowledge, including the physical

49

If we estimate the number of letters as a whole based on those recorded in the notebooks and apply it to the whole period during which Asbjørnsen was actively writing letters, the overall number of letters received by Asbjørnsen might well have been close to 6,000.

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Figure 5.5

Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen: Received letters: Norwegian Folklore Archive material in comparison to notebook records

exchange of books and magazines; the dissemination of knowledge by means of lectures and books; the reception of knowledge and ideas; and, not least, discussion of the nature of knowledge. Both categories will be discussed in more detail below.

5

Making Contacts and Establishing Networks

Many letters to Asbjørnsen clearly represent the most basic form of networking showing when and how the very first contact is established, often on the basis of recommendations made by the writer’s associates or people in other networks. Formal greetings and courtesies, words of thanks for letters received, and, later, for the exchange of portraits and business cards are a common feature of this first phase. Asbjørnsen’s letter material contains several hundred portraits from people all around Europe and beyond which give us a clear indication of the nature and cultural importance of this exchange. This seemingly simple exchange of portraits evidently functioned as an important expression of mutual respect and admiration between those involved in Asbjørnsen’s national and international cultural networks, reaching beyond mere etiquette and reciprocity to underline political statements, interest in future communication, possible cooperation, and even potential joint projects. Considering the expenses involved in producing photographs, especially before simplified techniques and processes reduced the prices in Europe in the 1860s, the production

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of self-portraits for distribution was evidently a costly priority, underlining still further the cultural and social significance of these exchanges for those involved.50 Indeed, it might be said that such portraits enhanced the nature of communication between people who could not meet in person, making those involved “real” and visible, rather than merely “imaginative”. When the Norwegian writer and folklore collector Thrond Sjursen Haukenæs (1840–1922) from the west coast of Norway sent Asbjørnsen first one portrait of himself and then another of his wife in traditional folk costume from Hardanger in 1872, this was most probably not only friendly courtesy but also reflected a wish to display cultural distinctiveness, the aim being to make a political point in favour of an independent national state.51 A meeting with Asbjørnsen on one of his collecting expeditions in Hardanger in 1870 had led Haukenæs to start collecting folklore himself, an endeavour in which he became very productive, resulting in him leaving behind him more than 30 works of various kinds. Similar motivations are evident in the contact between Asbjørnsen and the Norwegian poet Bernhard Herre (1812–1849). Both men had already been in contact in Christiania when Herre sent a portrait of himself with one of the two letters he sent to Asbjørnsen in 1947 and 1948 (see fig. 5.6).52 From the letters in the Norwegian Folklore Archive, it is evident that Asbjørnsen was himself an eager contributor to this exchange of portraits. A letter from 1872 expressing appreciation for a portrait sent by Asbjørnsen53 is accompanied by another portrait sent “in return for yours” by the English writer, translator and literary critic Edmund William Gosse (1849–1928).54 Gosse evidently had ambitions for extending his growing portrait collection of Norwegian folklore collectors, pleading to Asbjørnsen: “I cannot tell you

50 51 52

53

54

Hannavy, Encylopedia of Nineteenth-Century Photography, 897. NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Thrond Sjursen Haukenæs, dated 7th May 1872. NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letters from Bernhard Herre, dated 17th November 1847 and 19th February 1848. Later, in 1850, when Herre had died as a result of a tragic rifle accident, Asbjørnsen and the influential poet Johan Sebastian Welhaven (1807–1873) published a collection of Herre’s sketches for short stories and melancholic descriptions of the nature of Nordmarka, the natural resort that surrounded the outskirts of Christiania: see Herre, Asbjørnsen, and Welhaven, En Jægers Erindringer. See also Sir Edmund Gosse’s Correspondence with Scandinavian Writers, 56–57: a letter from Asbjørnsen to Gosse dated 17th November 1872 in which Asbjørnsen says he is sending a photograph of himself in the hope that he will get one back from Gosse. Gosse also wrote the introduction to H. L. Brækstad’s translation of a number of Asbjørnsen’s legends from 1881 (see below): see Asbjørnsen, P. Chr. Round the Yule Log: Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales, xiii–xviii. On Gosse’s connections with Asbjørnsen, see also Hansen, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 372–376.

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Figure 5.6

Photographs of Norwegian artists in Asbjørnsen’s collection of letters. From left: Bernard Herre, Otto Ludvig Sinding and Jonas Lie

how I should like one of Mr. Moe to place opposite to yours!”55 In September of the following year, when Gosse had had his wishes fulfilled, he expressed his thanks for the portrait of Moe Asbjørnsen had sent him.56 This regular, meticulous and exuberantly friendly way of passing on formal greetings is a common feature in the letters in the archive. Within the network, one can detect certain expectations with regard to courtesy, and the importance of showing respect and approval of each other’s work, an act of conduct that resembles that found in the early modern “Republic of Letters”. It was important to reply to letters within a reasonable space of time, to always give credit for information or advice received, and to be not only friendly but also a friend in the formal sense of the word, bearing in mind the obligations that this implied.57 What the nineteenth-century networking scene in Europe seems to have added, due to modern technological developments, is the aforementioned exchange of photographs.

55 56

57

Sir Edmund Gosse’s Correspondence with Scandinavian Writers, 59; see also NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Edmund William Gosse, dated 25th November 1872. See Sir Edmund Gosse’s Correspondence with Scandinavian Writers, 59–61; and 64–65: letters from Asbjørnsen to Gosse, dated 12th March, 9th May and 14th August 1873, in which Asbjørnsen first talks about the difficulty of getting hold of an image of Moe, and then eventually sends two (one for Asbjørnsen and Gosse’s mutual friend William Shedden-Ralston: on Shedden-Ralston, see below). For the grateful reply from Gosse, see Sir Edmund Gosse’s Correspondence with Scandinavian Writers, 65; and NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Edmund William Gosse, dated 4th September 1873. See Goldar, Impolite Learning; Van Houdt, Papy, Tournoy and Matheeussen, SelfPresentation and Social Identification; and Ogilvle, The Science of Describing.

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Figure 5.7

167

Photographs of international folklorists in Asbjørnsen’s collection of letters: top row, left to right: Edmund Gosse (see below), Felix Liebrecht (see below), Eiríkur Magnússon (1833–1913) and George E. J. Powell (1850–1904) [on Eiríkur Magnússon and George E. J. Powell (who translated the Icelandic folk legends), see further the chapter on Jón Árnason by Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume]; bottom row, left to right: Reinhold Köhler (1830–1902), Konrad Maurer (see below), Johannes Skar (1837–1914), and Carl Säve (1812–1876). (For an introduction to Reinhold Köhler’s life and work, see Dundes, International Folkloristics, 25–30. Johannes Skar was a significant Norwegian folklore collector who wrote Gamalt or Sætesdal, published in eight volumes between 1903 and 1916, an extensive work dealing with folk traditions in Setesdalen in southern Norway. For more on Skar, see Bø, Johannes Skar. On Carl Säve, see further the chapters on Gunnar Hyltén-Cavallius and the Swedish-speaking Finland by Terry Gunnell and Fredrik Skott, and Ulrika Wolf-Knuts and Susanne Österlund-Pötzsch elsewhere in this volume.)

At the same time, Gosse used the opportunity to mention the influential English writer, translator, and designer William Morris (1834–1896) as well as to send greetings on behalf of a “Mr. Ralston” who had also received a portrait from Asbjørnsen.58 Asbjørnsen’s contact with Gosse, of which seven letters survive in the collection, underlines the range of significant cultural contacts 58

See Sir Edmund Gosse’s Correspondence with Scandinavian Writers, 65: Letter from Asbjørnsen to Edmund Gosse, dated 14th August 1873.

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he was establishing abroad by the 1870s. Gosse was a key figure in a number of other international networks, as well as central British cultural networks like the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (consisting of painters, poets and art critics such as William Ruskin [1819–1900]). He was a key literary critic, poet, lecturer, and editor as well as a translator, bringing many of Ibsen’s works to the British public (along with William Archer [1856–1924]), and writing an introduction to an English translation of Asbjørnsen’s legends in 1881.59 “Mr. Ralston” was William Ralston Shedden-Ralston (1828–1889) who was another English associate of Asbjørnsen’s. He was an English translator of Russian folklore collections with whom Asbjørnsen frequently communicated judging from the 19 letters from Shedden-Ralston to Asbjørnsen contained in the Norwegian Folklore Archive.60 In one of these letters, Shedden-Ralston takes the opportunity to thank Asbjørnsen for the picture he had sent him earlier and confirms that: “[…] everyone admires it highly. The resemblance it bears to that of Thackeray is very striking – not in feature, but in expression and general effect.”61 That such letter writing had an important function in introducing fellow friends and scholars and arranging for physical meetings is also evident from many of the letters found in Asbjørnsen’s archive. As noted above, many of them serve to introduce and recommend friends and associates, or to arrange a time and place for future meetings, sometimes also specifying the nature of the meeting and the topics for discussion. Such an intention is clear from a brief letter sent to Asbjørnsen by the Norwegian philologist and folklore collector Sophus Bugge (1833–1907), arranging a joint meeting in Berlin in 1858 to discuss Norwegian folk poetry.62 In a similar fashion, the English Scandinavist Andrew Johnston (1835–1922), who wrote extensively to Asbjørnsen, was evidently preoccupied with getting tips from Asbjørnsen about whom he should meet when he travelled to Christiania, to the west coast of Norway and then

59 60 61

62

See Asbjørnsen Round the Yule Log, translated by Gosse and H. L. Brækstad (1845–1915), (1881). Among the Russian books Shedden-Ralston translated was The Song of the Russian People (1872). “Thackeray” refers to William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863), an English novelist and poet known for his satirical works. Indeed, there is a striking resemblance between Thackeray and Asbjørnsen when one compares pictures of them. It is most likely Shedden-Ralston himself who provided Asbjørnsen with a picture of Thackeray (to prove his point), the picture now being part of the photo collection in the Norwegian Folklore Archive: see NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from William R. S. Ralston, dated 27th April 1872. NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Sophus Elseus Bugge, dated 10th July 1858.

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on to Copenhagen, later reporting on these meetings and thanking Asbjørnsen for making the connections.63 Other contacts, such as August Theodor Möbius (1821–1890), a German Scandinavist and professor at the universities of Leipzig and later Kiel, appear to have been important “door-openers” towards establishing Asbjørnsen’s German network. In the seven letters sent to Asbjørnsen between 1856 and 1866, Möbius lists a number of German scholars working at German universities, including the philologist Adalbert Kuhn (1812–1881) from Berlin; the linguist August Schleicher (1821–1868), from the University of Jena; and the Germanist Julius Zacher (1816–1887) from Halle, all of whom later come to appear in Asbjørnsen’s lists of exchanged letters.64 Among the fellow scholars Möbius mentions in one of his earlier letters (in 1857) was the legal historian Konrad Maurer (1823–1902), who had a special interest in Icelandic literature, history, language and culture and was an active part of the network of Jacob Grimm.65 By this time, however, Asbjørnsen had already established his own contact with Maurer, the first letter from Maurer to Asbjørnsen being sent from München on 6th May 1856.66 This was two years before Maurer travelled to Iceland, where he went on to make his own collection of folk legends, inspiring Jón Árnason (1819–1888) and Magnús Grímsson (1825–1860) to continue with their own folklore collection.67 Maurer and Asbjørnsen went on to develop a close lifelong friendship, meeting and communicating on a regular basis.68 63

64 65 66 67 68

NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letters from Andrew Johnston, dated 8th April 1877; 12th August 1877; 2nd October 1877; and 13th January 1884. Asbjǫrnsen mentions having met Johnson in a letter to Edmund Gosse, dated 30th September 1875: see Sir Edmund Gosse’s Correspondence with Scandinavian Writers, 76. Indeed, Johnston was a friend of Gosse, someone else who wanted to meet his contacts in person if possible. In one letter about a trip made to Norway and Christiana in 1872, Gosse regrets the fact that he did not manage to meet Asbjørnsen (who had been away collecting): “When I left England, one of the greatest pleasures I looked forward to, was to converse a little with you. I followed your track into the country as far as Ringebo, in Gudbrandsdalen, but learning from our friends there that you were still four days ahead of me, I was obliged to come back here”: see Sir Edmund Gosse’s Correspondence with Scandinavian Writers, 55–56; and NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Edmund William Gosse, dated 10th August 1872. NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letters from August Theodor Möbius, dated 28th March 1858; and 22nd March 1866. NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from August Theodor Möbius, dated 11th April 1857. NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Konrad Maurer, dated 6th May 1856. See further the chapters on Konrad Maurer and Jón Árnason by Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir and Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume. The Norwegian Folklore Archive contains 28 letters written to Asbjørnsen by Maurer between 1856 and 1883.

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Another practical side of writing letters involved establishing and maintaining contact with different publishers both nationally and abroad, something that once again underlines the range of Asbjørnsen’s international influence. Among those Asbjørnsen communicated with in this context were the Swedish publisher Albert Bonnier (1820–1900); the German editor and publisher Richard Fleischer (1849–1937); the Danish publisher Frederik Vilhelm Hegel (1817–1887); and the Norwegian publisher Albert Cammermeyer (1838–1893). The letters in question include drafts of publishing agreements; discussions about manuscripts; the planning and publications of new editions; negotiations regarding requests for the translation of books from other publishers; and comments about potential illustrations for the books which underline the increasingly visual aspect of the work of Asbjørnsen and Moe, and their influence on Norwegian art (see below). The letters were also used as a channel for payment in connection with publications, publishers also being important providers of the many copies of books that Asbjørnsen sent to members of his network. Among those Norwegian artists with whom Asbjørnsen was in most regular contact with regard to the discussion of potential illustrations for his books were Hans Gude and Theodor Kittelsen, both of whom discussed various options for illustrations for Asbjørnsen’s books, sending him numerous sketches along with letters.69 These artist friends and associates came to be important collaborators in the publication of the new editions of Asbjørnsen and Moe’s fairy tale and legend collections, becoming key agents in the interpretation and presentation of a culturally inhabited Norwegian landscape filled with the supernatural beings and mythical creatures portrayed in Asbjørnsen’s and Moe’s collections. Hans Gude was no exception here. When the 1879 edition of Asbjørnsen’s legends, Norske Folke- og Huldre-Eventyr i Udvalg (A Selection of Norwegian Folk and Huldre Fairy Tales) came to be planned along with an extensive range of accompanying illustrations, it was Gude who coordinated the contributions from the different artists involved, in addition to his own.70 Among those who came to deliver work for this edition were the earlier-noted artists Peter Nicolai Arbo, Vincent Stoltenberg Lerche, Eilif

69

70

Many of these sketches are no longer a part of the Norwegian Folklore Archive, and their provenance is unknown. Others have been sold to the National Gallery (Nasjonalgalleriet) in Norway: see Tveit, “Fra ‘Asbjørnseniana’ til Kobberstikk- og Håndtegningsamlingen”. Asbjørnsen, Norske Folke- og Huldre-Eventyr i Udvalg (1879). Gude’s sketches for the publication were sent to Asbjørnsen in various letters during the years leading up to the publication, the latest letter available being sent from Karlsruhe: see NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Hans Gude, dated 18th November 1878.

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Peterssen, Gerhard August Schneider, Otto Sinding, Adolph Tidemand and Erik Werenskiold, all of whom evidently communicated frequently with Asbjørnsen, sending him illustrations.71 Individual artistic talents and preferences were naturally key factors that needed to be taken into consideration when artists were asked to illustrate the stories. When Asbjørnsen started planning a new edition of fairy tales designed for children in 1881, Erik Werenskiold, who had provided contributions for the previous edition from 1879, was a natural choice as an illustrator. By then, however, Werenskiold had several other offers to consider, and thus recommended the earlier-noted young artist Theodor Kittelsen, writing: He is quick to perceive and has a wild, quirky imagination. […] I have for many years felt that he would be the right man to present a side of your tales that none of the rest of us have yet been able to deal with, […] namely the purely fantastic and creative. (Han er kvik i opfatning og har en vild, eiendommelig opfinsom fantasi. […]. Jeg har stadig i mange år havt den tanke, at han skulde være mand for at gjøre den side af Deres eventyr, som ingen af os andre endnu har kunnet […] nemlig den rent fantastisk-skabende.72) Kittelsen himself was obviously eager to undertake the task and had a distinct idea about which tales and fantastic figures would best suit his skills and creativity. In addition to the physical meetings that subsequently took place between Asbjørnsen and Kittelsen, various letters were sent from 1882 onwards which reveal Kittelsen’s list of preferences regarding “fairy tales that I find it fitting to illustrate, I have taken the liberty of including 2 that you have not recorded, along with a question of what you think about that” (“Eventyr som jeg synes passer at illustrere for mig, og dertil taget mig den Frihed at medregne 2 som De ei har optegnet, som Forespörgsel til Dem hvad De synes derom”73). Among the illustrations in question are several which would later 71

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The artists mentioned are regarded as being amongst the most influential and important Norwegian artists from the nineteenth century. Erik Werenskiold, who made his artistic name primarily based on his images drawn to accompany stories in Asbjørnsen and Moe’s collections, is the only one of these artists not to be present in the NFS letter collection. It is nonetheless evident that the two men were well acquainted and that they engaged in frequent communication. As noted earlier, some of the letters testifying to this form part of the letter collection in the National Library. Letter from Werenskiold to Asbjørnsen from 1881, quoted in Østby, Theodor Kittelsen, 23. NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Theodor Kittelsen undated.

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Figure 5.8

“The Troll Contemplating How Old He Is” (“Trollet som grunner på hvor gammelt det er”) by Theodor Kittelsen: Eventyrbog for Børn (1883)

become famous, including “Manndatteren og Kjærringdatteren” (The Two Step Sisters) and “Smørbuk” (Buttercup).74 When the book was eventually published in 1883 it included drawings by both Werenskiold and Kittelsen.75

6

A Community of Knowledge Exchange

One of the most concrete elements of the exchange of knowledge represented by these letters was, as noted above, the recommendation and exchange of books. Letter after letter in the archive testify to the fact that the members of 74

75

The translations of the titles here are taken from those used in Dasent’s translations of Asbjørnsen and Moe’s tales, Popular Tales from the Norse (1859) and Tales from the Fjeld (1874). See Asbjørnsen et al., Eventyrbog for Børn I.

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Asbjørnsen’s network regularly kept each other informed on the latest publications, requesting books from each other, and sending them. This kept those involved updated on the most recent publications in their fields of interest and also enabled a rapid reception of the works in the form of reviews and new scholarly publications. The fact that Asbjørnsen evidently personally distributed his own publications and those of others to a very large group of associates is evident from the number of letters sent to him expressing both thanks and requests. Those who exchanged such works with Asbjørnsen were a diverse group of people. They include, for example, Norwegian farmers interested in folklore collecting; the Italian folklore collector Guiseppe Pitré (1841–1916), who received an edition of Norske Folkeeventyr from Asbjørnsen; and the Danish philosopher Poul Sophus Vilhelm Heegaard (1835–1884) who provided Asbjørnsen with a list of seven new titles he believed would be of interest.76 The Norwegian painter Adolph Tidemand was similarly provided with all the latest publications by Asbjørnsen while Tidemand was residing in Düsseldorf in the mid-1850s, and in a similar fashion, we find the earlier-mentioned Norwegian author Jonas Lie sending all of his most recent publications to Asbjørnsen while Asbjørnsen was staying in Rome in 1882.77 In a communication with Andrew Johnston, the earlier-mentioned co-founder of the British Scandinavian Society, Asbjørnsen actually discusses the possibility of establishing a “forsendingsmann” (a person responsible for the shipment of books) in Christiania in order to ensure that the society in London received all the latest publications from the Scandinavian countries. In a similar fashion, William Shedden-Ralston enquires about the name of a Norwegian bookstore which could provide the Scandinavists in London with all most recent Norwegian publications that were so hard to come by. Being up-to-date on the latest contributions was clearly seen as being of utmost importance, especially for those interested in working on folklore collecting, in publishing, and in keeping up with new literature. This exchange of books also provided writers with a valuable opportunity to comment on “errors” in translation that appeared in publications, as the English author and folklorist Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924) did in a letter in

76

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NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letters from Engelbregt Færden, dated 23rd July 1875; from Guiseppe Pitré, dated 2nd March 1876; and from Poul Sophus Vilhelm Heegaard, dated 30th November 1880. NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letters from Adolph Tidemand, dated 29th July 1851; and 25th September 1860; and from Jonas Lie, dated 17th September 1882.

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connection with the publication of Notes on the Folklore of the Northern Counties (1866) by William Henderson (1813–1891). Here Baring-Gould complains about the fact that he never got the chance to correct the many misspellings relating to Norwegian folklore in this work, explaining that “… the errors were due not to me, but to an ignorant printer” who did not know anything about foreign words.78 How one’s writings were received and discussed by others was naturally a matter of keen interest and Asbjørnsen clearly engaged in regular discussions on such matters with most of the folklorists that came to become part of his wide-ranging folkloric network which included names such as Just Mathias Thiele (1795–1874), Johann Georg Theodor Grässe (1814–1885), and Wilhelm Mannhardt (1831–1880);79 the Scottish collector John Francis Campbell (1821–1885);80 and then the earlier-noted son of Jørgen Moe, Moltke Moe. Another folklorist with whom Asbjørnsen communicated frequently was Felix Liebrecht (1812–1890).81 The 45 letters from Liebrecht held by the Norwegian Folklore Archive, make it evident that the two men regularly kept each other informed about the latest relevant publications and dissertations, providing each other with new books and information about who was writing about what in a European context.82 Many of the letters passed between these new folklorists also include references to the reception of various works in the local context. Edmund Gosse, for example, states in his letters that he is eager to read whatever is written about 78

79

80

81

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NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Sabine Baring-Gould, dated 20th December 1873. On William Henderson’s book and Sabine Baring-Gould’s own collections of legends, see further the chapter on the collection of folk legends in England by Jonathan Roper elsewhere in this volume. Wilhelm Mannhardt was a German mythologist and folklorist who regarded himself as a pupil of the Grimms. His most famous work is the two-volume Wald-und Feldkulte (Wood and Field Cults) which was published between 1875 and 1877. He is perhaps most known for his evolutionistic approach to the study of vegetation spirits and for his methodological approach to the collection of sources using questionnaires. See further Lid, “Wilhelm Mannhardt og hans nyskaping av den folkloristiske metoden”, and Wilhelm Mannhardt og hans samling av norske folkeminne; and Dundes, International Folkloristics, 15–24. On John Francis Campbell, see further the chapter by John Shaw elsewhere in this volume. For the relatively few communications between Campbell and Asbjørnsen, see further Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, 21, 29, and 35–36. Felix Liebrecht was a German philologist and folklorist who translated works from several different languages. In 1879, he published a collection of original essays with the descriptive title Zur Volkskunde (On Ethnology). NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letters from Felix Liebrecht, dated 3rd May 1866; 23rd February 1867; and 22nd October 1867. Altogether 47 letters between Liebrecht and Asbjørnsen can be found in the Norwegian Folklore Archive, two of them from Asbjørnsen.

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his translations in Norwegian papers and appeals to Asbjørnsen to send him everything that is written about him.83 In a similar fashion, the Norwegian literate Hans Lien Brækstad (1845–1915), who translated several of Asbjørnsen’s and Moe’s collections, and was a tireless cultural conduit in Norwegian matters, reports on the current interest in Norwegian culture that had arisen in England in the 1870s, stating that: The interest in Norway and the Norwegian literature is still great in the better parts of the population. The middle classes, on the other hand, who are the largest and most significant in terms of the literary market, know little or nothing of the country or the people, nor anything about Norwegian history and literature. (Interessen for Norge og den norske Litteratur er fremdeles stor hos den bedre Del af Folket. Middelklassen derimod, den største og mest betydningsfulde ligeoverfor Afsætningen af Literaturens Frembringelser, kjender endnu lidet eller intet til Landet eller Folket, ligesaalidt som den norske Historie og Literatur.84) Brækstad appeals for help with enlightening the English people, a project he volunteers to take on because he would like to “dedicate considerable time and energy” (“ofre adskillelig Tid og Arbeide”) to improve the general level of knowledge on these matters. Brækstad then provides Asbjørnsen with a list of the 21 current titles by Asbjørnsen (and Moe) currently held by the library at the British Museum (see fig. 5.9), a list which Brækstad believes might provide a firm foundation for his enlightenment project. Similar discussions had taken place a few years prior to this in letters with the chief librarian at the Royal Library (Kungliga biblioteket) in Stockholm, Gustav Edvard Klemming (1823–1893) who appears to have had the opposite experience when trying to disseminate the Norwegian collections of legends and fairy tales to the Swedish public. Klemming, who Asbjørnsen had provided with numerous books for his library, including what he calls the “classic book of fairy tales” (“den klassiska sagoboken”), says he has tried in vain to get a broader circle of literate people to take notice of these works. According to Klemming, the main obstacle here is cultural:

83 84

See Sir Edmund Gosse’s Correspondence with Scandinavian Writers, 58; and NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Edmund William Gosse, dated 25th November 1872. NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Hans Lien Brækstad, dated 20th June 1878.

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Figure 5.9

Brækstad’s list of all works by Asbjørnsen held by the British Museum in 1878

[…] our people have not yet started to buy Norwegian and Danish books. One natural reason is that they are virtually disappearing amidst the pile of German and French books which receive quite considerable sales among us. Another is the laziness of the book publishers and the bookshops or the continuing poor communications. But it will be better in 50 years! (Ännu har dock vårt folk ej kommit sig just för att köpa Norska och Danska böcker; en naturlig anledning är att de så godt som försvinna bland

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Figure 5.9

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cont.

mängder af Tyska och Franska böcker, hvilka säljas ganska betydligt hos oss; en annan är bokförläggarnes och bokhandlarnes lojhet å ömse sidor och de ännu dåliga kommunikationerna. Men det blir väl bättre om 50 år!85) The letters nonetheless make it clear that in other locations of Europe the distribution of Asbjørnsen’s work was being secured especially through teaching in the gymnasiums (secondary schools). In 1883, for example, the teacher and folklorist Josef Haltrich (1822–1886) from Austria-Hungary writes a letter to Asbjørnsen praising him as “the Northern Grimm” (“den nordischen Grimm”), saying that he means to ensure that the whole world knows of him.86 Letter-writing is nonetheless also an arena for performing social control with regard to the works of Asbjørnsen and Moe outside Norway. Indeed Shedden-Ralston does precisely this together with Gosse when he informs Asbjørnsen about the new collection of translations of stories from Norske 85 86

NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Gustav Edvard Klemming, dated 16th November 1865. NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Josef Haltrich, dated 10th October 1883.

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Folkeeventyr by George Webbe Dasent (1817–1896) that have been published under the title of Tales from the Fjeld (1874), something which Shedden-Ralston and Gosse approve of, not least because: “… he has put your name on his title page. Gosse and I were going to slaughter him if he behaved as he did to you and Mr. Moe the first time. But as he has behaved properly in that aspect, we agreed to be complimentary to him.”87 The background for Shedden-Ralston’s outburst was the fact that when Dasent published his first collection of translations of material from Asbjørnsen and Moe under the title of Popular Tales from the Norse in 1859, he had done so without crediting the original collectors on the front page leaving the book as being “by Sir George Webbe Dasent”.88 Making sure that authors and collectors were appropriately credited for their work was evidently another feature that was becoming of increasing importance in the nineteenth-century intellectual climate.

7

Contact with the Grimms

Few letters from Asbjørnsen have been quoted in the above discussion which, as noted above, has focused on the letters Asbjørnsen received. Indeed, as Erik Henning Edvardsen has noted, few people seem to have been inhabited by quite the same archival spirit as Asbjørnsen with regard to his recording and saving of all correspondence including that between himself and Moe.89 With regard to the earlier letters between the two, it is also evident that while Asbjørnsen saved those letters he received, Moe was less careful about this.90 The key problem for looking at how Asbjørnsen thought is that no real attempt has yet been made to collect his letters from the various archives at home and abroad. Some valuable glimpses into the nature of Asbjørnsen’s own communications are nonetheless provided by those letters kept by the Grimms, who were probably Asbjørnsen’s equals in terms of archiving.91

87 88

89 90 91

NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from William Ralston Shedden-Ralston, dated 31st December 1873. For Gosse’s review of this work, see further Gosse, “Tales from the Fjeld”. See Dasent, Popular Tales from the Norse. On this work, see further Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, 13–21. On Dasent himself, see further Wawn, The Vikings and the Victorians, 142–182; and the chapters on Campbell, Stephens and Jón Árnason by John Shaw, John Lindow and Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume. See Edvardsen, “Om kunsten å målbinde eventyr”, 58. See Krogvig, Fra det Nationale Gjennembruds Tid. As noted above, the correspondence between the Grimms and Asbjørnsen (and Moe) can be found in Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, and Krogvig, Til Gerhard Gran. Eight letters are preserved in the Norwegian Folklore Archive of which three are still

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The majority of the communications in question are between Jacob Grimm and Asbjørnsen, which like that with Wilhelm Grimm, can be seen to represent a synthesis of Asbjørnsen’s approach to networking noted above. In these letters, the first of which comes from 1844, Asbjørnsen and the Grimms exchange greetings and pass on greetings from others; vouch for people who wish to meet them up or are in need of patrons; exchange books and articles written both by themselves and others; exchange thoughts and reflections on different publications, and, of course, also discuss issues relating to folklore. Encouragement and support – especially from the Grimms themselves – were evidently of great importance to Asbjørnsen as were testimonies of warm approval, something which Jacob Grimm in particular seems to have handed out on a regular basis. Associations with dominant figures in knowledge networks such as that which surrounded the Grimms was naturally highly valuable, not least because patrons and supporters could contribute in ensuring stipends and book contracts and in helping to build an international reputation, as well as in developing your personal standing in a competitive local environment.92 In the first extant communication with Jacob Grimm from 1844, Asbjørnsen and Moe in a polite and solemn manner deliver the second volume of Norske Folkeeventyr to Jacob Grimm “… with the hope that our narrative style, which has been blamed for its overly local colour, will not displease you” (“… med Ønske om, at vor Fortællingsmaade, som man har bebreidet en altfor local Farve, ikke maa mishage Dem”93). The use of language, and in particular the Norwegian language, which Asbjørnsen and Moe briefly touch upon in this initial communication, would come to be a dominant theme in the letters between Asbjørnsen and Jacob Grimm in the years that followed. In a letter from Jacob Grimm, dated 7th August 1849, the language of the North along with the development of the science of folklore collection94 is clearly a key theme, as Grimm praises the lively scientific activity that has been taking place in Norway:

92 93 94

unpublished. As noted above, Asbjørnsen’s letters to Edmund Gosse can also be found in Sir Edmund Gosse’s Correspondence with Scandinavian Writers, 55–76. This was also an important feature in the networking in the “Republic”: see Crafton, Worlds Made by Words, 19. NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe to Jacob Grimm, dated 16th October 1844. See further the discussion of the scientification of folklore in the other chapter on Asbjørnsen by Line Esborg elsewhere in this volume.

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When visiting, your friend and companion, Mr Smid, brought some welcome new gifts from you and Mr Moe, and reported in some detail on the intense scientific work that is being conducted in Norway. How uplifting to see such a blossoming, after Sweden and Denmark have had the lead in this for so long, in the country which was the original seat of the pure Nordic language, where the sense for antiquity seemed to have all but died out. Now you are making up for everything and even handling some things better than the Swedes and Danes could. One is quite aware of how beneficial freedom affects all life. […] What you have already done for Norwegian legend and poetry deserves the greatest thanks and is highly recognised amongst us. […] I want to keep both of you convinced that I am eagerly following your extensive discoveries. Few Danish writers seem to handle the Nordic language as completely and cleverly as you can. With great respect. Your most devoted.) (Ihr freund und genosse, herr Smid, hat mir bei einer durchreise eine neue willkommne gaber von Ihnen und herrn Moe überbracht, zugleich aber mancherlei mündlich über die rege wissenschaftliche thätigkeit in Norwegen berichtet. Wie erhebend ist dies aufblühen, nachdem so lange zeit Schweden und Dänemark vorausgegangen waren und in dem lande selbst, das der ursprüngliche sitz der reinen nordischen sprache war, der sinn für das alterthum erstorben schien. Jetzt werden Sie alles reichlich nachholen und sogar manches besser anfassen, als es von Schweden und Dänen geschehn konnte. Man gewahrt recht, wie wolthätig die freiheit überall auf das leben einwirkt. […] Was Sie bereits für norwegische sage und poesie geleistet haben, verdient den grössten dank und wird zumal unter uns anerkannt. […] halten Sie sich beide überzeugt, dass ich Ihren reichhaltigen entdeckungen eifrig nachfolge. Wenige dänische schriftsteller scheinen die nordische sprache so vollständig und geistreich zu handhaben, wie Sie es vermögen. Ich bin mit grosser hochachtung. Ihr ergebenster.95) Continuing their discussions on language a couple of years later, Asbjørnsen informs Jacob Grimm about the work of Ivar Aasen (1813–1896) who was working on a dictionary of Norwegian dialects.96 This was another central player

95 96

Here cited from Krogvig, Til Gerhard Gran, 175–176. Ivar Aasen was a language scholar and dialectologist who had a major influence on the advancement of a literary Norwegian language. Since the sixteenth century, the written language used in Norway had been Danish. The results from Aasen’s survey of the

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in the creation of Norwegian national culture, with whom Grimm was already familiar. Asbjørnsen writes: After a year in the Nordlandene area and in his home village Sundmöri, Ivar Aasen has now returned with some interesting collections of dialect words that will evidently be of importance for Old Norse language research. To mention something that has interested me: he has found a number of names for birds and animals that almost all correspond to those found in the Edda. (Ivar Aasen er efter et Aars Ophold i Nordlandene og i sin Hjembygd Sundmöri, nu vendt tilbage hertil med interessante Samlinger av Dialectord, der rimeligviis ville blive af Betydenhed for den oldnorske Sprogforskning. Han har, for at anföre noget, der har interesseret mig, fundet en Mængde Navne paa Fugle og Dyr, der næste alle svare til Eddas.97) Although positive towards Aasen’s efforts and highly interested in the historicity of the language as can be seen in this statement, it becomes evident that Asbjørnsen was more conservative in questions relating to the use of language. Acting as a patron for Aasen, Asbjørnsen requests Grimm to review Aasen’s work since: “He himself is so modest and restrained that it would hardly occur to him directly to address you” (“Selv er han saa beskeden og tilbageholden, at det næppe falder ham ind directe at henvende sig til Dem”98). In another letter to Jacob Grimm from 26th October 1858, he attacks Aasen’s work on attempting to construct a new Norwegian language (Landsmaal). Even though he admits to there being some benefits that can be gained from documenting words, phrases and ways of speech, he complains: … how wrong it is to want to construct a new language out of those dialects facing their downfall and have this new language flow down to the common people, instead of using and managing what has been historically received and improving this with those perfect remains of the enduring dialects still in use and then raising people to use this.

97 98

contemporary Norwegian dialects were published in Det norske folkesprogs Grammatik (The Grammar of the Norwegian Dialects) in 1848 and Ordbog over det norske folkesprog (A Dictionary of the Norwegian Dialects) in 1850. These works paved the way for the development of Nynorsk (New Norwegian) which became an official written language along with Dano-Norwegian in the second half of the nineteenth century and today remains one of two official Norwegian languages taught in Norwegian schools. Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 261–263. Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 261–263.

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(… hvor forkjert er det da ikke at ville konstruere et nyt Sprog af de sin Undergang imödegaaende Dialecter, at sige ned til Almuen, istedet for at vandle og klare det historisk Givne, at udbedre dette ved de fuldgode Levninger af de undergaaende Dialecter og saaledes at hæve Folket til dette.99) Being far more conservative than Aasen in questions of language and more in favour of keeping to the Danish heritage, in his letter to Jacob Grimm, Asbjørnsen is essentially advocating that a better solution would be to “build on the foundations of the historically given Danish language” (“bygge paa det historisk givne danske Sprogs Grundvold”100). He proclaims that it was this intention that lay behind the way in which he and Moe used the language when they published their fairy tales and legends so that “… the good authors of later times among us have thus been able to attain a clearer view of the features of popular life and their language” (“… de senere Tiders bedre Forfattere hos oss derigjennem baade ere komne til en klarere Opfatning af Folkelivets Eiendommeligheder og af Sprogretningen”101). Grimm was evidently equally preoccupied with the language and how it should be best expressed, something seen in the way that Asbjørnsen’s cooperation with the earlier-noted Johann Grässe in an international collection of tales entitled Nord und Süd from 1858 does not pass without a warning. Jacob Grimm writes: “I do not know Grässe personally and consider him a learned, careful man, but do not let your free style be corrupted by him, for he writes somewhat stiffly” (“ich kenne Grässe nicht personlich und halte ihn für einen gelehrten, sorgfältigen mann, aber lassen Sie sich Ihren freien stil nicht von ihm verderben, denn er schreibt etwas steif”102). In the book, Asbjørnsen had been responsible for the Nordic tales while Grässe was responsible for those from the other European and Oriental areas.103 Grimm’s criticism focused mainly on the way in which the tales were told in German, but it is clear he is eager for Asbjørnsen to make use of the particular Norwegian style and colour in his writing and storytelling. Language itself and its specific cultural qualities 99 100 101 102

103

Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 263–265. Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 263–265. Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 263–265. Krogvig, Til Gerhard Gran, 183–185. See also Asbjørnsen and Grässe, Nord und Süd, which was published in a revised Norwegian version two years later as Asbjørnsen and Grässe, Eventyr fra fremmede Lande. It is clear from the collection of over 40 letters sent between them in the period from 1857 to 1882 that Grässe must have become acquainted with Asbjørnsen after they first met in 1856.

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was evidently an important feature of Asbjørnsen and Grimm’s joint scientific and political project in the nineteenth century.104

8

“A World Made by Words”

Asbjørnsen’s Grimmian-inspired search for the “hidden and incomprehensible” (“skjulte og ubegribelige”) in the “insightful and poetic” (“anskueligt og poetisk”) realm of storytelling, where legends in particular contained “a sense of deep moral truth or religious conviction” (“erkjendelsen af en dyb moralsk sandhed eller af en religiøs overbeviisning”),105 evidently had a key role to play in the nature of Asbjørnsen’s networking. It not only enabled him to connect with people who shared his interests in folklore as well as a number of the other subject fields he was interested in, but also helped him to keep himself up to date on all the latest works. Continuously expanding, his network effectively contributed to the knowledge-making which would form the basis for the establishment of Folkloristics as a scientific discipline. While this extensive network might not have been wholly created by Asbjørnsen’s interest in folk narratives and storytelling, it was certainly shaped by it. In many ways, one can say that the nineteenth-century knowledge network to which Asbjørnsen belonged resembled a “world made by words”, an expression used by Anthony Crafton to describe the “Republics of Letters” that existed from in the early modern period in Europe.106 It was a community focusing around knowledge exchange that recognised the norms of social conduct expected by its members in terms of courtesy, friendliness and the obligations relating to future engagement, one token of this friendliness that was specific to the nineteenth century being the regular exchange of portraits. Behind this exchange of letters, books and images lay a deep respect for the knowledge possessed by the members of this community which limited neither critique nor discussion. In short, this was a community which, like the “Republic” of earlier times, recognised a genuine desire for learning and knowledge development, and generously rewarded those who contributed to such a development, the exchange of information being seen as a moral duty which, for Asbjørnsen like many of those involved in the Grimm ripples, served

104

105 106

With regard to the question of language and the way in which the folktales should be presented, see also the chapters on Faye and Stephens by Herleik Baklid and John Lindow elsewhere in this volume. Asbjørnsen, Nor: En Billedbog for den norske Ungdom, 61–62. Crafton, Worlds Made by Words.

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the advancement of national culture, national pride and national identity. Jacob Grimm and Peter Christen Asbjørnsen’s discussions of specific questions relating to language, and how the language could be used to reflect a specific national culture and its people nonetheless serves as just one example of how the knowledge community of the nineteenth century was starting to redirect itself towards new questions and challenges that were essentially much more related to the world of nineteenth-century Romantic Nationalism and much less to do with the world of the former “Republic”.

Chapter 6

Treue und Wahrheit: Asbjørnsen and Moe and the Scientification of Folklore in Norway Line Esborg

1

Introduction

Closely united in life and work, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen (1812–1885) and Jørgen Moe (1813–1882: see figs 5.1 and 5.2) are rarely named separately. Despite differences in demeanour, background and career choices later in life, together they have become the very personae of folktales in Norway. This chapter takes its departure in the first part of the nineteenth century, at the moment, when the two young Norwegian folklore collectors first entered the national scene to become engaged in an international discourse of folklore and science in their time. Following Ane Ohrvik’s chapter in this volume mapping the establishment of a knowledge network through the “Republic of Letters”, we now turn to how the inspiration from the Grimm brothers was used and expressed in Asbjørnsen and Moe’s early folklore publications. An important part of this project involves mapping their public outreach: the where, when and how they published. A second aim is to consider when and how the Grimm-inspiration becomes visible. What were the methods followed by Asbjørnsen and Moe? Who did they address, and how did they present their cultural project?​ The discussion of these questions is informed by a selection of printed source materials like reports from fieldwork, reviews and translations, obituaries and articles in magazines and newspapers. The main focus here, however, is on the corpus of introductions written for their folktale editions in the nineteenth century and how these texts can be seen as a discourse not only between the two folklorists, but also among a growing network of folklorists, an expanding scientific community and the public.​ Using these printed publications, the aim is to shed light on this particular brand of knowledge production,1 and on the new cultural networks which were coming into being at this time, shaping not only types of national character across the north but also a new Norwegian discipline that formed part of an international movement. 1 On “knowledge production”, see further Burke, What is the History of Knowledge?

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_008

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The Scientific Value of Folktales

The summer of 1837, Asbjørnsen and Moe undertook the first of two joint fieldtrips to the southern parts of Norway, establishing the basis of a network not only of narrators, but also of influential men.2 This year also marked the beginning of their plan to publish a collection of Norwegian folktales following the scientific principles laid earlier down by the Grimm brothers.3 The aim was therefore for the Norwegian narratives selected for their first publication to be presented with “Treue und Wahrheit” (accuracy and truth),4 in other words written down as they were told by their narrators. The intentions behind this literary cultural project were publicly announced three years later in a prospectus (“Subskriptions-Indbydelse” [lit. “A Call for Subscriptions”]) printed in one of the most important Norwegian newspapers at the time, Den Constitutionelle, on Sunday 23rd February 1840 (see fig. 6.1). Published just seven years after the appearance of Andreas Faye’s collection of legends, Norske Sagn,5 the prospectus presents ideas about the value and importance of the fairy tale, and the need for the collection and publication of such materials. The act of collecting and publishing at this particular moment in time was presented as something that was especially urgent. The modern idea of “last minute rescue” was apparently at play her, but there was also evidently a sense of cultural redemption. As the prospectus states: It is […] this consideration in particular that helps focus the attention given to this form of literature in our country; unlike our two neighbouring countries, and especially the Danes, we have no remnants from the Middle Ages, meaning that for us, the fairy tale, which is closely related to the legend, is practically our only form of folk narrative, and therefore has particular value. ​The collection of this “folk poetry” (folkepoesi) is thus a pressing necessity, if only it could take place. (Der er […] særdeles Hensyn som maa skjærpe Opmærksomheden for denne litteraturgren i vort Land; vi have ikke som våre tvende naboer, og

2 Hodne, “Brødrene Grimm og norsk eventyrinnsamling”, 119. 3 See further Asbjørnsen and Moe, “Subskriptions-Indbydelse”, and the chapter on Deutsche Sagen by Holger Ehrhardt elsewhere in this book. 4 Expression taken from Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1819–1822), I, xv. Translation taken from Tatar, The Hard Facts of the Grimms’ Fairy Tales, 220. 5 See further the chapter on Faye by Herleik Baklid elsewhere in this volume.

Asbjørnsen and Moe and the Scientification of Folklore

Figure 6.1

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Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe: Prospectus (Subskriptions-Indbydelse), Den Constitutionelle 54, 23rd February 1840, 4

fornemmelig de danske, nogen Viseflor fra middelalderen, og Eventyret er, pa Sagnet nær, saaledes hos os fast den eneste folkelige Digtform, men har vel netop derfor ogsaa en særdeles Rigdom. ​Indsamlingen af disse

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folkepoesier netop nu er paatrængende fornøden, om den noen gang skal kunne ske.6)​ As the prospectus notes, the main arguments for undertaking this endeavour were twofold: they are related to the political context (“det gjenvakte politiske liv”) and the effects of modernity: “growing enlightenment is bringing about an ever-increasing silence in our mountain valleys: it is dying on the lips of the people” (“mere og mer forstumme i vore Fjelddale, stigende opplysning – de døe på folkets Læber”7). The political role would become especially apparent in the later illustrations for the various editions of fairy tales and legends (see below) which would help create a completely new image for the national character and inspire an emerging national literature and other national forms of art, just as the prospectus of 1840 hoped (see below).8 A close reading of the prospectus highlights how topics like literature and language, the “folk” and the “national”, are framed by arguments of scientification, stressing the importance of this prospective work as a production of knowledge that follows established scientific methods and standards.9 One notes first of all the bold opening statement of the prospectus proclaiming that “the scientific value of the fairy tale can no longer be ignored – by any learned man” (“Folkeeventyrets videnskabelige Værd betvivles ikke længer af nogen Dannet”10). As a trope, this statement closely mirrors the introduction in Andreas Faye’s earlier-noted Norske Sagn.11 In short, from the very point of departure, it is clear that the intended reader is neither the common public nor a particular cohort therein, but rather a scientific community of learned men. As Asbjørnsen and Moe proceed with outlining their work in the prospectus, it becomes ever clearer from the objectives and descriptions of the practice of collecting that for them the scientification of folklore was viewed as something that was essentially cultural.

6

7 8 9

10 11

Asbjørnsen and Moe,. I would like to express my gratitude to Terry Gunnell for his immense patience, very valuable editorial advice and continued interest in this project, in addition to aiding with translations into English. Any remaining misinterpretations, errors or flaws are those of the author. Asbjørnsen and Moe, “Subskriptions-Indbydelse”. See further the chapter by Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in this volume. Folklore as a field of research was yet to be established in Norway. Moltke Moe (1859–1913), the son of Jørgen Moe would become the first professor of folk tradition and language at the University of Kristiania in 1886. See further Esborg and Johannsen En vild endevendig af al virkelighed, 9–18. Asbjørnsen and Moe, “Subskriptions-Indbydelse”. See Faye, Norske Sagn, iii–xiii.

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Worth noting is the way in which the tales themselves are presented in the prospectus as a portal to a different time and place where “everything is still as it was in the Golden Age” (“alt endnu [er] som i den gyldne tid”12). The retrospective romantic notions reflected here underline the contemporary political context which was evidently playing a key role here. As Terry Gunnell and other scholars have earlier pointed out, the context in which the artistic creations of the “folk” were meant to be viewed had an obvious political slant forming part of a wider romantically inspired nationalism.13 In Norway, it came across as a struggle for national identity and independence from Sweden following the years under Danish rule that had ended in 1814.14 In this context, it can be argued that the first collections of folktales played a key role in the construction of a national identity in Norway. As with Faye’s Norske Sagn and many of the other works discussed in this volume, nationalistic motivation was immediately clear from the projected title of Asbjørnsen and Moe’s work, Norske Folke- og Børneeventyr [lit. “Norwegian Folk- and Children’s Tales”], which also has clear echoes of the Grimm’s Kinder- und Hausmärchen. Interestingly enough, the last part of the title (Børneeventyr) would not be repeated again until the 1880s. In 1840, however, it is clear that fairy tales were still seen as being something simple. To quote the Danish historian Erhard Fredrik Winkel-Horn (1845–1898) four decades later, “folk-lore stories, to which no special attention had hitherto been called, were generally supposed to be idle nursery twaddle, not deserving a thought from sensible people” (“die Märchen, denen Niemand grosse Beachtung hatte”), publishing such being considered “as a ludicrous whim” (“ein wunderlicher Einfall betrachtet wurde”15). The idea that these were stories essentially told to children is certainly reflected in Asbjørnsen and Moe’s statement about their long-term knowledge of this genre, and the fact that they had had “a deep love for the fairy tale ever since from our childhood” (“en inderlig kjærlighed til eventyret fra vore barnedage”16), this being something that had made them determined

12 13

14 15

16

Asbjørnsen and Moe, “Subskriptions-Indbydelse”. See Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, 12–13. For the wider context, see Leerssen, National Thought in Europe; and Leerssen (ed.), Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe. See Hodne, Det norske folkeeventyret, 92–98. See further Hodne, Jørgen Moe og folkeveventyrene. See Winkel-Horn, “Ein ‘nordischer Grimm’”, first published in German in Die Gartenglaube: Illustriertes Familienblatt (1881), 162; translation taken from the version published in English a year later by Auber Forestier for Demorest’s Monthly Magazine, on 18th March 1882, under the title “A Northern Grimm” (294). Asbjørnsen and Moe, “Subskripsjons-Indbydelse”.

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to collect and publish this material. As the English poet, author and critic Sir Edmund Gosse (1849–1928) would later write in retrospect: “Before they were twenty years of age these two boys began to put down in writing the bogietales and old-wives fables which they had heard in the nursery and so many more as the folks around them would consent to recollect.”17 Another way of reading this part of the title, however, is to see it as a reference to a perception of purity of the genre, something inherent in the narratives: they are seen as having “sprung from the innermost life of people” (“Fremsprungne af et Folks inderste Liv”) and have “a sense of the simple and the fantastic, in which the door to that world has been opened for those who have a purity of heart (“de aabne desuden en rik poetisk verden for Enhver, […] som endnu har bevaret den hjertensreenhed”) which “does not allow itself to be scared off by the childish naivity that has been placed on watch around its territory” (“at han ei kyses tilbage af den barnlige Enfold, der er sat til vagt for dens Enemærker”18). In short, the fairy tale is understood here as being both organic and pure, “so simple and true” (“saa simple og sande”), that it is fit to be seen not only as a form of national folk literature but also a source of inspiration for future generations and not least “our developing Literature” (“vor udviklende Literatur”19). Posterity has proven them right. One notes that the argument concerning the prospective value for literature (seen also in other countries) is repeated eight times alongside the ideological pronoun “our” (“vor”), relating to the role of this material as part of Norwegian “Folkepoesier”, literary writing (“Digtarter”) as a whole, and finally as a form of national creative fiction (“Nations poesie”). All of this formed part of the aforementioned process of scientification. In order to convince the cultural elite about the cultural and scientific value of the folktale, it had to be recreated as a literary genre, something that later allowed Asbjørnsen and Moe to represent themselves as being part of the continuum of narrators (see below). The inspiration of the Grimms is evident from the very beginning, the Grimm brothers being featured alongside their work on fairy tales with a sense of awe in the prospectus. Indeed, at the end of the prospectus, Asbjørnsen and Moe state that, if possible, they aim to be even more true to the narrative style and language of the people than those who inspired them: One will see that our plan is in accordance with the excellent “Kinder und Hausmärchen” by the Grimm brothers. However, if possible, we will be even truer to the narrative style and language of the people. 17 18 19

Gosse, “Obituary: Jørgen Moe”, 14. Asbjørnsen and Moe, “Subskriptions-Indbydelse”. Asbjørnsen and Moe, “Subskriptions-Indbydelse”.

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(Man vil heraf see, vor Plan falder omtrent sammen med den, hvorefter brødrene Grimm have leverer deres fortrinlige “Kinder und hausmärchen”; imidlertid ville vi, om muligt, end mere nærme os Folkets Fortællermaade i Sprog og Udtryk.20) The attempt to follow the direction set forward by Grimm as a scientific methodology is demonstrated throughout the prospectus. As Asbjørnsen and Moe add, they mean to: present [the tales] with fidelity just as we have received them from the storyteller, without any embellishment of any detail, or alteration of any event, unless we feel compelled to cut something that might offend propriety. (Gjengive dem med Troskab saaledes som vi har modtaget dem af Fortælleren, uden forskjønnelse af nogen omstendighed eller forandring af nogen begivenhed, kun at vi vil føle oss berettiget til å avskjære det som kan såre velanstendigheden.21) In actual fact, the later publications would be written in Danish-Norwegian, albeit coloured with various Norwegian words and phrases. The narrative style is therefore not a reproduction of the different dialects in which the folktales were told, but rather an invention representing the nation rather than the local. Arguably, in their attempt to follow the Grimms’ memorandum, Asbjørnsen and Moe were creating a new kind of written language.22 Their method of retelling the tales “in the voice of the people” thus created a new literary voice inspired by the spoken and the narrated.23 The foundation for their work would nonetheless be genuine fieldwork, and while Asbjørnsen and Moe were not the first to go out and collect stories, it might be argued that they were the first in Norway to stress the scientific value of this practice. This would be something elaborated on in the publications 20

21 22 23

Asbjørnsen and Moe, “Subskriptions-Indbydelse”. It might be noted that a year later, in 1841, Asbjørnsen would translate a selection of the Grimms’ fairy tales into Norwegian, under the title of Udvalgte eventyr af Jac. og Wilh. Grimm, thereby underlining he had gained intimate knowledge of their book. As Haffner notes in Asbjørnsen og Moes Norske Folkeeventyr, 28, Asbjørnsen’s name is not given on the title of the book which is also mentioned in Larsen, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, 36; and Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 74. Asbjørnsen and Moe, “Subskriptions-Indbydelse”. See further Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 82, and 231. Solheim, “Die Brüder Grimm und Asbjörnsen und Moe”, 20; and Hvam Hult, Framing a National Narrative, 35.

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that would follow (see below), but it is already clear in the prospectus which heralds future fieldwork. As they write: “Our plan is to present the folk narratives we have collected and manage to collect hereafter” (“Vår plan er at levere hvad vi af disse folkedigtninger have samlet og hvad vi herefter maatte samle”24), and, indeed, from 1846 onwards, both men would go on to receive several scholarships from the government enabling them to collect stories on various fieldtrips around the country.25 In itself, this was a sign of growing governmental appreciation of the importance of folklore collection as a form of scientific work. The motivation for Asbjørnsen and Moe’s work was nonetheless evidently personal, and the aspirations of the two men comes across firmly in their prospectus. Although humbly acknowledging at the end that “we know full well that while we name ourselves, our names are meaningless” (“Vi vide meget vel at vi, skjønt vi nævne vort navn, ere navnløse”26), they give their project a degree of formal authorisation by offering some academic references. They note the fact that Asbjørnsen has already had work published,27 and then go on to refer to the promise earlier made by “Hr. lector Munch” (the historian Peter Andreas Munch [1810–1863]) that he would be assisting them by writing a scientific introduction to the upcoming collection. They end by signing their names along with their given university titles “Stud. med.” and “Cand. Theol.”, thereby introducing themselves as scholars to be.28 24 25

26 27

28

Asbjørnsen and Moe, “Subskriptions-Indbydelse”. If these grants are converted to the 2020 rate, Asbjørnsen alone received about 70,000 Norwegian kroner for the scientific journeys he undertook between 1846 and 1853: see further Norske Universitets- og skoleannaler, 46–52. Asbjørnsen and Moe, “Subskriptions-Indbydelse”. To quote the prospectus: “[…] for now, we do not proceed without hope; indeed we would like to permit ourselves to refer to the fact that a couple of years ago, one of us, Asbjørnsen presented some fairy tales in the picture book, Nor, stories we never imagined as being forerunners of our announced collection” (“imidlertid fremtræde vi ikke uden Haab, idet vi tillige tillade os at henvise til de af den ene af os, Asbjørnsen, i Billedbogen Nor for et Par Aar siden leverede folkeeventyr, dem vi alligevel ingenlunde i Eet og Alt betragte som Prøver af vor her annoncerede Samling”): Asbjørnsen and Moe, “SubskriptionsIndbydelse”. The reference is to the fact that in 1837, Asbjørnsen had published a selection of folk narratives in Nor: En billedbog for den norske ungdom (dated 1838), some of which he was to print again later on. Here the tales had been accompanied by their very first illustration (by an unnamed illustrator). It might be noted that a volume in the Norwegian Folklore Archives (Norsk Folkeminnesamling) dated 1833 contains records of several fairy tales, including “Jomfru Maria” and “Smørbukk” (“Smørbald”) which were collected by Asbjørnsen at the age of 21: see NFS Asbjørnsen Varianter 52–59. The Latin title Cand. theol. is an abbreviation for Candidatus theologiæ, an academic degree with a long tradition, awarded after six years of higher education in theology in

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In spite of their attempts to add weight to their project, their appeal for public support for their undertaking did not have the desired effect and their plan had to be temporarily abandoned. It was clear that, as Alfred Sinding-Larsen (1839–1911) writes: “very few, if any, understood the real value and significance of the fairy tales” (“Det fantes dengang ikke mange, som havde nogen Forestilling om Eventyrenes egentlige Værd og Betydning”29). The publisher Guldberg and Dzwonkowski withdrew from the deal.30 In retrospect, Edmund Gosse gave the following gripping description of the situation: “They were looked upon with contempt, and the memory of them was on the point of expiring.”31 Fortunately, P. A. Munch came to the rescue by managing to convince the publisher Johan Dahl to print the first editions of their planned collection. Munch, who evidently had a strong awareness of the potential of folklore had earlier, in his critical review of Andreas Faye’s Norske Sagn from 1833,32 stated that publishing folklore “requires a certain poetic touch, open to its characteristics and the skill to accentuate it” (“udkræves en vis poetisk Opfatning, et vist eget Blik paa det nært Characteristiske, og en Dygtighed til at udhæve dette”33). A clear relationship can be seen between Munch’s critique and the way Asbjørnsen and Moe would later treat their subject material. To their minds, they were not publishing raw material, but rather a new brand of national folk literature.34

3

Among Peers

As has been noted in numerous works and in this present volume, the work of the Grimm brothers had already inspired collections in several nations and would go on to inspire many more.35 Equally important was the way in which they had laid down the foundations of folklore collection as a science. As has been noted above, the aforementioned prospectus makes it clear that Asbjørnsen and Moe were seeking to establish themselves as peers within this same knowledge tradition. The first edition of their collected fairy tales was

29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Norway. The term Stud. med., an abbreviation for studiosus medicinae, is used to denote a medical student. Asbjørnsen went on to study zoology (marine biology) while Moe studied theology. Larsen, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, 7. Haffner, Asbjørnsen og Moes Norske Folkeeventyr, 7. Gosse, “Obituary: Jørgen Moe”, 12. See further the chapter on Faye by Herleik Baklid elsewhere in this volume. Munch, Anmeldelse: Norske Sagn, samlede og udgivne af A. Faye, 27. Øverland, Hvorledes P. Chr. Asbjørnsen begyndte som sagnforteller, 5. See, for example, Dollerup, Tales and Translation; and Zipes, Grimm Legacies.

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nonetheless not launched until almost 30 years after the appearance of Kinderund Hausmärchen and Deutsche Sagen, which, as the cultural historian Ørnulf Hodne has noted, was remarkably late.36 There were several reasons for this, one of the main ones being the cold response earlier editions of oral tradition had received from some quarters,37 another being the failed response to the prospectus in 1840. All the same, the academic milieu Asbjørnsen and Moe were addressing had already laid down basic ideas about what the nature of such collections ought to be (“tell it as the people do”). In the case of Asbjørnsen and Moe, their publication, like those which had preceded them, was motivated not only by a national ideology, but evidently also a vested interest in acquiring a name within the scientific community.38 Asbjørnsen and Moe’s first collection appeared in the shape of four modest 8vo booklets published in 1841–1844. The first appeared on 29th December 1841 in a modest blue grey soft cover (see fig. 6.2). It was printed on cheap paper and contained no illustrations. The paratext here is rather scarce, stating simply: “Norwegian Fairy Tales Collected by Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe: Part 1. Christiania, published by Johan Dahl. 1842” (“Norske Folkeeventyr samlede ved Asbjørnsen og Jørgen Moe: Første Deel. Christiania. Forlagt af Johan Dahl. 1842”). It is noteworthy that Asbjørnsen is only named here with his family name, his initials (P. Chr.) first appearing on the first page of text in the booklet. It is also noteworthy that in this first edition, the 53 fairy tales are presented without any introduction or framework of any sort, the only exception being a call for readers to collect more tales, which appears on the last page of the 1844 volume. The tone and approach regarding the scientific value of folktales of this kind would change drastically in Norway after Asbjørnsen and Moe’s friend, P. A. Munch (see above) wrote an (anonymous) positive review of their book in Leipziger Allgemeine Zeitung on 11th March 1843, an act that brought Asbjørnsen and Moe closer to recognition within the international scientific network of potential readers. Prior to this review in a major European newspaper, the domestic criticism had nonetheless already started to be alleviated by several more positive reviews.39 A sense of the value and beauty of the fairy

36 37 38 39

Hodne, Det norske folkeeventyret, 35. See further the chapter on Faye by Herleik Baklid elsewhere in this volume. Amundsen, “Fortelling og foredling”, 43. One example of such positive criticism is the review by the journalist Rolf Olsen which appeared in Den Constitutionelle on 22nd March 1842, and another is that by P. A. Munch, published in the same newspaper on 9th October that same year. Several domestic and international journals and newspaper offered further reviews of the first edition: see further Larsen, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, 36.

Asbjørnsen and Moe and the Scientification of Folklore

Figure 6.2

195

Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe: First edition of Norske Folkeeventyr (published December 29th 1841 but post-dated 1842 in accordance with practice). This copy is dedicated by Jørgen Moe to the son of Jacob Aall as follows: “Please receive these pages./ May they recall for you/ the wondrous happy days/ of childhood: 13/7/42 Jørgen Moe” (“Vil De tage Disse Blade?/ Lad dem kalde Barnets glade/ Eventyrlige rige Dage/ Dem tilbage: 13/7/42 Jørg. Moe”).

tales was gradually being established in the public eye in Norway. Sales went beyond all expectations. By 1843, 800 copies had been sold, and by 1844, the book was sold out. The Norwegian intellectual elite had also received it avidly. A good example was the Norwegian philosopher Marcus Monrad (1816–1897) who, in the newspaper Morgenbladet, wrote that he was delighted to see the collection:

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For anyone who thinks honestly of the Fatherland and is attentively searching for any sign of life in the inner living spirit of the nation, it is a good sign in our times – regardless of how much one otherwise might question it – that more and more attention seems to be being paid to the “voices from the deep”. (for Enhver der mener det ærligt med Fædrenelandet, med Opmærksomhed at lytte til ethvert Livstegn, der gives fra den i Nationens indre boende Aand; og det er et gledeligt Tegn i vore dager – hvormeget man ellers maaske kan udsætte paa dem – at Opmerksomheden synes mere og mere at vækkes for hine «Stemmer fra Dybet».40) Jacob Grimm would later write to Jørgen Moe that “the Norwegian fairy tale is the best fairy tale” (“Die norske folkeeventyr sind die besten märchen”41), albeit here referring to the tradition itself rather than the printed volumes of material themselves. In the introduction to the second edition of his Deutsche Mythologie (1844), Jacob Grimm expressed with warmth his favour of the new Norwegian collection, stating that “with its fresh, full stories, it might almost be said to excel all other collections” (“mit ihrem frischen, vollen vorrath fast überboten”42). Only three years later, in 1847, the first translation of Norske Folkeeventyr (Norwegische Volksmährchen) appeared in Berlin with a preface by the Romantic German poet Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773–1854).43 Four tales were then translated into English in Chambers Edinburgh Journal, in July and August 1850.44 In November 1851, a translation of a single fairy tale “Mestertyven” (The Master Thief) by George Webbe Dasent (1817–1896) was printed in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, something Asbjørnsen notes in 1852 in his preface to the second extended edition of Norske Folkeeventyr.45 Following the publication of this edition, 45 of the 58 folktales contained in the edition would go on to be translated into English by Dasent under the title of Popular Tales from 40 41 42 43

44 45

See Monrad, Review in Morgenbladet, 8th February 1842, 1. Letter from Jacob Grimm to Jørgen Moe, dated 9th May 1852, in Grimm, Jacob og Wilhelm Grimms brev til P. Chr. Asbjørnsen og Jørgen Moe, 180. Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie (1844), xiv. Johann Ludwig Tieck also wrote short stories in a fairy-tale mode and collected folk legends. See further the chapter on Jón Árnason by Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume; and that on Andreas Faye by Herleik Baklid. “Why the Sea is Salt”; and “Norwegian Fairy Tales”, including “The Doll-in-the Grass”, “The Gray-Dapple” and “The Upper Maid”. Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr (1852), xiii.

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the Norse, along with a detailed introductory essay on the origin and diffusion of popular tales that drew on the new detailed academic introduction that had been added to the second Norwegian edition by Moe. Interestingly, Dasent did not include the names of Asbjørnsen and Moe on the title-page of his translation (any more than he had mentioned them in Blackwell’s Magazine) although some mention is made of them in his preface. This translation also gained great popularity and sold out 1000 copies in three months.46 The first translation into Swedish (by Herman Hörner [1824–1875]) appeared in 1868 under the title of Norska folksagor och äfventyr, over 20 years after the appearance of Svenska folk-sagor og äfventyr by Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius (1818–1899) and George Stephens (1813–1895). In 1875, the collection went on to appear in Russian (as Norvežskija skazki), and other translations would follow.47

4

A Scientific Edition

The earlier-noted second, extended edition of Norske Folkeeventyr, published in 1852 by Johan Dahls Forlag, would come to be regarded as the definitive, scientific edition of the folktales. This was largely due to Jørgen Moe’s 58-page introduction, which gave the readers some guidance as to how the material was to be understood. In his thorough review of this new edition, P. A. Munch, wrote that unlike the first edition which, “without any introduction or annotations, could have been be perceived by the larger public as being largely a work designed for entertainment” (“uden Innledning og anmærkninger, i det hele taget et Morskabsskrift, idetmindste fremstillede det sig for den store Fleerhed kun som saadant”), had now also taken on a more “scientific character” (“videnskablig Charakter”) since it contained “independent scientific research” (“selvstændige videnskabelige undersøgelser”) and exuded “direct historical and ethnographic teaching” (“umiddelbar historisk-ethnografisk Belærelse”), something reflected in its scientific introduction and critical apparatus connecting each tale to domestic variants and foreign parallels.48 There is little question that Moe’s introduction can be regarded as the first Norwegian

46

47 48

On Dasent’s translation and his role in the publication of folktales in Britain, see further Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”. On Dasent’s role in Scotland, see also the chapter on John Francis Campbell by John Shaw elsewhere in this volume. See further, Larsen Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, 37–38. Munch, review in Morgenbladet, 10th February 1852, 1.

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dissertation on fairy tales, a pioneering work on how the national traits in such tales appear most particularly in the descriptions of nature and milieu. The theoretical superstructure of the introduction is nonetheless less original, Moe unconditionally agreeing with Jacob Grimm’s influential study presented in the introduction to Deutsche Mythologie (1835) on the international origin of the fairy tales and their relationship with myth.49 Moe’s introduction thus shows international ideas being adjusted to suit Norwegian conditions whereby a specific Norwegian-ness had to be addressed. As such, it became part of a cultural political project which later came to be acknowledged as “the corner-stone on which the whole succeeding intellectual development of Norway rests.”50 The introduction, which has been seen as a work that “in […] scope […] ranks alongside the introduction written by Jacob Grimm for Deutsche Mythologie,”51 begins with a detailed comparative study of the fairy tale, underlining how, while the Norwegian tales have parallels in numerous other countries and times, they can be perceived in their present form as being genuinely Norwegian.52 As noted above, Moe agrees with Grimm’s view that the folktale originated in a common mythical mindset in a distant Indo-Germanic past, but feels that as a form, it belongs to all peoples and all times. Arguably this a reflection of the ideas earlier expressed in the prospectus, that folktales spring from the innermost life of a people/ nation and can thus provide insight into the past. For Moe, the international value of the Norwegian material was that it helped underline the age of the tradition, at the same time demonstrating its local flavour, its multiple variants underlining the individual role of the storytellers as bearers of a national tradition. While the heart of the narrative remains stable, the colouring underlines national characteristics, and local ways of narrating. With regard to the scientific aspects of the 1852 edition of Norske Folkeeventyr, researchers have logically focused on Jørgen Moe’s introduction, suggesting he might have been the more intellectual of the two collectors. There is nonetheless good reason to take a closer look at this. In total, the edition contains 560 pages, stating on the first page that the material contained within it had been “collected and told” (“samlede og fortalte”) by both Asbjørnsen and Moe. The table of contents then provides a detailed overview of who narrated

49

50 51 52

See Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr (1852), xxxviii. See further Ødemark, “Jørgen Moe og folkeeventyrets krysskulturelle fundament”; Johannessen, “Jørgen Moe forteller”; and Hodne, Jørgen Moe og folkeventyrene for further discussions of Jørgen Moe’s introduction. M. M. [Moltke Moe?], “Asbjørnsen, P. Chr”. Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, 14. Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr (1852), xi–lxviii.

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what. In short, the authors underline that the narratives were collected by both men and written/ (re)told jointly. The 1840 prospectus had previously shown that both men had examined the foreign collections of folk narratives contained in the university library, while underlining that Moe’s promised introduction would represent “part of the work carried out for his scholarship” (“en del af sin stipendvirksomhed”53). It is nonetheless clear that both men took part in the scholarly work behind the collection. The second page of the extended second edition contains an often overlooked, but important dedication: “The publishers of these fairy tales from the land of mountains dedicate this work to the creators of German fairytale-literature, the Brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm” (“Den germaniske Eventyrliteraturs Skabere, Brødrene Jacob og Wilhelm Grimm, tilegnes disse fjeldlandets Eventyr af Udgiverne”). Dedications of this kind can be viewed as valuable paratextual information, “a fringe of the printed text which in reality controls one’s whole reading of the text.”54 In this case, the dedication ascribes status to the book, serving effectively to link the authors to a new international scientific paradigm. As the book proceeds, it becomes apparent that Jørgen Moe’s introduction is not the only scientific commentary. As a matter of fact, it is Asbjørnsen who opens the edition with a four-page-long preface (“Fortale”) dated November 1851 which precedes Moe’s introduction.55 In this preface, Asbjørnsen emphasises two main issues, elaborating on the importance of fieldwork in general, and the fact that it needs to be carried out in the right way. As he notes: “Our collection of fairy tales which is finished for now, but not completed, may seem like an easy task to some. Our experience of fieldwork has taught us the opposite” (“Den Eventyrsamling, vi her lade udgaae sluttet, om ikke endt, vil sagtens forekomme mange som et Arbeide, for Samlerne og Gjenfortællerne har været saare let”56). Asbjørnsen continues by underlining how fieldwork requires tact and skill in order to make people trust you enough to converse with you: In short, the act of collecting narratives involves knowing how to address people and gain their trust. It requires a sort of finesse, an embodied understanding. In Asbjørnsen’s own words: “Getting the people’s storytellers to openly and frankly express themselves needs a special touch” (“Allerede at bringe folkets Fortællere til aabent og uforbeholdent at meddele sig – forudsætter et eget Lag at behandle dem paa”57); the promise of payment for a story is not enough.

53 54 55 56 57

Asbjørnsen and Moe, “Subskriptions-Indbydelse”. Lejune in Genette, Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation, 92. Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr (1852), 5–8. Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr (1852), 5. Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr (1852), 5.

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Most importantly, one “must let a real love for these traditions shine through” (“lade en virkelig kjærlighed til disse Traditioner skinne igjennom”58). Another key comment by Asbjørnsen relates to what happens when it comes to publishing: One must take a step back and adopt an analytical distance: “The narrator must be above the people, but maintain an inner connection with them” (“Fortælleren maa staa over Folket, og han maaa dog have bevaret en inderlig Forbindelse med dette”59). The greatest challenge, Asbjørnsen continues, lies in the re-telling. The translation from oral speech to written narrative requires a poetic mind-set, a familiarity with the people’s way of life and expressions: It is not the collection of the material that is the most difficult task. That lies in the re-telling, when it has to take place in a linguistic form that has distanced itself so much from the spoken language of the people, in other words in the shape of our written language. In addition to a poetic temperament which has the ability to sense what is characteristic, it naturally demands a close knowledge of the people, a complete loyalty to their way of life and forms of expression if a proper retelling is to work. If these qualities are lacking, one can imagine what will happen. (Dog er det ikke Samlingen af Stoffet, der giver et Arbeide som nærværende sin største vanskelighed. Denne ligge i Gjenfortællingen, navnlig naar den skal skee ved et Sprogmiddel, der i den Grad har fjernet sig fra Folkets Talesprog, som vort Skriftsprog. Foruden et poetisk Sind, der er istand til at opfatte det characteristiske, fordres med nødvendighed et nøiaktigt Kjendskab til Folket, fuld Fortrolighed med dets Leveviis og Udtryksmaade, om en saadan Gjenforteælling skal lykkes. Naar en der savner disse egenskaber ser man hva det blir til.60) All in all, it is evident that Asbjørnsen and Moe attempted to follow the directions given by Grimm in their Circular and various collections61 as closely as possible, something that may not have received the attention it deserves

58 59 60 61

Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr (1852), 5. Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr (1852), 6. Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr (1852), 6. On the Grimms’ rules for collection, see Jacob Grimm, Kleinere Schriften, VII, 594 (translated in Zipes, The Brothers Grimm, 27; and in Jacob Grimm, “Circular Concerning the Collecting of Folk Poetry”, 6); and Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812–1815), I, viii (translated in Ellis, One Story Too Many, 13–14), and Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xii (translated in Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 5).

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within the field of international Folkloristics. They evidently carried out wideranging fieldwork, going out and meeting the storytellers themselves, and then doing their best to write up the accounts in written Norwegian, eventually turning themselves into storytellers.62 In his introduction, Jørgen Moe, like Asbjørnsen, stressed the scientific significance of how folktales are retold: As he argues: “It is the scientific importance of the fairy tale that makes it so important to tell it in the style of the people; […] the form that makes the contents most visible is that which is aesthetically most correct” (“Det er just for Folkeeventyrets videnskapelige betydning, at det er saa saare vigtigt først og fremst at fortælle det folkeligt; […] æstetisk berættiget er kun den Form, der fuldkomen lader sit Indhold komme til syne63”) (my italics). Although as fieldworkers Asbjørnsen and Moe may have been viewed as outsiders,64 it seems evident that unlike many other collectors, they clearly attempted to get to know the world of the storytellers and the diversity in their forms of narration.65 Asbjørnsen ends his preface by listing domestic and international publications in which the fairy tales have been reviewed, featured or translated, thereby underlining the scientific and international value of their work. Further authorisation is given by reference to his and Moe’s long experience of working with folklore ever since 1833,66 underlining that while some people had initially criticised their work, most now had come to understand its value: “One dares to state that this recognition has now become general, even though one still hears one or two complaints about this endeavour” (“Denne Erkjendelse tør man nok nu betragte som almindelig, om der endda høres et og andet drengagtigt Udfald mod denne Stræben”67). All of the above, in addition to the references, footnotes and 115-page long appendix containing notes, pendants68 and variations, served to underline that the 1852 edition was viewed as belonging to an academic genre, thereby firmly establishing fairy tale publications in Norway as being something that was of scientific, academic, and cultural importance. 62 63 64

65 66 67 68

See further Hodne, Jørgen Moe og folkeeventyrene, 56 and 70. Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr (1852), lxvii. Jørgen Moe, for example, writes during a fieldwork trip that “many see songs and folktales as being the Devil’s work, and view me as a suspicious person” (“Mange anser Viser og Eventyr som Satans Gjerninger og mig som en yderst mistænkelig Person”): Hodne, Jørgen Moe og folkeeventyrene, 50. Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, 13. See further the chapter on Faye by Herleik Baklid elsewhere in this volume. Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr (1852), 6. The “pendant” was a key scientific concept in Jørgen Moe’s work, denoting a parallel or counterpart to the main story (type) that existed in addition to the vernacular variants. See further Hodne Jørgen Moe og folkeeventyrene, 58.

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From the third edition of 1866, however, all forthcoming editions of Norske Folke-eventyr (title now hyphenated) would be handled by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen alone. In the 1866 edition, he expresses his gratitude for the linguistic aid given him by an anonymous friend (the teacher Jacob Olaus Løche [1829–1881]). ​In his preface,69 Asbjørnsen also looks both back in time and outwards to other parts of the world, taking a new perspective.​ In his own words: “Since the two first editions, […] a large number of similar collections have appeared in all the other European countries, and to some degree also in other parts of the world” (“Siden de to første udgaver […] er der udkommet en stor Mængde lignende Samlinger fra alle Europas Lande og tildels ogsaa fra andre Verdensdele”70). Fairy tales, he writes, have become “the shared property of humanity, they belong to all times and all ages, but especially to the time of mythological enlightenment, which, in the life of the people and their movement throughout history, is the equivalent of the childhood of an individual” (“et Fællesgods for alle Folkefærd, det tilhører alle Tider og alle Aldere, men især den mythiske opfatningstid, som i Folkenes Liv og Udviklingshistorie svarer til Barndommen hos det enkelte Menneske”71). Elements of the kind of cultural evolutionism later typified by E. B. Tylor (1832–1917) in works like Primitive Culture (1881) are clearly apparent here. As a natural scientist, Asbjørnsen was familiar with Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species which he had translated in 1859, making it accessible to the Norwegian public. The quote above shows various traces of such ideas drawn from natural history.72 Asbjørnsen also underlines his travels abroad,73 which he believes have made him better equipped to carry out research: The number of years spent abroad were more than enough for this publisher to become more familiar with and better informed about a number of these research projects than would have been possible at home, partly through personal acquaintances, contacts, and meetings with many of the great masters and participants in this work, partly through having free access to the best and most up-to-date supervision from the learned collectors […]. 69 70 71 72 73

See Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folke-eventyr (1866), vi–ix. See Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folke-eventyr (1866), vi. See Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folke-eventyr (1866), vi. On similar approaches by other early folklorists, see Valdimar Tr. Hafstein, “Biological Metaphors in Folklore Theory”. Among other destinations, Asbjørnsen spent several years in Tharandt, in Germany on a government scholarship, studying forestry (between 1856 and 1858). See further Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 206.

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(Under nogle Aars Ophold i Udlandet var Udgiveren heldig nok til at ad forskjellige Gjenveie at blive fortroligere med og bedre underrettet om en stor Del af disse Undersøkelser og Forskninger, end det havde været muligt hjemme, dels ved personlig Bekjendtskab, Sammentræf og Omgang med flere af de store Mestere og Deltagere i Arbeidet, dels ved den frieste Adgang og den bedste og mest forekommende Veiledning af de grundlærde Eiere […].74) The network Asbjørnsen built up on his travels and the access to private libraries this had given him had clearly made him realise that scientific work requires comprehensive study and that an independent work deserved to be published on this material which went further than being a mere appendix to a collection of fairy tales designed especially for the young. Such a work, he says, would nonetheless require more time and effort than he himself could offer, the same applying to Jørgen Moe who was now exclusively focusing on his religious calling.75 This, Asbjørnsen writes apologetically, is the reason for the lack of a proper introduction to the third edition, which he nonetheless hopes will make the publication more accessible for everyone to enjoy.76 Once again, Asbjørnsen refers in his preface to the role of international circulation in underlining the scientific value of his work with Moe, something further reinforced in the fourth edition published two years later in 1868, which now contained 60 stories, something repeated in the later editions from 1874 and 1876. As Asbjørnsen notes in his preface to this fourth edition,77 since the third edition had appeared in 1866, it had had gained as many readers as the first two editions had had over the course of 23 years.78 This massive response is ascribed to the fact that people now had a clearer understanding of the impact of the fairy tale, support for this coming from an anonymous author’s statement about how the narratives had been characterised as rediscovered national poetry, something that was of great significance and impact for the development of the mother tongue, in some places now even being read in schools.79 As Asbjørnsen underlines, the principle behind this new fourth edition was once again the use of a purified written Norwegian, a truly vernacular reproduction: 74 75 76 77 78 79

Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folke-eventyr (1866), vii. After the 1850s, Jørgen Moe turned to pursue his religious calling, first as a priest, and then, from 1875, a bishop. Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folke-eventyr (1866), vii–viii. Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folke-eventyr (1868), x–xii. Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folke-eventyr (1868), xi. Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folke-eventyr (1868), xi–xii.

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in this edition too, quite a few editions and corrections have been made, but like those in the third edition, these will hardly be conspicuous to the ordinary reader unless the individual editions are compared; for it is not just by the cutting or inserting of single words, and equally much, if not more, the careful adjusting the forms and syntactic use of words, their merging and position, that the language form which found its expression in the first complete edition (1852) can be said to have evenly and uniformly found its true vernacular colour in this edition and that which preceded it. ([o]gsaa i denne Udgave er foretaget ikke faa Endringer og Rettelser, ville disse neppe, ligesaalidt som de lignende i tredie Udgave, være iøinefaldende for den almindelige Læser, medmindre de enkelte Udgaver sammenholdes; thi det er ikke alene eller udelukkende ved at utstøde elle indsætte enkelte Ord, men ligesaa meget, om ikke mere, ved en varsom Lempning af Ordenes Former og syntaktiske Brug, deres Sammenføining og indbyrdes Stilling, at den Sprogform, som fik sit Udtryk i den første fuldstændige Samling (1852), i denne og forrige Udgave vel tør siges at have vundet i Jevnhed og Ensartethed, i virkelig folkelig Kolorit.80) The fourth edition can be said to contain Asbjørnsen’s final words on his and Moe’s joint collection of fairy tales. The fifth edition (1874) merely reprints his earlier prefaces from November 1851, October 1865 and October 1867, adding only new lists of the tales collected by each of the two men. Both the fifth edition and the second reprint of the fifth edition, published in Denmark in 1876, had nationalistic drawings in colour by the Norwegian artist Marcus Grønvold (1845–1929) on their covers (see further below) (see figs 6.3 and 6.5). From this time onwards, all of the various reprinted editions of Norske Folke-eventyr (which from the turn of the century would also contain Asbjørnsen’s legends [see below]) would be edited by other people.81

80 81

Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folke-eventyr (1868), x–xi. The sixth edition was published posthumously as two volumes in 1896 and 1899 which were edited by Asbjørnsen and Moe’s “heir”, Moltke Moe, the son of Jørgen Moe. In addition to Moltke Moe’s preface, this edition includes an afterword (“Efterskrift”) containing the 1840 prospectus and “the most significant parts of” (“samt det væsentlige af”) the introductions to the first four editions. According to Moltke Moe, this work represents the first “basic” collection of the fairy tales (“den første grunn-læggende samling av vore folkeeventyr”): Moltke Moe, “Udgiverens forord”, v. Following two short biographies heavily focusing on the scientific competence of the collectors, Moe addresses the earlier-noted

Asbjørnsen and Moe and the Scientification of Folklore

Figure 6.3

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Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe: Norske Folkeeventyr (1874). Title page

question of language. Pointing to the fact that Asbjørnsen and Moe had made changes and alterations in each edition, making the language ever more “Norwegian” in flavour, Moltke Moe says that with Asbjørnsen’s acceptance he has made further changes to the language in accordance with his conviction about the use of “samnorsk” (lit. “shared Norwegian”), a version of Norwegian that never gained full support. Indeed, Moltke Moe’s version would later be publicly questioned, the author Camilla Collett (1813–1895) stating indignantly that these folktales were unfit for schoolchildren. The sixth edition was the last time Norske Folk-eventyr would be published exclusively.

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Framing Nature

It is important to bear in mind, however, that Asbjørnsen’s introductions to the later editions of Norske Folke-eventyr were not his first discussions about the value of folklore. His individual collections of folk legends which went under the title of Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn (lit. Norwegian Huldre [Hidden People82] Fairy Tales and Folk Legends) had also been accompanied by revealing prefaces, once again helping to establish Asbjørnsen not only as a scholar but also a significant legend collector.83 As is well known, Asbjørnsen’s reading of Kinder- und Hausmärchen in 1835 had given him the idea of how to reproduce fairy tales.84 Equally important for Asbjørnsen was the Grimms’ translation of Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1825) by Thomas Crofton Croker (1798–1854), the second edition of which was accompanied by illustrations when it appeared in 1826.85 Asbjørnsen had read Croker’s work in the Grimms’ translation (Irische Elfenmärchen [1826]) (Irish Elven Fairy Tales) in 1833, according to the listings of books Asbjørnsen borrowed from the university library a couple of years before he read Kinder- und Hausmärchen.86 Asbjørnsen’s famous frame-accounts of storytelling sessions which accompanied many of his legends were an approach that was clearly inspired by the Irish folklore collector, and effectively underlined the way in which the narratives were originally received orally in performance, a feature that was often ignored or left out in other collections from this period. According to Asbjørnsen’s biographer Knut Liestøl: “Croker did not tell legends in the same dry fashion used by the Grimms in Deutsche Sagen, Thiele in Danske Folkesagn and Faye in Norske Sagn. His style is lively and picturesque” (“Croker fortalde ikkje segnene på den samme turre måten som Grimmane i Deutsche Sagen, Thiele i Danske folkesagn og Faye i Norske Sagn, Stilen hans er livleg og målande”87). To Liestøl’s mind, however, it was “only the general idea” (“ideen reint ålment”) of presenting the legends in this way that Asbjørnsen would take from Croker.88 82

83 84 85 86 87 88

The huldre, much like the huldufólk in Iceland, are the Norwegian equivalent of “fairies” in other countries, living below the ground within the landscape. They are nonetheless human in size. Hodne, Jørgen Moe og folkeeventyrene, 34. See Hvam Hult, Framing a National Narrative, 29, 31–32, and 36. See also the chapter on Asbjørnsen by Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in ths volume. On Croker, see further the chapter by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist elsewhere in this volume. See also the chapter on Asbjørnsen’s network by Ane Ohrvik. See Hvam Hult, Framing a National Narrative, 50; Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 136; and Hodne, Jørgen Moe og folkeeventyrene, 22. See further Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 136. See further Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 136.

Asbjørnsen and Moe and the Scientification of Folklore

Figure 6.4

207

Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen: Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn (1845). Title page, with signature

Asbjørnsen’s preface to the first edition of his Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn (1845: see fig. 6.4), written on 1st June 1845, provides us with another early academic discussion of questions of genre, distinguishing between legends and fairy tales, as the Grimm brothers had done in their introduction to Deutsche Sagen (1816).89 Asbjørnsen, however, concludes that:

89

See Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, v–vi; and The German Legends, I, 1. As Asbjørnsen notes, “legends belong both to the past and the present” (“ligesaavel Nutidens

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This is no theory. It can easily be observed in real life. When you approach those communities that are at some distance from the world of culture and the semi-courteous where the people still hang on to the beliefs of their forefathers and use this and their fantasy as a means of understanding nature; this is where such poetry still comes into being today. (Dette er ikke nogen Theorie. Man kan let iagttage det i Virkeligheden. Naar man nærmer sig de fra Dannelsens og Halvdannelsens Territorium mere fjernede Bygdelag, hvor Almuen endnu hænger ved Fædrenes Tro, og gjennem denne og Phantasiens Medium opfatter Naturen, udspringe saadanne Digtninger den Dag i dag.90) Asbjørnsen’s insistence on giving an account of the stories as they were told is reflected in his words noted above. However, it also comes from his parallel academic interest in natural science, noted earlier. As Henrik Jæger (1854–1895) writes: Asbjørnsen writes in a romantic spirit, yet “with a realistic sobriety that distinguishes the natural scientist” (“den sunde Nøgternhed, der udmærker Naturforskeren”91). As Jæger adds: “His intimate knowledge of the people and their way of thinking is a characteristic that separates him from the earlier Romantics” (“Hans fortrolige Kjendskab til Almuen og dens Tænkemaade er også en Egenskab, der udmærker ham fremfor Datidens Romantikere”92). The intended reader for the preface is clearly not the general public, but a cultivated scientific society, something that is also apparent in Asbjørnsen’s use of footnotes and implicit references to other scholars in Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn, as well as a thesaurus of provincial words and expressions (“Fortegnelse og Forklaring over provincielle Ord og Talemaader”). The influence of Grimm is once again evident in Asbjørnsen’s statement that the narratives “are told as they lived in the mouths of the common people; nothing has been added or taken away” (“ere fortalte som de endnu leve i Almuens Munde, der er Intet sat til eller taget fra”93). It is also apparent when he adds that while he feels some regret at not providing an introduction to Norwegian folk belief in this edition, noting that this had already been provided to

90 91 92 93

som Fortidens Eie”), in the sense that they reflect the way in which rural people understand their environment: Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn (1845), iii–iv. Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn (1845), iii–iv. Jæger, “Asbjørnsen og ‘Huldreæventyret’”, 17. Jæger, “Asbjørnsen og ‘Huldreæventyret”, 17. Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn (1845), v.

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some degree in Andreas Faye’s earlier collection of folk legends, Norske Sagn (1833).94 The preface ends with Asbjørnsen acknowledging what he felt was the deficiency of his book, stating that further fieldtrips to the western and northern parts of Norway would have provided a richer harvest. The book ends by literally setting the tone with the folk tune “Huldrelok fra Foldalen” (A Huldre Calling-Tune from Foldalen), along with music arranged by composer Halvdan Kjerulf (1815–1868). A second part of Asbjørnsen’s Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn appeared in 1848 (without a preface), both parts then appearing again separately in 1859 and 1866 in new extended editions along with new introductions. The new 22page introduction to the 1859 edition is accompanied by the reprinted 16-page glossary of provincial words and expressions. In the new introduction, however, a major point is made about language, stating that “the book has made improvements in clarity and the purity of the language” (“Bogen har vundet i Klarhed og Sprogformens renhed”95). In addition to that, Asbjørnsen states as before that the legends have been rendered in their authentic and true form, adding a reference to the Grimms’ support: “The genuine and original nature of the folktales of the hidden folk has received the greatest recognition from greatest legend and fairy tale experts in Germany” (“Denne Ægthed og Oprindelighed i Huldreeventyrene, der hos Tysklands største Sagn og Eventyr Kiendere, have nydt den største Anerkiendelse”96). Thereafter, after noting the translation work of figures like Benjamin Thorpe (1782–1870),97 Asbjørnsen goes on to argue against the criticism the first edition of Norske Huldreeventyr had received from a Swedish critic, Richard Dybeck (1811–1877) in 1845.98 According to Asbjørnsen, Dybeck had not managed to justify his unsustainable claims (“without giving any motive, just loose conjectures which are in opposition to the explanations given in the Introduction” [“uden at angive Motiver, fremsat løse paastande, som ere stik modsatte den Erklæring Fortalen giver”99]). Somewhat annoyed, Asbjørnsen argues that he never imagined that anyone would be suspicious of the “natural truth” (“Natursandhed”) of the narrative:100 94 95 96 97 98 99 100

Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn (1845), v. On Faye, see further the chapter by Herleik Baklid elsewhere in this volume. Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn (1859), ix. Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn (1859), xi. Thorpe’s Yule-Tide Stories, which included translations of a number of Asbjørnsen and Moe’s fairy tales had appeared in 1853. See Dybeck, “Norrige”. Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn (1859), xii. Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn (1859), xiii.

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It never occurred to me that anyone could see disbelief in the natural truth of these legends, or the reliability of the narrative. […] The means of presentation I have chosen makes it clear that […] the intention was not to assemble a collection of material which would bind itself with diplomatic exactitude to the often awkward words and fumbling expressions […] of any clumsy oaf who had anything to tell about a particular object or event. (Det faldt mig nemlig aldrig ind, at nogen kunde fatte Mistro til disse Sagns Natursandhed, til Fortællingens Paalidelighed. […] Den Fremstillingsmaade, jeg havde valgt, gjør det vistnok klart […] at det ikke var Meningen at tilveiebringe en Materialsamling, der med diplomatarisk Nøiagtighed bandt sig til de ofte bagvendte Ord og famlende Udtryk i enhver Klodrians Mund som havde noget at fortælle. […] om den samme Gjenstand eller hændelse.101) This is living material, he continues, which still flourishes on the lips of the people. He thus reserves his right “to select the best version or the most complete one, or to blend the two” (“valgtes den bedste, eller det ene fuldstændiggjordes eller sammenstøbtes med det andet”102). A similar response is given to a comment made about one of Asbjørnsen’s legends by Benjamin Thorpe in his Northern Mythology from 1851.103 Asbjørnsen writes, defending the genuine nature of his legends: “Mr Thorpe’s belief that the Norwegian version [of the legend] has been edited by the author is wholly unjustified” (“Mr Thorpes Formodning om at den norske fortælling […] er utpyntet av Forfatteren er uden al Grund”104). At this point, Asbjørnsen presents a very different perception of Andreas Faye’s Norske Sagn to that given in the introduction to the first edition of his legends: It is neither impossible nor unlikely that Mr Thorpe is judging Norwegian legends on the basis of Faye’s collection and is using that to judge my Huldreeventyr; anyone who is aware of the difference [between these works] will see how he has reached the conclusion that [the legend] has been changed.

101 102 103 104

Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn (1859), xiii. Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn (1859), xiii. See Thorpe, Northern Mythology, II, 34. Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn (1859), xvi.

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(Det er vel heller ikke umuligt eller usandsynligt, at Mr. Thorpe har lagt den Maaalestok, for norske Sagn, som han har faaet gjennem Fayes Samling, paa mine Huldreeventyr, og da vil enhver, som skjønner, hvori Forskjellen sitter, let indse, hvorledes han er kommen paa den Formodning at [the legend] Kattekværnen er “forskjønnet”.105) In short, to Asbjørnsen’s mind, in his work, he has presented the natural truth of his material faithfully (with “Treue und Wahrheit”). This, of course, was a topic that was receiving a great deal of attention in public discourse in the latter half of the nineteenth century. One example can be seen in the emphasis on the authenticity and distinctiveness of the Norwegian oral tale in an unsigned newspaper article celebrating the commemorative edition (celebrating the 25th anniversary) of Norske Huldreeventyr in 1870: The story is that the landscape, the figures and the legends all work together to create an effect which each influences in its own way, and a situation in which the last storyteller, who has blended everything and given it a finish with a taste of his own personality, is able to draw on a fund of humour in which all the characteristic folk humour has been assimilated, and in this way the combined material takes an idealised form as part of the presentation, without the loss of any of its originality, freshness and daring, something which has now and then resulted in the mistaken belief that the collector has “rewritten” or “coloured” the narrative they heard. (Sagen er, at det er Landskabet, Figurerne og Sagnene tilsammen, der forenede gjøre en Virkning, som de enkeltvis ville favne, og dertil den Omstændighed, at sidste Fortæller, den der har smeltet det hele sammen og givet de sidste finish med Præg af sin egen Personlighed, har havt et Fond af humor, med hvilken al den karakteristiske Folkehumor har kunnet assimileres, og derved det sammenbragte Stof under Behandlingen idealiseres, uden at dets Oprindelighed, Friskhed og Djærvhed er blevet svækket, Noget, som ogsaa af og til har ledet til den feilagtige Tro, at Samleren har «omdigtet» eller «forskiønnet» de meddelte Sagn.106)

105 106

Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn (1859), xvi. Morgenbladet, 18th December 1870, 1.

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In his preface in the extended edition of the second collection of Norske Huldre-Eventyr, signed October 1866,107 Asbjørnsen makes a cross-reference to his preface for the 1859 edition, arguing against several “misinterpretations” of why no narrators or contributors of legend material are named in his work. With this as a point of departure, he takes the opportunity to express his gratitude towards two named scholars for their advice regarding vernacular words and possible informants. It is hardly coincidental that these men are Ivar Aasen (1813–1896) and Eilert Sundt (1817–1875). The former is best known for having used vernacular dialects to assemble a new written version of the Norwegian language – nynorsk – and was the author of an influential grammar and dictionary of the Norwegian dialects,108 while the latter was a well-known ethnographer and cultural historian. Both names naturally lent authority to Asbjørnsen’s own academic achievements in these fields. The third edition of Norske Huldre-Eventyr was published in 1870, and contains both of the former editions, along with a small thesaurus and another two-page preface arguing that Asbjørnsen’s ideas with regard to methods and genre are now receiving recognition, making it superfluous to repeat them. As Asbjørnsen writes: When the first collection contained in this work came out 25 years ago, it was necessary to introduce it with a preface. The same applied even more to the editions that followed in 1859 and 1866. It was necessary to explain the relationship between the material included and the title; the author’s relationship to the collection; the way in which the legends were used and presented; and the contributions and assistance given by friends and supporters. In addition to this, it was necessary to describe and answer certain criticisms and comments from abroad, and to add to these several suggestions about how mythological research should be undertaken. (Da den første Samling af dette Skrift kom ud for femogtyve Aar siden, var det nødvendigt at indføre det med et Forord. Det samme gjaldt enda mere om den følgende Udgave af 1859 og 1866. Der maatte nemlig gjøres Rede for Indholdets Forhold til Titelen, for Forfatterens Forhold til Samlingerne, for den Maade, hvorpaa Sagnene vare benyttede og fortalte, og for de Bidrag og den Bistand, som Venner, Velyndere og Andre havde ydet; endvidere var det nødvendigt at belyse og berigtige enkelte kritiske 107 108

Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn (1866), v–vii. See Aasen, Det norske Folkesprogs Grammatik (1848), and Ordbog over det norske Folkesprog (1850).

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Bemærkninger og Udsættelser fra Udlandet, og til disse Berigtigelser at knytte nogle Antydninger til en mythologisk Undersøgelse.109) Asbjørnsen nonetheless takes the opportunity to remind his readers of his “favourite plans” (“Yndlingsplaner”) for a more comprehensive scientific work on “the nature, dissemination, origin and interpretation of legends” (“Sagnernes Forekomst, Udbredning, Oprindelse, Tydning”110). The status he was now enjoying in the public eye as well as among his peers111 makes the last section of the preface even more interesting. Perhaps with a twinkle in his eye, Asbjørnsen makes use the opportunity to criticise the arrogance involved when someone covertly translates and publishes other people’s stories as his own, adding that “he would like to reserve the right to at least be notified if the present text were to undergo the same” (“for det Tilfælde at man skulde ville lade ogsaa dette Skrift oversætte, forholder sig idet mindste at blive underrettet om et saadant Foretagende”112). This particular grudge would resurface in a wider international context when a new English translation of Norske Huldreeventyr by Hans Lien Brækstad (1845–1915) was published in 1881 under the title Round the Yule Log: Norwegian Folk and Fairy Tales. By P. Chr. Asbjørnsen. A review by W. R. SheddenRalston (1828–1889) in The Athenæum on 7th January 1882 is full of praise: “So admirably written, so rich illustrated a book for ‘children of all ages’ we have not for a long time seen. We trust that it will serve to create in English minds a feeling of gratitude to a most genial and humorous Norseman.”113 However, in the same journal one also encounters Alfred Nutt (1856–1910) asking why the name of his friend George Webbe Dasent (see above) has been left out. Brækstad explains that this misunderstanding has roots in the fact that Popular Tales from the Norse had been published in Dasent’s name without any mention of Asbjørnsen and Moe (see above). He adds that Dasent has since published other translations in the magazine Once a Week in the same way,114 and that in his follow-up translation Tales from the Fjeld (1874), he added a new framework to the fairy tales, much to Asbjørnsen’s disapproval. The dispute 109 110 111 112 113 114

Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn (1870), iii. Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn (1870), iii. See further the chapter on Asbjørnsen’s network by Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in this volume. Asbjørnsen, Norske Huldre-Eventyr og Folkesagn (1870), iv. Shedden-Ralston, Review of Norske Folke-Eventyr in The Athenæum, 7th January 1882, 12. Brækstad’s statement was actually not entirely true. When “An Old Fashioned ChristmasEve” (a translation of Asbjørnsen’s “En gammeldags Juleaften”) was published in Once a Week on December 24th 1859, 538–542, while it is credited to Dasent, it also states at the start that it is “From the Norse of Asbjornsen”.

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was immediately reported in the Norwegian newspaper Morgenbladet on 19th January 1882. Brækstad’s translation went on to receive attention in a number of other European journals and newspapers. The London Figaro, for example, reported in 1881 that: “The publication should be of interest not only to children, but to their parents, as Asbjørnsen’s tales form extremely valuable collections of folk-lore, and are very interesting from the point of comparative mythology.”115 Elsewhere, a review in Tägliche Rundschau: Zeitung für Nichtpolitiker that same year bears the headline “Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, der Grimm des Nordens.”116 The Pictorial World from 1882 meanwhile describes Asbjørnsen as being “a scientific man, a zoologist, and […] a delightful humourist [who] has a rare sense of poetry as well as genuine wit.”117 Asbjørnsen’s Norske Huldreeventyr had clearly firmly established Asbjørnsen as a significant collector and scholar.

6

A Northern Grimm: Science as Art

The next edition of Asbjørnsen’s work was the fully illustrated Norske Folke- og Huldre-Eventyr i Udvalg (1879), published in Denmark, containing a selection of stories and a dedication (on the second page) “To my old friend, painter Hans Gude with devotion dedicated” (“Min gamle Ven Maleren Hans Gude med Hengivenhed tilegnet”). Hans Fredrik Gude (1825–1903) was considered one of Norway’s foremost landscape painters, and a mainstay of Norwegian Romantic Nationalism. Arguably, this particular publication shed some interesting new light on Asbjørnsen’s views relating to science and art and the growing relationship between them.118 The first collection of material to be accompanied by illustrations alongside the narratives had been the 1879 edition of Asbjørnsen’s legends that was published by Gyldendal in a large edition of 10,000 copies. As has been noted elsewhere in this volume, the eight selected artists, Peter Nicolai Arbo (1831–1892), Hans Gude, Vincent Stoltenberg Lerche (1837–1892), Eilif Petersen

115 116 117 118

The London Figaro, 1st October 1881, 2. Tägliche Rundschau: Zeitung für Nichtpolitiker 85, 8th December 1881, 352. The Pictorial World, 1st July 1882. On the close connections between Asbjørnsen and Moe and the Norwegian artists, see also the chapter on Asbjørnsen’s personal network by Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in this volume. It might also be noted that the Art Society of Christiania (Christiania Kunstforening) had been established in 1848 on Asbjørnsen’s initiative.

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(1852–1928), August Schneider (1842–1873), Otto Sinding (1842–1909), Adolph Tidemand (1814–1876) and Erik Werenskiold (1855–1938) were all hand-picked by Asbjørnsen himself,119 their work turning the collection into a complete multi-sided national work of art. Arguably, the first signs of this development could be seen in the cover of the binding of the reprinted fifth edition of Norske Folke-Eventyr from 1876 which, as noted earlier, had been designed by Marcus Grønvold.120 Published in Copenhagen by Gyldendal, the cover iconography is overstatedly national with its images of trolls, vikings, fair-haired people, shipping, and traditional folk costumes, all framed by a chain of Norwegian flags in red, white and blue (see fig. 6.5). While there was some public criticism about the place of publication, Asbjørnsen dismissed this, stating that such an esteemed publisher would open up a larger audience, whatever their nationality.121 Concerning the choice of illustrations for this particular edition, one can see an interesting convergence at play, as once again the influence of Thomas Crofton Croker is at work here.122 As noted above, the second edition of Croker’s Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland from 1826 had been accompanied by illustrations, and the same applied to a selection of poems and short stories that Croker had published along with illustrations under the title, The Christmas Box: An Annual Present to Young Persons in 1828–1829.123 The drawings that Asbjørnsen handpicked for the illustrated edition of Norske Huldre-Eventyr in 1879124 obviously reflect Croker’s choice of illustrations

119 120

121 122 123

124

Haffner, Asbjørnsen og Moes Norske Folkeeventyr, 17. See also the chapter by Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in this volume. As noted earlier, Marcus Grønvold also drew the cover of the fifth edition of Norske FolkeEventyr from 1874. In fact, illustrated folktales had already been published in Norway in 1838 in Billed-Magazin for Børn (Illustrated Magazine for Children) although neither the narrator nor the artist were named. Alfred Larsen later claimed Asbjørnsen as being the author of these stories: see Larsen, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, 45. See Asbjørnsen, “Norske Forfattere og danske Forlæggere”, Morgenbladet, 13th November 1878, 1. On Croker, see further the chapter by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist elsewhere in this volume. It might be noted that Asbjørnsen published a similar work entitled Juletræet (The Christmas Tree) in 1850–1852 and then once again in 1866. Juletræet was arguably a daring title at a time considering the fact that the Christmas tradition in its modern form was a still fairly new in Norway. Asbjørnsen’s works nonetheless became popular as Christmas gifts, selling as many as 2–3,000 copies in spite of the average level of literacy in Norway at the time. See further the discussion of Asbjørnsen’s work with artists in the chapter on Asbjørnsen and Moe by Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in this volume.

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Figure 6.5

Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen: Norske Folkeeventyr, fortalte af P. Chr. Asbjørnsen: Ny Samling (1876)

relating to the mythical world more than they do the illustrations in Kinderund Hausmärchen which focus more on the bourgeois and domestic world. Asbjørnsen’s ever-growing international status as a scholar125 would be cemented three years later in 1882 by the English translation (by Auber 125

The international reputation and acknowledgement that Asbjørnsen came to receive as a scientist is clearly reflected in the honours he went on to receive as an honorary member of 15 leading European scientific societies, ranging in focus from the natural sciences

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Forestier [Aubertine Woodward Moore: 1841–1829]) of the earlier-noted article “Ein ‘nordischer Grimm’” by Erhard Fredrik Winkel-Horn in Demorest’s Monthly Magazine in New York in March 1882. Winkel-Horn’s review of Asbjørnsen’s career in this article, which had originally been published in Die Gartenlaube Illustriertes Familienblatt in 1881, draws a picture of a man of many talents in a range of sciences. As a folklorist, Asbjørnsen is said to have “won for himself a place in the world’s literature, and deserves to be universally known because he has penetrated to the very depths of human nature” (“hat er sich durch eine Seite seiner schriftstellerischen Thätigkeit sogar einen Platz in der Weltliteratur erworben, und weil er das allgemein Menschliche zu ergründen weiss, das von Jedem verstanden wird, welcher Sinn dafür hat, verdient er von Allen gekannt zu werden”126) underlining that all of his works “bear evidence of the authors keen powers of observation and poetic view of nature” (“zeugen von seiner scharfen beobachtungsgabe und von klarer geistvoller auffassung der erscheinungen”) adding that Asbjørnsen “with entire justice may be called the ‘Northern Grimm’, not only because he was a pioneer for his people in the world of legendary lore, but also because his stories are perfect works of art” (“Mit wollem Rechte kann man ihn als den ‘nordischen Grimm’ bezeichnen, nicht allein weil er seinem Volke zuerst die Sagenwelt erschlossen hat, sondern auch weil seine Erzählungen vollendete Kunstwerke sind”127). The praise was repeated and even heightened by Edmund Gosse in his introduction to Brækstad’s earlier-noted translation, Round the Yule Log, also from 1881, in which Gosse proclaimed that Norway now had three internationally reputable personalities in literature: Ibsen, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832–1910) and Asbjørnsen. In Gosse’s view, Asbjørnsen had introduced the world to a new kind of literature: a blend of science and poetry. As Gosse writes: “The novelettes of Bjørnson and the comedies of Ibsen belong to the tradition of art, but the stories of Asbjørnsen […] in some sense inaugurated a

126 127

to cultural history (see further the chapter on Asbjørnsen’s network by Ane Ohrvik). In 1848, at the age of 36, he was granted the gold Memoriæ Pignus medal by King Oscar I of Sweden, a commemorative medal personally awarded by the king to scientists and artists “in recognition of the pleasure with which his majesty has been following the Hr. Asbjørnsen’s activities, appreciating his service to our national literature” (“som et Bevis paa den Tilfredshed med hvilken Hs.Maj følger Hr. Asbjørnsen Forfatter virksomhed og paaskjønner dens Fortjenester av vor nationale Literatur”). Here Asbjørnsen is listed as a folklore collector, author and linguist. One notes that the Swedish newspaper PT (27th October 1848) announced that the award was essentially in recognition of Asbjørnsen’s work with folktales, and especially for Norske Huldreeventyr. See Winkel-Horn, “Ein ‘nordischer Grimm’”, 161, and “A Northern Grimm”, 293–294. See Winkel-Horn, “Ein ‘nordischer Grimm’”, 162, and “A Northern Grimm”, 295.

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new order in literature.”128 Gosse is here obviously referring to the legend collection (which follows in the book) rather than the fairy tales. Gosse continues: “Education made him a zoologist, but nature stepped in and claimed him for a poet. […] And as a literary artist this is the highest praise, that he has contrived to lay the peculiarities of Norwegian landscape before his readers with a subtlety of touch such as no other poet or proseman has achieved.”129 Similar praise can be found in the American Supplement to Encyclopedia Britannica from 1884,130 in which Asbjørnsen’s work receives the same level of reverence and high esteem: As the author M.M (Moltke Moe?) writes: “The volume of Norwegian Tales published by Asbjørnsen and Moe in 1842 was in literature as well as in language a deliverance from the tyranny of Danish intellect, though it did not produce this effect immediately.” As the author adds, Asbjørnsen’s collection of legends brought the work “a new significance, and it then became more and more evident that the foundation of a national Norwegian literature had been laid.”131 As Terry Gunnell and others have earlier pointed out, and as has been noted earlier in this chapter, the context in which Asbjørnsen and Moe’s collected “artistic creations” of the Norwegian “folk” were meant to be viewed evidently had a political slant, since they played a key role in Norway’s romanticallyinspired nationalistic struggle for national identity and independence from Sweden following the years under Danish rule.132 The folktales and legends were therefore presented as being “genuinely” Norwegian, something seen not only in the titles of the works but also the images accompanying them. In 1871, Asbjørnsen had published a new collection of folktales entitled Norske Folke-Eventyr: Ny samling. Med Bidrag fra Jørgen Moes Reiser og Optegnelser (Norwegian Fairy Tales: New Collection: Accompanied by an Account of Jørgen Moe’s Travels and Recordings: later referred to as “the single collection” [“Enesamlingen”]).133 In the four-page preface to this work, signed October 1871,134 the now established folktale collector once again addressed his public, saying that the new edition had followed “the urging of many” (efter “megen

128 129 130 131 132 133 134

Gosse, “Introduction”, 13. Gosse, “Introduction”, 14, and 19. See M. M. [Moltke Moe?], “Asbjørnsen, P. Chr.”. M. M. [Moltke Moe?], “Asbjørnsen, P. Chr”. Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, 12–13; and Hodne, Det norske folkeeventyret, 92–98. See fig. 6.5. See further Østberg, Asbjørnsen og Moes eventyr og sagn, 62–63. The stories were reprinted in the second extended edition from 1876 which added 45 tales.

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Opfordring”), but been delayed owing to the author’s many other pursuits.135 Asbjørnsen not only expresses his gratitude to “my old friend” (“min gamle Ven”) Jørgen Moe with familiarity, but also to others who have given support and assistance,136 one anonymous friend receiving special thanks for his critical remarks and exquisite sense of language.137 A detailed list is also given of the places where Asbjørnsen himself had conducted fieldwork. This “New Collection” received numerous positive reviews at home and abroad, Asbjørnsen keeping 33 of them in his private scrapbook collection, as he did with the reviews of all his publications.138 These reviews once again underline Asbjørnsen’s growing international status: “For students of folk-lore M. Asbjørnsen’s name will be a sufficient guarantee for the merit of his book; and they will be anxious to consult the whole of it” is the conclusion of William Shedden-Ralston’s review, “Norwegian Folk-lore”, in The Athenæum on 27th January 1872.139 This view is echoed in the review by Professor Felix Liebrecht (1812–1890) in The Academy on 15th May 1872: “The present long expected continuation possesses all the merits of the first collection in an equal degree […] [t]he whole collection, apart from the charm of the style, offers much promising material for scientific research.”140 Norwegian newspapers like Aftenbladet on 7th June 1872 and Morgenbladet on 15th June 1872, echoed these foreign reviews for their readers, also noting the various translations of the Norwegian folktales that had been made into different languages. Particular attention is given to the way Asbjørnsen had continued the “Norwegianisation” of the language in both vocabulary and form of expression (see above). Numerous reviews stress the impact the works had had on both the written Norwegian language and on Norwegian literature as a whole.141 There is little question that Asbjørnsen’s position as an 135 136

137

138 139 140 141

By 1871, Asbjørnsen also had been publishing extensively on natural history topics: see Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, 176–178. Those named are “Garborg” in Jæderen, Ole Olsen Røldal and “Cand. Theol. D. L. Olsen” in Nordland, Knud Oppedal in Ullensvang, Sjur Haukenes in Graven, Lars Larsen in Hønestrand Graven, and “student maler Aug. Schneider” from Sætersdal: Asbjørnsen, Norske Folke-Eventyr: Ny samling (1871), v. See Asbjørnsen, Norske Folke-Eventyr: Ny samling (1871), v–vi. The person in question was later identified as being Jacob Løkke (1829–1881), the author of Modermaalets Grammatik til Skolebrug (1865). Løkke is quoted in a review in Aftenbladet from 22nd June 1865, in which he talks of the very best of national authors and includes Asbjørnsen in the list. Norsk Folkeminnessamling (NFS): Asbjørnsen Natur Klippsamling 89. Shedden-Ralston, “Norwegian Folk-Lore”, 109. Liebrecht, “Norwegian Fairy-Tales”, 182. See, for example, also Walldin in Stockholm Dagblad, 14th December 1881; and Elster in Aftenbladet, 16th December 1871.

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internationally respected scientist and artist and a figure of national cultural importance had now been cemented. Alongside Moe, he had attained a place in the nation’s hearts.

7

Conclusion

It is my hope that this chapter has nuanced the conception of Asbjørnsen and Moe with its close reading of the paratexts that accompany their numerous publications, their translations and the reviews written about them, all of which underline the way in which they saw their work and the way in which their work was received at home and abroad. As noted above, in addition to the tangible impact these works had on the national language, literature and art in Norway, it is clear that these publications helped establish folklore as a scientific discipline in Norway. My intention here has been to shed light on this work as a particular brand of knowledge production, the prefaces and introductions making clear that the two men viewed their work as a scientific and academic project, not just something designed for entertainment. Posterity, however, seems to have paid less attention to the range of scientific acknowledgements that both Asbjørnsen and Moe received in their own time.142 In addition to this, as Marte Hvam Hult has argued; “In general, perhaps one can say that most scholars of the twentieth century tend to value Moe’s contribution above Asbjørnsen,”143 someone whose contribution to Norwegian nation building (especially through his work on legends) Hvam Hult feels has not been properly recognised.144 This chapter clearly lends support to this claim. As has been shown above, the paratexts to Asbjørnsen and Moe’s collections of fairy tales and legends effectively demonstrate their personal involvement not only in fieldwork but also comparative studies, their translations of the oral vernacular stories into a novel written style of Norwegian having a huge impact not only on language, but also art and the national image, something that they regularly stressed had scientific worth. A particularly striking feature is the ever-increasing international discourse on folklore that Asbjørnsen and

142

143 144

It is worth noting that the only annotated edition of any of their work is Norske HuldreEventyr og Folkesagn from 1949, edited by the folklorist Knut Liestøl (1855–1944), and illustrated with black and white photographs of places mentioned in the legends by Kjell Tollefsen (1913–2002). Hvam Hult, Framing a National Narrative, 34. Hvam Hult, Framing a National Narrative, 42.

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Moe were constantly engaging themselves in.145 As has been shown here, a close reading of the prefaces to each edition alongside the reviews in newspapers and magazines at home and abroad reveals constant cross reference, underlining the gradual development of a somewhat intense ongoing public discourse about the nature, role and forms of folklore. This was a discourse that would shape not only the presentation of national character across the north but also the emergence of a new Norwegian discipline that formed part of an international movement in which a specific “Norwegianness” was beginning to be addressed. As can be seen from the above, there is little question that Asbjørnsen and Moe’s collections were a response to earlier projects and ideas in other countries. As Jørgen Moe notes in his introduction to the 1852 edition of Norske Folkeeventyr, to his mind the Grimms’ Kinderund Hausmärchen had opened up public understanding of “the beauty and scientific meaning of fairy tales” (“eventyrenes skjønnhed og videnskabelige betydning”146). Other influences were nonetheless also apparent in their work, including in particular the Grimm’s Deutsche Sagen, and the work of Thomas Crofton Croker. At the same time, however, there is little question that Asbjørnsen and Moe had themselves become pioneers in their field, opening up the need for not only new modes of academic discourse but also effective fieldwork in the collection of folklore. 145 146

See further the chapter on Asbjørnsen’s networks by Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in this volume. Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr (1852), xl.

Chapter 7

Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius and the Svenska sägner That Never Appeared Terry Gunnell and Fredrik Skott

1

Introduction

The Swedish ethnologist Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius (1818–1889) (see fig. 7.1) is nowadays most known for the collections of Swedish fairy tales and ballads, Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr (Swedish Folktales and Fairy Tales) (see fig. 7.2) and Sveriges historiska och politiska visor (Sweden’s Historical and Political Ballads), collected and published in collaboration with George Stephens (1813–1895: see fig. 8.1) in 1844–1849 and 1853, and for his ground-breaking ethnological work on the folk life and beliefs of the people of Värend in Småland, Wärend och wirdarne (Wärend and the People of Wärend), published in 1863.1 Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr is dealt with in more detail elsewhere in this volume (in the chapter on Stephens by John Lindow). This present chapter will focus on Hyltén-Cavallius’ earlier unpublished collection of folk legends from the early 1840s which was intended to be the Swedish answer to Prøver af Danske Folkesagn (A Sampler of Danish Folk Legends: 1817), and Danske Folkesagn (Danish Folk Legends: 1818–1823) published by Just Mathias Thiele (1795–1874), works which had directly followed up the appearance of the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen in 1816–1818.2 The chapter will draw heavily on 1 On these works, see further Bringéus, Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius som etnolog, “Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius” (1971), “Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius” (1971–1973), and “Svensk etnologi”; and Skott, “Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius”. On George Stephens and his joint work with Hyltén-Cavallius, see the chapter on Stephens by John Lindow elsewhere in this volume. It is sometimes claimed that Hyltén-Cavallius introduced the modern concept of ethnology into Europe with his Wärend och wirdarne which had the subtitle Ett försök i svensk ethnologi (An Attempt at a Swedish Ethnology) (see, for example, Lithberg, “Svensk folklivsforskning under sista halvseklet”, 150). However, as Nils-Arvid Bringéus has pointed out in Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius som etnolog (140–141), the word was earlier used in this sense in both Sven Nilsson’s Skandinaviska Nordens ur-invånare (1838–1843: see below) and Peter Wieselgren’s Ny Smålands beskrifning (1844–1847). For Hyltén-Cavallius, the word etnologi in Swedish ethnology meant the study of the early history of the Swedish tribes. 2 On the Grimms and Thiele, see further the chapters by Holger Ehrhardt and Timothy R. Tangherlini elsewhere in this volume.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_009

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Figure 7.1 Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius, by J. A. Wetterbergh (1842)

the detailed research undertaken into the life and works of Hyltén-Cavallius by Nils-Arvid Bringéus in the 1960s and 1970s, research which has hitherto largely been only available in Swedish.3

2

Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius: Background4

Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius was born in Hönetorp in the forested rural county of Värend in central, southern Småland in 1818. The third child of a cleric, Carl Fredrik Cavallius (1781–1857), and Anna Elisabet Hyltenius (1788–1862), Hyltén-Cavallius went on to study at the University of Uppsala in the 1830s, where he came under the influence of the nationalistic ideas that were being promoted by the Gothic Union (Götiska Förbundet), the aim of which was “to foster the manly virtues and ardent patriotism of Gothic forefathers.”5 He defended his doctoral thesis Vocabularium værendicum (The Vocabulary of the People of Värend) in 1839, and in the autumn of that same

3 See references given in note 1, and, in addition, Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, a collection of Hyltén-Cavallius’ records which Bringéus assembled and edited with a detailed commentary using manuscripts in the Royal Library (Kungliga Biblioteket) in Stockholm (see below). 4 Details relating to Hyltén-Cavallius’ life are drawn from the various works noted in note 1, as well as Hyltén-Cavallius’ own autobiography, Ur mitt framfarna lif (From My Past Life), first published in 1829. 5 See Holmberg, “The Holy European Empire”, 106.

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Figure 7.2

Gunnell and Skott

Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius and George Stephens: Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr, vol. I (1844). Title page

year took up a position in the Royal Library (Kungliga Biblioteket) in Stockholm (where he worked for 17 years). It was here that he came into contact with his superior, the Finnish writer and historian Adolf Ivar Arwidsson (1791–1858),6 who had started publishing an edition of Swedish folk songs, Svenska fornsånger (Ancient Swedish Songs: 1834–1842), and his later collaborator, George 6 Bringéus, “Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius” (1971), 92. With regard to Arwidsson and his work with folklore, see further the chapter on Oscar Rancken by Ulrika Wolf-Knuts and Susanne Österlund-Pötzsch elsewhere in this volume.

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Stephens, in whose home Hyltén-Cavallius would live from 1841 until he married in 1847.7 In 1836, while working as a private tutor, Hyltén-Cavallius had already come across the key collection of Swedish ballads, Svenska folk-visor från forntiden (Swedish Folk-Ballads from Antiquity: 1814–1816) assembled by Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783–1847) and Arvid August Afzelius (1785–1871) under the influence of the earlier Herderian wave.8 This had awakened his interest in ballads and led to his first attempts at collecting folkloric material in his home area, something encouraged still further by the manuscript of Småländska antiqviteter (Småland Antiquities) that had been put together in around 1700 by Petter Rudebeck (1660–1710).9

3

The Collection of Legends

As implied by the above, Hyltén-Cavallius’ first fieldwork had focused on ballads, a field that kept his interest for some years, reaching a peak with Sveriges historiska och politiska visor in 1853. He had nonetheless been receiving material on “ancient legends, traditions, superstitions and types” (“fornsägner, seder, vidskepelse och karaktär”) from his father, and in the spring of 1840, came across Thiele’s Danske Folkesagn during a period of illness.10 As he wrote to his father in March that year: I’ve started gathering together and organising the folk legends I’ve been noting down for some years for a collection that will resemble Thiele’s Danish folk legends, although I hope it will outdo that collection in various ways, since in this field Sweden has better ore to be worked. I have a large number completed already. This will be preparation for a future collection of “Swedish Folktales”, and in the introduction, which ought to be scholarly, I want to talk about Swedish nature and folk myths, their 7

8 9 10

It was also during this period that Hyltén-Cavallius, along with Arwidsson, George Stephens, Bror Emil Hildebrand (see below) and Carl David Arfwedson (1806–1888), established the Swedish Ancient Text Society (Svenska fornskriftsällskapet) as an outlet for the publication of medieval Swedish and Latin texts in 1843. See further the chapter on George Stephens by John Lindow. Bringéus, “Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius” (1971), 91–92. On Geijer and Afzelius, see further the chapter on George Stephens by John Lindow. Bringéus, “Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius” (1971), 93. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 41, and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius som etnolog, 98. Unless otherwise stated, all translations are by Terry Gunnell.

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relationship to the ancient mythology and the way in which the arrival of Christianity altered them. This is a subject I have been considering for some time. Thiele’s collection is well-known and respected and in one or two years I hope to have an equally large collection ready. No Swede has ever previously worked in this rewarding field. In addition to my own collection, I mean to make use of other materials from the library here and the Engeström library, as well as Rudebeck’s Om Smålands antikviteter [sic] and more. (Vidare har jag börjat samla och ordna mina sedan flera år antecknade folksägner till en kollektion liknande Thieles danska folksägner, ehuru som jag hoppas överträffande den i vissa fall, enär Sverige i detta fack har långt rikare malm att bearbeta. Jag har redan en hel hop färdiga. De skulle utgöra förberedelse till en framtida samling “Svenska folksagor” och i inledningen, som bör vara vetenskaplig ville jag tala om svenska natur- och folkmyterna, deras samband med den gamla gudaläran och deras skiftningar genom kristendomens inflytande. Ett ämne som jag länge tänkt på. Thieles samling är allmänt känd och berömd och om ett eller två år hoppas jag kunna ha en lika stor samling färdig. Ingen svensk har någonsin förr bearbetat detta tacksamma fält. Utom egna samlingar skall jag begagna flera dylika ur härvarande och Engeströmska biblioteket, såsom Rudebeck, Om Smålands antikviteter m. fl.11) In another letter to his father written later that month, Hyltén-Cavallius writes: “The idea was not totally clarified in my mind before it was awoken by Thiele” (“Idén har ej legat fullkomligt klar hos mig förrän den väcktes genom Thiele”12). Several things are clear from the former quotation. First of all, that like Thiele and Andreas Faye (whose Norske Sagn had appeared in 183313), HylténCavallius at this point seems to have more interest in legends than fairy tales, and secondly, that like the Grimms, Thiele and Faye, he planned to include both oral and manuscript material. However, one can also see the influence

11

12 13

Bringéus, Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius som etnolog, 98: Letter from Hyltén-Cavallius to Carl Fredrik Cavallius, dated 3rd March 1840: Kungliga Biblioteket (The Royal Library), Stockholm (KB): L26 (which contains all letters from Hyltén-Cavallius). Note that the original document contains a number of abbreviations which have been replaced by complete versions of words here, sometimes on the basis of interpetations by Bringéus. Bringéus, Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius som etnolog, 98: Letter from Hyltén-Cavallius to Carl Fredrik Cavallius, dated 27th March 1840: KB: L26. On Faye, see further the chapter by Herleik Baklid elsewhere in this volume.

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of Jacob Grimm’s Deutsche Mythologie (German Mythology: 1835), which had argued for the use of folklore as source material on pre-Christian Germanic mythology. Evidently, the seeds for Hyltén-Cavallius’ Wärend och wirdarne (which was strongly influenced by Deutsche Mythologie14) had already been sown, Hyltén-Cavallius having borrowed Grimm’s work from the Royal Library on October 30th 1839.15 In his memoirs, Hyltén-Cavallius writes: My favourite occupation from here onwards was, as before, the ballad, the legend, the fairy tale, the riddle and superstitions, alongside the study of antiquities and ethnology. This turned out to be the correct field for me. I felt touched by the ancient mythical poesie, and the pure feeling that runs throughout our old traditions, and believed that here there were discoveries to be made, great discoveries, the veins of which would soon disappear forever, hidden and dissolved by new layers of culture. I prepared myself to save all that could be saved before the dying generation of 70 and 80-year-olds took the last vestiges of pagan belief and medieval poetry into their graves with them. I wanted to collect material from the mouths of the people for a new Edda which would preserve the Swedish people’s mythical-poetic conceptions of nature and human life for the future. This way of thinking was fully developed in my mind as early as in November 1839. (Min käraste sysselsättning härförutom blef, nu såsom förr, folkvisan, sägnen, sagan, gåtan och vidskepelsen, vid sidan af den egentliga fornforskningen och ethnologien. Här fann jag mig på mitt rätta område. Jag kände mig lifligt berörd af den uråldriga, mytiska poesi och den rena känsla, som genomgår våra gamla traditioner, och dömde att här vore

14

15

See Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 45, and “Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius” (1971), 99–101. As Bringéus notes in the latter (and in “Folksägner från Värend”, 56), Peter Wieselgren had actually put together a draft of a “Nordic mythology” or “fornsägnsedda” (“legendary Edda”, referring to the Icelander Snorri Sturluson’s thirteenth-century Prose Edda) eleven years before the appearance of Deutsche Mythologie (in 1835, at around the same time that Finnur Magnússon’s ground-breaking mythological work Eddalæren og dens Oprindelse [The Eddic Lore and Its Origin] had appeared in Copenhagen in 1824–1826). Two other works that may have had some influence were Danmarks Historie i Hedenold (The History of Denmark in Pagan Times: 1834–1837) by N. M. Petersen (1791–1862), and Skandinaviska nordens ur-invånare (Scandinavia’s Earliest Inhabitants: 1838–1843) by Sven Nilsson (1787–1883). See also Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 55–56. Bringéus, “Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius” (1971), 100, and Gunnar Olof Hylten-Cavallius som etnolog, 256.

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upptäckter att göra, stora upptäckter, hvilkas malmådror snart skulle alldeles försvinna, höljda och upplösta af ett nytt, modernt kulturlager. Också föresatte jag mig klart att rädda allt hvad som ännu räddas kunde, innan det utdöende slägtet af 70- och 80-åringar toge de sista spåren af hednatro och medeltidsdiktning med sig i grafven. Jag ville från folkets läppar samla materialierna till ännu en Edda, som skulle åt framtiden bevara svenska folkets mytisk-poetiska föreställningar om naturen och menniskolifvet. Denna tanke var hos mig fullt utvecklad redan så tidigt som i November 1839.16) Hyltén-Cavallius, in addition to receiving material from his father, had collected some legends and ballads during walks in Småland in 1839, but did not get the opportunity to follow this up in 1840. As he wrote to his somewhat older friend, the cleric Peter Wieselgren (1800–1877), also from Värend: I had hoped and intended to spend some of the summer months back home and then get the chance to continue the collection of legends, fairy tales and ballads that I had started some years before; but circumstances did not allow my living dream to be fulfilled. (Jag hade hoppats och ärnat få tillbringa något av sommarmånaderna i hembygden och därunder få fortsätta den samling av folksägner, sagor och visor, som jag sedan flera år begynt; men omständigheterna tillåta ej uppfyllandet av min livliga önskan.17) Hyltén-Cavallius was nonetheless sent material by his distant relation Johanna Gustafva Angel (1791–1896),18 and other associates at home. That autumn he wrote an article about the still-living legends of Blända (Blenda) that had been recorded earlier by Petter Rudebeck, telling of the hereditary right of women in Värend to be wear belts and beat a drum at weddings.19 This material would go on to be used by the Swedish author and feminist reformer Fredrika Bremer (1801–1865) for her opera libretto Blenda (a work which was never staged20), and by Carl Wilhelm Böttiger (1807–1878) for his nationalistic entertainment 16 17 18 19 20

Hyltén-Cavallius, Ur mitt framfarna lif, 94. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 42: Letter from Hyltén-Cavallius to Peter Wieselgren, dated 28th June 1840: Göteborgs universitetsbibliotek (Göteborg University Library: GUB). Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 42–43 (including a photograph of Gustafva Angel). See Hyltén-Cavallius, “Sägner om Wärends härad och Anledningarna till dess qwinnors särskilta arfs-rätt”. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 60.

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En majdag i Wärend (A May Day in Värend), performed in the Royal Theatre (Kungliga teatern) in 1843.21 The following year (1841), Hyltén-Cavallius followed his Blända article up with another piece once again based on legends contained in seventeenthcentury manuscripts dealing with the early Swedish magician Kettil Runska, who apparently drew his power from two rune-sticks he stole from the Nordic god Óðinn.22 In his second article, he returns to his wider plans: The author […] wishes to make his readers aware of the historical as well as the poetic value of these kinds of presentations. For several years, he has himself been engaged in researching related subjects, and hopes in the future to make public a collection of “Swedish Folk Legends”. He would like to make use of this opportunity to ask those who have an interest in being involved in this side of our literature to provide contributions and support. (Författaren har […] önskat göra sina läsare uppmärksamma på det så wäl historiska, som poetiska wärdet av detta slags öfwerlämningar. Sjelf har han sedan flere år warit sysselsatt med forskningar i hithörande ämnen, och hoppas att framdeles kunna offentliggöra en samling af “Swenska folksägner”. Han begagnar med glädje detta tillfälle, att af dem som hysa deltagande för nämde gren af wår litteratur, utbedja sig bidrag och understöd.23) In a letter to his father written at that time, Hyltén-Cavallius writes that the legends in this article “show clearly the way in which I want Sweden’s folk legends to be collected and recorded” (“uttrycka det sätt varpå jag vill at Sveriges folksägner samlades och upptecknades”24). Hyltén-Cavallius received material from his father and collected material from people living in lodgings for farmers and countryfolk in Stockholm.25 As he writes in his autobiography: 21

22 23 24 25

Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 42, “Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius” (1971), and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius som etnolog, 56–57. With regard to influences on Romantic Nationalistic art, it is worth noting the painting Blenda by Johan August Malmström (1829–1901), which is also based on this legend. See Hyltén-Cavallius, “Sägner om Kettil Runske”. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 43–44. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 44: Letter from Hyltén-Cavallius to Carl Fredrik Cavallius, dated 26th July 1842: KB: L26. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 44.

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Since circumstances were not allowing me to follow the deepest wish of my heart and pass the summers in carrying out ethnological research into the different provinces of the fatherland, and my ever-increasing interest in the saving of our folk traditions, I considered whether it might not be possible to carry our fieldwork inside the capital itself. With such a purpose in mind, I checked out all of the so-called bondkvarter [lodgings for farmers and countryfolk] of the city, turning up in the evenings among the bird-farmers of Norrland in Helsinggården, the Upplanders in Stora Gångargården, the Dalarna men and women in Kronan, the people of Södermanland in Strömstedts, and the Vestmanlanders in Risbecks and so on. That is where I got all of my knowledge about the Swedish national character, because it was possible to draw out of these collections of common people everything that I had wished for. Indeed, I believe that an unquestionable talent can be found here. The suspicion [they had] of the friendly young royal secretary soon disappeared. Depending on the circumstances, I offered beer and coffee, and the old guys opened up their mouths and told an endless number of fairy tales, legends and mythical narratives. I myself sat at an unsteady table, lit by a tallow lamp, and followed the protocol, along with a stream of questions. And so these large amounts of material started coming, material which still represents for me a treasury of knowledge, which, amongst an endless amount of sweepings, still contains a number of genuine golden nuggets – not least when they, in an indescribable amount of work, are critically discussed, analysed and sifted through. (Då omständigheterna icke tilläto mig att efter mitt hjertas innerliga önskan använda somrarna för ethnologiska undersökningar af fädernerslandets olika provinser, och då mitt intresse för räddandet af våra folktraditioner alltjemt stegrades, såg jag mig om, huruvida det icke skulle bli möjligt att för dessa skapa mig ett forskningsfält inom sjelfva huvudstaden. I sådant ändamål tog jag reda på stadens alla s.k. bondqvarter, och infann mig om qvällarna hos de norrländska fogelbönderna på Helsinggården, hos uplänningarne på Stora Gångargården, hos dalkarlarne och jemtarne på Kronan, hos södermanlänningarne till Strömstedts, hos vestmanlänningarne till Risbecks o.s.v. Det fordrades hela min kännedom om svenska folklynnet, för att ur den här samlade allmogen kunna locka fram allt hvad jag önskade. Men jag tror, att jag i just detta hänseende besitter en obestridlig talang. Snart försvann misstroendet till den unge vänlige kongl. sektern. Jag bjöd efter omständigheterna på öl och kaffe, gubbarna öppnade på språklådan och förtäljde sagor, sägner och mytiska föreställningssätt i oändlighet. Sjelf satt jag vid ett rankigt

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bord, belyst af en talgdank, och förde protokollet, allt under ideliga spörsmål. Så tillkommo efter hand dessa digra luntor, hvilka ännu för mig äro en skattkammare af visdom, och hvilka, emellan en oändlighet af sopor, äfven gömma guldkorn af äkta halt – n. b. när de med en obeskriflig möda dryftas, sållas och kritiskt sofras.26) In the summer of 1843, when he undertook a research trip to Germany for the library (during which he met Just Mathias Thiele’s friend, Christian Molbech27 [1783–1857: see further below] and the later Faroese folklorist V. U. Hammershaimb [1819–1909] in Copenhagen28), Hyltén-Cavallius also managed to collect more material in Småland.29 Yet further material was sent to him over the next two years from the local painter Sven Sederström (1810–1846).30 It nonetheless seems evident that around this time other influences were beginning to work on Hyltén-Cavallius, starting perhaps with his aforementioned meeting with Christian Molbech in Copenhagen.31 Molbech had recently published a collection of largely translated fairy tales, Udvalgte Eventyr og Fortællinger (A Selection of Fairy Tales and Narratives: 1843),32 and at the same time, the first edition of Norske Folkeeventyr (Norwegian Folk Fairy 26 27 28

29 30

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Hyltén-Cavallius, Ur mitt framfarna lif, 96–97. On Molbech and his connections with Thiele, see further the chapter on Thiele by Timothy R. Tangherlini elsewhere in this volume. See further Hyltén-Cavallius, Ur mitt framfarna lif, 104. On the meeting with Hammershaimb, see also Joensen, “Hammershaimb sum heimildarmaður”, and the chapter on Hammershaimb by Kim Simonsen elsewhere in this volume. As Joensen shows (with a scan of the original material), Hyltén-Cavallius was given some notes on Faroese folk beliefs by Hammershaimb, something that once again shows Hyltén-Cavallius’ interests at this time. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 44. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 44 and 60: Letter from Hyltén-Cavallius to his father, dated 31st May 1844 in which Hyltén-Cavallius notes that the last package he received from his father contained mostly legends and very few fairy tales. See further: Sahlgren and Liljeblad (ed.), Sven Sederströms sagor. Bringéus, “Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius” (1971), 95. As Bringéus notes here, Molbech was also the one who suggested to the linguist Carl Säve (1812–1876) that he should encourage his brother Per Arvid Säve (1811–1887) to collect folktales in Gotland. As Ulf Palmenfelt has shown, the resulting collection also ended up focusing on legends: see Palmenfelt, Per Arvid Säves möten med människor och sägner. See also Bjersby, Traditionsbärare på Gotland vid 1800-talets mitt on Säve’s collection, informants and original materials. While most of the stories included in this book (dedicated to the Grimms) were translations of stories from Kinder-und Hausmärchen, Molbech also included a number of fairy tales from other countries including Denmark, Sweden and the British Isles, and a 20page introduction on fairy tales. One notes from the subtitle (En Læsebog for Folket og for den barnlige Verden [A Reading Book for the People and the Childish World]) the fact that unlike legends, fairy tales were still essentially being seen as something for children,

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Tales: 1841–1844), collected in Norway by Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen (1812–1885) and Jørgen Moe (1813–1882), was beginning to gain attention. While new editions of Thiele’s Danmarks Folkesagn and Faye’s Norske Folke-Sagn (Norwegian Folk Legends) had appeared in 1843 and 1844, followed a year later by the first edition of Asbjørnsen’s new collection of Norwegian legends, Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn (Norwegian Huldre Fairy Tales and Folk Legends), the feeling in Sweden seems to have been that a collection of fairy tales would have more success. Indeed, Hyltén-Cavallius was busy in the library, and other people had already started their own collections of legends. These included the antiquarian Richard Dybeck (1811–1877), who had pointed out the need for a Swedish collection of legends in his journal Runa in 1842 (see below); Peter Wieselgren, who sent out a questionnaire to priests in Småland in 1843, asking, among other things, for legends; and the Custodian of Ancient Monuments (Riksantikvarien) and founder of the Swedish Historical Museum (Historiska museet) in Stockholm, Bror Emil Hildebrand (1806–1884), who that same year assigned Carl Säve and Richard Dybeck to make a comprehensive record of mythical and historical legends as a part of a larger working program.33 Dybeck’s wording in his 1842 request is of particular interest in its nationalistic tone, like Hyltén-Cavallius’ letter to his father, arguing for the superiority of the Swedish material that has apparently remained comparatively untouched by foreign influence (unlike that of neighbouring countries): We still need a collection of Swedish folk legends. In comparison with the rest of the Nordic countries, this country is poor in terms of ancient records, but is perchance home to the greatest collection of legends – many of which are of unquestionable age. “With us,” says Rudbeck, “they are passed between people daily, as they are in other countries; and I can hardly believe they, in other places, are handed down intact from generation to generation as they are here; they are less altered over time than they are elsewhere; because no foreign army has ever overcome our country; nor have trade and custom overwhelmed it as with others, meaning that our legends have come under less foreign influence or falsification.” – The collection of Swedish legends that we have collected over the years will be made public in this series.

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something still apparent in the subtitle of the 1854 edition (En Bog for Ungdommen, Folket og Skolen [A Book for Young People, People and the School]), which was dedicated to Asbjørnsen and Moe, and Magnus Brostrup Landstad (1802–1880), whose Norske Folkeviser (Norwegian Folk Songs) had appeared in 1852–1853. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 45 and 56.

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(Vi sakna ännu en samling af Svenska Folk-sägner. Landet är, i jemnförelse med den öfriga norden, fattigt på äldre urkunder, men hyser till äfventyrs det största förrådet af sägner – en stor del af obestridlig ålder. “De gå hoos oss,” säger Rudbeck, “ibland gemene Man, så väl som i alla andra land, dageligen; och tror jag nappast att i någon ort de så behållas från Sleckte til Sleckte som hoos oss; äro och mindre genom tiderna ombytte, än hoos andra; aff de skiäl att vårt Land alldrig aff fremmande Herskap är öfverväldigat; icke heller med handel och vandel så öfverhoopat, som andre, hvarigenom våras Sägner äro då minst med fremmandes beblandade eller förfalskade.” – Den samling af Svenska Folksägner, hvilken vi under nägra år förvärfvat, skall fremdeles i denne skrift allmängöras.34) In spite of this statement, no collection of Swedish legends appeared until the 1880s,35 the author and folklorist Eva Wigström (1832–1901) publishing a number of local legends from Skåne in her Folkdiktning (Folk Poetry: 1880), the writer Herman Hofberg (1823–1883) offering Svenska folksägner (Swedish Folk Legends) in 1882,36 and the archaeologist Nils Gabriel Djurklou (1829–1904) Sagor och äfventyr berättade på svenska landsmål (Folktales and Fairy Tales Told in Folk Dialect) in 1883. Of particular interest for this volume, however, is the way in which the last two works followed up on Croker’s and Asbjørnsen’s collections of Irish and Norwegian folk legends from 1826, 1879 and 1883,37 in that they were accompanied by a number of illustrations by artists, the former containing images by Anders Victor (“Vicke”) Andrén (1856–1930), Edvard Perséus (Persson: 1841–1890), Robert Haglund (1844–1930), C. Aspelin (n.d.), Carl

34 35

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Dybeck, “Svenska Folkvisor”, 36. Here one cannot include Afzelius’ Svenska folkets sago-häfder (The Narratives of the Swedish People), published in eleven volumes between 1839 and 1870 (as Bengt Holbek suggests in “Nordic Research in Popular Prose Narrative”, 146). In spite of suggesting in its title that it would include folk legends, this work was essentially a collection of literary sources. The same applies to Svenska folkböcker (Swedish Folk Books) by the historical writer Per Olof Bäckström (1806–1892), published in 1845–1848. Hofberg had previously published legends and fairy tales in the monthly literary journal Nu (1874–1876), and in Svenska fornminnesföreningens tidskrift (1874). One can see from the notes to Hofberg’s Svenska folksägner (203–221) the degree to which scholars were now becoming aware that, like fairy tales, different versions of legends could often be found in different countries (in other words, “migratory legends”). Indeed, Hofberg makes regular reference to variants found in the collections of Thiele, Faye and Asbjørnsen. See further the chapters on Croker and Asbjørnsen by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist and Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in this volume.

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Gustav G. Hellqvist (1851–1890), Jenny Nyström (1854–1946),38 Josef Wilhelm Wallander (1821–1888), Johan Georg Otto von Rosen (1843–1923), Johan August Malmström (1829–1901), Anders Gustav Koskull (1831–1904), R. D. Holm (n.d.), A. Rudbeck (n.d.), Johan Tirén (1853–1911), Alfred Andersson (1848–1906), and C. F. Hernlund (1837–1902). The latter work stated prominently in its title that it was accompanied by pictures by Carl Larsson (1815–1919) who would become renowned for his images of Swedish country life.39 There is little question that here, as in other countries, legend collections were providing valuable material for new nationalistic forms of art. As noted above, while he was still planning a work entitled “The Youngest Edda or the still living nature myths of Scandinavia collected and published by Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius” (“Den yngsta eddan, eller Skandinaviens ännu fortlevande folk- och naturmyter samlade och utgivna av Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius”) in 1843,40 Hyltén-Cavallius’ attention was now temporarily drawn back to the library, and his work on ballads and fairy tales with George Stephens, the first part of Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr appearing at Christmas in 1844. The second volume would appear in 1849, and in 1853 was followed by the first volume of Sveriges historiska och politiska visor. At the same time, he was engaged in editing three volumes of Þiðreks saga (Saga om Didrek af Bern: 1850–1854). Hyltén-Cavallius had also met Jacob Grimm in person, serving as one of his guides (along with Afzelius, Arwidsson and Stephens) during Grimm’s visit to Stockholm between 20th August and 4th September 1844.41 His close contacts with King Oscar I would later lead to his becoming the (somewhat unsuccessful) director of the Royal Theatre between 1856 and 1860. He then moved to Brazil where he served as the Charge d’affaires at the Imperial Brazilian Court and Swedish Consul-General in Rio de Janeiro between 1860 and 1864. Serious illness put an end to this career. In 1864, Hyltén-Cavallius returned to Sweden, moving to his home district of Värend, where he worked as a farmer, finishing Wärend och wirdarne (the first volume of which had appeared in 1863) and establishing Småland Museum (Smålands museum), Sweden’s first provincial local museum in Kronoberg in 1867.42 38 39 40 41 42

Jenny Nyström later became famous for her images of the Swedish jultomte found on numerous Christmas cards. See further Forsberg, Jenny Nyström. See Puvogel, Carl Larsson. Bringéus, Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius som etnolog, 255, and “Gunnar Olof HylténCavallius” (1971), 100. See Hyltén-Cavallius, Ur mitt framfarna lif, 114. See also the chapter on George Stephens by John Lindow elsewhere in this volume. See further Bringéus, “Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius” (1971), “Gunnar Olof HylténCavallius” (1971–1973), and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius som etnolog; and Skott, “Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius”.

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Figure 7.3 Hyltén-Cavallius: Areas of collection in Skåne

4

“Folksägner från Värend”

As noted above, Hyltén-Cavallius never published his collection of legends during his lifetime. Nonetheless, a manuscript containing somewhat later versions of this material, entitled “Folksägner från Värend, upptecknade af G. O. Hyltén-Cavallius” exists in the Royal Library (KU Vs 7: 1: 3) alongside a number of Hyltén-Cavallius’ original recordings (KU V s. 6),43 and was later edited and published by Nils-Arvid Bringéus in 1968. As Bringéus writes, the manuscript would appear to have been put together at some point between 1848 and 1864.44 As Bringéus shows, the material in these manuscripts gives a good picture of when and where Hyltén-Cavallius collected his stories. Of the over 100 legends contained in the material as a whole, the dated original manuscripts45 show that most were collected personally by Hyltén-Cavallius, two in 1837, 33 in 1839, two in 1840, 29 in 1841, 24 in 1843, one in 1847 and three in 1848, underlining that most of the fieldwork was undertaken during the period in which Hyltén-Cavallius was planning his Swedish answer to Thiele’s collection (see fig. 7.3). Other legends were sent to him by his father (eleven) and others, only one legend coming from an older source.46 As the title of the manuscript and the material itself underline, however, this was essentially a local Värend collection. As Bringéus shows, 58 legends come 43 44 45

46

The stories sent by Sven Sederström (see above) are not included here: see Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 48, and “Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius” (1971), 94. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 44–45. Like Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr, the manuscript of the planned book lacks information about informants, dates or places of recording: Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 46. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 46–50.

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from Hyltén-Cavallius’ home district of Allbo. 24 from Kinnevald, and 19 from nearby Sunnerbo.47 No fairy tales, religious legends, fables, historic legends or humorous tales are found here. The material focuses on belief legends (including personal experience narratives, or “memorats”), usually one of each type being given in the planned book alongside records of variants.48 Here we find legends about the Old Norse god Oðinn, salt- and freshwater spirits, other underground nature spirits, the tomte (Swedish farm-protecting spirit), forest beings, trolls, changelings, witches, dragons, serpents, ghosts and more, many of which take forms later recognised as being particularly southern Swedish. With regard to style, it is clear from the planned book that Hyltén-Cavallius seems to have taken note of the criticisms he and Stephens received for the way in which they had recorded their fairy tales.49 All the same, like Faye and Asbjørnsen and Moe, he clearly faced the problem of what to do about the dialects in which the stories were told. While he instructed his father to follow the Grimmian rule of recording narratives “verbatim”,50 he himself recorded those legends he heard in the official Swedish written language (riksspråk), and, as Bringéus shows on the basis of comparisons between manuscripts, made a number of changes in those versions planned for inclusion in the book which tend to be twice as long as the originals, making use of certain dialect expressions to provide local colour.51

5

Conclusions

All in all, Hyltén-Cavallius, like Just Mathias Thiele, Rasmus Nyerup (1759– 1829) and Andreas Faye,52 appears to have been standing at the crossroads between the earlier Grimmian view of legends being essentially historical

47 48 49

50 51 52

Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 48–50. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 50–51. See further the chapter on George Stephens by John Lindow elsewhere in this volume, and Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 53–54. Here Bringéus compares the style used by Hyltén-Cavallius with that used by Hofberg in his collection (see above), describing Hyltén-Cavallius’ style as “clear and simple language” (“klart och enkelt språk”), unlike the novelistic style used by Hofberg. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 52. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 52–54, and “Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius” (1971), 94–95. Nyerup wrote the foreword to Thiele’s first experimental collection of folk legends, Prøver af Danske Folkesagn. See further the chapters on Thiele and Faye by Timothy R. Tangherlini and Herleik Baklid elsewhere in this volume.

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and even mythological sources, and the growing sense that they should also be seen as a form of poetic creation, and ideal inspiration for new forms of Romantic Nationalistic art, just as they had inspired gifted storytellers in the creation of narratives that were seen as containing the germs of the Swedish Volksgeist. The earlier approach had certainly been clear in the works such as Nilsson’s Skandinaviska nordens ur-invånare, Afzelius’ Svenska folkets sago-häfder, and Bäckström’s Svenska folkböcker, and can also be seen in Wieselgren’s dream of using legendary material to create a “legendary Edda” (“fornsägnsedda”).53 This approach, which was encouraged when HylténCavallius later encountered Jacob Grimm’s Deutsche Mythologie, gradually became ever more ethnographic in nature as Hyltén-Cavallius began working on Wärend och wirdarne.54 At the same time, however, like Nyerup, Faye and the Icelandic scholar Gísli Konráðsson (1787–1877),55 one can also see Hyltén-Cavallius stressing the poetic. Indeed, as Bringéus notes, Afzelius had himself drawn on legendary material for the poem “Necken” (The Waterfall Spirit) in 1812 and Wieselgren did similar things in his “Minnes-sånger ur Wärend” (Minnesangs from Värend) in 1824.56 Hyltén-Cavallius himself based his poem “Jul-natten” (Christmas Eve) on a Yuletide legend.57 Similar ideas are expressed in his “Sägner om Kettil Runske” in which he states directly that he wants his readers to be aware of “both the historical and poetic value” (“det så wäl historiska, som poetiska wärdet”) of the legends.58 Elsewhere, in the introduction to his edition of Sagan om Didrik af Bern, Hyltén-Cavallius talks of how this kind of material “opens the secret workshop of popular fantasy” (“öppnar folkfantasiens hemliga verkstad”), introducing readers to “the laws governing the creation of historical legends” (“den historiska sägnens egna bildnings-lagar”).59 This was, of course, reflected in the dramatic works that followed on from Hyltén-Cavallius’ “Blända” article, and, of course, the illustrated collections of legends from the 1880s noted above. It might perhaps also be reflected in Hyltén-Cavallius’ interest in running the Royal Theatre. 53 54 55 56 57 58 59

See notes 14 and 35 above. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 57. See further the chapter on Jón Árnason by Terry Gunnell, elsewhere in this volume. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 55. Bringéus, “Folksägner från Värend”, 55; and Hyltén-Cavallius, “Till mina hulda föräldrar” (1840). Hyltén-Cavallius, “Sägner om Kettil Runske”, 190; and Bringéus, “Gunnar Olof HylténCavallius” (1971), 93; and “Folksägner från Värend”, 55. Hyltén-Cavallius, “Folksägner från Värend”, I, xi. See also Bringéus, “Gunnar Olof HylténCavallius” (1971), 95, and “Folksägner från Värend”, 58.

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As noted at the start of this chapter, there was clearly a strong nationalistic motivation behind both Hyltén-Cavallius’ planned collection of national folk legends and the collection of Swedish fairy tales he put together with George Stephens, something reflected especially clearly in the introductory statement to that latter work that: Although our work is […] intended more for the researcher than for the general public, we dare even so to hope that it will win approval as entertaining reading, Swedish in spirit and content, and suitable for arousing patriotic feelings in our compatriots, in addition to reviving the most often splendid sentiments that from time immemorial have existed at the heart of our native culture. (Our emphases.) (Ehuru vårt arbete således är bestämdt mera för forskaren än för den större allmänheten, våga vi likväl hoppas att detsamma äfven hos denna skall vinna bifall, såsom en underhållande läsning, Svensk till anda och innehåll, och lämplig att hos våre landsmän höja den fosterländska känslan, samt återlifva de oftast herrliga och storartade åsigter, som ifrån uråldige tider rört sig på djupet af vår inhemska odling.60) All the same, with regard to the Swedish legends, one encounters a similar impulse to that encountered in empires such as France and England, where local collections tended to dominate, something that can be seen in the work of people like Hyltén-Cavallius, Wieselgren and, in a slightly later time, Eva Wigström. Unlike in Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Ireland and Scotland, there seems to have been less need to create national narratives and national motifs. In spite of this, and in spite of the fact that Hyltén-Cavallius’ planned Svenska sägner never reached the bookshelves or the hands of the Grimms, it is evident that it deserves to be considered alongside the work of Thiele, Faye, Asbjørnsen, Croker, Jón Árnason and others as a key piece of evidence for the interrelated nature of the Grimmian Romantic Nationalistic wave in which the collection of folk legends once again preceded the collection of fairy tales. 60

Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens, Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr, iv.

Chapter 8

George Stephens: An Unlikely Conduit John Lindow

1

Introduction

Although history has not been particularly kind to George Stephens (1813– 1895) (see fig. 8.1),1 he is important in the context of this volume as a conduit through whom ideas and materials flowed and circulated.2 Born and educated in England but based in Scandinavia – first Sweden (1834–1851), then Denmark (1851 until his death) –, he garnered a large number of honours: honorary doctorates from Uppsala and Cambridge; Knight-Commander of the North Star, Sweden; Knight of the Order of St. Olaf, Norway; Knight of the Danebrog, and Danebrogsmand, Denmark; Fellow of the Society of Antiquities of London and member of numerous other learned societies. He was a driving force behind the foundation of the Swedish Ancient Text Society (Svenska fornskriftssällskapet) in 1843; collaborated on editions of Swedish folktales and Swedish historical ballads; published a massive edition of runic inscriptions; wrote both verse and drama;3 and was an indefatigable contributor to the intellectual life of his time. Striking in physical appearance, he was clearly a magnetic personality capable of powerful influence on the people around him. Stephens’ runic work was, however, shoddy at best; he was careless with philology; he held untenable views on language history; and it would appear that he cultivated his eccentricity, especially later in life, to a more than extreme point. He wrote in a strange and affected archaising style,4 referring 1 On Stephens’ life and career, see the chapter aptly entitled “The Errander of Cheapinghaven”, in Wawn, The Vikings and the Victorians, 215–244; and Eriksson, “George Stephens: Samlare, fornforskare och skandinavist”, 29–72. Andrew Wawn has also produced one of the more lively brief biographies: see Wawn, “Stephens, George (1813–1895)”. The standard Danish, English, and Swedish biographical dictionaries also contain entries on Stephens, among which may be particularly recommended Carlquist and Tjemmeld, “George Stephens: Fornforskare, gymnasielärare, läroboksförfattare, språkforskare”. 2 Thanks to Fredrik Skott and Terry Gunnell for assistance gathering materials for this chapter and to Gunnell for helping to clarify the argument. 3 See, for example, Stephens, Revenge or Woman’s Love (1857). On this play, see further Gunnell (with Sveinn Einarsson), “Theatre and Performance (1830–2018)”, 231–232. 4 The dedication of Stephens’ Handbook of the Old Northern Runic Monuments to Augustus Wollaston Franks (1826–1897), first Keeper of British Antiquities at the British Museum, will serve to illustrate this style: “To our great English oldlorist the gifted and generous Augustus © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_010

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George Stephens: Oil painting by J. A. Wetterbergh (1839)

Wollaston Franks in grateful minne” (Stephens, Handbook, v). While decoding oldlorist is not particularly difficult, readers who do not know Scandinavian would have to guess about minne (“memory”). As a younger man, Stephens had an even greater pioneering spirit. To Notes and Queries for 1850 he submitted this: “I beg to encloze ðe following scraps, purposely written on slips, ðat ðe one may be destroyed and not ðe oðer if you should þink fit so to do, and for caze ov printing. Pleaze to respect my orþography – a beginning to a better system – if you can and will. Ðe types required will only be ðe Ð, ð, and Þ, þ, ov our noble Anglo-Saxon

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to the city where he lived and the university where he had his appointment as “Cheapinghaven”, employing the character ð for th in his correspondence, and in general leaving behind a body of writing that was nearly certain to guarantee his consignment to scholarly oblivion. Today he receives credit primarily as a collector, not least for the recently (re-) discovered collection of ballad materials in Vaxjö, Sweden.5 Nevertheless, he was an important figure in the context of the Grimm ripples. Born in Liverpool, the son of a Methodist minister, Stephens was educated at the newly founded University College, London (then London University), where he studied literature and archaeology. His elder brother Joseph Reyner Stephens (1805–1879), like his father a minister, was appointed to a mission in Stockholm in 1826, where he stayed for three years. Joseph Stephens learned Swedish and acquired a taste for Scandinavian literature, which he communicated to George. He also suggested to George that he too move to Stockholm, which he did shortly after his marriage to Maria Bennett (1809–1896) in 1834. Stephens made his living there first as an English teacher, and his steady stream of publications began almost immediately upon his arrival in Stockholm, in the form of various pedagogical materials. Like his brother before him, George Stephens learned Swedish and soon began to move in literary circles most associated with the Romantic Nationalistic spirit of the day, including the poets Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783–1847), Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom (1790–1855), and Esaias Tegnér (1782–1846), as well as the scholar Bror Emil Hildebrand (1806–1884).6

2

The Swedish Circle

Geijer was by 1834 perhaps the leading intellectual in Sweden, a professor of history at Uppsala since 1817, an influential philosopher, and a member of the moðer-tongue, letterz in common use almost down to ðe time ov Shakespeare! If you will not be charmed, ov course you are at liberty to change it. I have a large work in ðe press (translationz from ðe A.-Saxon) printed entirely in ðis orþography” (Stephens, “Replies to Minor Queries”, 429). To which the editors added a brief parenthetical comment bringing the whole thing back down to earth: “[Even our respect for Mr. Stephens’ well-known scholarship fails to remove our prejudices in favour of the ordinary system of orthography].” On Stephens’ association with English folklore, see further the chapter by Jonathan Roper elsewhere in this volume. 5 See the articles gathered in Byrman (ed.), En värld för sig själv, especially Eriksson, “En bortglömd manuskriptsamling”; see also Eriksson, “En samling i samlingen”. 6 On this circle, see also the chapter on Rancken by Ulrika Wolf-Knuts and Susanne ÖsterlundPötzsch elsewhere in this volume.

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Swedish Academy (Svenska Akademien) since 1824. His early poems such as “Vikingen” (The Viking) and “Odalbonden” (The [land-owning] Peasant) in the 1811 first number of Iduna, the journal he edited for the Gothic Union (Götiska förbundet), of which he was a co-founder, had helped to establish the romantic ideal of the Swedish national character. Geijer’s direct interest in folklore was in ballads, as had been typical of the first wave of folklore in Germany, and, with Arvid August Afzelius (1785–1871), he issued the first edition of Swedish ballads, Svenska folk-visor från forntiden (Swedish Folk-Ballads from Antiquity: 1814–1817). Atterbom is best known for his poetic epic Lycksalighetens ö (The Island of Bliss: 1824–1827 but begun earlier) and for the fragmentary “Fågel blå” (Blue Bird: 1814). He called each of these a “sagospel” (a drama based on a fairy tale), and his cultural status was sufficient to see him elected to the Swedish Academy in 1839. Tegnér, meanwhile, had ties to both Lund and Uppsala universities and had been elected to the Swedish Academy in 1818. Influenced by the Danish romantics, his masterwork was Frithiofs saga, a poetic reworking of (or loosely based on) the Old Icelandic Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna. Parts appeared in Iduna before the whole was published in 1825. Stephens issued a translation of the poem and of the Icelandic saga on which it was loosely based in Frithiof’s saga (1839),7 a work which is usually taken as the first complete translation of an Icelandic saga into English. Stephens’ first major work can thus be seen to reflect the literary circles in which he moved. Especially in its apparatus, it shows Stephens already functioning as a conduit bringing Nordic antiquarianism to England and the rest of the English-reading world. The charismatic Stephens gradually emerged as the de facto leader of a group of intellectuals focused on folklore and the Nordic past, who would gather in a room in Stephens’ residence filled with books and artifacts, to commune, to listen to fairy tales and discuss matters important to them.8 While the above-mentioned intellectual giants were a generation ahead of Stephens, his closest friends in Sweden were Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius (1818–1889: see fig. 7.1), with whom he collaborated on two significant folklore publications: Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr (Swedish Folktales and Fairy Tales: 1844–1849: see fig. 7.2) and Sveriges historiska och politiska visor (Sweden’s Historical and Political Ballads: 1853), and Gustav Edvard Klemming (1823–1893), later director of the Royal Library (Kungliga Biblioteket). The connection between Stephens and Hyltén-Cavallius, whom he met in 1839, was so close that the latter actually roomed with the Stephens family from 1841 up until the time 7 Stephens, Frithiofs saga. 8 See Carlquist and Tjemeld, “George Stephens”.

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he was married in 1847; during this time all three of the Stephens children were born, and a testimony of the attachment is no doubt to be found in the engagement of Stephens’ son Joseph Samuel Fritiof Stephens (1841–1934) to Hyltén-Cavallius’s daughter. (The wedding never took place, since Anna later broke off the engagement.9) The previous chapter in this volume has been devoted to Hyltén-Cavallius, and he will be treated here only in connection with his collaborative publications with Stephens. Klemming matriculated at Uppsala University in 1841 and met Stephens during his student years (which did not last long).10 Stephens and HylténCavallius interested Klemming in the Swedish Ancient Text Society, and his edition of Flores och Blanzeflor, one of the so-called Eufemiavisor, was, in 1844, the first volume to appear in the society’s publication series. Klemming went on to edit numerous other texts for the series, and his career path went from being an unpaid employee of the Swedish Royal Library, where Hyltén-Cavallius also worked 1839–1856 and which Geijer’s ballad collaborator Afzelius had earlier directed, to becoming its head.11 He was a driving force not only in making it essentially a national library, but also in creating the current building in Humlegården, which at the time was regarded as a model of a contemporary library. The transformation of the library into a modern intellectual centre was thus undertaken by one of the inner members of Stephens’ circle, and by another antiquarian. Although Klemming did not himself pursue what we would call folklore studies, the library that he transformed had clearly been and would continue to be a locus for the gathering of older materials relating to folklore.

3

“Folk-Archaeology”

The Swedish Ancient Text Society published editions of medieval manuscripts, and in that endeavour its editors followed the ideas of the romantic national-

9 10 11

https://www.adelsvapen.com/genealogi/Stephens. The information that follows builds on Ehrensvärd, “Gustaf E. Klemming”. It seems likely that what attracted Klemming and Stephens to each other first was that both were collectors. Klemming amassed an extensive book collection, which he later donated to the Royal Library (Kungliga Biblioteket), and he also collected coins. Like Stephens, he was a dedicated eccentric; in his later years he wore his hair long and sported a Stephens-like beard. Unlike Stephens, he sired four daughters out of wedlock before marrying their mother, and once the new library building was in place, he took up residence there in his unassuming office, ostensibly for his asthma, although he apparently filled the office with tobacco smoke: see further Ehrensvärd, “Gustaf E. Klemming”.

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ists, and, of course, also the Grimms, about the essential unity of older written materials and the oral traditions of the rural countryside.12 Along with J. A. Ahlstrand (1822–1896), Stephens edited the second volume of the series which appeared in 1844,13 and there he set forth his ideas on this score. He begins by noting that new faith has little use for old, starting with the Christian’s disdain for paganism. Then: When Lutheranism defeated Catholicism, it pursued it equally mercilessly. Almost everything that belonged to the latter was persecuted as sheer “Papist superstition”. But fortunately people have long ago come to their senses. In protestant lands, too, the folk demand the return of their ancient relics. People want to get to know not just the outer but also the inner and moral development. For this purpose are sought again the scattered elements of the former folk-life. Legal documents, ancient monuments, songs, folktales, legends, proverbs, riddles, customs, superstitious behaviour, rural dialects, etc., all are brought forward and illuminated by the new scholarship with unbelievable affection and labour. With this the ground is laid for the most precious, fertile, and extensive knowledge, to a living, great, noble folk-archaeology, and gradually from it there should, under the hand of some master, emerge a clear and instructive exposition of the progress and cultivation of the people [folkstam] from time immemorial down to our own modern time! (Då Lutheranismen besegrade catholicismen, förfor den lika skoningslöst. Nästan allt, some hörde till den sednare, förföljdes, såsom idel ‘papistisk vidskepelse.’ Men, lyckligvis har man länge sedan sansat sig. Äfven uti protestantiska länder begär folket numera tillbaka sina fornminnen. Man vill lära känna sina fäders icke blott yttre, utan äfven inre och sedliga utveckling. För detta ändamål uppsökas åter de spridda dragen af det fordna folk-lifvet. Lag-urkunder, forn-lemningar, sånger, sagor, sägner, ordspråk, gåtor, seder, vidskepliga bruk, landskapsmål m.m., allt framdrages och upplyses af den nyare forskningen med otrolig kärlek och möda. Härigenom lägges grund till den mest dyrbara, fruktbringande och vidtomfattande kunskaper, till en lefvande, storartade, förädlad folkarkeologi, och småningom bör deraf, under någon mästares hand, uppstå 12 13

See further the chapter on Deutsche Sagen by Holger Ehrhardt elsewhere in this volume; and Leerssen (ed.), Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe. Stephens and Ahlstrand, S. Patriks-sagan. Ahlstrand separately edited Tungulus, but the rest of the volume, including the introduction, was by Stephens.

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en klar, och lärorik utläggning af folk-stammens framsteg och odling, ifrån hedenhös ända till vår nyare tid.14) The concept of “folk-archaeology” offers a particularly apt summary of this mind-set: the idea of “the people” who sing songs, recount tales and legends, use proverbs and ask riddles, are, as it were, under the surface of the nation, where their treasures await discovery and digging up. One can but wonder whether Stephens had himself in mind as the kind of master who could clarify all this material. Be that as it may, his use of the noun folkstam is noteworthy. Although today it usually means “tribe”, that is not what Stephens had in mind. It has been rendered here as “people”, but that translation does not capture the fact that the second component implies some kind of lineage, underlining that the people of today descend from the people of time immemorial. The “folklineage” of the English people was to come to dominate Stephens’ thinking for much of his career, and it is perhaps latent here that he thought of the English “folk-lineage” as being essentially Nordic. In any case, the line of reasoning clearly resonates with that of Jacob Grimm, although Stephens’ later reasoning about the English “folk-lineage” would cast Grimm as a villain (see below). As Stephens goes on to argue here, even the Catholic religious narrative offered valid artefacts for his imagined “folk-archaeology”. Later in this introduction he states: “No expert now wishes to deny that these saints’ tales form a folk-poetry and folk-novels of a bygone time…” (“[I]ngen sakkunning vill numera neka, att dessa Helgona-sagor bilda en förgången tids folk-poesi och folk-romaner…”15). Saints’ lives, he argues, were the heroic poems of the Catholic church, parallel to those of ancient Greece and Rome, to the epic and myth of the Middle East, to the “Icelanders’ treasure of half-romantic sagas” (“Isländarnes skatt af half-romantiska sagor”16). He concludes his argument for the value of editing saints’ lives with this emphatic statement about their value, as the heroic poems of the Church: Even when its ahistoric letter was written only for pious reading among the people, its content was often rich in the living soul of the time period, in thoughts and principles which alone are capable of explaining the external events of many centuries. Also in this way the Christian tale became no less great, no less splendid, than other such educational 14 15 16

Stephens and Ahlstrand, S. Patriks-sagan. ii. Emphasis in the original. Unless otherwise stated, all translations in this chapter are by the present author. Stephens and Ahlstrand, S. Patriks-sagan. ii–iii. Stephens and Ahlstrand, S. Patriks-sagan, iii.

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forms, for its origin was belief and folk-life, the source of everything that is eternally flourishing and eternally beautiful! (Äfven der dess ohistoriska bokstaf skrefs endast till en from folk-läsning, var dess innehåll ofta rik på tidehvarfets lefvande själ, på tankar och grundsatser, hvilka ensamt mägta förklara många århundradens yttre händelser. Också härigenom blef den kristna sagan icke mindre stor, icke mindre herrlig, än andra dylika bildnings-former; ty dess ursprung var tro och folk-lif, källan till allt, som är evigt blomstrande och evigt skönt!17)

4

Fairy Tales

At Christmas of that same year, 1844, Stephens and Hyltén-Cavallius published the first volume of their collection of Swedish fairy tales. The dedication shows that at this particular point the Grimm ripple was more like a breaking wave: “to the Brothers Jakob [sic] and Wilhelm Grimm, folktale narrators of Germany, are dedicated these ancient folk-stories from the old folktale land” (“Bröderna Jakob och Wilhelm Grimm, Tysklands sago-förtäljare, egnas dessa uråldriga folk-berättelser ur det gamla sago-landet”18). The use of two different adjectives, stressing the age of the materials (“ancient” [uråldrig]) and the land that produced them (“old” [gammal]), gives a fair idea of the editors’ view of the nature of their project as being primarily antiquarian, and this accords, of course, with the prevailing view that Stephens had expressed in the introduction to S. Patriks-sagan. The choice of the Grimms may reflect not only their enormous scholarly status, but also the fact that Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens had attended a function for Jacob Grimm during his visit to Stockholm earlier in the year.19

17 18

19

Stephens and Ahlstrand, S. Patriks-sagan, iii. Emphasis in the original. Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens, Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr, I, i. On 6th January 1845, Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens sent Grimm a copy of the book, and a second for his brother Wilhelm, accompanied by a letter written by Hyltén-Cavallius but signed by both, thanking Jacob for the encouragement he has given them and praising the brothers as the most prominent men in the field: Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 242–243). See Hyltén-Cavallius, Ur mitt framfarna lif, 114. Here Hyltén-Cavallius tells of Jacob Grimm’s visit to Stockholm between 20th August and 4th September 1844, during which time Hyltén-Cavallius says that he met Grimm daily. Here he also describes Grimm’s trip to Haga on 4th September, with Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens as his guides, along with Afzelius and Adolf Ivar Arwidsson (1762–1843: see further the chapter on Rancken by Ulrika Wolf-Knuts and Susanne Österlund-Pötzsch, and that on Hyltén-Cavallius by Terry

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Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens evidently shared the common Grimmian view that the folktales were dying out and needed to be rescued; it is striking that they use that very verb in describing their primary aim with the collection, and that they explicitly invoke what we would later identify as modernity and would link directly with the growth of folklore collection. Their goal, they write in the introduction, is: […] to rescue for the fatherland remains of the rich poesy, which has lived for millennia within our people, which has accompanied us from family to family, and in shifting images reflects our entire ancient worldview. The aforementioned remains are on their way to dying out or to being spoiled under the influence of a new era and new conditions, and only in the country’s more distant settlements do people still listen to these fading sounds, which once were the property of the entire people and the first nourishment for our forefathers’ culture. (… att åt fäderneslandet rädda återstöder af den rika poesi, som under årtusenden lefvat hos vår folk-stam, som följt den slägte ifrån slägte, och i skiftande bilder afspeglar hela dess fordna verlds-åskådning. Nämnda öfverlemningar äro på väg att dö ut eller forderfvas under inflytande af en ny tid och nya förhållanden, och endast i landets aflägsnare bygder lyssnar man ännu till dessa förklingande ljud, hvilka voro en gång hela folkets egendom och den första näringen for våra fäders bildning.20) A paragraph later in the foreword, Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens tell how they have gathered and chosen to handle their material. In accordance with these views, we have sought to keep each tale as original and authentic as possible. To this end, we have undertaken extensive excursions and journeys through the various provinces of the fatherland and recorded a rather large number of tale-remnants from the lips of the people. What was collected in this way we have ordered and reproduced,

20

Gunnell and Fredrik Skott elsewhere in this volume). On the way, they, apparently by chance, met and talked to the king at the castle. Apart from underlining personal contact with Grimm, the account also says a great deal about the folkloric circles in which Stephens was living at the time. Regarding Grimm’s plans to visit Scandinavia, see further the chapter on the collection of Scottish folk narrative by John Shaw elsewhere in this volume. Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens, Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr, I, iii.

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without conditional additions or changes. The only thing that belongs to us is the narrative’s outer form, which, as it depends upon the various ages and degrees of education of each narrator, obviously called for some reworking to return it to the simplicity which belongs to the nature of the folktale, and which is still found in one or another tale-teller from the good old days. (I följd af dessa åsigter hafva vi sökt att erhålla hvarje saga så ursprunglig och äkta som möjligt. Vi hafva för detta ändamål gjort vidlyftiga vandringar och resor genom fäderneslandets olika landskap, och upptecknat ett ganska stort antal sago-öfverlemningar ifrån folkets läppar. Hvad sålunda blifvit samladt hafva vi ordnat och återgifvit, utan villkorliga tillägg eller ändringar. Det enda som tillhör oss, är förtäljningens yttre form, hvilken, såsom beroande af hvarje den berättande personens olika ålder och bildningsgrad, gemenligen påkallat någon omarbetning, för att återföras till den enkelhet, som tillhör sagans lynne, och som ännu igenfinnes hos en och annan sago-berätterska ifrån den gamla goda tiden.21) The key here is the idea that to make each tale as original and authentic as possible, one must collect multiple versions from all over the tradition area, here understood as the nation; this, of course, is in line with the principles set forth by the Grimms. It also seems obvious that Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens had a clear understanding of the difference between a motif and an entire tale, the lack of which would draw criticism to such early tale-type indexing efforts as that of Greek and Albanian folktales which was carried out by Johann Georg von Hahn (1811–1869) in 1864,22 and is usually taken to be the earliest.23 The idea that the variation introduced by different storytellers was more interesting to collectors and scholars than to the general public had also guided the Norwegians Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen (1812–1885) and Jørgen Moe (1813–1882) to rewrite the tales they had collected into a common “national” style, when they published this material in 1841–1844.24 More importantly, this idea suggests the existence of a type lying behind each recording, with the “outer form” coming from the specific narrator but the “inner form”, if one can echo Stephens in calling it that, adhering in the tale itself – that is, in what

21 22 23 24

Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens, Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr, I, ii–iv. van Hahn, Griechische und albanesische Märchen. Thompson, The Folktale, 414. Asbjørnsen and Moe, Norske Folkeeventyr. On their work and impact, see Liestøl, P. Chr. Asbjørnsen, and Hodne, Jørgen Moe.

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we might term a “type”. The Grimms themselves had operated implicitly with such a notion, and it was to be taken up too by Jørgen Moe in the 1852 introduction (“Fortale og indledning”) of the second edition of Norske Folkeeventyr, to which Terry Gunnell has sought to draw international attention as an early comparative study laying the “groundwork for Aarne and Thompson’s later classifications.”25 Asbjørnsen and Moe’s versions of Norwegian folktales and legends were eagerly consumed by the reading public in Norway and still possess broad appeal. In contrast to this earliest Nordic folktale publication, Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens conceived of their edition as a scholarly work, writing this about it in their introduction. Although our work is thus intended more for the researcher than for the greater public, we dare even so to hope that also with them it will win approval as entertaining reading…. (Ehuru vårt arbete således är bestämdt mera för forskaren än för den större allmänheten, våga vi likväl hoppas att detsamma äfven hos denna skall vinna bifall, såsom en underhållande läsning….26) These hopes were dashed. Publication was suspended in 1849 with the second section of what was originally intended to be the first of three parts. HylténCavallius later wrote that he thought that the scholarly nature of the work was at fault, admitting that the style in which he had dressed the tales was an issue: There were many reasons. Through our learned apparatus we made the work too heavy. The style, which should have contented itself with being light and elegant, strove instead for a kind of classicism, formed according to medieval taste, and thus seemed unusual and strange. But above all else, for the overly refined Swedish nation the whole thing was completely new and moreover completely a matter of indifference. The work therefore lacked support and failed…. (Skälen var många. Vi hade genom vår lärde apparat gjort arbetet för tungt; stilen, som bort nöja sig med att vara lätt och elegant, eftersträvade i stället ett slags klassicitet, bildad efter medeltidens smak, och förekom

25 26

Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, 15–16. Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens, Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr, iv.

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derför ovanlig och främmande. Men framför allt, hela saken var för den öfverbildade svenska nationen alldeles ny och tillika alldeles likgiltig. Arbetet saknade således uppmuntran och föll….27) To this I would add the alarming length of the stories, which would test any normal person’s patience. Over and above that, the books were apparently significantly overpriced.28

5

Types and Variants

Despite its lack of success upon publication, Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr deserves attention in the history of folklore scholarship, not just as an example of work inspired by the Grimms but primarily for its annotations to the tales, something that the Grimms undertook in volume 3 of the second edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen but which was not to appear elsewhere in the North until Asbjørnsen and Moe’s appendix to their 1852 edition of the tales. As it was published, the collection of Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens comprises 22 stories. 13 appear in only one version, but five appear in two versions, two in three versions, and one in four, each with its own title. Additional variants appear in an appendix rather than in the main body of the text; these were presumably acquired after 1844 and indicate the ongoing nature of the project. Most of the 22 stories begin with a headnote. These are generally ascribed to Stephens, although nothing in the text indicates who took what role in the book.29 These headnotes are comparative, giving information on where else the tale (in my view, “type”) is to be found, almost always in a printed version to which reference is given. These are grouped according to peoples: for example, Norwegians, Danes, Germans, Slavs, Hindus, Arabs, Mongolians, and Hebrews. In this, the headnotes follow the Herderian principle linking folklore and peoples, and also, more specifically, the section of the Introduction dealing with the nature of fairy tales (“Über das Wesen des Märchens”) from the 1819 second edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen.30 As noted above, Stephens essentially worked with printed materials rather than oral accounts.31 All the same, as with Moe’s later introduction from 1852, 27 28 29 30 31

Hyltén-Cavallius, Ur mitt framfarna lif, 109. Bringéus, Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius, 108. See, for example, Bringéus, “Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius”. Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1819–1822), I, xxi–xxvi. See, for example, Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens, Sveriges historiska och politiska visor, viii, where it is noted that Stephens had worked in particular with printed broadsides.

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this additional provision of bibliographic information can be said to have anticipated Stith Thompson’s expansion of Antti Aarne’s tale-type index in 1928,32 even if short plot summaries of each type Aarne (1867–1925) had provided in the 1910 Verzeichnis der Märchentypen are lacking in the apparatus to Svenska folk-sagor. Nor does Stephens seek to analyse his results and to trace explicitly the origin or transmission of a tale, as Moe was to do for a few tales in his introduction and, more famously, as Svend Grundtvig (1824–1883) was to begin to do for every ballad for his ballad edition, which began publication in 1853 (more on this below). It is clear that Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens do not print every variant they know from Swedish tradition, but they do provide a great deal of information on what they have managed to collect or locate in libraries, and when they print more than one variant, they let the variation speak for itself. They are nonetheless obviously on to the notions of stability and variation that would lead to the formalisation of the notion of the type decades later. For example, to the two variants they print of what they call in the main title “Käringen, som wardt stekt i ugnen” (The Old Woman Who was Cooked in the Oven),33 a type we now know as ATU 327A,34 they give the titles, respectively, as “Jätte-stugan, hwars tak bestod af bara korfwar” (The Giant House Whose Roof was Made Only of Sausage); and “Stugan, hwars tak bestod af bara ostar” (The House Whose Roof was Made Only of Cheese). Following Alan Dundes, we would now understand the variation between sausage and cheese as motifemic equivalence35 and would certainly regard the use of a food item to roof over the house as being related to the main action of the story, namely the threat to the children of being eaten, the cooking of the witch and, more generally, the likely hunger that would beset the tradition-participants when times were bad on their farms. Following the listing of printed variants (if there are more than one), Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens also printed a series of numbered notes. Generally, each of these is devoted to another recording in Sweden. A handful of these are quite short, for example saying: “As a child the editor [this will be Hyltén-Cavallius speaking] heard a similar tale in southern Småland, in which the dogs were named Lyster, Dyster, and Törn” (“Utgifv. har såsom barn hört

32 33 34

35

Thompson, The Types of The Folk-Tale. Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens, Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr, 12–18. The acronym ATU stands for Uther, The Types of the International Folktale, the third iteration of an index of folktale types, following Aarne, Vernzeichnis der Märchentypen, and Thompson, The Types of the Folk-Tale. Dundes, “From Etic to Emic Units in the Structural Study of Folktales”.

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en liknande folksaga uti S. Småland, hvarest hundarne benämndes Lyster, Dyster, och Törn”36). Most, however, are quite lengthy, often a few paragraphs, and they aim to tell the reader exactly how the variant in question departs from the main printed text or texts. Finally, in some cases, the editors even print as a note the extra variant in full. In these cases, the tale has been dressed in the style of the other tales in the collection. As the examples cited above indicate, Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens conceived of the variation within Swedish folktale tradition in geographic rather than individual terms, noting in which of the old traditional provinces a given variant was found. They are like the Grimms in that they do not tell us anything about the storytellers, although Hyltén-Cavallius has left behind enough papers to make it often possible to identify informants and for us to know a little about them.37 All in all, 22 tales from the Swedish folktale tradition, insofar as it was documented, were presented quite fully in this collection, along with variant versions and indication of all the various recordings known to Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens. Since each of these tales is accorded a number, it hardly seems a leap to think of these numbers as incipient type numbers. Had publication continued, we might have been able to speak of the Swedish version of, say, “The Two Brothers” (ATU 303) as “H-C & S no. 5”, or “The Princess Confined in the Mound” (ATU 870) as “H-C & S no. 16”. The rest of their collection, which is in the Royal Library in Stockholm, is extensive, and filled four large printed volumes when it was published between 1937 and 1942.38 It is primarily to be found in a manuscript collection bearing the title “Svenska folksagor, legender, och äfventyr” (Swedish folktales, legends, and fairy tales)39 and arranged into type numbers by Stephens. The other part of the collection is a collection of Hyltén-Cavallius’s materials, bearing his handwritten title “Svenska sägner och folk-myther” (Swedish legends and folk myths).40 This is the closest to legends that George Stephens seems to have come personally.

36 37 38 39 40

Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens, Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr, 213. Bringéus, Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius, 104–109. See Sahlgren and Liljeblad (ed.), Mickels i Långhult sagor, Sven Söderströms sagor, Sagor från Smáland, and Sagor ur G. O. Hyltén-Cavallius och George Stephens samlingar. Cited in Sahlgren and Liljeblad, Sagor från Småland, v. It is not clear what legender in this title is meant to convey; the word usually refers to religious legends. Cited in Sahlgren and Liljeblad, Sagor från Småland, v. This title contains the usual word for folk legends, namely sägner.

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The 1845 Proposal

In spite of this, Stephens still looms fairly large in the history of the legend portion of the Grimm ripples in the middle of the nineteenth century, if only because of his proposal to collect Icelandic folklore that was set forth before the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries (Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab) in Copenhagen, a year after the publication of the first volume of Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr in July 1845 (see fig. 14.3). The society unanimously endorsed his proposal and expanded it to include the Faroe Islands, publishing it in the society’s journal.41 In his chapter on Jón Árnason in this volume, Terry Gunnell analyses and discusses the ramifications of this proposal for the collection of Icelandic folktales, and there is no need to go over the same ground here, except to note the contrast between the precision and confidence with which Stephens specifies the methods collectors should use and the equivocal evidence about Stephens’ own activities essentially as a collector of manuscripts and broadsides rather than of oral traditions.42

7

Ballads

Stephens’ other major contribution to folklore studies was his other earliernoted collaboration with Hyltén-Cavallius, Sveriges historiska och politiska visor. By the date of publication, 1853, Stephens had been living in Copenhagen for two years, and his contribution once again mainly consisted of collecting the various manuscripts and broadsides that form the sole basis of the collection and of writing headnotes to the ballads.43 Tellingly, he did not join Hyltén-Cavallius in writing the introduction, which is signed by HylténCavallius alone. Unlike the folktale collection, which made it to part 2 before expiring, this project never got beyond part 1. It is curious that the man who made the eloquent call for modern scientific collecting in Iceland did not heed the call made by Svend Grundtvig in 1847 for what a modern national

41

42 43

Stephens, “Forslag til Islændernes Uudgivne Folkesagns og Sanges Optegnelse og Bevaring”. The call was then published in a revised version in Icelandic a year later. See further the chapter on Jón Árnason by Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume where the original text of this call can also be found. On influences in the Faroe Islands, see further the chapter on V. U. Hammershaimb by Kim Simonsen. See further Eriksson, “Några reflecktioner kring frågan om George Stephens som samlare och upptecknare”. See further Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens, Sveriges historiska och politiska visor, viii.

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ballad edition should comprise: all there is, as it is.44 Stephens could hardly have been unaware of the controversy that followed,45 since Hyltén-Cavallius was acquainted with Christian Molbech (1783–1857), the principal critic of Grundtvig’s plan, and Molbech’s collection of Danish folktales, Udvalgte Eventyr og Fortællinger (Selected Fairy Tales and Other Narratives: 1843),46 was well known in intellectual circles in Sweden. Grundtvig’s ballad edition,47 which also started publication in 1853, remains world-famous, a model edition, while Sveriges historiska och politiska visor became a scholarly curiosity. In fact, the main value of Stephens’ ballad collecting was that his material would later be used for the apparatus in Danmarks gamle Folkeviser (The Ancient Ballads of Denmark).

8

Grimm as Scholarly Villain

With the move to Copenhagen in 1851, Stephens for all practical purposes ceased to work on folklore. A leading Danish folklorist in the generation that followed, Axel Olrik (1864–1917) reports in a short biography published in 1902 a statement from Stephens: “When someone asked him about that [his interest in folklore], he answered that now there were so many workers in that area, but back then he had been the only one” (“Naar nogen senere spurgte til den, svarede han, at nu var der saa mange arbejdere paa det område, men den gang var han den eneste”48). While this is hearsay evidence and should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt, it does sound consistent with the confident view that Stephens seems to have had of himself and his work, at least publicly. Times had certainly changed. In 1863, Svend Grundtvig had taken up the first academic appointment in folklore in Scandinavia (termed “Nordic Philology” [“Nordisk filologi”] but defined by Grundtvig in his inaugural lecture as the historically orientated study of the spiritual life of the Nordic peoples,49 that is, as folklore according to contemporary thinking). With his call for collecting 44

45 46 47 48 49

As Grundtvig put it in his Prøve paa en ny Udgave af Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, 3, his goal as editor was to provide “a complete edition and not a selection, a true rendering of what is retained and not a modernised or antiquated recasting of it” (“en fuldstændig Udgave og intet Udvalg, en tro Gjengivelse af det Bevarede og ikke nogen enten moderniserende eller antiquiserende Omstöbning heraf”). See Petersen. “Fra folkevisestriden”. Molbech, Udvalgte Eventyr og Fortællinger. Grundtvig, Danmarks gamle Folkeviser. Olrik, “Stephens, George”, 410. Piø, “Svend Grundtvig”, 222.

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and his function as a conduit, Stephens had played an early foundational role, from which he stepped away to a degree when he moved to Copenhagen. The folklore work having ended with his move to Copenhagen, Stephens took up what must be regarded as his life work. His major publication project from this time onwards was, of course, the edition of runic inscriptions,50 but he also contributed to the study of Old English literature.51 Another major project was an attempt to rescue English from what he perceived as German hegemony – an idea that grew to be not uncommon in Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia due to increasing Prussian predominance as the century progressed. This idea was repeated throughout Stephens’ scholarship, not least in his presentations of runic interpretations, but in 1890 he attempted to boil it down in a little pamphlet asking the rather strange question Is English a German Language? in which he rails against “[…] a new scientific ‘Law’, that Scandinavia speaks a north German dialect.”52 By “law”, Stephens really means “laws”, namely the correspondences of phonology (and also morphology) that linguists had discovered during the course of the nineteenth century and that we still use today to discuss the relationships among languages. The leader in this process was Jacob Grimm. While Stephens does not name him here, he goes on to implicate Grimm, who used titles like Deutsche Grammatik and Deutsche Mythologie when we would say “Germanic grammar” and “Germanic mythology”.53 Stephens writes: All we have, our literature old and new, in Scandinavia and in England, is now rubricated and annext [sic] by our cousins as German, North-German, under the general denominator “Germanic,” “Teutonic,” Germansk,” “Deutsch,” and the like.54 The villain of first part of the piece is the linguist Rasmus Rask (1787–1832), whose ground-breaking prize-essay on the origin of the Icelandic language demonstrated its relationship to the other languages we now call “Germanic”,55 50 51

52 53

54 55

Stephens, The Old-Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England. Stephens, Two Leaves of King Walderes Lay, an edition of a previously unknown poem which a colleague had stumbled upon in the library, constitutes a lasting contribution to the study of Old English poetry. Stephens, Is English a German Language?, 7. Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Grammatik; and Deutsche Mythologie. On Grimm’s linguistic terminology, see Nielsen, “Jacob Grimm and the ‘German’ Dialects”; on Grimm’s extension of the linguistic model to mythology, see Shippey, “A Revolution Reconsidered”. Stephens, Is English a German Language?, 7. See Rask, Undersøgelse om det gamle nordiske eller islandske sprogs oprindelse.

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that is English, German, Gothic, the Scandinavian languages. Rask generally calls this family “Gothic” (“gotisk”), and he basically works with four branches: Scandinavian, German, English, and “Mesogothic”, that is the Gothic used in the fourth-century Bible translation by Bishop Wulfila. That was not good enough for Stephens, although he was able to forgive Rask because he died before Stephens had been able to publish his runic corpus and thus had not been properly enlightened. In the bulk of the pamphlet, Stephens tilts at a few grammatical straw-men, occasionally getting something right but then blindly asserting that English and Scandinavian belong together against German. His real animus is toward Grimm and the Germans, whose grammatical “laws”, to his mind, are no better than pretexts for annexing land. Wrongly seizing on the postponed definite article in Scandinavia as the basis for assigning English to the West Germanic group, close to Low German, and correctly showing that the form originated fairly late in Scandinavia (although it remains, in fact, a valid isogloss), he concludes in a stylistically and temperamentally typical diatribe: Good. But the place of the article, THE MAN or MAN THE, is often accidental in tungs of the same family, and may change in the same land. So in Scandinavia. Runes and Skin-books show that, when creeping in there, it is PRE-fixt, not AF-fixt. The facts are clear. The Northern Postarticle began to bud little earlier than the year 1000, was long rare, and even yet has not penetrated in large folk-ships in North and South Jutland. Unhappily this theory, that the Pre-fixt Article stampt the land as German, was not only scientifically false but politically disastrous. It was taken up by the German philologer Jacob Grimm, who hounded on the German Professors and Schoolmasters. Jutland was claimed as German because it had this article; Prussia made use of the cry for its own perfidious purposes against its weak neighbour, and by force and fraud deprived Denmark not only of German Holstein, but also of the old Danish folkland Slesvig, and there it now extirpates the Danish tung with fire and sword.56 The progress from the 1844 dedication of Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr to this 1890 paranoid rant shows a scholar retreating from the Grimm ripples and the other scholarship of his day into an indefensible place of isolation and irrelevance. Two of the most obvious heirs to Grimm’s scholarship

56

Stephens, Is English a German Language?, 15.

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in Stephens’s time were Ludwig Wimmer (1839–1920) and Sophus Bugge (1833–1907); Stephens repudiated them both. The great phonetician Otto Jespersen (1860–1943), who studied English with Stephens at the University of Copenhagen, declared it a complete waste of time, painting Stephens as little better than a buffoon.57

9

Concluding Remarks

Although Stephens himself ceased to work in the field of folkloristics, his interest remained and can be gleaned from some of the scholars with whom he corresponded, including, besides Hyltén-Cavallius and Tegnér, Jón Árnason (1819–1888), whose collection of Icelandic tales followed on from Stephens’ call to collect Icelandic and Faroese legends; the Scottish folklore collector Robert Chambers (1802–1871); the British collector Walter Gregor (1825–1897); the influential Danish art historian Niels Laurits Arvid Høyen (1798–1870): Stephens’ Copenhagen colleague, the folklorist Axel Olrik; the historian and folklorist F. York Powell (1850–1904); the Icelandic philologist Konráð Gíslason (1808–1891); and the influential Cambridge librarian Eiríkur Magnússon (1833–1913).58 Stephens also continued to encourage younger scholars such as Oskar Rancken (1824–1895).59 Stephens similarly exerted a degree of continuing influence on folklore in Britain. His most important role here was by means of George Webbe Dasent (1817–1896), who had been in close contact with Stephens when he was living in Stockholm in the 1840s (at the time when Stephens was working on Swedish folklore and encouraging the collection of Icelandic materials). Dasent went on to publish his first translations of Asbjørnsen and Moe’s tales into English in 185960 in a work which in turn inspired John Francis Campbell (1821–1885) later to undertake his key Scottish collection (Popular Tales of the West Highlands

57 58 59 60

Jespersen, En sprogmands levned, 44–47, quoted in Kabell, “Et portræt af George Stephens, 32–33. See holdings in the Royal Library (Kungliga Biblioteket), in Stockholm: https://sok .riksarkivet.se/. See further the chapter on Rancken by Wolf-Knuts and Österlund-Pötzsch in this volume. See Dasent, Popular Tales from the Norse; see also Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”. Dasent appears to have received assistance from Stephens with his translation of Theophilus (published in 1845), and was evidently also in working in the Royal Library in Stockholm at the time of Jacob Grimm’s visit in 1844: see Wawn, The Vikings and the Victorians, 144. Of his help from Stephens, Dasent writes: “his favours are so numerous that the writer despairs of being able to enumerate them”: see Theophilus, viii.

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[1860–1862]).61 Like Dasent, Stephens followed folklore in Britain, keeping in touch with English folklorists and antiquarians such as James Orchard Halliwell (1820–1889).62 As has been suggested above, Stephens, like the Grimms and other early folklorists, saw oral folklore material essentially as a part of antiquity. One suspects it was of lesser interest to Stephens personally precisely because it did not consist of objects that he could collect and because it could not contribute to his theories about English as a Nordic language. Be that as it may, Stephens is rather like Loki in Old Norse religion: no sign of cult, but a primus motor in the mythological world, sometimes firmly embedded in the community and contributing to it but increasingly outside it as time progressed. His contribution to the study of the Swedish folktale and ballad, and his call for collecting in Iceland were all highly significant, and for the rest of his career, that is during the Copenhagen years, it seems clear that he retained a diminished if still noteworthy impact on folkloristics. 61

62

See further the chapter on Campbell by John Shaw elsewhere in this volume. HylténCavallius and Stephens’ own collection would not appear in English until 1882 and then bore the somewhat misleading main title Old Norse Fairy Tales. Today it is most interesting for the illustrations by the Swedish-born and London-based artist Egron Lundgren (1815–1875). Halliwell (see the chapter on folklore collection by Jonathan Roper elsewhere in this volume) notes the contributions of Stephens to his Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales: “The compiler’s best thanks are due to […] Mr George Stephens for several curious fragments, and valuable references to Swedish songs”: Halliwell, Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, x.

Chapter 9

Pioneers: Thomas Crofton Croker and the Brothers Grimm Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist

1

Introduction

That the Grimms had a major impact on Irish folklore collecting, and on Irish folk narrative itself, is not in doubt. Stories from Kinder- und Hausmärchen have clearly infiltrated Irish tradition, usually indirectly via translations and versions of the original book. Evidence of this has been uncovered by researchers working on particular tale types, and my article, “The Name of the Helper: Kinder- und Hausmärchen and Ireland”, describes some of these influences.1 All in all, it is fairly easy to identify those fairy tales in Ireland which have been derived from printed sources for the Grimms’ tales – and it seems evident that they are relatively few. More important than the stories themselves for Irish folk narrative was the example provided by the Grimms as collectors and editors, something that applies in particular to their work with Deutsche Sagen. The relationship between the Grimms and Irish folklore began early and very auspiciously in the history of the Grimm Ripples and could be characterised as a case of love at first sight, leading to an affair that was as short-lived as it was intense. It began in 1825, flourished for a few years, and by 1830 had fizzled out, at least as far as Ireland was concerned: at that point, Irish folklore research fell into a deep sleep during which it stirred only on rare occasions, until it was thoroughly aroused some hundred years later.2 The scholarly and

1 See Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist, “The Name of the Helper”. 2 This applies to the scholarly investigation of oral narrative in particular. It should be noted that, as in other countries, there had been interest in folklore in Ireland before Croker’s time; the influence of the Ossianic works of James Macpherson (1736–1796) could be said to have initiated this in the 1770s (see further the chapter on Scotland by John Shaw elsewhere in this volume), leading to the appearance of works like Reliques of Irish Poetry (1789) by Charlotte Brooke (1740–1793). The study of the Ossianic (or Fenian) tradition continued throughout the nineteenth century, the collection of ballads and oral poetry (also by Croker: see below) remaining a significant part of the folklore project in the mid-nineteenth century). The Celtic

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_011

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emotional attachment of the Germans to Ireland, on the other hand, fared somewhat better during the nineteenth century. How exactly did the relationship between Irish and German folklorists come about? As always, the assertion that any specific event is “the first” in a movement or school or tradition has to be tempered by qualifications. Interest in the Irish language, folklore and literature in Germany and in Europe as a whole clearly pre-dated the Grimms.3 Be that as it may, the splash that created the initial ripples in the early nineteenth century can be said to have received added impetus from a collection of legends about supernatural beings, entitled Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (see fig. 9.1), edited by an anonymous author, and published in London by John Murray in 1825. The book was an immediate hit at home,4 and Wilhelm Grimm (also writing anonymously) reviewed the volume most enthusiastically in Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen in January 1826.5 In fact, by this time (ten years after the appearance of the first volume of Deutsche Sagen), the energetic brothers had already translated the book; apparently they carried out the translation during the summer of 1825 as a diversion from the boredom they endured in copying out the entire catalogue of the Library of Kassel, which tedious task was visited on them by their employer, the Elector William II (1777–1847).6 Wilhelm’s anonymous review, while undoubtedly expressing genuine admiration for the original work, could be regarded as a timely piece of advance publicity for

3

4

5

6

Revival at the end of the nineteenth century ignited huge interest in every aspect of Irish culture, including language, folklore and literature. This enthusiasm resulted eventually in the establishment of the Folklore of Ireland Society in 1927, and of the Irish Folklore Commission in 1935, both carrying out systematic scholarly collection of Irish folklore of all kinds for several decades. The collection of oral narrative by individual enthusiasts and antiquarians – the most important of whom was Patrick Kennedy – continued sporadically throughout the nineteenth century: see further Zimmerman, The Irish Storyteller, passim, for a detailed history. See Hennig, “The Brothers Grimm and T. C. Croker”, 45: “The attention which he and his brother devoted at once to Croker’s collection seems to be expressive of the spontaneous general interest in Ireland of which at that time Goethe especially gave so many proofs.” The book was republished in 1826, and in 1828 was followed by a new series of stories (Parts II and III), the first part of which (Part II) was dedicated to Walter Scott, while the second part (Part III, also containing a translation of Wilhelm Grimm’s essay on elves from Irische Elfenmärchen and a collection of Welsh legends) was dedicated to Wilhelm Grimm (and includes a dedicatory letter). Other important early editions appeared in Britain in 1834, 1859 and 1862 (and in 1844 in the United States). The review which appeared in Göttingische Gelehrter Anzeigen, January 1826 (49–55) is reprinted in W. Grimm, Kleinere Schriften, II, 371–372. See also Kamenetsky, The Brothers Grimm and Their Critics, 207. Duncker, Die Brüder Grimm, 45.

Pioneers: Thomas Crofton Croker and the Brothers Grimm

Figure 9.1

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Thomas Crofton Croker: Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1825). Title page

the German translation of Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland which appeared soon after his glowing endorsement, under the title of Irische Elfenmärchen (lit. Irish Elven Fairy Tales: 1826).7 The author of the original Fairy Legends was soon revealed to be Thomas Crofton Croker (1798–1854: see fig. 9.2), an Irishman from Cork who lived in London. Rather strangely to our way of thinking, his translators, the Grimms 7 A copy of the first edition of Irische Elfenmärchen with manuscript notes in the hand of Jacob Grimm, from the collection of the Grimms’ friend Karl Lachmann (1793–1851), is held in the National Library of Ireland. On the translation of Irische Elfenmärchen (credited to both brothers in the book itself), see Kamenetsky, The Brothers Grimm and Their Critics, 190–191.

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Figure 9.2 Thomas Crofton Croker, by an unknown artist (c. 1848)

had not informed the author, or the publisher, in advance of their project. Even though copyright had been established in England in 1710, it did not extend to translations.8 Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland is regularly credited with being the first collection of Irish folktales.9 It was certainly the first substantial collection of legends drawn largely from Irish oral tradition.10 While books containing Irish folklore had been published before 1825, such as A Tour in Ireland (1780), and The Royal Hibernian Tales: Being a Collection of the Most Entertaining Stories now Extant (n. d.; before 1825) by Arthur Young (1741–1820),11 Croker’s was indeed the first collection devoted exclusively to Irish oral narrative, and, as Georges Zimmermann writes in his comprehensive history of Irish storytelling, The Irish Storyteller, it might be said that Croker’s book “revealed

8 9 10 11

See Khong, “The Historical Law and Economics of the First Copyright Act”. Danaher, “Introduction”, vii. Almqvist, “Irish Migratory Legends of the Supernatural”, 18–19 and passim. According to Zimmermann, in The Irish Storyteller, 172, the anonymously authored Royal Hibernian Tales predates Croker’s books. See also Ó Duilearga, “The Royal Hiberian Tales”.

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Irish folklore to Europe,”12 and thence to the world at large. Zimmermann goes on to say that Croker “represented the transition from miscellaneous antiquarianism to an intensive exploitation of oral literature, and was at first treated as an equal by the Grimm brothers.”13 The book made Croker famous, partly thanks to the interest of the celebrated Grimm brothers in the work, but it won admiration from other quarters too, Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) being notable among its fans.14 Who, though, was Croker? What motivated him and how did his work affect subsequent Irish folklore collecting and studies? How did he fit into the wider European network of nineteenth-century folklore scholars? Why did he collect and publish legends rather than fairy tales? And what was his relationship to the Grimms? The remainder of this chapter will attempt to deal with these questions, and to examine Croker’s contribution to folklore collection and research, not only in Ireland but also Northern Europe as a whole.

2

Thomas Crofton Croker

Although his is a household name among Irish folklorists, not a great deal of research has been carried out on Croker. One reason for this is that the investigation of nineteenth-century Irish folklorists – or proto-folklorists, to use Georges Zimmermann’s useful epithet15 – has in general been neglected in Ireland, mainly because the folklore collected in the twentieth century is so voluminous, fascinating and seductive, and its investigation has deservedly attracted most scholarly attention among the small community of Irish folklorists. The result of this that there is no biography or book-length study of Croker, meaning that information on him has to be gleaned from a handful of articles, introductions to reprints of his books, and en passant in works devoted to legends, stories, or other writers. In addition to the two different short biographies written by Croker’s son in the 1859 and 1862 editions of Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland,16 Richard Dorson devotes a chapter to him in The British Folklorists17 and Georges Zimmermann has much

12 13 14 15 16 17

Zimmermann, The Irish Storyteller, 175. Zimmermann, The Irish Storyteller, 173. Dorson, The British Folklorists, 49. On connections between Croker and Scott, see further note 34. Zimmermann, The Irish Storyteller, 167. Dillon Croker, “Memoir” and “Memoir of the Author”. Dorson, The British Folklorists, 44–52.

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useful comment in The Irish Storyteller,18 as has Bo Almqvist in his introduction to The Fairy Hill is On Fire.19 Brian Earls, who with Georges Zimmermann could be accounted the main expert on nineteenth-century Irish folklorists, refers to Croker rather dismissively – with some justification in the particular context – in his article, “Supernatural Legends in Nineteenth-Century Irish Writing”.20 The most substantial article on Croker, focusing on his connection with the Grimms, is John Hennig’s “The Brothers Grimm and T. C. Croker”, published in 1946,21 in which Hennig refers to the tendency of critics and writers to be dismissive and disdainful of Croker, and to consider him “an amusing charlatan”.22 W. B. Yeats (1865–1939), who admired Croker’s work up to a point, seeing it as the “best book” prior to “Lady Wilde’s Ancient Legends” (see below), also recognised its faults: Croker and Lover,23 full of the ideas of harum scarum Irish gentility, saw everything humorised. The impulse of the Irish literature of their time came from a class that did not – mainly for political reasons – take the populace seriously.24

18 19 20 21 22 23

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Zimmermann, The Irish Storyteller, 173–180. Almqvist, “Irish Migratory Legends of the Supernatural”, 18–19. See also MacCarthy, “Thomas Crofton Croker 1798–1854”. Earls, “Supernatural Legends in Nineteenth-Century Irish Writing”, 101–102. Hennig, “The Brothers Grimm and T. C. Croker”. Hennig, “The Brothers Grimm and T. C. Croker”, 50. Yeats is here referring to Legends and Stories of Ireland (1831) by the Irish songwriter and novelist Samuel Lover (1797–1868) from Dublin. The first Irish collection to directly refer to itself as belonging to “Ireland”, this illustrated work contains around twelve long framed folk narratives with folk legends at their heart (apparently based on personal reminiscences), in addition to one narrative taken from a manuscript and a small number of essays. This volume makes no direct mention of the work of either Croker or Thomas Keightley (see below), stating in its introduction that “the matter in the following pages is perfectly new, and unlike any thing that has gone before it” (emphases in the original), underlining its apparent difference to “the extensive family of ‘Legends,’ (fairy and otherwise,) ‘Stories,’ ‘Traits’ ‘Sketches’” &c. … even within the seventh degree”: Lover, Legends and Stories of Ireland, xiii (emphases in the original). See Yeats, Writings on Irish Folklore, Legend and Myth, 5. As Yeats adds here: “The various collectors of Irish folk-lore have, from our point of view, one great merit, and from the point of view of others, one great fault. They have made their work literature rather than science, and told us of the Irish peasantry rather than of the primitive religion of mankind, or whatever else the folklorists are on the gad after. To be considered scientists they should have tabulated all their tales in forms like grocers’ bills – item the fairy king, item the queen. Instead of this they have caught the very voice of the people, the very pulse of life, each giving what was most noticed in his day. […] What they did was not

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This is the impression I have always received of Croker from my folklore colleagues and the little that has been written about him from a folkloric point of view tends to focus on his faults – the main one being that he is an unreliable source as far as style, and sometimes also content, are concerned. These criticisms are nonetheless generally rounded with some platitudinous praise. Kevin Danaher, for instance, concludes an introduction to a reprint of Croker’s first book, Researches in the South of Ireland (1824), with the warm accolade: The reality is that Croker saw his fellow countrymen in a light unusually clear for his period, and within his limited opportunities wrote diligently, lovingly and almost invariably truthfully of them.25 In addition to the information available in scholarly articles like those noted above, a number of early accounts in the form of obituaries and appreciations are available.26 Most usefully, an extensive correspondence survives. Letters written by Croker himself are scattered across a number of libraries, including the National Library of Ireland, the British Library, the Library of Göttingen University, the Public Record Office in Kew, and the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, while letters to him are held in Cork City Library. This invaluable source comprises seven volumes containing some 200 letters apiece, making up a total of around 1400 letters. An index compiled by Sheila M. Kennedy, and the first three volumes, containing letters received by Croker between 1816 and 1830, have been recently digitised and are available on-line.27 These digitised volumes include the correspondence of Croker with Wilhelm Grimm, and, in this instance, both sides of the correspondence, that is to say, Croker’s letters as well as those of Grimm are included. All of the above material provides the basis of the brief review of Croker’s life that follows. Thomas Crofton Croker was born in Cork city in 1798, the year of a significant rebellion against English rule in Ireland which was brutally suppressed. His father was Major Thomas Croker of the 38th Regiment of Foot (died 1818),

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27

wholly false; they merely magnified an irresponsible type, found oftenest among boatmen, carmen, and gentlemen’s servants, into the type of a whole nation, and created the stage Irishman.” All in all, Yeats saw Croker’s as being “touched everywhere with beauty – a gentle Arcadian beauty”: Yeats, Writings on Irish Folklore, Legend and Myth, 5. Danaher, “Introduction”, vii. See, for example, E. G., “Memoir of the Late Thomas Crofton Croker, Esq.”, 397–398; “Our Portrait Gallery. No. LV: Thomas Crofton Croker”; Lee, “Croker, Thomas Crofton”; and Dillon Croker, “Memoir”, and “Memoir of the Author”. This material is available in the Local Studies Department of Cork City Libraries: see https://www.corkcitylibraries.ie/en/locations/city-library/local-studies/.

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a Staffordshire Regiment which was based in Cork for a period. Croker grew up in this city. In the obituary of Croker written in The Gentlemen’s Magazine in 1854, the anonymous writer observes: “His education, we presume, was gained in Cork.”28 We do not know where he went to school. Possibly he had a private tutor, or, we may speculate, went to Maginn’s private (Protestant) academy for boys, owned by the father of his contemporary, the journalist and intellectual Dr William Maginn (1794–1842), who, like Croker, later moved from Cork (“the Irish Athens, as Cork was then called”) to London and flourished there.29 Wherever he was schooled, at the age of 15, Croker’s formal education ended, and he was apprenticed as a clerk in a big merchant’s company, Mark and Lecky, in Cork. The obituaries state that between the years 1812 and 1815, he made several excursions on foot with Joseph Humphreys (1787–1859), a friend, possibly made in Mark and Lecky – it was a Quaker company, and Humphreys was a member of the Society of Friends.30 As the obituary in the Gentleman’s Magazine adds: at this early period Crofton Croker commenced his collections of the legends and songs of the peasantry, and his observations of their character and manners, which are interweaved into so many of his subsequent writings.31 According to the Dublin University Magazine, during these walks Croker was “studying the character, manners, language and superstitions of the peasantry, by associating with them and listening to their songs, legends and local traditions.”32 Croker left Cork for London in 1818, when he was 20 years old, and there he obtained a position as a clerk of the Admiralty. He rose to the rank of chief clerk and had a good salary and pension. One or two short visits to Ireland after that are documented but London was his home from 1818 until he died in 1854.33

28 29 30

31 32 33

E. G., “Memoir of the Late Thomas Crofton Croker, Esq.”, 397. “William Maginn (1794–1842) Critical and Biographical Introduction”: https://www .bartleby.com/library/prose/3379.html. E. G., “Memoir of the Late Thomas Crofton Croker, Esq.”, 397; and “Our Portrait Gallery. No. LV: Thomas Crofton Croker”, 202–203. Humphreys later went on to become Master of the Claremont Institution for Deaf and Dumb in Glasnevin, Dublin: see Quane, “Quaker Schools in Dublin”, 59. E. G., “Memoir of the Late Thomas Crofton Croker, Esq.”, 398. “Our Portrait Gallery. No. LV: Thomas Crofton Croker”, 203. E. G., “Memoir of the Late Thomas Crofton Croker, Esq.”; “Our Portrait Gallery. No. LV: Thomas Crofton Croker”; Hennig, “The Brothers Grimm and T. C. Croker”; Lee, “Cro-

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Croker was a talented visual artist and during his teenage excursions made sketches which were exhibited in Cork in 1817. He also wrote poetry and some of his early letters, written in his teens to Joseph Humphreys, refer to his poems and contain samples thereof. In the 1820s, after his move to London, he began to publish articles on Irish antiquities in newspapers. His first book was the earlier-noted Researches in the South of Ireland which was published in London in 1824. It is a travel book of a kind, based on notes (or memories) of the hikes he took as a teenager, and observations made during a holiday with his future wife, Marianne Nicholson (1791–1854), and her brother Alfred (1788–1833), in 1821, during which they visited Cork, Limerick and Waterford. It was followed in 1825 by the aforementioned Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, which launched Croker’s literary career. Subsequently he wrote a pantomime based on one of the fairy legends (for the Adelphi Theatre in London, managed by Daniel Terry [1780–1829]);34 compiled more than one edition of a children’s annual, The Christmas Box; and wrote two novelettes, sequels to Fairy Legends, and other folkloric works – notably Legends of the Lakes in 1829 and The Popular Songs of Ireland (1839). From 1829, he began to get elected to various learned societies in London, Ireland, and Scandinavia, such as the Society of Antiquaries, the British Archaeological Association, the Percy Society, the Camden Society, the Royal Irish Academy and the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries (Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab) in Copenhagen. In short, like many of the early folklore collectors in other parts of Europe, Croker was very active on the cultural

34

ker, Thomas Crofton”; MacCarthy, “Thomas Crofton Croker 1798–1854”; and Dillon Croker, “Memoir”, and “Memoir of the Author”. The pantomime, Harlequin and the Eagle: Or, The Man in the Moon and His Wife, was staged in 1826, partly on the encouragement of Terry’s friend, Walter Scott: see Schacker, Staging Fairyland, 82–104. It was later published in 1828 under the title of the legend on which it was based: see Croker, Daniel O’Rourke. See also “Sir Walter Scott and Mr Crofton Croker”, 452–453, which describes in some detail a breakfast party in Pall Mall on 20th October 1826 attended by Croker, Daniel Terry, the artist Daniel Maclise (see below) and Sir Walter Scott which Croker himself described in a letter to his sister (quoted in some detail in the article). This was apparently Croker’s first encounter with Scott. As Croker writes: “He mentioned my Fairy Legends, and hoped he should soon have the very great enjoyment of reading the Second Volume. ‘You are our – I speak of the Celtic Nations (said Sir Walter) – great authority now on Fairy Superstition, and have made the Fairy Land your Kingdom.; and sincerely do I hope it may prove a golden inheritance to you. To me (continued Sir Walter) it is the land of promise of future entertainment. I have been reading the German translation of your Tales, and the Grimms’ very elaborate Introduction.” The letter goes on to comment on the pantomime that Croker had written for Terry, which Scott apparently saw as “an admirable subject”.

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scene, always writing, talking, or going to meetings.35 As S. Clarke writes, he lived: in the first circles of London literary life, enjoying a respected and easy intercourse with the most highly-gifted minds of our age, making himself large, agreeable and sometimes brilliant contributions to that commonwealth of mind.36 Evidently archaeology, history and literature interested Croker as much as folklore and he was a keen collector of exotic artefacts. His house in Fulham, named “Rosamond’s Bower”, was choc-a-bloc with antiques, pictures and books. The catalogue of his Nachlass which was auctioned after his death in 1854 included 605 objects, including such curiosities as an ancient Irish harp, an alligator, and the cap worn by Charles I at his execution.37 It also included an extensive collection of broadside ballads and “Skellig Lists” (satirical verses circulated at Shrovetide), both providing further evidence, if needed, of Croker’s interest in many genres of Irish popular culture (and particularly Munster and Cork folklore).38 What inspired Croker to take an interest in “antiquities” in general and folklore in particular? It is probable that the definitive answer to this question could be found in his extensive correspondence, most of which the present author has not as yet had the opportunity to read. However, clues are available in his published writing and in the historical context. Croker was a member of the Irish Protestant middle class in Cork, a substantial minority which was always distinguished by class and religion from the majority, the Irish Catholic peasantry. His father was in the army which had suppressed the Irish rebellion

35

36 37 38

See E. G., “Memoir of the Late Thomas Crofton Croker, Esq.”; “Our Portrait Gallery. No. LV: Thomas Crofton Croker”; Dillon Croker, “Memoir”, and “Memoir of the Author”; and Hennig, “The Brothers Grimm and T. C. Croker”. Clarke, “Rosamond’s Bower”, 289. Catalogue of the Greater Part of the Library of Thomas Crofton Croker. On the “Skellig List” material (mainly collected between 1832 and 1845), see further Mac Gabhann, The Skellig Lists: Shrovetide Rhymes in the South of Ireland, 4 and 120–126. As Mac Gabhann notes here, Croker assembled the largest extant collection of “Skellig Lists”, material that was either bought by himself, in Cork, on his few visits there, or sent to him by his friends and correspondents in Cork. Most of Croker’s ballad and “Skellig List” material is now preserved in the British Library and in Cambridge University Library: see Vol. 24 of the Madden Collection in Cambridge University Library, and British Library Add MS. 20092 (“Collections for a history of the ballad literature of Ireland by Thomas Crofton Croker”).

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of 1798 and which was, to all intents and purposes, an enemy of the people from whom Croker collected. Nevertheless, thanks to his social status, Croker was educated and literate. In the Cork he grew up in, there was a lively intellectual circle which was taking a keen interest in archaeology, the Irish language and culture.39 Although the great Irish cultural renaissance was not to happen until the end of the nineteenth century when much in the politics and administration of the country changed, a harbinger of that movement was developing already at the start of the century. This urban Gaelic milieu and individual scholars and speakers of Irish in Cork are discussed in some detail by Deirdre Nic Mhathúna in “A Journey from Manuscript to Print: The Transmission of an Elegy by Piaras Feiritéar”. In addition to the earlier-noted outings that Croker took with his wife Marianne and her brother (see above), Croker’s “excursions”, described in his first book Researches in the South of Ireland, took the form of Sunday and holiday hikes with his friend Joseph Humphreys, when both were in their mid to late teens. They sketched ruins and old houses; they stopped in cottages and chatted to the country people, noting and remembering their stories and observing their customs and rituals. Like many of the “proto-folklorists” of the time noted in the other chapters of this book, they were young men enjoying the countryside, on walks with a purpose. Collecting folklore, is, as anyone who has done it knows, extremely enjoyable. Like all research, it is exciting because one is discovering new things about humanity and the world. For Croker, the realisation that he was collecting stories which had been told for centuries but which nobody had written down before must have been thrilling. As well as being intellectually fascinating, folklore collecting has the additional attraction of being both sociable and unpredictable: the collector meets exceptionally entertaining and creative people, most of them highly intelligent. Fieldwork is also physically engaging: Croker evidently walked for miles in the beautiful Cork countryside on his “excursions”. Even today, most folklore collectors are eager walkers; in the early nineteenth century, they had no choice. (It may be observed that as far as physical activity and social interaction is concerned, folklore fieldwork is the polar opposite of internet research.) Croker was nonetheless faced with the problem of not being a native speaker of Irish. According to his own account in the introduction to his later The Keen in the South of Ireland (1844), Croker (then aged 15) and Joseph

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Nic Mhathúna, “A Journey from Manuscript to Print”.

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Humphreys visited Gougane Barra, in West Cork on St John’s Eve, 1813. They attended a wake which Croker describes, and at which he heard and collected a keen. “I was then ignorant of the Irish language,” Croker writes, stating that he asked an old woman to translate it for him.40 It seems likely that the accident of being brought up in an English-speaking city with a network of lively intellectuals who had a burgeoning interest in Irish antiquities and history, but which was on the doorstep of a bi-lingual rural community, the culture, literature and traditions of which were still almost exclusively oral, was the magic combination which kindled Croker’s specific interests. Two of the necessary ingredients for inspiring the collection of folklore were literally within walking distance of his home: a literate intellectual network in Cork city, and a rich oral tradition in the immediate vicinity. Croker’s move to London at the age of 20 separated him from his folklore sources, and that is a matter for regret. On the positive side, however, the move introduced him to another network which fostered his development. In London he came in contact with the great intellectual and cultural movements of the age, British and European: he was friendly with the Irish poet and songwriter, Thomas Moore (1779–1852), the British scholar, Isaac D’Israeli (1766–1848), the Anglo-Irish author Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849), the earliermentioned Sir Walter Scott and many other writers and scholars.41 As noted above, he also belonged to several learned societies in the capital. This surely served to sharpen his appreciation of the Irish tradition he had left behind in Cork, and to make him realise that there was an appetite for knowledge about it. London also gave him his publisher. It was almost certainly in London that Thomas Crofton Croker first encountered the work of the Grimm Brothers. He arrived in the city in 1818, just five years before Edgar Taylor (1793–1839) published his translation of Kinder- und Hausmärchen under the title of German Popular Stories (1823).42 One year later, Thomas Crofton Croker’s first book, Researches in the South of Ireland, appeared. The timing alone suggests a link.

40

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Croker, The Keen in the South of Ireland, xx. It might be noted that the title page of this work states that the material in the book was “collected, edited and chiefly translated” by Croker. On Croker’s Irish, see further note 87, and Heyer, “Der Briefwechsel Thomas Crofton Crokers und Thomas Keightleys”, 116 (letter from Croker to Wilhelm Grimm, dated 16th June 1826). See Clarke, “Rosamond’s Bower”, 289. On this work, see further, for example, Blamires, “The Early Reception of the Grimms’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen in England”.

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Croker’s Collections

Researches in the South of Ireland is primarily a discursive travel book, a genre which was popular in eighteenth-and nineteenth-century Ireland. Its avowed purpose was to explain the Irish to the British. As Croker writes: Intimately connected as are the Sister Islands of Great Britain and Ireland, it is an extraordinary fact that the latter country should be comparatively a terra incognita to the English in general […]. Closer study would prove that in political feeling, in language, and in manners, and almost every particular which stamps a national character, the two Islands differ essentially. To the history of past ages we must refer for the means of ascertaining the present state of any people.43 The author has plenty to say about the differences between the Irish and the English: Distinctions will be found between the peasantry of England and Ireland, (for in the lower classes alone can national distinctions be traced.) […] The rough and honest independence of the English cottager speaks the freedom he has so long enjoyed, and when really injured his appeal to the laws for redress and protection marks their impartial and just administration; the witty servility of the Irish peasantry, mingled with occasional bursts of desperation and patriotism – the romantic sense of honour, and improvident yet unalterable attachments, are evidences of a conquest without system, an irregular government, and the remains of a feudal clanship, the barbarous and arbitrary organization of a warlike people.44 Although it is indisputable that Croker presents the common stereotype of the Irish as witty, servile and romantic, he is less harsh in his judgment of Irish country people than most of his English and Anglo-Irish contemporaries, and appreciative of the value of their traditions, as Kevin Danaher rightly noted in his introduction to an edition of Researches.45

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Croker, Researches in the South of Ireland, 1–2. Croker, Researches in the South of Ireland, 2. Danaher, “Introduction”, vi.

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Like most travel books, Researches largely consists of descriptions of landscapes, towns, architecture, and archaeology. What distinguishes it is that it also includes three chapters on folklore topics: “Fairies and Supernatural Agency”; “Keens and Death Ceremonies”; and “Manners and Customs”. There is also a chapter entitled “Literature”, which, while making some hyperbolic, if familiar, claims (for example, the statement that the “The literary superiority of Ireland over the rest of Europe, in remote ages, has been a subject of national exultation”46), contains very interesting ethnological information, such as the following: Amongst the peasantry, classical learning is not uncommon; and a tattered Ovid or Virgin may be found even in the hands of common labourers. In Munster, the village schoolmaster forms a peculiar character; and next to the lord of the manor, the parson, and the priest, he is the most important personage in the parish.47 The chapter on “Keens and Death Ceremonies” is particularly impressive from a folkloristic point of view. It includes rich descriptions of the composers and singers of keens (laments for the dead), as well as English translations of a selection of them. It also documents many folk beliefs and superstitions, and paraphrases legends and anecdotes such as the following: I remember once overhearing a contest between a poor man and his wife, respecting the burial of their infant. The woman wished to have the child laid near some of her own relations, which the husband strongly opposed, concluding her attachment of her friends was superior to her love for him; but he was soon convinced by his wife’s argument, that as her sister had died in child-birth only a few days previous, she would afford their poor infant suck, which nourishment it might not have if buried elsewhere.48 Similarly, the chapter on “Fairies and Supernatural Agency” includes a number of legends, among them a legend about an adult woman who is taken by the fairies and replaced with a supernatural being, a variation of the more common changeling legend involving the exchange of human and fairy babies.49

46 47 48 49

Croker, Researches in the South of Ireland, 325. Croker, Researches in the South of Ireland, 326. Croker, Researches in the South of Ireland, 69. The legend in question deals with a woman who is believed dead, and whose husband remarries, who returns from the fairy fort after a lengthy period. The husband now has

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Researches in the South of Ireland is written in a plain style. The voice flows naturally, and the book contains few of the somewhat florid excesses that can mar Croker’s subsequent publications. The rich accounts of legends, folk belief, and folk customs, drawn from his personal observation during his outings and holidays, are evidence of his deep interest in what was later called “folklore”. His fascination with this material, and his good memory for it, must have been to some extent spontaneous and to some extent inspired by British and Irish antiquarians and travel writers, such as Young’s A Tour in Ireland (noted above) or Sir Richard Colt Hoare’s Journal of a Tour in Ireland (1807). It is worth noting, however, that the book does not include any Märchen, or fairy tales, as such, even though, as noted above, Croker must have been aware of the Grimms’ collection. Like Croker’s next book, the favoured folk narrative genre in Researches is the legend. Above all, the book testifies to Croker’s intense and pioneering interest in folklore in general, and particularly in folklife and popular belief: the seedbed and the context of the legend genre. Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland came hot on the heels of Researches in the spring of 1825, and, as the title indicates, consists mainly of legends. This book was ground-breaking. Kevin Danaher’s assertion, in his introduction to a 1969 reissue of Researches in the South of Ireland, that Fairy Legends was “the first collection of oral tales published in Britain or Ireland”50 is perhaps stretching the truth. More correct is Georges Zimmermann’s statement that the book “placed Irish living narrative tradition on the European map and encouraged others to publish similar material.”51 The reason for its anonymous publication was not that Croker was shy (he had, of course, published a book under his own name just a year earlier) but that he was only partially its author. Apparently he had lost his original manuscript, and reconstructed it using material supplied by several of his acquaintances: the earlier-noted William Maginn, a Cork associate, interested in Irish, “Mr Humphries” (probably the Joseph Humphreys mentioned earlier), David Richard Pigot (1796–1873), and Thomas Keightley (1789–1872) who himself in 1828 went on to publish his own collection of stories, Fairy Mythology, which included fairy tales and some of the earliest English translations from

50 51

two wives and must solve this problem in a pre-divorce society: Croker, Researches in the South of Ireland, 87–88. Robin Flower collected another version of this legend from Tomás Ó Croimhthain on the Blasket Island: see Flower, The Western Island, 135–137. The legend naturally also has some similarities to those stories of people who unintentionally spend years in the world of the fairies (such as Rip Van Winkle): see MacDonald, “Migratory Legends of the Supernatural in Scotland”, 69, on legend type F 21: “Visit to Fairyland: Visitor Returns after Days, or more often, Years.” Danaher, “Introduction”, vii. Zimmermann, The Irish Storyteller, 180.

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Deutsche Sagen and Thiele’s Danske Folkesagn.52 Keightley complained about Croker’s lack of acknowledgment of his contribution, writing to the publisher John Murray and eventually to Wilhelm Grimm about his grievances.53 The controversy surrounding the authorship had far-reaching consequences.54 As previously noted, Croker’s book was a major success. In his 1826 review, Wilhelm Grimm wrote that he believed the book “depicted truthfully the domestic existence, thought mode of life and customs of a country we still do not know well” (“sie schildern nämlich mit vollkommener Wahrheit den häuslichen Zustand, Denkensart, Lebensweise und Sitten eines gerade nicht sehr bekanntes Land”55). In 1826, a second edition was published with an anonymous preface containing a letter from Walter Scott.56 That same year, the Grimms’ translation, Irische Elfenmärchen, appeared. A French translation by M. L. A. Dufau, entitled Contes Irlandais, was then published in Paris in 1828 (with the engravings by William Henry Brooke [1772–1860] taken from the 1826 edition).57 Irish folklore had been launched on the international scene. 52

53

54 55 56 57

See further Keightley, The Fairy Mythology (1828), II, 3–75 (Deutsche Sagen credited as a main source on p. 16); and (1850), 206–263 (containing additional material). For an example of Keightley’s direct translation from the Grimms, see the account of “Hinzelmann” (Keightley, The Fairy Mythology [1828], II, 43–67; cf. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen [1816–1818], I, 103–128). See also the accounts of “The Friendly Dwarfs” and “Smith Reichert” (Keightley, The Fairy Mythology [1828], II, 21–22 and 24–25; cf. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen [1816–1818], I, 230–232); and “Wedding Feast of the Little People” (Keightley, The Fairy Mythology [1828], II, 22–24; cf. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen [1816–1818], I, 39–40). Thiele’s Danske Folkesagn is regularly credited as the main source for many of the Scandinavian legends: see Keightley, The Fairy Mythology (1828), I, 131, and 135–244. As noted below, the extended 1828 edition of Croker’s collection also included a number of references to Thiele’s collection. On Thiele, see further the chapter by Timothy R. Tangherlini elsewhere in this volume. See further Heyer, “Der Briefwechsel Thomas Crofton Crokers und Thomas Keightleys”, 122–126, for the letters in question in which an irate Keightley describes Croker to Grimm as a “shallow void pretender”, a “parasitical plant” and a “literary insect” (123: letter dated June 13th 1828). See Zimmermann, The Irish Storyteller, 180; and Kamenetsky, The Brothers Grimm and Their Critics, 206–209. See Zimmermann, The Irish Storyteller, 179; and Wilhelm Grimm, Kleinere Schriften, II, 370. Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1826), vii–xi. According to “Sir Walter Scott and Mr Crofton Croker”, 453, the illustrations were originally made by Daniel Maclise (1806–1870), and then later engraved by Brooke who used his own style and was given the credit. It might be noted that Brooke was also credited with the illustrations for Keightley’s The Fairy Mythology. See further Hennig, “Contes Irlandais”. Arguably, the models for illustrations of this kind (also found in Samuel Lover’s collection [see above]) were those by George Cruikshank (1792–1878) which accompanied Edgar Taylor’s translations of the Grimms’ fairy tales, German Popular Stories from 1823 (see above).

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4

275

Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland

Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland includes 27 narratives about supernatural beings. It is divided into five sections: “The Shefro”, “The Cluricaune”, “The Banshee”, “The Phooka”, and “Thierna na Noge”. Most of the narratives are migratory legends which continued to be told commonly in Ireland until relatively recently and which are listed in the small index of legends of the supernatural, Crossing the Border, compiled by Bo Almqvist in 1991 (types ML 5085: The Changeling; MLSIT 6011: Capturer of the Fairy Shoemaker Outwitted (The Leprechaun); and MLSIT 4026: The Banshee’s Comb).58 Others are not so readily identifiable and may belong to local tradition, while some of the stories are not legends but rather fragments of fairy tales. The narratives are interspersed with commentary which is rambling and sometimes not very closely related to the story to which it is attached. For instance, a story which explains how Peggy Barrett got the hump on her back includes a brief reference to hurling. The note on this then contains an elaborate gloss on both mumming and hurling, even adding an illustration of a hurley stick, and a small ball, presumably lest the word “ball” was unfamiliar to the reader.59 Incidentally, this note on hurling is one of the few notes that was later translated by the Grimms, as John Hennig points out.60 The story of how Peggy Barrett got the hump on her back also is singled out for particular mention by Georges Zimmermann in The Irish Storyteller because in it the writer – Croker or whoever it may have been – gives a full and engaging account of the storyteller, and also of her audience, features which were comparatively rare in prior collections of folk narratives. This portrait provides us with a typical example of Croker’s style when he was at his best: Peggy Barrett was once tall, well-shaped and comely. She was in her youth remarkable for two qualities, not often found together, of being the most thrifty housewife, and the best dancer in her native village of Ballyhooley. But she is now upward of sixty years old; and during the last ten years of her life has never been able to stand upright. […] Peggy, like all experienced storytellers, suited her tales, both in length and subject, to the audience and the occasion. She knew that in broad daylight, when the

58 59 60

See Christiansen, The Migratory Legends, 109–113; and Almqvist, “Crossing the Border”, 246–248; and 254–255. On the Banshee, see Lysaght, The Banshee. Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1825), 295–308 (note on hurling: 305–308). Hennig, “The Brothers Grimm and T. C. Croker”, 54.

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sun shines brightly […] when men and women, like ourselves, are moving and speaking, employed variously in business and amusement; […] she knew, in short, […] that […] we want that spirit of credulity, without which tales of the deepest interest will lose their power. At such times Peggy was brief, very particular as to facts, and never dealt in the marvellous. But round the blazing hearth of a Christmas evening, […] when the winds of “dark December” whistled bleakly round the walls, […] at such times would Peggy Barrett give full scope to her memory, or her imagination, or both.61 This fine account of Peggy Barrett and the storytelling situation is something which tended to disappear from the reliable documentation of oral narrative in Ireland in the heyday of collecting in the mid-twentieth century, when the focus was much more on the story than on the storyteller, and, as noted above, the same applies to most other collections that were appearing at the time. Indeed, Croker’s detailed descriptions of the storytelling situation (which were later followed up by Asbjørnsen62) remind me of those we find in the most upto-date collections, by, for instance, Henry Glassie or Ray Cashman.63 Theirs is a different approach from that of the trained Irish collectors employed by the Irish Folklore Commission from 1935 onward, whose focus was primarily on the narratives or other material, although these earlier collectors do document basic biographical information regarding their informants and sometimes provide more detailed information in their diaries.64 A problem with Croker’s attention to detail and talent for describing character and situations is nonetheless that there is always a possibility that he simply made up descriptions of specific situations, although probably on the basis of general observations of storytellers. The introduction to a story called “The Lucky Guest” contains a brilliantly vivid account of the storyteller, Bridget Hogan: She was seated in that peculiar position which the Irish name “Curriguibh,” a position generally assumed by a veteran and determined storyteller. Her haunches resting upon the ground, and her feet bundled under

61 62 63 64

Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1825), 295–297. See further the chapter on Asbjørnsen by Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in this volume. See, for example, Glassie, Passing the Time in Ballymenone; and Cashman, Storytelling on the Northern Irish Border. Diaries of the full-time collectors of the Irish Folklore Commission are all to be found in the archive of the National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin.

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the body; her arms folded across and supported by her knees, and the outstretched chin of her hooded head pressing on the upper arm; which compact arrangement nearly reduced the whole figure into a perfect triangle.65 This is a text-book example of forensically close observation. Unfortunately, however, Croker had never seen the storyteller whose hunkered pose he describes so well. As Zimmermann notes, he got her story in a letter from a correspondent and apparently added the colourful description of the storyteller’s pose.66 (It may be noted that in the twentieth century, storytellers in Ireland usually sit on a chair while narrating. We can speculate that in the early nineteenth century, they adopted this hunkered position because there were no chairs in many country houses?) Nor was Croker careful about his sources. In his fine article on the supernatural in Anglo-Irish literature, Brian Earls writes about what he calls a “particularly brazen example” of Croker’s tendency to invent “folk stories”.67 A story entitled “The Soul Cages”, which was contributed by Thomas Keightley to Fairy Legends, is said to have been heard in Dunbeg, County Clare.68 The legend (which was dropped from the 1834 edition of Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland) tells how a fisherman releases the souls of dead sailors who have been imprisoned in lobster pots under the sea by the “Merrow”, or mermaid. Keightley himself later stated in the 1850 edition of his The Fairy Mythology that the account was a fabrication based on one of the Grimms’ legends.69 He nonetheless adds that “we afterwards found that it was well known on the coast of Cork and Wicklow.”70 Later collectors, however, discovered that

65 66 67 68 69

70

Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland: New Series (1828), 204. Zimmermann, The Irish Storyteller, 179. Earls, “Supernatural Legends in Nineteenth-Century Irish Writing”, 101–102. Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland: New Series (1828), 30–58. Keightley, in The Fairy Mythology (1850), 536, states that “this story had no foundation” outside a legend in Deutsche Sagen (“Der Wassermann und der Bauer”: Grimm, Deutsche Sagen [1816–1818], 67–68; translated by Keightley in Fairy Mythology [1850], 259–260). See also Keightley, The Fairy Mythology (1850), 370, however, where the legend is cited like other legends. Keightley, in The Fairy Mythology (1850), 536. The story was also included by W. B. Yeats (see below) in one of the collections he compiled in the British Library as a young man: see Yeats, Fairy and Folktales of the Irish Peasantry (1888), 61–75. Further comments on “merrows” as a tradition were then added in Yeats, Irish Fairy Tales (1892), 225–226, in which Yeats describes the ugly description of the “merrow” in Croker’s account as being a “merely local Munster tradition”.

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this story was never known in that area.71 In a letter to Wilhelm Grimm dated 13th June 1828, in which he complains angrily about Croker’s unreliability as a source, Thomas Keightley writes that he himself originally made up the story “The Soul Cages” at Croker’s suggestion after reading aloud his translations of stories from the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen for Croker. According to Keightley, Croker then said he thought that the Grimms’ legend about the souls of drowned men imprisoned in cages at the bottom of a lake (“Der Wasserman”72 [The Water Nix]) “would make an excellent subject for a tale […] and wished I would write it.” Keightley apparently obliged.

5

Thomas Crofton Croker’s Relationship with the Brothers Grimm

As noted above, we can surmise that Croker was aware of the Grimm Brothers and their work, especially of Kinder- und Hausmärchen, from 1823 at the latest. And we know that the Grimms encountered Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland in 1825. To the best of my knowledge, three letters from Croker to Wilhelm Grimm are extant. These letters are to be found in the Grimm Collection in the State Library (Staatsbibliothek; formerly Preußischer Kulturbesitz) in Berlin, classed under Grimm-Schrank 908. They are dated 16th June 1826, 23rd December 1826, and 1st May 1827.73 The first letter deals essentially with the Grimms’ translation of Croker’s collection, the second going on to note the plans to include a translation of the Grimm’s introductory article and material from Thiele in an extended edition of Fairy Legends (eventually published in 1828). The third discusses plans for a “Fairy Mythology” and includes a copy of Croker’s pantomime. Three letters from Wilhelm Grimm to Croker are kept in Cork City Library, dated 29th July 1826,74 and 26th January 1827,75 the third 71

72 73

74 75

On this question, see further Markey, “The Discovery of Irish Folklore”, 26–29. See also Kamenetsky, The Brothers Grimm and Their Critics, 206–207. Kamenetsky notes: “It is unlikely that Croker would have printed ‘The Soul Cages’ if he had not heard it and recorded himself previously. The fact the Keightley reprinted the tale himself in his The Fairy Mythology (1850: 527–536) further attests to the fact that he considered it a genuine folktale after all.” See further below. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, 61–63. Grimm-Schrank 908, Preußischer Kulturbesitz. See Bibliography for further details. The three letters (along with Wilhelm Grimm’s answer from 29th July 1826) are all transcribed in Heyer, “Der Briefwechsel Thomas Crofton Crokers und Thomas Keightleys”, 114–121. Cork City Library: Croker Correspondence, vol. 2, letter 28. See also an English translation in Dillon Croker, “Memoir of the Author”, vii–ix. Cork City Library: Croker Correspondence, vol. 2, letter 60/61.

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and apparently final letter being written on 15th February 1828.76 Cork City Library also holds a copy of a letter from Thomas Crofton Croker to Wilhelm Grimm, undated in the copy but substantially the same as that of 16th June 1826. It is not my intention here to enter into a detailed comparison of the two letters of 16th June 1826, one held in Cork and one in Berlin. However, some comparison is necessary. The two letters differ in terms of handwriting in that the hand in the Berlin version is much neater and more easily legible than that in the Cork version. In the Cork version, the double-s in the word “express” in the opening line is written with an eszet instead of ss. In the Berlin version we find “express” with the modern ss (although the eszet occurs in at least another word in the Berlin version – “succeß”). Apart from these differences, it seems to me that the handwriting in both letters is rather similar. There is, however, internal evidence which makes it clear that the Cork version is a draft written by Croker for a third party – perhaps a secretary (unless his wife, Marianne, wrote the fair copy for him?). Although Croker mainly addresses the readers (the Grimms) in the second person, on a few occasions he refers to them in the third person in this version, as can be seen in the following: Further assure them that in this country the Notes have often produced as much merriment as the tales and such is the English taste that I should much doubted (sic) the success of the Volume without them and certain embellishments of the story – for if they had been related in the simple unadorned style used in Deutsche Sagen few if any purchasers would be found and the book would have been condemned as unfit for the nursery. […] What the second series is like – offer proof sheets – if the other has done sufficiently well to induce them to wish to translate it and if they point out the mode of transmission (with respect to the notes of the former, they are as they have observed written in the English fashion […]. (My italics.) In terms of content, it is worth observing that the undated Cork version is addressed to “A Messieurs Grimm, a Cassel, Allemagne”, while the Berlin version simply gives an address and the heading: London, 16th June 1826. Both letters begin with the same greetings: “Gentlemen”. We can perhaps conclude that the Cork version is a draft written by Croker for someone who wrote it out in a fair hand, made some changes, and then sent it to the Grimm brothers. 76

Cork City Library: Croker Correspondence, vol. 2, letter 15.

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There is not much difference in terms of content between the draft and the finished version of the letter. The latter contains a little more detail, and occasionally changes the nuance of the original. For example, whereas Croker’s draft refers to the “simple unadorned style used in Deutsche Sagen,” the final version drops the adjectives “simple unadorned”. The paragraph quoted above defending his style is rendered thus in the Berlin version: I can further assure you that the Notes – absurd as many of them are – have contributed considerably to the popularity of the Volume in this country, and without them and certain embellishments in telling the stories, I am satisfied (the state of English taste is such) that my volume would have remained on the shelf of the Bookseller. I am therefore obliged to use a different style from the tales in the ‘Deutsche Sagen.’ To summarise the letter: Croker thanks the Grimms for translating Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland and defends the style and “Notes” of the same against criticisms made by the Grimms in their introduction. He then goes on to make several corrections to their translation, saying: “Of some [idioms] you have missed the exact sense but as I have not had time to compare the original with the translation I can point out only such as occur to my memory.” All in all, Croker’s memory seems to have served him well, because he continues with some 30 corrections, including page numbers. The letter of 16th June 1826 is highly significant in more than one way. As can be seen above, it indicates first of all that Croker (like Keightley: see above) was familiar with Deutsche Sagen. We can thus deduce also that he could read German. There is no indication to suggest otherwise. It also confirms the worst opinions of contemporary Irish folklore scholars about the value of Croker’s collections: he pandered to the gallery, embellishing and changing his stories with an eye to the marketplace, and, although in this letter he claims to “defend Irish idioms”, in fact he seems to have participated fully in the racial stereotyping of the Irish by the English in the nineteenth century (and in other centuries). The market wanted stage Irishmen and Croker was willing to supply them.

6

Irische Elfenmärchen and Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland

We can speculate that the Brothers Grimm were not familiar with the racist commonplaces of Anglo-Irish literature in the early nineteenth century. They

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regarded Croker’s work as largely authentic. Their Irische Elfenmärchen consists of translations of the legends and stories in the original work, along with notes. To this, the Grimms added two introductory essays, “Die Elfen in Irland” (The Elves in Ireland) and “Die Elfen in Schottland” (The Elves in Scotland). Croker complimented the Grimms on the fidelity of their translation. As far as overall content is concerned, Irische Elfenmärchen is indeed faithful to Croker’s book. It includes every story in the original work, and preserves its arrangement into sections: “Das Stille Volk”, “Der Clurikaun”, “Die Banshi”, and so on. Several minor changes were made, however. A number of Croker’s titles were replaced with new coinages, in some instances, one presumes, because Croker’s titles contain place names which were too exotic for Germans. For example, “The Legend of Knockshegowna” is rendered “Das Weisse Kalb”. The Grimms also reduced all of Croker’s notes by 75% and placed those that remained with their own additions at the end of the book rather than dispersed through the text. Most interestingly, they occasionally simplified Croker’s florid style and in fact in some cases restored the legends to a style more likely to be in keeping with that of a real storyteller. They do this, for example, with the first paragraph of the first story in Fairy Legends, “The Legend of Knockshegowna”, which opens thus: In Tipperary is one of the most singularly shaped hills in the world. It has got a peak on the top like a conical nightcap thrown carelessly over your head as you awake in the morning. On the very point is built a lodge, where in the summer the lady who built it used to go on parties of pleasure; but that was long after the days of the fairies, and it is, I believe, now deserted.77 This is rendered as follows: In Tipperary liegt ein Berg so seltsam gestaltet, wie einer auf der Welt. Seine Spitze besteht aus einer kegelförmigen Kuppe, auf der ein kleines Haus zur Erlustigung in der Sommertagen aufgebaut war, das jetzt auch verödet seyn mag.78 Gone are the conical nightcap and the partying lady.

77 78

Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1825), 2. Croker, Irische Elfenmärchen, 36.

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The third story, “The Legend of Knockgrafton”, is called “Fingerhütchen” by the Grimms. Their translation of this legend is mainly very faithful, probably because the original is written in rather natural transparent prose. They nonetheless clearly balked at the following: So he sat down under the moat to rest himself, and began looking mournfully enough at the moon, which “Rising in clouded majesty, at length, Apparently Queen, unveil’d her peerless light, O’er the dark heaven her silver mantle threw And in her pale dominion check’d the night.”79 Irische Elfenmärchen simply leaves out the verse altogether: […] setzte er sich unter dem Grabhügel, um ein wenig auszuruhen, und sah ganz betrübt den Mond an, der eben silberrein aufstieg.80 Both of these amendments reflect Wilhelm Grimm’s advice to Croker in his letter of January 1827 not to place notes in the main body of the text and to avoid poetic embellishments. In the translation, Wilhelm writes that he wishes the traditions of the various nations to be studied and geographically arranged, and that therefore the traditions “cannot be compressed”; they must be related “in as much detail and complexity as possible. Indeed, your personal and poetical enhancements would be quite out of place; complete faithfulness is very important.”81 The passage in the original letter runs as follows: […] diese kan nicht bestimmt, kurz und zusammengedrängt genug seyn, während die Volksagen selbst so durchführlich und umständlich als wie immer möglich isst, erzählt werden müssen, nur freilich eigene und dichterische Erweiterungen würden hier nicht an ihrer Stelle seyn, und an vollkommenden Treue ist viel gelegen.82

79 80 81

82

Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1825), 25. Croker, Irische Elfenmärchen, 43. The translation here (by Felix Lummer) is based in part on another seemingly contemporaneous translation preserved in Cork City Library Archive of the letter from Wilhelm Grimm to Croker, dated 26th January 1827. The letter was written in Kassel. It is addressed to “Mr T Crofton Croker, 52 Charlotte Street, Portland Place, London.” Letter from Wilhelm Grimm to Croker, 26th January 1827.

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Croker went on to place additional material based on the Grimms’ notes in the 1828 edition of his book, the second part of which (as noted earlier) was now prefaced with a dedicatory letter to Wilhelm Grimm and a translation of the Grimm’s introductory article to Irische Elfenmärchen, as well as references to a number of other works including Thiele’s collection of Danish legends.83

7

Conclusion

As can be noted elsewhere in this volume, of particular interest to the Grimm Ripples project are the “networks” of early folklore collectors and editors that were evolving in Europe, and the interest in legends as opposed to fairy tales. As shown above, Croker obviously had a hot-line not only to Walter Scott but also the greatest European folklorists of his time, the Grimms. He was also fully immersed in the vibrant intellectual community in London and was on friendly terms with a number of other writers, scholars and thinkers. There is no evidence that he travelled in Europe himself, however, and he never actually met the Grimms in person. An obvious question, considering the fact that Kinder- und Hausmärchen had received so much attention in its English translation is why Croker, like most early Nordic folklorists, focused on legends, rather than fairy tales? Was this due to the influence of Deutsche Sagen? It is clear from his letters to Wilhelm Grimm that Croker was familiar with Deutsche Sagen, even though his library did not appear to include a copy of it. (Indeed it did not hold any other work by the Grimms, curiously enough.84) As noted above, in a letter to Wilhelm Grimm, dated 13th April 1829, Keightley states that he read some legends from Deutsche Sagen to Croker in English,85 and in his well-researched and authoritative article on the relationship between Croker and the Grimms, John Hennig underlines that “the relationship between Croker’s notes [in the original edition of Fairy Legends] and the geographical descriptions given in Deutsche Sagen is obvious.”86 Regarding why he did not collect fairy tales, one must consider the big question mark concerning Croker’s knowledge of 83

84 85 86

Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland: New Series (1828), II, iii–xxviii; and 1–154. For references to Thiele (“little known to the English reader”), see I, 16, 101, 137, 257, 324; and II, x, 55, 71, 73–75, 77–79, 84, 89, 93–96, 99, 103–104, 106, 108–111, 113–114, 116, 118–120, 123, and 296 (most references in the second volume naturally coming from the translation of the Grimms’ introductory article). Hennig, “The Brothers Grimm and T. C. Croker”, 45. Heyer, “Der Briefwechsel Thomas Crofton Crokers und Thomas Keightleys”, 125. Hennig, “The Brothers Grimm and T.C. Croker”, 52.

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Irish,87 something which is very pertinent to the nature of his collecting and his emphasis on legends. It was certainly not because of any lack of fairy tales in the areas in which he collected. In Ireland, until the mid-twentieth century, there was still a very rich tradition of Märchen and other international fairy tales. Indeed, the National Folklore Collection in Dublin holds one of the biggest fairy tale archives in the world, alongside an enormous collection of legends. What is the difference between the two genres? We know the tried and tested distinction of Jacob Grimm: “the fairy tale is more poetic, the legend is more historical” (“das Märchen ist poetischer, die Sage historischer”).88 However, there is more to it than that. Legends are shorter, and many more people in the community know and can tell legends than know fairy tales, which demand special of powers of memory and narrative skill. Legends can be told quickly, at any time of the day, whereas fairy tales require leisure time. In Ireland, they were usually told at storytelling sessions in particular houses, at night when the day’s work was done. Finally, in Ireland, the fairy tales seem to have been told mainly in the Irish language, although there are plenty of exceptions to this rule. As noted above, Croker seems to have “collected”, or heard, legends during his Sunday walks in the countryside. It is unlikely that his schedule (as a full-time clerk in the city) would have allowed him the leisure to attend long storytelling evenings in country cottages. It is also unlikely that his seemingly limited knowledge of Irish (see above) would have enabled him to understand lengthy and complex stories told in that language. Finally, like many of the early collectors, he was, at heart, a sort of ethnographer or anthropologist, interested in customs and folkways, landscape and archaeology, rather than in folk literature as an art form. The “fairy faith”, such a central part of Irish popular belief in the nineteenth century, was clearly of great interest to him, and that belief is most clearly illustrated in the wide repertoire of Irish legends

87

88

There are mis-translations of several elementary Irish words in Researches in the South of Ireland. For example, Croker translates “Bean Sí” as “White Fairy”, mixing up the adjective Bán (white) with the noun Bean (woman). He also writes in that book that a keener in Cork translated her keens into English for him: see Croker, Researches in the South of Ireland, 91 and 173. Furthermore, there is not a single Irish letter in his voluminous correspondence. While he undoubtedly knew some Irish (he refers to Neilson’s “Irish Grammar” [An Introduction to the Irish Language] in Researches in the South of Ireland, 82), it was perhaps not very much. Croker also recommends this book by the Rev. William Neilson (1174–1821) in his letter to Wilhelm Grimm from 16th June 1826: see Heyer, “Der Briefwechsel Thomas Crofton Crokers und Thomas Keightleys”, 116. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, v–vi.

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about supernatural beings. Possibly this combination of factors, rather than any conscious predeliction for the legend form, influenced him in his choice of material. I would also suggest that it is very possible that Croker actually paid little attention to the distinction between legends and fairy tales. He regarded the stories in his collections essentially as fantasies, evidence of the superstitious nature of the Irish people. It is curious, also, that the Grimms entitled their translation of Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland Elfenmärchen (Irish Elven Fairy Tales), rather than Elfensagn in spite of their own distinctions in genre. It is as if they too saw the distinction between Märchen and Sagn breaking down in the case of the legends from the South of Ireland. Indeed, such distinctions can often break down in folk narrative. Legends and fairy tales (if not pure Märchen, that is ATU 300–749: “Tales of Magic”89) can often overlap – and Kinder- und Hausmärchen itself includes a number of legends. Sometimes a legend type is told in fairy-tale style in Ireland, and vice versa. A good example is ATU 1350: “The Soon-Consoled Widow” which occurs most oddly as an animal tale in Kinder- und Hausmärchen, under the title of “Von der Frau Füchsin” (“Mrs Fox”),90 whereas in Ireland, this same folktale is sometimes told as a first-person narrative, with legend characteristics.91 In other words, the plot of this story can, and does, serve as the basis of a fairy tale, a legend, or even an animal tale! How then can we sum up Croker’s contribution to Irish folklore studies? As folklorists in Ireland have long known, Croker is not a reliable source as far as the style of Irish oral narrative, or its precise content, is concerned. As noted above, it is possible that he over-estimated his knowledge of the Irish language. His research and collecting in the south of Ireland was mainly carried out when he was a teenager, apart from one holiday of a few weeks and a speedy visit to Killarney funded by his publisher, also of a few weeks duration, in 1826. His stories and legends were sourced apparently from his memory and perhaps notes, as well as from friends and acquaintances. In short, like many of the other early collectors, he was a gifted amateur in the field of folklore collecting and studies. Nevertheless, as most of those who have given any consideration at all to his work have argued, Croker was a pioneer. Even if Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland was not solely responsible for the start of the love affair of continental scholars with Ireland and Irish tradition, it certainly fanned the 89 90 91

See Uther, The Types of International Folktales, I, 124–396. Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812–1815), I, 176–189. See also Uther, The Types of International Folktales, II, 151–152. See Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist, “Synge’s Use of Popular Material in The Shadow of the Glen”.

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flames of the relationship. As Wilhelm Grimm pointed out in an essay on Irish folklore studies written in 1856: “Among the Irish, T. C. Croker was the first to break ground, with his Fairy Legends” (“Bei den Iren brach T. C. Croker […] mit seinen Fairy Legends […] zuerst Bahn”92). The Grimms then introduced Irish folklore to Germany. What was the legacy of Croker and the Grimms in Ireland? The nineteenth century clearly saw a continuation of the kind of folklore collecting and publication that Croker initiated. Several collections were published in the mid century by collectors such as Patrick Kennedy (1801–1883), Speranza or Lady Wilde (1821–1896) and Gerald Griffin (1803–1840).93 Towards the end of the century, the writers of the Celtic Revival, Lady Gregory (1852–1932) and Douglas Hyde (1860–1949), collected and published important collections.94 Around the same period, J. M. Synge (1871–1909) collected stories which he used in his plays; and W. B. Yeats (1865–1939) had a keen interest although he could not be described as a collector as such. These ripples of the Grimmian boulder, however, were rather weak. If the Grimms are to be seen as the pioneers of systematic folklore scholarship and collecting which is faithful to the oral tradition (or at least attempts to be), their legacy was not inherited fully in Ireland until the twentieth century. Kevin Danaher sums up this situation very well at the end of his introduction to the 1969 edition of Researches in the South of Ireland: Croker continued his researches and published other collections […] but the greater part of his life was spent in London, far away from the farmhouses and cabins of Munster. Other nineteenth century scholars failed to follow his lead; for them the country man moved back into the wings of the Irish stage, from which he was occasionally lured out by the novelist or playwright to display his capers. Not until the end of the nineteenth century was the sublime again glimpsed behind the ridiculous in the words and ways of the Irish country man; not until the nineteen-thirties was the validity of his tradition as a source of scholarly research again recognized, while even yet its study has not been accorded in Ireland the full academic status which is commonplace in Europe.95 92 93

94 95

Hennig, “The Brothers Grimm and T. C. Croker”, 51. See, for example, Kennedy, The Fireside Stories of Ireland (1870); Lady Wilde, Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland (1887); and Griffin, Tales of the Munster Festivals (1827). See Hyde, Beside the Fire (1890); and Lady Gregory, Saints and Wonders (1906), The Kiltartan History Book (1909), and The Kiltartan Wonder Book (1910). Danaher, “Introduction”, vii.

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Danaher is referring here to the establishment, in 1935, of the Irish Folklore Commission,96 the organisation which went on to collect millions of pages of folktales, legends and other folklore. Folklore only became an academic subject for the first time in Ireland in 1972, just a few years after Danaher wrote these words. 96

See Briody, The Irish Folklore Commission 1935–1970; and Almqvist, “The Irish Folklore Commission”.

Chapter 10

The Grimms, Scotland and “This New Science of ‘Storyology’” John Shaw

1

Introduction

Tracing and assessing the influences of the works of the Brothers Grimm, most notably the various editions of Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812–1815) and Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818) on the study of folklore in Scotland necessitates the use of a range of written sources. It also leads to the occasional conjecture where direct evidence is lacking. Some of the printed and manuscript sources – letters between nineteenth-century folklore collectors; marginalia in personal copies of folklore publications; printed pamphlets; and personal papers held in archives – certainly indicate a fairly clear trail leading back to Germany. With regard to those which involved the systematic use of the postal service as part of fieldwork methodology, while such a legacy is possible, it may also be the result of independent developments that took place in Victorian Britain, or on the Continent.

2

The Background: Early Scottish Folktale Collections

In Scotland, evidence of interest in recording living traditions predates the Grimms’ publications by a good two and a half centuries with the publication of The Complaynt of Scotland probably by Robert Wedderburn (c. 1510–c. 1557) printed in Paris around 1550, in which the titles of two Scots folktales, later to appear in printed collections, are mentioned.1 Around 1695, Martin Martin (?–1718), a native of Skye, recorded a wide variety of customs during a voyage to the Western Isles which were published in A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland (1703). At about the same time, the polymath Edward

1 The tales (“The Red Etin” and “The Well at the World’s End”) were noted down early in the nineteenth century and appeared in the 1842 edition of Robert Chambers’ collection, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland, 53 and 56–58 (see below).

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_012

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Lhuyd (1660–1709) journeyed through the Highlands and amassed an impressive and varied body of folklore information, taken down largely in his native Welsh.2 Meanwhile, in 1691,3 the Reverend Robert Kirk (1644–1692), Minister of Aberfoyle, Perthshire, wrote a treatise on fairy lore entitled The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies which contains a large number of fairy legends. Fieldwork carried out nearly three centuries later by the School of Scottish Studies confirms that many of the legends from Kirk’s collection were indeed drawn from Highland tradition.4 The appearance of Ossian by James Macpherson (1736–1796) in the 1760s and its sensational aftermath nevertheless brought about the earliest deliberate and focused collecting of oral traditions in Scotland. Much of this we owe to the “Ossian Controversy”, which proved to be a stimulus to field collection in the Highlands.5 Among the main reasons were the uses of an emerging interest in ethnology to justify “the ways of Scotland to England” in the wake of the Union of 1707 and the uprising of 1745, and the need of Scottish culture to be rehabilitated as part of a post-Jacobite world. It remained for the philosopher David Hume (1711–1776) in 1763 to demand that testimonies be gathered to provide incontrovertible proof of authenticity, and to this end, a major collecting project was organised throughout the Highlands which resulted in the publication of the 1805 Report on Ossian, a unique source of ethnographic information on Gaelic oral tradition and its collectors in the Highlands from as early as 1730.6

3

Jacob Grimm and Sir Walter Scott

The first, and only, direct contact between the Grimms and a Scottish folklore collector that the present author is aware of is to be found a few years later in the correspondence between Jacob Grimm and Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832) in 1814–1815. Scott, best known as an author of literary romances, was a keen antiquary whose interests embraced the oral traditions of the Highlands as well as 2 3 4 5

See J. L. Campbell and Thomson, Edward Lhuyd in the Scottish Highlands. See Hunter, The Occult Laboratory. MacDonald, “Migratory Legends”, 43–78. See, for example, Stafford, The Sublime Savage; Thomson, The Gaelic Sources of Macpherson’s Ossian; Moulton, “A Controversy Discarded and ‘Ossian’ Revealed”; Meek, “The Sublime Gael”; Gauti Kristjánsson, “Ossian in the North”, and “The Epic Nature of the Nation”; and Leerssen, “Ossian and the Rise of Literary Historicism”. 6 Mackenzie, Report of the Committee of the Highland Society of Scotland; and Shaw, “Gaelic Oral Poetry in Scotland”, 8–10.

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those of the Lowlands, including the Borders.7 Over a decade had passed since the appearance of Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1802–1803) and the first of a series of novels (Waverley 1814) was soon to be published. By that time, Scott had maintained an active interest in German romantic literature for over two decades.8 He was conscientious in documenting the sources in his works and, with his networks of friends and colleagues,9 was, by his own account, well informed of developments in the study of Scottish traditions and well placed to share his knowledge internationally.10 The correspondence begins with a letter from Jacob Grimm, written in his home city of Kassel and dated 4th January 1814,11 in which Grimm (still engaged in Kinder- und Hausmärchen, but yet to send out the 1815 “Circular”12 and clearly planning Deutsche Sagen) alludes to his own long-standing interest in the history and traditions of Germanic peoples, and enquires whether Scott would be inclined to share his knowledge of Scotland with him. In support of his request, Grimm gives a clear, though brief account of the advantages of a comparative approach, stating his view that the lore and antiquities of England and Scotland are to be regarded as branches of a single older culture shared with those of Germany and Iceland, for which a thorough study of each will serve to complete the larger picture: I am taking the liberty of addressing this letter to you to enquire whether you might give me leave to be allowed in the future to avail myself of your learning and generosity regarding more precise information that I would like to have on various topics concerning Old English literature. My studies in Old German and Icelandic poetry and history are

7 8

9

10 11 12

See Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, and The Border Antiquities of England and Scotland; and Dorson, The British Folklorists, 107–118. The earliest known reference by the Grimms to Scott is in a letter from Jacob Grimm to Georg Friedrich Benecke (1762–1844) in 1810 discussing Scott’s Minstrelsy. Prior to 1814, translations of works by Scott had appeared in Germany (1810, 1813), Portugal (1811), France (1813) and Austria (1813): see Barnaby, “Timeline of the Reception of Sir Walter Scott”, xxv. In addition to the colleagues mentioned by Jacob Grimm in his letter (see below), Scott enjoyed the friendship of the Edinburgh publisher Robert Chambers (see below) and was significantly assisted in his field collecting by James Hogg (1770–1835), the “Ettrick Shepherd” from the Borders. For further information on contacts and collaborations throughout Scott’s career, see MacCunn, Sir Walter Scott’s Friends. Grierson, The Letters of Sir Walter Scott, I, 436–439; and Dorson, The British Folklorists, 109. National Library of Scotland (NLS): MS 3885, 7–8. See Jacob Grimm, “Circular”; Dundes, International Folkloristics, 1–7; and Kamenetsky, The Brothers Grimm and Their Critics, 160–162.

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intimately connected with English and Scottish antiquities, and indeed there is not one of these various branches of an originally whole and undivided tree that could not, unexpectedly or unanticipatedly, serve to bridge the gaps in the other or shed light on it.13 (ich nehme mir die Freiheit, an Sie diesen Brief zu richten, und zu fragen, ob Sie erlauben wollen, dass ich mich inskünftige über verschiedene Gegenstände der altenglischen Literatur, von denen ich genauere Auskunft zu haben wünschte, an Ihre Gelehrsamkeit und Güte wenden darf? Mit meinem Studium der altdeutschen und isländischen Poësie und Geschichte hangen die englischen und schottischen alterthümer innig zusammen und es ist gewiss keiner dieser verschiedenen Zweige eines ersprünglich ungespaltenen Baumes, der nicht unerwartet und ungeahndet, die Lücke des anderen decken oder Lichter auf ihn werfen könne.) Jacob states that due to current events on the Continent, it has been difficult to acquire recent books, but he has managed to obtain a copy of Scott’s Minstrelsy. Following an account of the brothers’ own present and intended projects, Jacob then reiterates the wider importance of Scottish traditions, saying that: Since I am pursuing the traces left by this ancient folk tradition (cf. the works quoted above: Kinder und Hausmärchen 1813), information concerning the far richer area of Scottish folk legend would be of infinite value to me. To whom should one turn? (Da ich die Spuren dieser uralten Volkstraditionen angelegentlichst verfolge (v. die angeführten: Kinder und Hausmärchen 1813) so wären mir Mittheilungen aus der viel reicheren schottischen Volkssage unendlich lieb. An wen hätte man sich zu wenden?) Grimm’s acquaintance with the works of contemporary folklore collectors/ antiquarians active in Scotland and England (Joseph Ritson [1752–1803], John Leyden [1775–1811], and Francis Douce [1757–1834])14 appears to have been extensive, and underlines that he was far better informed about Scottish folklore than the Scottish folklorists were aware of the work of the Grimms. He 13 14

Unless otherwise stated all translations are those of the author. Joseph Ritson was a prolific producer of collections of song, ballad and story, most notably on traditions of Robin Hood: see his A Select Collection of English Songs (1783).

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apologises for writing in German, adding [that he is confident] that Scott, as England’s greatest living poet, will have read Goethe in the original. Scott did read German and seems to have taken an active interest in the story collecting by the Grimms and their neighbouring colleagues. The catalogue of his private library lists inter alia the brothers’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812) and Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), together with J. M. Thiele’s collection of Danish tales (1818–1823). On 29th April, within a day of receiving Jacob Grimm’s letter, Scott responded, providing news of the Scottish colleagues mentioned by Grimm, and promising to send a selection of books.15 He concludes by saying: I do not know of anyone who knows more of Scottish popular fiction than I do myself, excepting the tales of the Highlands, with which I am less immediately familiar. Any questions you can propose on the subject I will answer with all the fidelity and attention in my power.16 In his next letter, sent from Paris in June 1814,17 Jacob Grimm thanks Scott for his report on colleagues in Britain active in research in the field, and for the gift of books. In return, he promises to bring together materials from himself and his brother Wilhelm and expresses his intention to visit Sweden and Norway.18 Of particular interest is Jacob’s observation that attention should not be

15

16 17 18

Scott was greatly helped in his collecting by John Leyden, a widely-travelled Borders man with multiple interests who produced an edition of Complaynt of Scotland (1801). Douce, a London antiquary admired for his scholarly generosity, was widely consulted on matters of folklore by his contemporaries, including Scott: see Dorson, “The First Group of British Folklorists”, 337–340, and The British Folklorists, 109. Scott’s letter was forwarded by Wilhelm Grimm to his brother who was currently residing in Paris (Schoof, Unbekannte Briefe der Brüder Grimm, 104–105). Scott writes the following about the works he intends to send: “Mr Weber and Mr Robert Jamieson undertook to publish a miscellaneous volume upon Northern antiquities, chiefly relating to those of Scandinavia and Northern Germany, to which I contributed an abridgement of the Eyrbiggja Saga […]. With the Northern Antiquities you will receive the Edinburgh Annual Register, which will probably interest you […]. What I trust to be able to send you are, The Register, 8 volumes – the Culdees – my own poems, and Sir Tristram. Besides the poems of Marmion and Lady of the Lake, I wrote the Lay of Last Minstrel, and one of Don Roderick, and more lately one of Rokeby (these I will send with the Northern Antiquities, and perhaps some other things which do not occur to me at this moment)”: Grierson, The Letters of Sir Walter Scott, I, 436, and 438. The letter is summarised in Grierson, The Letters of Sir Walter Scott, I, 439. Summarised in Grierson, The Letters of Sir Walter Scott, I, 435. In the end, Grimm did not manage to visit Scandinavia until 1844: see further the chapters by John Lindow, and Terry Gunnell and Fredrik Skott on George Stephens and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius elsewhere in this volume.

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limited to song, but should also be directed toward the far more ancient and rich orally transmitted fairy tales and legends, and that it is very much a question of valuing and preserving such traditions, even in imperfect forms. In line with the ideas expressed in the introductions to the brothers’ works and in their “Circular” (see above), Grimm stresses that the common dialects of the reciters, if in any way significant, should be retained, stating that the passages in Plattdeutsch appearing in Kinder- und Hausmärchen are perhaps the best, being the most precise and detailed.19 I am not aware of any evidence of direct influence from Jacob Grimm’s views on Scott’s own treatment of traditional materials.20 Scott was nonetheless evidently quite taken with the stories in Kinder- und Hausmärchen, for he observes in a letter written in 1823 to Edgar Taylor (1793–1839), the first man to translate the stories into English, that: when my family were at the happy age of being auditors to fairy tales I have often endeavoured to translate them in such an extempore manner as I could and was always gratified by the pleasure which the German fictions seem to convey.21 Further on in the same letter Scott remarks on the “independently curious circumstances that such tales should be found existing in different countries and languages […].”22 Even so, it remained for Taylor himself (in the introduction to his widelyread translation of the Grimms’ fairy tales, German Popular Stories: [1823]) to make the English-speaking public more fully aware of the implications reflected in the wide international distribution of folk stories: The rich collection from which the following tales are selected, is very interesting in the literary point of view, as affording a new proof of the wide diffusion of these gay creations of imagination, apparently flowing

19 20 21 22

NLS: MS 3885/102–103. On Scott’s views on oral sources and historical romance, see Dorson, The British Folklorists, 109–111. Michaelis-Jena, The Brothers Grimm, 174. Michaelis-Jena, The Brothers Grimm, 174. That Scott was aware of the work of William Jones (1746–1794) who laid the groundwork for Indo-European linguistics and comparative mythology is evident from a letter of 15th October 1810 in which he describes how his friend John Leyden, an accomplished linguist (see above), is “supposed to have succeeded the limits of Sir W. Jones’s researches”: Grierson, The Letters of Sir Walter Scott, II, 391. Scott’s frequent and lengthy conversations with Leyden may well have been the source of his information.

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from some mysterious fountainhead, whence Calmuck, Russian, Celt, Scandinavian, and German, in their various ramifications have imbibed earliest lessons of oral instruction.23 In a work that “makes no literary pretensions,” Taylor states that he endeavoured to keep the translation free of alterations.24 In her informative study of the Grimms and Scott from 2012, Sarah Dunnigan explores their correspondence within the contexts of early-nineteenthcentury literary movements (chiefly German and “Celtic” romanticism); recent political events common to the two countries; and their shared antiquarian and comparative folklore interests. As she shows, in these letters Jacob Grimm draws attention to the importance of combining the resources contained in related traditions, and the “potential and promise – of what a collective European work of recovery and discovery might unearth,”25 underlining not least the legitimising role of medieval myths in providing a sound sense of origins and cultural stability. As noted above, these letters provide demonstration of the fact that Jacob Grimm’s knowledge of folklore activity in Scotland already seems to have considerably exceeded Scott’s acquaintance with the work of folklorists outside of the British Isles. Certainly, elsewhere the Grimms make clear their high regard for traditions taken down from Scottish informants (arguing that Scottish fairy belief forms “a complete and connected whole,”26 and indicate, indirectly, their preference for the approach to Scottish vernacular traditions reflected in the work of William Grant Stewart (1797–1869) over that featured in Scott’s writings.27 Indeed, materials from Grant Stewart’s published collection (The Popular Superstitions and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders of Scotland [1823]), which was designed to help resurrect the culture of the Highlanders,28 are

23 24 25 26 27

28

Taylor, German Popular Stories, iv. Taylor, German Popular Stories, xi–xii. Dunnigan, “The Enchanted Worlds of Scott, Scotland, and the Grimms”, 258. Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions, 3, 54. Dunnigan, “The Enchanted Worlds of Scott, Scotland, and the Grimms”, 258–259, and 267–270. It is worth noting that Grant Stewart’s collection is not listed in the catalogue of Scott’s library: see The Bannatyne Club, Catalogue of the Library at Abbotsford. Grant Stewart’s feelings are made clear in his preface (The Popular Amusements and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders, vii–xvi), which makes no mention of Grimm or Scott, in spite of the fact that it underlines the use of exact recordings: “The language is almost entirely borrowed from the mouth of the Highland narrator, and translated, it is hoped, in a manner so simple and unvarnished, as to be perfectly intelligible to the capacity of the peasant, for whose fireside entertainment this little volume may, perhaps, be pecu-

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those that most often appear under the heading “The Elves in Scotland” in the Grimms’ essay accompanying the third volume of Thomas Crofton Croker’s Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1825–1828).29 There is no evidence of correspondence between Scott and the Grimms after 1815, but the networks remained active, if only at one remove, with Scott making the acquaintance of Croker, who had carried on a correspondence with Wilhelm, at a cordial meeting in London in October 1826.30

4

A Legacy for Scotland in the Making

Contacts with the Grimms and their publications are not mentioned in the other Scottish collections that were published during the last years of Scott’s life, and in Scotland during the first half of the nineteenth century, the collection of traditional prose narrative and ballads seems to have continued in the absence of any perceptible influence from the approaches contained in the Grimms’ work. Nonetheless, during this period, alongside the work of Scott and Grant Stewart noted above, traditional narrative texts were also beginning to appear in the Lowlands. In 1827, Peter Buchan (1790–1854), from Peterhead on the east coast of Scotland, made a collection for which he did not carry out fieldwork himself but rather employed “a few older people to canvass for me in the country, where such are only to be found.”31 In spite of this, the collection, entitled Ancient Scottish Tales: Collected by Peter Buchan, did not appear in print until 1908, a good while after its author’s death. It consists of 14 fairy tales, delivered not in the Scots of the storytellers, but in a “stilted English”.32

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liarly adapted” (xv–xvi). Especially worthy of note is Grant Stewart’s explanation for why supernatural legends should be collected: “Far be it, however, from the writer of these pages to wish the reign of superstition prolonged. But, while he would hail with delight, the total extirpation of every prejudice tending to enslave the mental energy of the noble Gael, he would as ardently desire their perpetuation on the page of history, as his ancient peculiarities. Divested as they will soon be of their formidable character, we would preserve them as the most ancient relics we could transmit to our posterity, to whom, in the course of a few centuries, they may appear as preposterous and incredible, as the Poems of Ossian, do now, to the more sceptical part of the present generation”: Grant Stewart, The Popular Amusements and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders, xi–xii. On this essay which arose from the Grimms’ German translation of Croker’s work (Irische Elfenmärchen: 1826), see further the chapter on Croker by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist elsewhere in this volume. See The Gentleman’s Magazine, Series 2, 42 (1854), 452–456. Buchan, Ancient Scottish Tales, 1. Bruford and MacDonald, Scottish Traditional Tales, 22.

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Legends were nonetheless the main focus of another collection published by Buchan’s contemporary Robert Chambers (1802–1871). Chambers, originally from the Borders, became a bookseller and publisher and while still a young man published his first collection of oral materials, Traditions of Edinburgh (1825) and Reekiana, or Minor Antiquities of Edinburgh (1833), entertaining accounts of the lore attached to locations and buildings within the city, and pioneering works in the field of urban folklore. Unlike the Grimms’ legend collection and that of Grant Stewart, Chambers’s collection shows no evidence of a preoccupation with an earlier body of “glorious” legendary tradition, and the supernatural plays no important part in it. Chambers was nonetheless actively encouraged in his work by Sir Walter Scott, who contributed to Chambers’ next publication of folklore, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (1826). In the third edition (1841) of this work, Chambers included a 60-page section of folktales titled “Fireside Nursery Stories” which, unlike Buchan’s published tales, are rendered in Scots (possibly reflecting the Grimms’ recommendations). All in all, these works from the first part of the nineteenth century provide a range of legendary accounts and 30 fairy tales from the Lowlands, representing a recorded local repertoire that would not be increased in any meaningful way until the 1950s and the discovery of the storytelling Travellers.33

5

The Islayman Engages

The central themes and techniques developed by the Brothers Grimm, such as the investigation of oral traditions in which the comparative method was used to find the ultimate origins of a given story, the idea of story structure being used as a tool for comparison; the practice and treatment of fieldwork; and in some cases, the “restoration” of a tale by reordering and combining fragments, were only really brought into play in Scotland, and indeed Britain as a whole, with the emergence of Scotland’s leading folklore collector of the Victorian era, John Francis Campbell (1821–1885: see fig. 10.1). What is remarkable is the extent to which the Grimms’ philosophy and approach, be it by derivation or parallel development, were manifested in the activities of this single individual. Campbell was raised on the Gaelic speaking island of Islay in the western Highlands and for the scion of a family of minor Highland aristocrats, his early 33

Since the 1950s, the itinerant groups workers and craftsmen, known as the Scottish Travellers, who often followed a yearly circuit, have been a primary source for folklore fieldworkers, particularly as singers and storytellers: see further Douglas, “Narrative in Traveller Scotland”, 49–57; and Shaw, “Storytelling in Scotland”, 28–35.

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Figure 10.1 Photograph of John Francis Campbell (1868)

upbringing was unusual. As he recounts in a paper read to the Ethnological Society of London dated 1870: Let me tell you, as shortly as I can, how it happens that I know something about traditions of any kind. I was raised in the Highlands of Scotland and as soon as I was out of the hands of nursemaids I was handed over to the care of a piper. His name was the same as mine, John Campbell, and from him I learned a good many useful arts. I learned to be hardy and healthy and I learned Gaelic […] I made early acquaintance with a blind fiddler who could recite stories […] and so I got to know a good deal about the ways of Highlanders by growing up as a Highlander myself.34 Campbell was educated at Eton, and then at the University of Edinburgh, where, in 1851, he qualified in law, recalling the early training of the Grimms

34

J. F. Campbell, “On Current British Mythology and Oral Traditions”, 325–326.

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Figure 10.2

John Francis Campbell: Popular Tales of the West Highlands, vol. I (1860). Title page

and Konrad Maurer (1823–1902).35 His organisational and writing abilities were soon recognised, resulting in his sitting on the Lighthouse and Mines Commissions (1859, 1863) and the Coal Commission (1866). His interest in the natural sciences – geology in particular – led to some major publications and earned him respect in the scientific world; when not engaged in his research and government work, he derived keen pleasure from outdoor pursuits and world travel.36 All of these activities he noted down in detail, to appear in his 35 36

See further the chapter on Konrad Maurer by Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir elsewhere in this volume. In addition to various visits to the European Continent, Campbell travelled to Scandinavia often: Norway (1849, 1850, 1851, 1852, 1857, 1865, 1868, 1873: see Evans, “John Francis

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publications and in his papers.37 Campbell’s command of languages further recalls the accomplishments of the Grimms; in addition to English, Gaelic and the classical languages, his papers and publications reveal that he knew German, Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, French, Spanish, and Italian, and had some acquaintance with at least as many more modern languages.38 Campbell’s interest in traditional tales emerges gradually during the decade or so before the publication of his major collection, Popular Tales of the West Highlands (1860–1862: see fig. 10.2). He tells us that as early as 1847 at the age of 25, at the instigation of Dr MacLeod of Campsie (1783–1862), a well-known Gaelic writer, he began to gather tales,39 but his full engagement does not take place until 1859 with the publication of Popular Tales from the Norse (1859: see fig. 10.3), the English translation by George Webb Dasent (1817–1896: see fig. 10.4) of Asbjørnsen and Moe’s Norwegian fairy tales (1859). Dasent, an Englishman five years Campbell’s senior, had met Jacob Grimm while on a diplomatic posting in Stockholm (during the time of Grimm’s visit to Scandinavia in 184440). Partly as a result of encouragement by Jacob Grimm and George Stephens (1813–1895),41 Dasent went on to develop a lifelong interest in Scandinavian studies. Upon returning to England in 1845, he became assistant editor of The Times, and subsequently embarked on an academic career, producing a distinguished series of publications, including the aforesaid translation which included the hope that: […] an English Grimm may yet arise who may carry out what Mr. Chambers has so well begun in Scotland, and discover in the mouth of an Anglo-Saxon Gammer Grethel, some, at least, of those popular tales which England once had in common with the Aryan race.42 Campbell clearly took up the challenge (if he had not already considered doing so before the book came out. Indeed, his personal copy of the second edition

37 38 39 40 41

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Campbell of Islay”, 56); Sweden (1849, 1850, 1873); Denmark (1849); Germany (1849); Iceland (1861, 1862); Ireland and Man (1863); America and Canada (1864); India (1867, 1876–1877); Ireland and Wales (1872); Russia, Turkey and Italy (1873); America, Japan, Singapore, Ceylon, and Aden (1874–1875); Egypt and Syria (1878); and Egypt (1880). Held in the NLS Adv. MSS collection. See Shaw, “The Collectors: John Francis Campbell and Alexander Carmichael”, 347–350. J. F. Campbell, “On Current British Mythology and Oral Traditions”, 326. See further the chapters by John Lindow, and Terry Gunnell and Fredrik Skott on George Stephens and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius elsewhere in this volume. See further the chapter by John Lindow on George Stephens elsewhere in this volume. With regard to Dasent’s time in Scandinavia and his encouragement from Jacob Grimm, see further A. I. Dasent, “Sir George Webbe Dasent”, 10–12. Dasent, Popular Tales from the Norse, clx.

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Figure 10.3

Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe: Popular Tales from the Norse in Dasent’s translation (1859). Title page

of Dasent’s work (from 1859), with its detailed introduction drawing heavily on the comparative folk narrative approaches reflected in the work of the Grimms and Jørgen Moe (1813–1882),43 reveals much concerning the interests that Campbell and Dasent had in common.44

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On these introductions, see further Gunnell “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”. Campbell did, however, take exception to Dasent’s “dictum” (in Popular Tales from the Norse, xv) regarding the apparent demise of storytelling in England over a century previously. Campbell’s response was to locate two English gypsy storytellers and in March 1861 to invite Dasent to his offices at the Lighthouse Commission, 7 Milbank Street, to hear from their large fund of stories: see J. F. Campbell, “On Current British Mythology and

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Figure 10.4 Photograph of George Webbe Dasent: From the 1907 edition of Popular Tales from the Norse

Campbell’s observations on Dasent’s work, in the form of marginalia, are plentiful, not least throughout its introduction of over 140 pages, although the table of contents is also copiously marked. His copy of the 1857 edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen is likewise carefully annotated;45 in both works Campbell’s comments have largely to do with tale comparisons, either to those known to Campbell from the Gaelic world, or from the expansive world of his own wide reading. Of particular interest is that Campbell has carefully noted the passage in Dasent’s work describing the Grimms’ policy of taking down stories in the field, which parallels the advice given him by Dasent in letters written the same year.46 The first letter of the correspondence on record is from Dasent.47 It is undated but likely written early in January 1859, before the publication of his translation of the Norwegian folktales. Evidently Campbell had sent him some stories to inspect. Dasent writes:

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Oral Traditions”, 327–329. See also the chapter on English collectors by Jonathan Roper elsewhere in this volume. Also carefully annotated are the contents pages of Campbell’s copy of the anonymous English translation of Kinder- und Hausmärchen, Household Stories (1857), in which Campbell notes various Scottish parallels: see https://digital.nls.uk/early-Gaelic-book -collections/archive/79773067. Dasent, Popular Tales from the Norse, ci. For all of the quotes from letters between Dasent and Campbell below, see NLS Adv. MS 50.1., which contains their correspondence as a whole. NLS Adv. MS 50.1.1.

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Many thanks for your Gaelic tales. It is quite plain from these that a good deal is to be done before they die out. I hope the instinct of race48 will be strong enough still to make some good Celt devote himself to gathering them before it is too late […]. To return to the tales which are a more serious matter than most of you imagine being the oldest tradition of your race; I do hope you will have sufficient influence […] to make some of those ‘meenesters’ [ministers] collect them. Campbell’s reply on 23rd January 1859 provides a good summary of his own abilities and his interest in fieldwork and the origins of stories, and signals a developing friendship. He writes: I am sorry you cannot come to us on Thursday. Perhaps you can come some other day let me know – Please return my stories – I find that I remember more than I thought. I have written down three or four today which I have heard or thought of for years. – some metrical jingle rises up & then I remember the story of which it forms the main incident. I know most of West Highlands and I may be able to get together a goodly lot of […] traditions. If the Celts did come from the East49 their traditions should be worth getting together. – I think I have sufficient honesty to give them as I got them. I know spoken Gaelic well enough to convert it into written English and I should rather like to save from perdition whatever may be valuable in a language which is hardly known to the learned and which must soon pass away. Perhaps you will lend me a helping hand if I set to work in earnest. Dasent’s reply of 17th February 1859 contains the advice regarding practice in the field reproduced by Campbell in the introduction to his collection and often quoted since.50 He then goes on to explain the Grimms’ distinction between Märchen and Sagen (taken from the introduction to Deutsche Sagen51), and echoes Wilhelm Grimm’s technique of reconstructing a tale using scattered variants available:

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Dasent’s views on race and folk traditions are discussed in Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, 20–21. Cf. Dasent, Popular Tales from the Norse, xxiii. J. F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands, I, xxi, cxxi. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, v–vi.

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… As my mind that a good deal is to be done in the way of Popular Tales in the Highlands I write[?] you then [a] few lines of advice which I hope you will find time to read, as I trust you will take them in good part. First & foremost every old woman of whatever rank must be allowed to tell her story in her own way and in her own words. It will be time enough to supply missing links when – as no doubt will be the case – several variations of the same story have been found. 2nd They must never be allowed to put you off, as I have often found them try to do – 3. Tales must be kept as much as possible from Local Traditions. The Tale “Eventyr” “Märchen”, is quite a different thing from the local tradition “Sage”. Some one expresses it very properly and prettily when he says The Tale flies, the Local Tradition walks.52 […] 4. If possible the Celtic tales must be distinguished from the Teutonic ones. This requires some experience in which if mine is of any worth it is […] heartily at your service […] Let all local traditions & tales, Celtic & Teutonic, be collected and when we have got a mess of them […] we shall see what we shall see. Two days later Campbell had this to say: Thanks for your advice which I will follow. I got the enclosed story yesterday morning from an old minister’s wife in Islay. – These will show that I have acted on your advice before I got it & that I have already got something from an old lady told in her own way in her own handwriting […]. Because I am an Island Highlander & know Gaelic I am prone[?] not to be respected/expected of making anything good that is Highland.53 If

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Taken from Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie (1844), I, xiv: “das märchen fliegt, die saga geht.” Campbell’s views on the status of Gaelic in his time, though seldom stated explicitly, are clear. In a section titled “A Plea for Gaelic” in his collection (J. F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands, IV, 325–332), he predicts that the language will soon be “extinguished” and remarks on the losses to society in the Highlands and beyond that will result from language death. Regarding the dismissive treatment of Gaelic oral traditions by the upper social orders, he makes the practical observation: “surely even such frivolities are better pastime than a solitary whisky bottle, or sleep, or grim silence”: J. F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands. I, xx. For concepts of Gaelic culture and identity through history, see Macdonald, Reimagining Culture, 33–66.

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you will look at what I do get from time to time, and if you will lend me [a] hand I shall be much obliged. Dasent responded late in March: […] I only hope that you will go on, for it so happens that almost every other race has had something done for it except the Celtic. The only thing of the kind being Crokers Fairys of Ireland which are nice enough in their way but answer rather to the Norse Huldror [sic] Eventyr54 than to Märchen, or popular tales. I go too to the whole length of the animal, and am for the Gaelic originals as such. This will give more trouble and take more time, but then you will have done a work which will last ages […]. Campbell’s plan for tackling a mammoth collection task on rocky physical and social terrain was nothing if not methodical, as he describes it in the introduction to Popular Tales of the West Highlands. He began early in 1859 by “writing to my Highland friends, of all degrees, for stories of all kinds, true stories excepted,” carefully following Dasent’s advice by requesting “the very words used by the people who told the stories, with nothing added, or omitted, or altered.”55 Using the postal service, he contacted and guided potential local fieldworkers of some education and social standing to seek out and note down tales in their own area, which they then sent on to him to read and select for eventual publication. Following this, he took a short and tentative foray into

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Dasent is referring here to Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen’s collections of folk legends, Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn rather than Asbjørnsen and Moe’s fairy tale collection. See further the chapters on Asbjørnsen and Moe by Line Esborg and Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in this volume. The earliest of the requests for stories recorded in Campbell’s papers was to one James Robertson, Chamberlain at Inverary, dated 25th March 1859 (NLS Adv. MS 50.1.14 ff. 34a– 35b; 25.01.1859) in which he states that “I don’t so much want stories about historical characters though I should be glad enough to get them – but I want the regular nursery tales a nurse would tell a child –.” In a subsequent letter to Robertson (NLS Adv. MS 50.1.14 ff. 50a–50b 30.03.1859), he provides specific models to follow with regard to content, citing the published story collections of the Grimms, Dasent, Chambers and Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). On 30th March 1859, Campbell sent a similar request to his old mentor, the Reverend Dr Norman MacLeod, mentioned above (NLS Adv. MS 50.1.14 ff 33a–33b). MacLeod replied: “[I]t is upwards of thirty years since I brought the subject under the notice of the Highland Society of Scotland, but could awake no corresponding interest amongst any of the members at that time” (NLS Adv. MS 50.1.14 ff 34a–35b).

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the field: “My next step was to go at Easter to a Highland district, near the lowlands, where a gamekeeper had marked down a lot of tale-tellers, and I was soon convinced that there was plenty of game, though hard to get.”56 Campbell was aware of the limitations of his written Gaelic, so in March of that year, he contacted Hector MacLean (d. 1893), a schoolmaster and fellow Islayman, engaging him as his chief assistant in writing down and editing the tales.57 In a letter dated 16th March, he asks MacLean to assist in the collection of Gaelic stories by contacting old friends in Islay, and clearly sets out the rest of the agenda:58 [I]f you can get any such please send me Gaelic rather than English. If possible the very words of the person who tells the story […] – & with the Gaelic give the same loose translation to help me in making out unusual Gaelic words. I mean to publish if I get enough and to give the names of those from whom I get anything. If money is wanted for stationary or for whiskey to oil the tongues I will remit[?] you everything you may expend. I hope there are plenty of folk still in Islay who wd drink my health yet and tell a story for my sake & I am sure you will not grudge the trouble of writing them for me. A fortnight later he is back again with caveats regarding the treatment of sources in the field: [O]f course I want genuine Gaelic stories so long as they are about giants, old women, enchantment and talking beasts […]. The interest which is attached to these stories is caused by their universal occurrence in all languages Even in Sanscrit books […]. Keep this knowledge from those who give you the stories & give me exactly what they give you as nearly as you can in their own words. […] You used to be a clever chap & will understand what I mean.

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J. F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands, I, xxi–xxii. Attaining literacy in Gaelic was clearly among Campbell’s preparations for his fieldwork and publishing venture. On 19th May 1859, he wrote MacLean: “Finally remember that I have taught myself to read printed Gaelic within the last few months and make A. O. &U as clear as you can in writing it.” It did not seem to take him long, however, for he adds: “I am seldom at a loss with spoken Gaelic and can now read some of your stories right off” (NLS Adv. MS 50.1.14 ff. 163a–164b). For all quotes below from letters between Campbell and MacLean, see NLS Adv. MS 50.1.14 fl. 533/20.

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The flurry of letter writing recorded in Campbell’s papers from the opening months of 1859 was by no means on the scale of that reflected by the distribution of Jacob Grimm’s “Circular”, but it provides an apt parallel and proved to be surprisingly effective, ultimately netting some 791 stories. Campbell followed up with a full-fledged, one-man expedition involving a hike of over 200 miles to find storytellers in the Outer Hebrides: [T]he next step was to spend a summer holiday in studying the actual condition of this popular lore, where I had found that it existed in the greatest profusion. I landed at Lochmaddy in North Uist, and walked with a knapsack to the Sound of Barra, and back to Stornoway; crossing the Sound of Harris in a fishing boat. I found a population differing from that of the mainland, perhaps the least changed from their old ways of any people in the kingdom.59 During the early collecting stage, Campbell benefitted from Dasent’s unfailing advice and support, which included views on the plan and content of an eventual published collection. In a letter dated 6th May 1859, Dasent emphasised in no uncertain terms the importance of locating and including folktale comparisons:60 After you have collected tales enough, your labours in comparison and selection will begin. I rather expect you will find this process the hardest work of all, but without it you will hardly produce anything more than a well intended book […]. When the materials are so good and you have fallen on so rich a mine, it would be base indeed not to take the means and pains to master the […] amount of knowledge necessary to be able to say to the world “Here are John Campbell’s Celtic Tales, original and translated, fitted into their proper plan in Popular Literature, & now Gentlemen Critics, do your worst” which will be their best. As early as March 1859, Campbell had begun consulting Dasent regarding prospective publishers for a collection of Highland tales. Dasent, expressing his delight at the abundance of material in Scotland, promised to “do the needful for you with the publishers.” On Good Friday, Campbell informed Dasent that he intended “to be in Edinburgh on Thursday and to call on Edmonston

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J. F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands, I, xxv–xxvi. NLS Adv. MS 50.1.14.

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and Douglas [Dasent’s publishers] to talk about publishing – will you like a good man say something to them of my errand to save me from introducing myself […]. In short I have enough now to make a tolerable volume.” The response from Edmonston and Douglas was everything Campbell could have wished for. As he writes to Dasent: [I] called to thank you for writing to Edmonston & Douglas. – They offered me ½ Profitt and will publish the book. I shewed them one story translated & a lot in Gaelic – They said “There is good stuff in that – We must give it in the original as well.”61 Will you stick your name to the book as Editor if it pleases you when ready? The tales I have so resemble the Norsk that I want your countenance as well as your publisher.62 The collection of tales, published as Popular Tales of the West Highlands (deliberately echoing the title of Dasent’s translation)63 in four volumes from 1860 to 1862, was an immediate success. Campbell’s correspondence toward the end of 186064 tells the story. Most eloquent in its endorsement was the wide-ranging and enthusiastic review published in The Times (5th November 1860), presumably authored by Dasent.65 Also during that month Dasent mentioned

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From Campbell’s perspective, Edmondston and Douglas’s agreeing to publish the tales in the Gaelic original was a significant step; with the low levels of access to Gaelic literacy in the Highlands, both parties were doubtless aware that these works were effectively destined to be read in English. In addition to his stated policy of adhering to “the very words of the person who tells the story,” Campbell was one of the very few of his generation with the knowledge of Gaelic, the formal education, the organisational skills and the interest to produce such a work featuring the original language, as had been done with the German and Norwegian collections that had inspired his work. Indeed, in Scotland, there was a particular need to have the original texts. As he observes elsewhere: “Without printed Gaelic I feel sure I should now be enjoying the blame of another MacPherson”: J. F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands, IV, 328. NLS Adv. MS 50.1.14 fl. 16/4. Interestingly enough, unlike many of the other earlier collections noted in this book, there is no mention of a nation in the title (as is the case with the collections from Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Iceland), but rather a focus on area (as with earlier British collections). Naturally, Scotland formed part of Great Britain, and Campbell was a long-time servant of the British state. All the same, from the introductions to Popular Tales of the West Highlands (especially vols I and IV) and his correspondence, Campbell’s close identification with the Highlands and his views on the treatment of Highlanders/ Gaels are clear. NLS Adv. MS 50.2.1, ff. 195a–281b. On 7th November, Campbell wrote to Dasent thanking him for his review (NLS Adv. MS 50.2.1 ff. 195a–195b).

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that he had arranged for the work to be reviewed by the Sanskritist Max Müller (1823–1900), and further reviews appeared in Scotland and England.66 In another letter to Dasent, dated 1st January 1861,67 Campbell also asked him to forward a copy to Grimm, “The Father of All Story-telling”. Congratulatory letters were received from learned colleagues in England, Ireland and Scotland, and from the Highland aristocracy, and Campbell’s publisher informed him that by the end of 1860 they had sold 1,000 copies.68 Throughout the work, the influence of the Grimms and Asbjørnsen and Moe (via Dasent) is clear from the numerous comparisons drawn with individual tales from other countries.69 Campbell, nonetheless comments on his surprise that that “a book so well-known [as Kinder- und Hausmärchen] may have possibly found its way into the Highlands,” and even mentions hearing of one translation of the Grimms’ collection that was not well received locally.70 The contents of the lengthy introduction (building on the earlier-noted detailed introductions by the Grimms, Moe and Dasent) provide what is arguably the most progressive vision of the folktale for its time, including closely observed descriptions of Highland reciters, settings and social contexts that in their content and orientation anticipate the work of twentieth-century collectors. Most evident here is the idea of tales spreading out of central Asia: in Campbell’s words, it is striking that “the great human stream, which is supposed to have flowed westwards, should be found in greatest abundance stranded at the western sea,” thus identifying Scotland as an important repository of age-old tradition. Also featured in the introduction are Campbell’s own system of story genres in which the main emphasis, echoing the Grimms’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen and Asbjørnsen and Moe’s collection, is placed on “Romantic Popular Tales” (Märchen); descriptions of storytellers; storyteller typologies; the contents of tales as revealing details of earlier cultures; their standing in society and their social value; fieldwork technique; and the importance of recording the sources, along with the occasional – often fanciful – 66

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See further Campbell’s correspondence with Dasent in NLS Adv. MS 50.2.1 ff. 214a–261a, 195a–195b which also includes an account of field collecting techniques which appeared in The Times, 5th November 1860. NLS Adv. MS 50.2.1 ff. 281a–281b. NLS Adv. MS 50.2.1 ff. 269a–270b. For examples of parallels noted by Campbell, see Popular Tales of the West Highlands, I, 61, and 101; II, 257, 260, and 367; and IV, 447. Interestingly enough, even though it was a translation of the work of Ásbjørnsen and Moe, the references are to “Dasent’s Norse Tales 1859”. As on the cover of the book in question, Asbjørnsen and Moe are not mentioned. On this matter, see further the chapters on Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen by Ane Ohrvik and Line Esborg elsewhere in this volume. J. F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands, I, xlvii–xlviii.

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etymology.71 Following publication, Campbell also took the unusual step of returning to his sources with the printed versions to verify their accuracy.72 As can be seen from his correspondence with Dasent, Campbell was keenly aware of legends, so plentiful in the Highlands, but does not accord them the extended treatment that they received from the Grimms. Deutsche Sagen is not among the collection of his books in the National Library of Scotland,73 and I have found no reference to it in his writings. He briefly alludes to “popular history”, which we now call historical legend, in the introduction to Popular Tales of the West Highlands,74 and there is a short section devoted to belief legends in the fourth volume of the collection.75 Such an apparent shortfall would eventually be compensated for after 1862 with the hiring, on Campbell’s recommendation, of John Dewar (1802–1872), a forest worker in Argyll. By the time of his death in 1872, Dewar had taken down one and a quarter million words from local reciters, much of it in the form of historical legend. Unfortunately, of this only a small portion has been published to date. With regard to associations with other budding folklorists within the Grimm Ripples network, Campbell’s contacts were comparatively limited. Campbell was an enthusiastic outdoorsman, and the printed and manuscript accounts of his numerous travels to other countries (and especially the Nordic countries76) are varied and entertaining, liberally interleaved with sketches of distinctive geological formations or little-known peoples, and the occasional photograph. The close friendship established between Campbell and Dasent continued with a month-long trip around Iceland via the Faroes in the summer of 1861, organised in part by Dasent who, partly as a result of his recent translation of the Njáls saga, The Story of Burnt Njal (1861), was already in close

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73 74 75 76

See examples in J. F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands, I, cxxxii, and in his “Oral Mythology” (NLS Adv. MS 50.3.2). The questions of how language and stories are related are touched upon by Campbell in his Oral Mythology manuscript from 1870 (NLS: Advocates Library [Adv.] MS 50.3.2: 126 and 452): “Language is audible thought, writing is visible speech, proverbs contain the wisdom of nations, popular tales are the waking dreams of mankind”; “The origin of mythology is as much out of my reach as the origin of human speech, and of human thought.” See J. F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands, I, cxxxiii. Hector MacLean evidently did the same. In a letter to Campbell from Castlebay, Barra (dated 22nd September 1860), MacLean states that he read aloud from the collected tales to a packed local audience who unanimously approved of them (NLS Adv. MS 50.2.1 ff. 225a–225b). One (unannotated) copy of the first volume of Deutsche Sagen from 1816 can nonetheless be found in the Library’s general collection. J. F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands, I, cxvi–cxvii. J. F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands, IV, 314–346. See note 36.

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contact with a number of the Icelandic cultural elite. Along with the joys of fishing, camping, and living “rough” in the outdoors, however, Campbell’s primary – almost sole – interest in Iceland was essentially its geology. He seems to have had little interest in folklore on this trip. Between 18th July and 31st August of the following year, Campbell and Dasent toured Iceland once again, this time in what appeared to be a company of five. Campbell’s papers in the National Library of Scotland contain a printed semi-satirical account, Travels by “Umbra” (1865), written by one of his companions (Charles Cavendish Clifford [1821–1895]), describing those present from an invented perspective of 20 years hence and using pseudonyms (Clifford, as “Umbra”).77 Dasent (“Darwin”) is described as being: of Herculean height and strength, with his long black beard descending to his waist, he resembled a Viking of old, and such I conceive he at times supposed himself to be […]. Darwin was here in his glory, he knew […] all the traditions connected with it, he knew the speeches that had been made, the debates, the divisions, he knew everything.78 As for Campbell, Clifford writes: “M’Diarmid flourishes, but is grown rather stout for a Spartan.” He also adds that M’Diarmid, who “believed in Ossian” encountered a problem when he met a “Mr. Jonson” from Copenhagen who “spoke English, and satisfactorily proved to M’Diarmid that Ossian was an impostor, – poor M’Diarmid! it was the only time I ever saw him subdued.”79 Photographs of the expedition survive among Campbell’s papers (see fig. 10.5). As noted above, considering the facts that the second volume of Campbell’s collection only came out that year, that the first volume of Jón Árnason’s collection of Icelandic folktales was about to appear,80 and that the two men even appear to have briefly met in person,81 it is interesting that no mention is made 77

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Campbell and Dasent’s trip to Iceland in July 1862 on the ship Arcturus is also described by Alexander Bryson (1816–1866) in his Notes of a Trip to Iceland in 1862, in which Bryson notes that “We were fortunate in finding also on board an M.P.; an editor of the ‘Times’ and knight of Denmark, famous for his Scandinavian lore; also a gentleman well known for his knowledge of Celtic antiquities”: Bryson, Notes of a Trip to Iceland, 3. Clifford, Travels by “Umbra”, 3 and 8. Clifford, Travels by “Umbra”, 44, 3 and 30–31. Campbell was certainly well aware of the earlier-noted “Ossian Controversy” which he reviews at length in Popular Tales of the West Highlands, IV, 5–236. See further the chapter on Jón Árnason by Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume. In a letter to Guðbrandur Vigfússon dated 2nd May 1862, Jón Árnason asks Guðbrandur to send a copy of the first volume of his recently published Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri to “John F. Campbell”, which suggests Jón knew of Campbell’s interests. Then, on 19th

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Photograph of John Francis Campbell (far right), George Webbe Dasent (far left) and Charles Cavendish Clifford (second from the right) in front of their tent in Iceland (1862)

of folktales being collected (as Konrad Maurer had done in Iceland just a few years previously82), or even that they were discussed at any point during this expedition.83 Indeed, the same applied when Campbell travelled to Norway.84 With the exception of Jens Andreas Friis (1821–1896), “the first Professor of Lapp in a Norwegian University” whom he met in 1865, Campbell does not seem to have

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August 1862, Jón writes that “Campell [sic] is here travelling, and I gave him a copy in person” (“Campell [sic] er hér og á ferð, og afhenti eg honum í eigin hönd 1. Expl.”). Campbell is also mentioned briefly in another letter from 13th June 1864, in which Jón asks Guðbrandur what he has done with the original copy of the collection Jón asked to be sent to Campbell. Letters to Guðbrandur Vigfússon from Jón Árnason are kept in the Bodleian Library: Oxford: Bodl. GV Icel. d. 1, but transcripts of many of them are available at http://www.jonarnason.is. The two volumes of Jón Árnason’s collection sent to Campbell (both inscribed by the author, the second “to my Friend and Brother, John F. Campbell Esq.”) are in Campbell’s personal library, now held by the National Library of Scotland (Shelf no. Cam.1.c.12-13; 2 vols.). They are accompanied by a letter in Danish from Jón to Campbell, dated 19th August 1863, and sent via Dasent from London (Jón Árnason having taken a short trip there for health reasons). (I would like to express my gratitude to Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir for her assistance here.) See further the chapter on Konrad Maurer by Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir elsewhere in this volume. See further Gunnell, “Iceland: Wolverhampton of the North”. Dorson suggests in The British Folklorists, 393, that Campbell also went to Norway with Dasent, but the present author has found no evidence of this.

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gone out of his way to meet any of the Norwegian collectors.85 Nevertheless, his abiding interest in Norwegian traditions is apparent from a letter written to Asbjørnsen in 1872, briefly discussing the legend of the “heather ale”, thanking him for the gift of a book sent through his publishers, and pointing out that “nearly all the collection are current in Scotland.”86

6

“Oral Mythology”: The Grimms’ Legacy Extended

It might be said that the final part of the legacy of the Grimm brothers in Campbell’s work is a 466-page manuscript (NLS Adv. MS 50.3.2) from 1870 which he calls Oral Mythology. It was submitted that year to a London publisher and was reluctantly declined with the statement that: “[N]otwithstanding the characteristic force and simplicity of your version, & its fulness of detail, we very much fear that the work will be too erudite & voluminous to please the generality of readers.”87 Campbell does not seem to have tried any other publishers. He nonetheless had the manuscript bound in July 1881, at which time he remarked on the frontispiece: “It is honest, hard work of mine, the worth of it others may estimate.”88 Throughout the work, the views propagated by the Grimms, whether they are derived or merely parallel, occur regularly. The introduction89 reads like a primer of theory and method that will later be applied on a large scale to the study of traditional narrative, underlining that one must consider all the evidence, however humble. It goes on to argue that variants can then be compared and used to reconstruct a basic version of the story, along the lines suggested by the Grimms, and later practised by the Finnish School.90 For this Campbell uses as an example versions of “The Sea Maiden” (ATU 300 “The Dragon-Slayer”) (see fig. 10.6).91 85 86

87 88 89 90

91

See Evans, “John Francis Campbell”. Norsk folkeminnessamling (NFS): Asbjørnsen brev: John Francis Campbell, 9th June 1872; cf. Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, 29, and 36. I am grateful to Ane Ohrvik of the University of Oslo for making a copy of Campbell’s letter available to me. NLS Adv. MS 50.3.2, 10. NLS Adv. MS 50.3.2, 1. NLS Adv. MS 50.3.2, 38–53. Cf. Kamenetsky, 109, 166 who in turn refers to Wilhelm Grimm’s preface to the second edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1819–1822), I, v–xx. The Finnish School developed the historic-geographic method for the study of the folktale based on a technique of comparison of variants proposed by Kaarle Krohn (1863–1933), leading to a widely used classification system of tale-types (AT [Aarne-Thompson], now revised as ATU) by his colleague Antti Aarne (1867–1925). On ATU: see Uther, The Types of International Folktales. NLS Adv. MS 50.3.2, 38. See Uther, The Types of International Folktales, I, 174–175.

The Grimms, Scotland and “This New Science of ‘Storyology’”

Figure 10.6

313

John Francis Campbell: Notes on variants

Campbell goes on to say that researchers should be aware of the uses of language in storytelling, paying due attention to “quaint phrases, obsolete words and odd turns of thought,”92 revealing an early awareness of the specialised language registers associated with traditional narrative in Gaelic culture and

92

NLS Adv. MS 50.3.2, 37–38.

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beyond. The quest for ultimate origins, he says, is central, its orientation and methods closely aligned with those of Indo-European philology. With his interest in the natural sciences (a common feature among many early folklorists, including Asbjørnsen and Magnús Grímsson93), Campbell saw advantages in adopting approaches and concepts successful in contemporary science: “Having got at one skeleton of incidents, the comparative osteology of a library of popular tales and myths follows.”94 He also clearly saw the benefits of applying scientific empirical approaches to the “big questions” of tales and storytelling, remarking on the basis of his own Highland experience: “One chief obstacle in the Isles has been the clerical dread of ‘lies’. It made simple men shut their mouths, or open them only for bribes or coaxing. Surely this cowardly phase of erudition is not true enlightenment.”95 Finally, he argues, judicious application of the above methods will advance the study of tales to its rightful position as a science, which he terms elsewhere “this new science of ‘storyology’”:96 “Comparative Mythology has taken its place as a real science and will have its way, so this contribution is offered without fear of offence.”97 Following the introduction, Campbell’s description of the complex diffusion of tales ultimately reflects the Grimms’ ideas of origins, in which peoples and tales are seen to spread successively outward “like waves from a pebble tossed into a pool.”98 Like the Grimms, Moe and Dasent before him, he is not partial to the theory of polygenesis, asserting “like the people who tell them, and their words, they [myths] all come from distant sources or from one source.”99 Such a concept of “continuity”, however, does not preclude the potential role of books in the diffusion of narratives, and Campbell gives examples of how this can take place.100 The manuscript concludes with a section devoted to “The Philosophy of Stories’, a synthesis expressing an open-mindedness worthy of Wilhelm Grimm:101

93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101

See the chapters on Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen and Jón Árnason by Ane Ohrvik, Line Esborg and Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume. NLS Adv. MS 50.3.2, 46. NLS Adv. MS 50.3.2, 51. See J. F. Campbell, Popular Tales of the West Highlands, I, 10–12. NLS Adv. MS 50.3.2, 53. NLS Adv. MS 50.3.2, 71. NLS Adv. MS 50.3.2, 71. NLS Adv. MS 50.3.2, 124–128; cf. J. F. Campbell, “On Current British Mythology and Oral Traditions”, 329. On the approaches of Wilhelm Grimm, see further Kamenetsky, The Brothers Grimm and Their Critics, 55–80.

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This round world of ours is covered by an intricate network, minute and elaborate, as patterns are upon waves […] interlaced and tangled as light waves are […] and waves of force. Men diligently follow clues in this maze and burrow and climb in it like ants in a forest […]. The student who gets to his first knot often stands upon his little eminence, and proclaims the discovery of the beginning of the net; but those who have passed most knots, have most cause to believe that all things material are knotted together, and that infinity has neither beginning nor end. Popular tales as they exist in the minds of the unlearned all over the world, and in books honestly made, are related to each other, and to the oldest known writings of the so-called Aryan races;102 up to the Vedas at least […]. But to reach the beginning of all the tangled weaving of current mythology, epic poetry, and classic fable, in solar myths founded upon metaphysical language used by Aryan patriarchs more than 4000 years ago is a bigger leap than I can take all at once. I do not see any end or beginning in my net […]. I now believe that one net of thought spreads over the whole earth and through past time, and its origin and end coincide with the limits of human intelligence, wherever they may be.103 The Grimm ripples are clearly evident in Scotland, and they were to go on having an influence. The legacy of John Francis Campbell’s work (and thus also that of the Brothers Grimm, and those who followed on from them) would continue beyond Campbell’s lifetime, starting with the publication (from 1889–1891) of a series of tale collections entitled Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition, which were followed by the folklore fieldwork and publications in twentieth-century Scotland that ultimately led to an active and long-term collaboration with scholars from the Nordic countries104 and the establishment of the School of Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh. 102 103 104

For Campbell, this was a term that would now be expressed as “Indo-European peoples”. NLS Adv. MS 50.3.2, 463. See Gunnell, “The Significance of the Work and Collections of the School of Scottish Studies from a Scandinavian Perspective”.

Chapter 11

Considered Trifles: English Grimmians Jonathan Roper

1

Introduction

This chapter traces the little-known history of the arrival in England of Grimmian ideas about folk narrative, and the significant impact works like Deutsche Sagen had on English folkloristic thought (if not equally as much on English practice).1 Indeed, worthy of particular note is the fact that the first translations from Deutsche Sagen appeared as early as the 1830s from the pen of an Englishman, William John Thoms (1803–1885: see fig. 11.1), the man who devised the term “folklore”.

2

Thoms and Deutsche Sagen

Thoms, who spent his working life as a civil servant, kept up a literary life in his spare time. In the year 1832, this included editing a short-lived journal called The Original, and it was in this journal that he began to print his translations of German tales and legends, including those published by the Brothers Grimm, under the heading “The Legendary”. A few years later, in 1834, he was involved in publishing a monthly series of Lays and Legends of Various Nations. Before the scheme folded (and Thoms was a man of many schemes, most of which folded sooner or later2), he had published volumes of stories from France, Ireland, Spain, “Tartary” (that is, Kalmykia in southern Russia), and Germany. The German volumes included items from Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) (Volkslieder [Songs of the People]); Johann Gustav Büsching (1783–1829: Volks-Sagen, Märchen und Legenden [Folk Legends, Fairy Tales and Legends]); Johann Karl Christoph Nachtigal (“Otmar”, 1753–1819: Volcks-Sagen [Folk Legends]); as well from the Grimms (both Deutsche Sagen and Kinder- und Hausmärchen). Thoms translated ten legends from Deutsche Sagen in his Lays and Legends of Various Nations: Germany (1834): nos 1, 10, 73, 114, 118, 213, 264, 275, 1 This chapter has been supported by the Estonian Research Council (grant project PGR670). 2 See Roper, “England: The Land Without Folklore?”.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_013

Considered Trifles: English Grimmians

Figure 11.1

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Photograph of William John Thoms

281, 309, that is “Die drei Bergleute im Kuttenberg” (“The Three Miners in the Kutten Mine”); “Fräulein von Boyneburg” (“The Maiden of Boyne Castle”); “Der Kobold in der Mühle” (“The Farmer and his Kobold”); “Andreas-Nacht” (“St Andreas Eve”); “Krystall-Schauen” (“Crystal Gazing”), “Der Wärwolf” (“The Werewolf”); “Rebundus im Dom zu Lübeck” (“Canon Rebundus of the Cathedral in Lübeck”); “Die überschiffenden Mönche” (“Ferrying the Monks”); “Werberndes Flammen-Schloss” (“The Castle of Flames”); and “Hans Jagenteufel”.3 His translations compare well with late twentieth century renditions of the Sagen, such as those by Ward (Grimm 1981). It is not clear on what principles he chose these stories other than their individual attractiveness to him, nor indeed that he is clear about the Grimms’ distinction between Märchen 3 Translated titles taken from Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm. Of these, no.1 had already appeared in May 1832 in The Original (12: 182) as “The Three Miners of Kuttenberg”.

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and Sagen; the only clear difference in kind that Thoms makes in these miscellanies is the titular one between “lays” and “legends”, that is between folk verse and folk prose. Nevertheless, the fact that these translated items all come from the first volume of Deutsche Sagen rather than the second shows Thoms’ interest in supernatural legends, and his corresponding lack of interest in the historical legends. The first notice of Deutsche Sagen in England had nonetheless come several years earlier in January 1820 in the pages of The Quarterly Review from the pen of the man who was to be known in later life as Sir Francis Palgrave (1788–1861), but who, at this time, was still known as Francis Ephraim Cohen. Cohen, the son of a Jewish stockbroker, began his working life as a solicitor’s clerk. During the 1810s, he began contributing to journals, such as the Edinburgh Review, a move which marked the beginning of a change of career to that of historian and archivist. In 1822, he came up with a plan for the publication of the national records, which “met with the approval of the Record commission,”4 and was eventually to become Deputy Keeper of Public Record Office from its reconstitution in 1838 until his death in 1861. While developing into an archivist, Cohen, in his early thirties (that is in the late 1810s and 1820s) had a folklore period, influenced by his reading in German and French. Some fruits of this interest were several essays disguised as book reviews. In the wake of the interruption of communications represented by the Napoleonic wars, his essays informed the British reading public as to various continental publications and ideas (including those of the Grimms). His essay on “The Antiquity of Nursery Literature” which appeared in 18195 was the first introduction of the Grimms’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen to the British public. In 1820, a review of Deutsche Sagen appeared in a long piece from his pen, “Popular Mythology of the Middle Ages”.6 Cohen praises the Grimms’ work on this book, saying “a collection of tales of popular superstition, which owes its origin to their researches, cannot fail to be solid and trustworthy,” while regretting the lack of notes similar to those found in the second edition of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen from 1819: “to our great regret, those illustrations are not added which their extensive learning qualifies them to bestow.”7 In this essay, Cohen also reviewed Thiele’s Danske Folkesagn (1816–1818), three French folklore titles, and a book by Friedrich Ludwig Ferdinand von 4 Ward, Waller, Trent, Erskine, Sherman and van Doren, The Cambridge History of English and American Literature, XIV, 67. 5 Now accessible in Inglis Palgrave, The Collected Historical Works of Sir Francis Palgrave, VII.2, 185–204. 6 Inglis Palgrave, The Collected Historical Works of Sir Francis Palgrave, VII.2, 209–244. 7 Inglis Palgrave, The Collected Historical Works of Sir Francis Palgrave, VII.2, 210.

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Dobeneck (1770–1810) on medieval German folk beliefs and hero legends. He is able to detect Thiele’s indebtedness to Deutsche Sagen which “is compiled after the model furnished by the Messrs. Grimm.”8 These essays published in the Quarterly Review clearly had a profound influence upon Thoms, who mentioned the long essays on folklore topics by Palgrave (whose name change took place in 1823) several times in his writings, praising them as “the first attempts at a philosophic History of Fiction.”9 Like Cohen, Thoms also lamented the lack of notes in Deutsche Sagen in the following terms in his introduction to the German volume of Lays and Legends of Various Nations: “he has unfortunately not accompanied his German Legends with illustrative notes, like those to his German Popular Stories.”10 To be sure, Deutsche Sagen may have been more influential if the Grimms had added substantial notes, as section 5 of their Introduction signals they had intended,11 but Cohen’s and Thoms’ criticisms were not entirely fair, as there were notes of a kind in the Grimms’ collection – the story “Andreasnacht”, for example, begins with a statement of the belief that a maiden can dream of her future lover on St Andrew’s Eve (as well as on other specified winter dates), and features an explication of what she must do to ensure she does have her dream. Furthermore, after the story ends, the editors note that variants of the plot exist in other locations and with other characters, and provide us with a precis of an oral version. All the same, it is true to say that this level of commentary is nothing like that which the Grimms provided to the second edition of the Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1819), in which they also supplied international parallels, amongst other data. Making a gesture in this direction, in his collection, Thoms notes that parallel stories exist in England12 (which, annoyingly, given his own criticism of the Grimms, he neither summarises nor provides references for) and in a literary version in the short story “Leixlip Castle” by the Irish author, Charles Maturin (1782–1824).

3

The Varying Fortunes of Folk Verse and Folk Prose

Thoms’ introduction also constitutes a defence of folktale studies against charges of triviality. It begins by stating: “The importance of National Tales

8 9 10 11 12

Inglis Palgrave, The Collected Historical Works of Sir Francis Palgrave, VII.2, 211. Thoms, Lays and Legends of Various Nations: Germany, I, v. Thoms, Lays and Legends of Various Nations: Germany, I, 40. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xx. Thoms, Lays and Legends of Various Nations: Germany, I, 39.

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is a rather startling phrase wherewith to commence a volume.”13 Like the Grimms,14 Thoms argues for seeing legends as a supplement to history: “such trifles as Old Wives’ Tales, and Fire-Side Stories […] [provide] materials for reflection and history (I say history advisedly).”15 Indeed, all through his life Thoms was aware of the charges of triviality that were regularly aimed at those interested in folklore, and he, like many others, was sympathetic to theories which endowed such trifles with significance, stating that: “the works of Thiele in Denmark, and of the Brothers Grimm in Germany, attest the consequence which may be given to a subject of such apparently trivial importance.”16 Thoms’ long defence of folk prose refers not only to the Grimms and Thiele, but also to earlier wayfinders such as Palgrave, Francis Douce (1757–1834)17 and Walter Scott (1771–1832), and he even calls upon Shakespeare and Luther to bolster his argument. It is, by contrast, noteworthy that he feels no need to issue any such apologia for folk poetry. Writing in the post-Percy, post-Herder era, he can say that for the ballads, their beauty is argument enough: After this declaration in favo[u]r of National Tales, do National and Popular Ballads […] require a word in their praise? If their own merits and intrinsic beauty do not secure them favour in the sight of the reader, no eulogium emanating from this pen could avail aught, in procuring it for them.18 In other words, the transvaluation of folk poetry was seen as a battle long since won in England, but the transvaluation of folk prose was still a battle that was just beginning in 1834, and needed engagement. If we understand Pascale Casanova’s term, the “Herderian Revolution”,19 to refer to that revolution in taste that led to folk verse being valued outside its original contexts and to being seen as a repository of artistic treasure and national spirit, then we can say that England had already undergone a Herderian revolution, and indeed had clearly done so largely before the time of Herder thanks to the work of men such as Thomas Percy (1729–1811), one of Herder’s inspirations. However, 13 14 15 16 17

18 19

Thoms, Lays and Legends of Various Nations: Germany, I, iii. See Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, v–x. Thoms, Lays and Legends of Various Nations: Germany, I, iii. Thoms, Lays and Legends of Various Nations: Germany, I, viii. Francis Douce, a London antiquary, is best remembered for his Illustrations of Shakespeare, and of Ancient Manners (1807), in which he uses early modern literature, customs and folklore to explicate Shakespeare. He was Thoms’ mentor. Thoms, Lays and Legends of Various Nations: Germany, I, x. See Casanova, The World Republic of Letters, 75–77.

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what we might, by contrast, term the “Grimmian Revolution”, a parallel shift in attitude in respect of vernacular prose, was yet to be won. Indeed, it might be said not to have been won even today in England. Where, for example, can we find scholarly works that show the same intensity of focus on the texture of English folk prose – its stylistics, its memorisation and recall – comparable to the works that exist on English ballads or proverbs? While praising the work carried out elsewhere, Thoms’ introduction goes on to lament that among the limited number of works “on the subject of Legendary Lore” available in English, none focus on England: he mentions as examples Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1825) by Thomas Crofton Croker (1798–185420); The Fairy Mythology (1828) by Thomas Keightley (1782–1872) (which focused primarily on medieval northern and eastern legendry); and the translation of Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1823) by Edgar Taylor (1793–1839). This demand for Legendary Lore was only to grow as the century progressed, and had Thoms been compiling his list a few years later, he would have been able to make mention of many more translations of folk narrative into English, that having most relevance here being the work of the eminent medievalist Benjamin Thorpe (1782–1870) who brought out two collections of translations of Germanic folk narrative in the mid-century. Like Grimm, Thorpe felt that folk narrative was somehow of a piece with medieval materials (in other words, “not the fruits of modern imagination”21), so in his case, such publications can be seen as a natural extension of his medieval research. One of Thorpe’s biographers nonetheless hints there was a remunerative motive to such activities, and the second of these books, Yule-Tide Stories (1853), was clearly aimed at the Christmas market, already an important consideration for publishers. The first book, Northern Mythology (1851–1852), had nonetheless been a weightier proposition, appearing in three volumes, two of which consisted of translated folk narratives from recent north European collections along with useful comparative notes. Thorpe was

20

21

Thoms knew Croker in London where they both worked in government service, and thanked him for his “ready assistance” in preparing of the Irish volume in the Lays and Legends series (1834). Thoms does not reprint any of the stories from Croker’s existing books here, but he does include one “now first published from the Communication of Mr. Crofton Croker” (Thoms, Lays and Legends: Ireland, 22). He also makes mention of “the Grimms [sic] wondrous translation” of Croker, commenting that “not even the German tongue, or the German type, can deprive the brogue of its peculiarities, or take from the stories themselves their jovial and reckless spirit”: see Thoms, Lays and Legends: Ireland, vi. See further the chapter on Croker by Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist elsewhere in this volume. Thorpe, Yule-Tide Stories, iii.

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another advocate for the genre of legend: although Märchen (“Popular Tales” in his terms) “are undoubtedly the more ancient”,22 Sagen (what Thorpe called “’Popular Traditions”) “are important, as affording an insight into the manners, customs, modes of thought, and superstitions of bygone days, points on which history strictly so called is but too generally silent.”23 The volumes contained a wide range of translated narratives (chiefly legends). While they take nothing from Deutsche Sagen (a work Thorpe somewhat surprisingly does not refer to), they make good use of other collections including such recent Grimmian-inspired works as Afzelius’s Svenska folkets sago-häfder (The Narratives of the Swedish People: 1839); Niederländische Sagen (Legends of the Netherlands: 1843) by Johann Wilhelm Wolf (1817–1855); Faye’s Norske FolkeSagn (Norwegian Folk Legends: the 1844 edition); and the collection of north German legends, tales and songs (Sagen, Märchen und Lieder der Herzogthúmer Schleswig Holstein und Lauenburg [Legends, Fairy Tales and Songs of the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein and Lauenburg]: 1845) assembled by Karl Müllenhoff (1818–1884). It might be noted that Thorpe’s compendium also contains over 150 pages of Danish material, thereby representing the most extensive translation of Thiele’s legends into English to this day.

4

An English Legendary?

Thoms, to rectify the lack of a work “dedicated to the preservation of the legends of our ‘Father Land’,” announced that he intended to publish an English volume in the Lays and Legends series, and called upon his readers to send him material. One reader who did send in material was Thomas Wright (1810–1877), the medievalist, then a 24-year old student at Cambridge, who supplied Thoms with two legends with supernatural motifs (“The Laying of the Ghost” and the “Legend of the Rollright Stones”), as well as with a Schwank (ATU 92224) and two ballads. Unfortunately, the projected Lays and Legends of England volume never appeared as the company Thoms was publishing with promptly went bankrupt. When Thoms eventually printed Wright’s contributions nearly half a century later, Wright was already dead.25 22 23 24

25

Thorpe, Yule-Tide Stories, i. Thorpe, Yule-Tide Stories, v. ATU refers to the folktale type classifications in Uther, The Types of International Folktales; see also Aarne, Übersicht der Märchenliteratur. ATU 922 is a widespread tale-type with the self-explanatory title “The Shepherd Substituting for the Priest Answers the King’s Questions”. See Thoms, “Four Transcripts by the Late Thomas Wright, F.S.A.”.

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Thoms nonetheless tried once again to collect material for a survey of English folklore just over a decade later in a call made in the form of a letter to the Athenaeum in 1846.26 This is the famous letter in which he coins the word “folklore”, although what is often forgotten is that this statement is made in parentheses – “(by the bye, …)”. The chief point of his letter is rather to establish a regular column in the journal in which he means to print material sent to him by correspondents up and down the country, material which he then plans to work up into a book. He once again places such a domestic collection in its wider European context: Nor would such communications be of service to the English antiquary alone. The connexion [sic] between the FOLK-LORE of England […] and that of Germany is so intimate that such communications will probably serve to enrich some future edition of Grimm’s Mythology.27 It is also worth noting that of the various authorities he refers to in this brief foundational piece, the only one to be referred to three times is Jacob Grimm. Thoms’ call for materials here is remarkably specific as regards the mention of the link between tradition and locality and is once again strongly based round the genre of legend (rather than, for example, fairy tales). In this letter for the Athenaeum, he refers to pixies in Devon; to fairy-pipe factories in Swinborne in Worcestershire; to ghostly headless horsemen at Haddon and Hardwick in Derbyshire and at Parsloes in Essex; to fooltown stories set in Coggeshall in Essex; to narratives about the barguest (a shape-changing bogey) in Yorkshire; to the practice of howdening (Christmas house-visits with a hobby horse) in Kent; and to narratives about local hero Tregeagle in Cornwall. Thus, while a call is made for the documentation all oral folklore genres, all but one of Thoms’ examples are of legends. Furthermore, it is noteworthy that he locates all of these narratives and practices at the level of county, and sometimes even down to the level of town, village or manorial estate, rather than any larger frame such as that of the nation. Given the highly local character of legends as a genre, this degree of local specificity is, of course, appropriate, although, as can be seen elsewhere in this book, most collectors from other neighbouring countries were making more nationallyminded pleas that largely obliterated or “nationalised” such local differences. Another thing that is surprising is that, for all the focus on legends in this 1846 letter, when Thoms comes to make reference to the work of “that profound 26 27

Thoms, “Folk-Lore”. Thoms, “Folk-Lore”, 887.

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antiquary and philologist” Jacob Grimm (or as he has it here, “James Grimm”), it is not to Deutsche Sagen, but rather to Grimm’s later Deutsche Mythologie (1835). Presumably this is because there is more explicit discussion (or to put it another way, more theory) in Deutsche Mythologie, a work which encompasses all genres in its attempts to reconstruct earlier Germanic beliefs. In the event, Thoms’ second call for material seems once again not to have been very successful, the column he based on it receiving little response in the medium term. Thoms nonetheless made a third call in 1850, in the pages of his newly-founded journal Notes and Queries,28 an instance perhaps of the third time being a charm, in that this call had more success, and called forth numerous contributions on a weekly basis for the rest of Thoms’ life, and indeed beyond it. This was a rare, unqualified success for Thoms. However, in spite of this, he still did not manage to assemble his projected masterwork, which was now to have been called The Folk-Lore of England,29 and would have included the data elicited by his call. In the event, he published only unanalysed and unsynthesised excerpts sent to him in the early years of this collection work in a book entitled Choice Notes: Folk-Lore (1859), suggesting in the preface that a Jacob Grimm (Grimm was by this date so well-known to English readers that his native German forename could be used) might be able to work with these fragments, and synthesise them into a masterwork.30 As with the other early folklore collectors in the north, it is important to remember that Thoms was part of a much wider cultural network. As well as latterly working as Deputy Librarian at the House of Lords, he sat on innumerable cultural committees, including the Council of the Percy Society, a publishing society which covered, as the title page of each of its volumes declared, “Early English Poetry, Ballads, and Popular Literature of the Middle Ages.” Like other such Victorian publishing societies, it aimed at reprinting obscure material, and bringing unpublished manuscripts into print. However, unlike these other societies, and despite (or rather because of) the implied alignment in its mission statement of the folkloric with the medieval, it sometimes also published fresh contemporaneous material “from oral tradition”.

5

Further Ripples: Halliwell, Sternberg, Stephens

One of the figures that would have been familiar to Thoms from his service on the aforementioned Council was James Orchard Halliwell (1820–1889). Halli28 29 30

Thoms, “Folk Lore”. See Roper, “Thoms and the Unachieved ‘Folk-Lore of England’”. Thoms, Choice Notes, v–vi.

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well is chiefly remembered now as a Shakespearian, but he also wrote on both science and folklore. He had been somewhat of a Wunderkind, publishing his first journal articles at the age of 17, being admitted to the Royal Society at 18, and having been made a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries at the age of 19. In 1842, still aged just 22, he published The Nursery Rhymes of England with the Percy Society, and then, in 1849 in the same series, Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales: A Sequel to The Nursery Rhymes of England. This work features 19 tales, some at least of which were taken from oral tradition (in Oxfordshire, in Yorkshire, and in the West of England). Halliwell took as his model for this book not the work of the Grimms but Robert Chambers’ The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (3rd edition, 1842), as he himself makes explicit in his introduction which states: “I have followed in some respects the plan adopted by Mr. Robert Chambers.”31 The third edition of Chambers’ work not only contained the “popular rhymes” of its earlier iterations, but was now further supplemented by a further 60 pages of “fireside nursery tales”, a term Halliwell took up and used in his own work. However, much as Chambers’ work was his template, ideologically Halliwell, like Thoms, clearly shows the enduring influence of Grimm and the early Scandinavian folklorists in his statement that: The humble chap-book is found to be descended not only from medieval romance, but also not unfrequently from the more ancient mythology, whilst some of our simplest nursery-rhymes are chanted to this day by the children of Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, a fact strikingly exhibiting their great antiquity and remote origin.32 In his introduction, Halliwell made a call to his reader to send him folklore material,33 but soon turned his attention to other research interests. If he did receive any legends or tales from correspondents, he did not reprint them. Elsewhere, however, the answer to Thoms’ 1850 call for material was gaining a palpable response in the folklore contributions found in the pages of Notes and Queries. One of the earliest examples was a series of articles drawing upon first-hand knowledge of the folklore of south Northamptonshire, articles which eventually grew into a book. When published in 1851, this became was the first book in the world to use the word “folklore” in its title (perhaps a marker of how tightly this book project had developed under Thoms’ aegis): The Dialect and Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire. The author was Vincent 31 32 33

Halliwell, Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, viii. Halliwell, Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, 1. Halliwell, Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, ix.

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Thomas Sternberg (1831–1880), a 23-year-old from Northampton, now living in London, where he was working as a librarian. Sternberg’s paternal grandfather had been born in the Electorate of Hanover, and the German language would seem to have been kept alive within the family, given his grandson’s references to certain works of the Grimms that were, as yet, untranslated, sometimes in the original language, as in his use of the expression “wütend heer” for the wild ride (see below).34 In the folklore section of his book, Sternberg gives pride of place to the “fairy legends”, terming belief in fairies as “the most poetical of all our popular superstitions.”35 While he is keen to link the legends of England with the legends of her neighbours both to the west and east, speaking of the “numerous legends […] we have, in common with the Irish and Germans,”36 he was, perhaps for family reasons, especially keen to identify links with Germany, noting, for instance, a legend about “the Redman” which “represents him in a light very similar to the ‘Erdmanniken,’ [sic] of M. M. Grimm.”37 Sternberg also points out here that “the goblin huntsman and his train, the ‘wütend heer’ of the German peasantry are known to the good people of this county.”38 The “Erdmänneken” and the German equivalent of the Wild Hunt appear in Kinder- und Hausmärchen (as story no. 91 in the 1819 edition),39 in Deutsche Sagen,40 and Deutsche Mythologie (in the section on “Gespenster” [Spectres]).41 But Sternberg does not limit his references to the Grimms; he also mentions Croker’s work, and makes several references to Thiele’s Folkesagn. At one point, he describes how the first part of a “legend, very commonly narrated in Northamptonshire”42 (in which a farmer tricks a “Bogie” into abandoning its claim to his fields) runs almost word for word with the Danish legend given by Thiele, “En Bonde narrer en Trold” (How a Farmer tricks a Troll”).43 Sternberg, the librarian, was fond of these comparative notes; indeed, at times the folklore he presents drowns in a sea of parallels and antecedents.

34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43

See Roper, “Sternberg, the Second Folklorist”. Sternberg, Dialect and Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire, 131. Sternberg, Dialect and Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire, 135. Sternberg, Dialect and Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire, 142. Sternberg, Dialect and Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire, 142. Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812–1815), II, 37–44; and (1819–1822), II, 32–37. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, 248–250, and 400–401. Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie (1835), 515–534. Sternberg, Dialect and Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire, 140–141. Thiele, Danske Folkesagn, IV, 122.

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While Sternberg does mention “traces of Teutonic heathenism” in his introduction,44 this justification of the otherwise trivial very much takes second place to his linking the folklore of this county, which borders Warwickshire, with the work of Shakespeare: These untutored relations of our peasantry derive additional claim to our attention when we consider the possibility of their having amused the infancy of Shakespeare, and the more than probability that the vague creations of his rustic neighbours supplied foundations upon which were reared the sublime conceptions of a Midsummer Night’s Dream!45 Just as we might suppose that some of the popularity of Grimmianism throughout Europe was that it enabled people with interests in what might otherwise seem trivial to feel that they are doing something significant, so Sternberg’s invocation of Shakespeare here seals the connection he claims between the “vague” and “rustic” and the “sublime”. In other words, the invocation of the name Shakespeare was functionally equivalent to the invocation of the name and ideas of the Grimms. One point of difference he makes is that while Shakespeare was an author of an earlier age writing about earlier ages, the Grimms were contemporary authors whose work sought to “to bring us close to the refreshing and invigorating spirit of earlier ages.”46 In 1852, Sternberg followed Thoms and Halliwell in making his own call, this time more explicitly and directly (their “calls” might just as well be termed “requests”), for “rural correspondents” to “note down the more curious traditionary stories.”47 Once again, as far as we can tell, this received very little response, although it is hard to be sure because Sternberg subsequently published little on folklore, and his personal papers do not survive. Like so many others, he had a folklore phase in his youth, and then turned to other interests. In his case, when he became Librarian of the Leeds Library aged 27, it seems he settled down to respectability and dropped the subject altogether. Some of the stories sent in response to his call were nonetheless published in the pages of Notes and Queries. Interestingly enough, one of these is from George Stephens (1813–1895), then in Stockholm, who, as is noted elsewhere in this book, had himself been involved in folk narrative research in Sweden, and had provided Swedish comparanda for Halliwell’s Popular Rhymes and Nursery 44 45 46 47

Sternberg, Dialect and Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire, iii. Sternberg, Dialect and Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire, iv. Ward in Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm. Sternberg, “Popular Stories of the English Peasantry”, 363.

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Tales.48 When Stephens later republished the English tale, he supplied further European comparanda.49

6

Baring-Gould, English Grimmian

As noted above, detailed knowledge of the Grimms’ scholarly activity in this period in England was evidently limited to a select set of individuals like Thoms and Sternberg who could read German.50 Another figure living in England with a knowledge of German and interest in such folkloric matters in the period covered by this book was Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924). His facility with the language was due to the fact that, being a poorly boy, he had only had two years of formal schooling, spending the rest of his childhood travelling Europe with his father and a tutor. While his father had wanted him to be an engineer, he had more of a romantic bent, with a fondness for sagas and the ‘high’ end of the Anglican church. At the age of 19, Baring-Gould announced his intention to become Anglican priest, but his father forbade him. Nine years later, in 1862, aged 28, he went to Iceland to see the scenes of saga, and to paint watercolours, which led to a subsequent book, Iceland, Its Scenes and Sagas (1863). The following year, his father relented in his opposition, and Sabine Baring-Gould entered holy orders.51 It was precisely in this period when he was coming into his own that Baring-Gould authored a note on “Devonshire Household Tales” in Notes and Queries (1865). This was partly triggered by something that George Webbe Dasent (1817–1896) had written in the essay which precedes his translation of Asbjørnsen and Moe’s Norske Folkeeventyr (1841–1844), Popular Tales from the Norse (1859): the “Introductory Essay on the Origin and Diffusion of Popular Tales”, a piece which in turn was 48 49

50

51

Halliwell, Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, x, 5, 7, 8, 101, 108, 110, 120, 143, and 147. On Stephens, see further the chapter by John Lindow elsewhere in this volume. See Stephens, “Two English Folk-tales”, 155–156. The fact that on its second publication Stephens accompanied the tale with five parallels (as opposed to the single parallel from Asbjørnsen and Moe that he had presented in 1852) is an indicator of the growth of international scholarship on folk narrative. All the same, the fact that he did not add any information about a story it seems likely that he had heard in childhood (“as told in Essex about the year 1800”) is an indication of how little emphasis was placed on contextual information at this time. This state of affairs would continue until the 1880s when a translation of Deutsche Mythologie (made by James Stallybrass [1826–1888]) finally appeared. Similarly, a full translation of Kinder- und Hausmärchen by Margaret Hunt (1831–1912) (including the Grimms’ notes) did not appear in English until 1884. For more on Baring-Gould’s life, see Graebe, As I Walked Out.

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largely inspired by the detailed introduction written by Jørgen Moe (1813–1882) for the second edition of Norske Folkeeventyr in 1852.52 Dasent’s background, being born in the West Indies, educated at Westminster and Oxford, and subsequently resident in Sweden, before coming to London to work as assistant editor at The Times, was not one that bespoke extended personal contact with the rural working classes of England. This, however, did not stop him from holding forth upon the currency of the popular tales amongst them. He was sure that long ago stories had lived amongst the English folk just as they still lived amongst the people in the Norwegian countryside: It is long, indeed, since English nurses told these stories to English children by force of memory and word of mouth. […] the mouth of the English reciter was hushed […] in England more than a century ago.53 Baring-Gould did not accept Dasent’s dismissal of a living English oral narrative tradition: Dr Dasent […] speaks of English household tales as a thing of the past, as though they were no more to be discovered. I am convinced that they are still told in out-of-the-way rural districts, but they are very difficult to obtain, as old people are shy of relating them.54 Baring-Gould, who lived in just one of these “the out-of-the-way rural districts,” had knowledge of which he spoke, as was shown when he published narratives he himself had himself collected in Devon in Notes and Queries. An oddly revealing facet of Dasent’s bid to turn the attention of English folklore collectors to the fairy tale is seen in Baring-Gould’s statement that: Our antiquarian collectors of folk-lore have hitherto searched for legends, superstitions and charms; let them diligently seek out the household tale and I am sure they will find them still existing. I am now removed from my native county of Devonshire, where I know these tales may be picked up, and I have but a few which I was able to collect. Seeing before me no prospect of being able to continue my search for them

52 53 54

See Dasent, Popular Tales from the Norse, xv–clxii. See further Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”. See Dasent, Popular Tales from the Norse, i. See further Wawn, The Vikings and the Victorians, 150–152. Baring-Gould, “Devonshire Household Tales”, 82.

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I contribute what I have to ‘N[otes] & Q[ueries]’ in hopes of setting others on the scent.55 This attempted redirection of attention from legends (and other genres such as superstitions, which had been well documented, and charms, which in fact were not particularly well-documented) to fairy tales seems to be an instance of Märchen-envy. It is as if Baring-Gould is saying, we have quite enough legends, but let us now get something more significant, like Märchen: “It is of great importance that the household tales of England should be collected, as they have been collected in France, in Germany, in Russia, in Greece, in Scotland, etc.”56 Here he is presumably referring here to the work of figures such as the Grimms, Alexander Afanasyev (1821–1871), Johann Georg von Hahn (1811–1869), and, most recently, John Francis Campbell (1821–1885) in Scotland.57 Though he does not explicitly reference Norway here, there is little question that the commercial success of Dasent’s translation in recent years must have meant that the work of Asbjørnsen and Moe was also not far from Baring-Gould’s mind. To support his case that “they are still told”, he then subjoined two narratives he had collected himself. Similar ideas were expressed once again by Baring-Gould in 1866. In that year a collection of material entitled Notes on the Folklore of the Northern Counties was published by William Henderson (1813–1891), a carpet manufacturer in Durham, and a keen angler. The work is a bit of a ragbag, and like many of the regional English studies then and now, it is organised by topic rather than by genre; thus we get stories on “Wells and Divination”, “Local Sprites”, “Portents and Auguries”, rather than any Grimmian division into genres such as Märchen and Sagen. The work nonetheless concludes with an intriguing appendix authored by Baring-Gould. This appendix ambitiously sets forth what Baring-Gould terms the “story radicals” (or basic plots) found in traditional narratives internationally. He begins his contribution by declaring his allegiance to the Grimms and the fairy tale, noting that: “It is only of late years that household tales have been regarded as of interest by men of learning. […].”58 In producing this work on “story radicals”, Baring-Gould draws especially on the work of von Hahn (1811–1869) on Greek and Albanian tales (1864), but also makes a substantial contribution of his own to what was effectively a prototype of the Aarne-Thompson-Uther type index of tales (ATU: see above). 55 56 57 58

Baring-Gould, “Devonshire Household Tales”, 86. Baring-Gould, “Devonshire Household Tales”, 86. See also the chapter on Campbell by John Shaw elsewhere in this volume. Baring-Gould, “Appendix: Household Tales”, 299.

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It is noteworthy that his index is not intended as a national one, but rather as an international one. This may be the reason for its stillbirth, of course, but this focus can be seen as another reminder of the relative lack of Romantic Nationalism in English folklore studies at this time. Baring-Gould, like Dasent, makes a direct analogy between finding commonalities in narratives internationally with finding common Indo-European roots in various mutually-incomprehensible languages: “In all cognate languages we find the same roots which, however much altered, can be identified and reduced to their primitive form. Much the same may be said of household tales.”59 He also provides illustrations to his schema with tales he collected himself during his curacy in Horbury, Yorkshire, as well as his childhood at, and subsequent visits to, the family estate at Lew Trenchard in Devon. One of these narratives related how the English hero, Sir Francis Drake, who, when building himself a mansion, came back each morning to find every stone had been “carried a great distance off.” After staying up with his builders and observing that the stones were being carried away by “a multitude of little black devils” at midnight each night, he dressed up in white, and jumped down from a tree toward the devils, flapping his arms and calling kikkeriki! Thinking him a great white bird that presaged the coming of the end of the world, they fled in fear, and he managed to complete his mansion.60 A little ironically, Baring-Gould cannot fit this legend into his schema of fairy tales, and does not provide parallels to it, whereas he provides parallels from Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Greece, and Italy to other stories he collected.61 He is left to resorting to the suggestion that the story of Sir Francis Drake and the devils must be a fragment of something that would fit the schema. In the course of doing so, he supplies us with what must be one of the most extraordinary field notes in the annals of folk-narrative scholarship: “I am not sure that I have got a correct, or a complete version of the story, as it was obtained from a halfwitted fellow; who told it me one day, near Buckland, whilst I was engaged in opening a tumulus.”62 Of course, such circumstances allow Baring-Gould to square the circle, and to imply that “a correct or a complete version” existed which would have fitted into his schema. It is nonetheless to his credit that he does not try to correct or complete the story himself. His suggestion that the story “was probably told of some fearless Jack long before Sir Francis Drake 59 60 61 62

Baring-Gould, “Appendix: Household Tales”, 300. Baring-Gould, “Appendix: Household Tales”, 320–321. Baring-Gould, “Appendix: Household Tales”, 311–314. Baring-Gould, “Appendix: Household Tales”, 321.

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was born”63 also shows that, for all its historicising, he is aware of how much the boundary between Märchen and Sagen is dependent on elements such as the identity of a living protagonist, rather than anything about the plot itself.

7

Other Currents in Folk Narrative Research

Even though he only collected a handful of stories, the previous collector has been focused on at length as it is in the figure of Baring-Gould that we find the clearest English example of a someone interested in Grimmian theory who also collected tales in the field. And yet, despite their pre-eminent role in the development of international folk narratology, too tight a focus on the Grimms, and their rippling influences can render us blind to the other folk-tale collection that had taken place outside of any Grimmian paradigm. As elsewhere in Europe, there had been somewhat piecemeal documentation of legends and folktales for centuries by chroniclers and antiquarians, figures such as Matthew Paris (c. 1200–1259), William Camden (1551–1623), and John Aubrey (1626–1697). Even in the century of the Grimms, however, one can find a tradition of legend collection going on that was largely independent of Grimmian influence. Witness Robert Hunt (1807–1887), a scientist and geologist who, like Baring-Gould, had collected local narratives in Cornwall and Devon while convalescing in the 1830s, although these were only published more than three decades later, under the title of Popular Romances in the West of England (1865). These volumes, which once again focus on a local area, and feature legends on giants, fairies, mermaids, lost cities, and so on, contain no mentions of Grimm, and no Grimmianism. In as far as he uses any terms of art, Hunt is clearly a representative of a pre-Grimmian tradition with his talk of “popular romances”, “fairy mythology”, “rude traditions” and “romantic tales”.64 Nevertheless, some indirect echoes of the brothers’ influence can still be found here. Hunt, for example, reveals in his introduction that he would never have gone into print with these tales if he had not read Thomas Wright and James Orchard Halliwell (two men who, as we have seen, had certainly read Grimm). Furthermore, it seems evident that the publisher was positioning the work for a particular pre-existing audience when he commissioned illustrations for it from George Cruikshank (1792–1878), the man who had illustrated Taylor’s first English translation of Kinder- und Hausmärchen many years earlier, and whose 63 64

Baring-Gould, “Appendix: Household Tales”, 321. See Hunt, Popular Romances in the West of England, viii–xxiv.

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work iconographically represented the foremost equivalent of what the folktale style was verbally. The work is also prefaced by a remark taken from the substantial folktale collection that had recently been made in western Scotland by John Francis Campbell, another person whose work would have been unthinkable without that of the Grimms (or indeed that of Dasent).65 Indeed, Campbell and Hunt had a point of similarity: the former worked as Secretary to the Mines Commission, and Secretary of the Coal Commision amongst other such posts,66 while the later worked as a “Professor of Mechanical Science” and as “Keeper of Mining Records”. Some of Hunt’s other publications bear far-from-folkloric titles such as A Popular Treatise on the Art of Photography (1841), Researches on Light (1844), and Elementary Physics: An Introduction to the Study of Natural Philosophy (1851). Nonetheless, as with Campbell (or indeed with Thoms67), such interests were clearly no barrier to Hunt producing what was, as Edwin Stanley Hartland (1848–1927) recognised, “by far the fullest collection of English traditions” that had been published by that date.68

8

“Hushed … More Than a Century Ago”?

Campbell, like Baring-Gould, had been vexed by Dasent’s dismissal of the English story-telling tradition in the introduction to his translation of Asbjørnsen and Moe’s fairy tales. A copy of Dasent’s Popular Tales from the Norse, now held at the National Library of Scotland, contains Campbell’s own marginalia. Next to the passage where Dasent makes his claim about the mouth of the English reciter being “hushed […] more than a century ago,” (which Campbell has underlined), he writes in the margin: “after the mistaken dictum of 1859, I get men in London who recited popular tales to Dasent.” He then goes on to remark that his own collections in Scotland, and those of Hunt and Baring-Gould in England showed there were “oral recitations of which even the Times editor knew nothing,” before signing and dating his remark: “July 17 1884”. Here Campbell is alluding to an event that happened in March 1861 when he was travelling from his home in Kensington to his place of work

65 66 67

68

See the chapter on Campbell by John Shaw elsewhere in this volume. For more details on Campbell’s interests in science, see Gunnell, “Iceland: Wolverhampton of the North?” Both Hunt and Thoms were early adopters of photography, and the pair would have encountered one another first not in a literary or folkloristic context, but a technological one, as members of the newly-founded Royal Photographic Society in the 1850s. Hartland, English Fairy and Other Folk Tales, xxv.

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in Millbank. Campbell “happened to see a knife-grinder near the Knightsbridge Barracks, who seemed to be a field worth cultivation; so I stopped my cab and jumped out.”69 The next day, the knife-grinder and his brother met with Dasent and Campbell, and William and Soloman [sic] Johns proceeded to relate seven narratives. It is not stated whether these were legends or fairy tales. As Campbell himself acknowledged in an address to the Ethnological Society of London: “Few of the educated know how very abundant genuine oral British traditions still are.”70 Perhaps it is not surprising that there was no English equivalent of Deutsche Sagen (or indeed of Kinder- und Hausmärchen) published during the period 1816–1870. The English Grimmians, such as Palgrave, Thoms, Sternberg, and Baring-Gould, can all be located somewhere along a polymath – dilettante scale. In other words, they were well-educated men, with many and varied interests, often engaged in demanding day-jobs, and who only had a part-time focus on folklore. (Among the figures referred to in this survey, only Halliwell was a full-time writer.) Beyond this, it was very often the case that their interest in folk narrative was something confined to a single period of these figures’ lives, namely to their youth. Thoms was 31 when Lays and Legends appeared; Baring-Gould was 30 when he made his call, and 31 when he published his “Story Radicals”; Halliwell was 29 when his book came out; and Sternberg was just 23 on the publication of his. Robert Hunt might have been 58 when he eventually published his collection, but the book was based on fieldwork he had carried out when he was aged 20. All in all, we can see again and again that this youthful folklore phase was often abandoned – permanently or temporarily – or at least, put on the backburner, or saved for later in life.71 This is, of course, part of a much broader phenomenon (both Ibsen [1828–1906] and Goethe [1749–1832] collected folklore in their twenties before moving on), but it is not the route that was taken by the heroes of European folklore study, such as Jacob Grimm, who did not stop. While Sabine Baring-Gould was bold enough to assert that the collection of English folk narratives was “of great importance”,72 this did not mean that he was about to do very much in the way of folk-narrative-collecting himself, beyond demonstrating proof of concept. When, he later saw something he really wanted to collect, namely folk songs, he stomped all over Dartmoor in search of them, and succeeded in collecting (and publishing) hundreds of 69 70 71 72

J. F. Campbell, “On Current British Mythology and Oral Traditions”, 326–327. J. F. Campbell, “On Current British Mythology and Oral Traditions”, 330. For more on this phenomenon, see Roper, “The Folklore Period”. Baring-Gould, “Devonshire Household Tales”, 62.

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texts. Why was it that songs were collected and published in England in a thorough manner, but stories were not?73 Arguably this was partly a result of the easier detachability of songs from discourse and social life when compared with a conversational genre such as legend (as Briggs and Bauman have reminded us74). The emphasis on poetry and song was also partly because the English had a national inferiority complex in the sphere of music (“das Land ohne Musik” in the words of the title of Oscar Schmitz’s book from 1914), and were ready to undertake remedial cultural work to try and amend this, whereas no such cultural inferiority complex existed in the sphere of literature.75 Another reason might be the result of the profound cultural upheavals that had occurred in England in the period after the Napoleonic Wars. As the editor of the best nineteenth-century regional folklore collection, Charlotte Burne (1850–1923), remarked: “The social disintegration consequent on the economic changes of the nineteenth century has done its work on folk-lore throughout England.”76 Industrialisation, urbanisation, compulsory education, and improved transport links all had their effect. Their effect on traditional narration was not entirely devastating however: Baring-Gould found folk narrative alive and well in the urban, indeed industrial, setting of the mill village of Horbury, on the outskirts of Wakefield in the West Riding of Yorkshire,77 just as Campbell did in the streets of London (see above), then the largest urban conglomeration the world had known. In short, while folk poetry was already valued as art, folk prose had yet to undergo such a transvaluation. This is evident in terms of folkloristic practice, where scholarly work lacked any real emphasis on the words or style of the storytellers, but focused rather upon the gist of the stories. The difference in approach can also be seen in the fact that Thoms in his 1834 preface feels the need to justify the attention he was giving to legends, but not that given to the lays, the beauty of which was regarded as being justification enough. It is also evident in the choice of works the Percy Society chose to print and reprint in the 1840s, as well as in the very name of that society, based on the name of the pioneering ballad-editor Thomas Percy. It is similarly revealed by publishing priorities: Halliwell, for example, first published a book of folk verse, and only later a book of folk verse which also featured some folk prose, 73 74 75 76 77

In this, the situation in England parallels that in Finland. See further the chapter on Finland by Pertti Anttonen elsewhere in this volume. Briggs and Bauman, “Poetics and Performance as Critical Perspectives on Language and Social Life”, 74. See further Roper, “England: The Land Without Folklore?”. Burne, “Folk-lore: Legends and Old Customs”, 120. Baring-Gould, “Appendix: Household Tales”.

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rather than doing it the other way around, starting with a collection of folk prose, then going on to another collection of folk prose where verse is admitted on sufferance.

9

Afterword

While there had been successful narrative collection at a local level in England,78 and while this would continue (for example, a volume focusing on the lower north of England, Household Tales with Other Traditional Remains [1895] by Sidney Oldall Addy [1848–1933], a work which was to gain international recognition from, for example, Lenz in 190279), a national corpus of English folk narratives can only be said to have come into being in 1890. This was an annus mirabilis in which no less than three national collections of narratives appeared, all of which at last took England-the-nation as their frame. The most serious of the three anthologies, and also the one containing the most legends, was that assembled by Edwin Stanley Hartland: English Fairy and Other Folk Tales (1890). Hartland explicitly discusses the differences between legends and fairy tales, or as he calls them (in an Anglicisation of the Grimmian terms “Sagen” and “Kinder- und Hausmärchen”) “Sagas” and “Nursery Tales”. This was a key moment in the history of English folk narratology. None of the wide variety of terms used by previous scholars of English popular stories (“popular romances”, “fireside tales”, “nurse tales”, “traditionary stories”, and so on) had ever matched the Grimms’ principled usage of Märchen and Sagen, not even in the works of the most Grimmian figures such as Thoms or Baring-Gould. While the precise terms Hartland chose were not destined to be taken up by future scholars, the distinction they marked would remain valuable for serious scholars.80 At the same time as establishing the distinction in anglophone scholarship, Hartland also makes the very pragmatic point that in practice the two forms are closely related and that sometimes the difference between them is not so 78 79 80

More detail on folk narrative collection in England can be found in Roper, “No Fairy Tales of Their Own?”. See, for example, Lenz, Die neuesten englischen Märchensammlungen, 69. When, decades later, scholars based in Leeds and, especially, in Sheffield, began to investigate the narrative traditions around them, they disagreed about whether the best adjective to describe such stories should be “urban” or “contemporary” (or something else). What they did not disagree on, however, was that these believed narratives should all be referred to using the noun “legend”: see, for instance, Bennett and Smith, Contemporary Legend.

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much to do with the plots of the narratives themselves, but rather depends on the protagonist and location, that is to say whether they are about a wellknown person or locality or about people and places “without any greater claim on belief as an account of actual events than the fable of the Fox and the Grapes.”81 This explanation, reminiscent of the Grimms’ discussion in the foreword to Deutsche Sagen of how Frau Holle could appear in both Märchen and Sagen,82 enables him to go on to address the question of why so few English Märchen had been documented, his chief explanation being that such plots are usually told as legends in England: “many of the märchen of foreign nations assume in this country the form of sagas.”83 His own English collection, despite its “saga”-free title, is thus overwhelmingly composed of Sagen (60 of them, over 80% of the sum total of his narratives), as opposed to just six Märchen and eight Schwänke (“Drolls”). The publication of English Fairy and Other Folk Tales in 1890 can thus be said to mark the appearance of the closest English equivalent to an Englische Sagen,84 three-quarters of a century after the first appearance of Deutsche Sagen.85 81 82 83 84 85

Hartland, English Fairy and Other Folk Tales, x. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xvi. Hartland, English Fairy and Other Folk Tales, x. Now, in the twenty-first century, Simpson and Westwood’s The Lore of the Land (2005) can be said to be the best instance of an English national legendary. The annus mirabilis of 1890 was nonetheless a significant year in another way for folklore studies in England: it was also the year in which the first edition of The Golden Bough appeared. For the theoretically-inclined, the chief authority would soon no longer be Grimm, but Sir James George Frazer (1854–1941). Although, as noted above, some English scholars had known of the work of the Grimms as early as 1820, it was only 70 years later that the great wave of the Grimmian revolution finally struck England, and almost as soon as it did, it was surpassed by the next set of waves. As a scholar, Hartland would migrate over the coming decades from folklore studies to anthropology (along with other figures such as George Laurence Gomme [1853–1916], quondam President of the Folklore Society). In 1922, when he gave the first Frazer Lecture in Oxford, his chosen theme was “The Evolution of Kinship: An African Study”, marking the distance he and other figures like him had travelled from English legends, and also from the use of the Grimms’ work as a guiding light.

Chapter 12

The Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries and V. U. Hammershaimb’s Collections of Faroese Folk Legends Kim Simonsen

1

Introduction From my youth, I have had a lively longing to help save the memories found in old relics from destruction, the ones we see in language, in ballads and in legends that still live on the tongue of the Faroese […]. (Fra mine ungdomsår har der boet i mig en levende attrå efter at frede om og redde fra tilintetgörelse de oldtids- og fortidsminder, som i sprog, folkeviser og sagn endnu leve i folkemunde på Færøerne […].1)

This book focuses on the relationship between the collection of folk legends and the cultivation of national culture, and how both persons and institutions in the first half of the nineteenth century became involved in collecting, editing and publishing folktales (and especially folk legends). As with the other chapters in the book, this chapter will examine the transnational development of nationalist thinking which was cultivated through the collection and use of folklore by a growing network of scholars and cultural nationalists. The case selected to illustrate these points here is that of the Faroese collector of folk legends, V. U. Hammershaimb (1819–1909: see fig. 12.1), who will be considered in part in terms of his relationship with the philologist and cultural nationalist Carl Christian Rafn (1785–1864),2 the secretary of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries (Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab) in Copenhagen, and the cultural network that Rafn had established in Europe.3

1 Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi, I, i. Unless otherwise stated, all translations are by the present author. 2 On Rafn, see Simonsen, “Paper Monuments of the North”, 118, and “Rafn, Carl Christian”. 3 Between the 1820s and his death in 1864, Rafn became a member of learned societies worldwide reaching from Rio de Janeiro to Reykjavík, the Royal Society itself including among its members the Danish king, the Russian Tsar, the American president, and the King of Siam.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_014

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Figure 12.1 Photograph of V. U. Hammershaimb. Photograph: Hansen and Weller (Kongelige Bibliotek nr DP012111)

The material that will be focused on here will be the letters written by the two men about potential collections of folktales in the Faroe Islands and Hammershaimb’s early work published in the various journals run by The Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, the aim being to underline Hammershaimb’s role as part of a wider network of scholars, cultural nationalists and activists not only in Denmark but also in Northern Europe as a whole.4 Of particular interest is the effect that the “Grimm ripples” discussed in this book had on the cultivation of ideas of nationhood held by scholars like these two men.5

Besides being a veritable clearing house for the exchange of manuscripts, Rafn was also instrumental in creating libraries in Odense, Copenhagen, Reykjavík, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Athens and Odessa and as far away as in Australia: see further Simonsen, “Rafn, Carl Christian”. 4 On Hammershaimb’s life and career as a whole, see further Matras, “V. U. Hammershaimb”; and Simonsen, “Hammershaimb, Venceslaus Ulricus”, “V. U. Hammershaimb (1819–1909)”, “Frá V. U. Hammershaimb til Brøðurnar Grimm”, 14–22, and “Literature, Imagining and Memory”, 218. 5 I would like to thank The Arnamagnean Institute (Arnamagneansk Institut) at the University of Copenhagen; the National Library of the Faroe Islands (Føroya Landsbókasavn), and the National Collection of Manuscripts (Handritadeildin Føroya Landsbókasavn) in Tórshavn; and the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries (Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftsselskab), and the National Museum (National Museet) in Copenhagen for allowing letting me to use material from their collections.

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Figure 12.2

2

V. U. Hammershaimb: Færösk Anthologi, vol. I (1891). Title page

The Grimms’ Cultural Contacts in Copenhagen

It might be argued that the roots of Hammershaimb’s involvement in the collection of folktales has roots in the influential visit that Jacob Grimm paid to Copenhagen in 1844,6 at which time he gave a talk in the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries.7 In a letter to his brother Wilhelm Grimm dated 11th August 1844, Jacob writes the following about his trip:

6 See further the chapters on George Stephens and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius by John Lindow, and Terry Gunnell and Fredrik Skott elsewhere in this volume. 7 See Simonsen, “The Cultivation of Scandinavism”.

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I was sightseeing in Copenhagen and I managed to visit some people, Molbech was away, but Rafn and Finn Magnusen I was able to meet, they were both friendly. This afternoon I went to Frederiksberg, where the widowed queen lives in a castle about half an hour from town, and had lunch with Rafn, who lives in the area […]. (Ich sah mich gleich gestern in der stadt um und machte besuche, Molbech war verreist, Rafn aber und Finn Magnusen da, die sich beide freundschaftlich erwiesen […]. Heute nachmittag war ich zu Friedrichsberg, wo die verwitwete kö nigin in einem schloß wohnt, etwa eine halbe stunde von der stadt, und habe bei Rafn, der sich in der gegend eingemiethet hat, zu mittag gegessen […].8) As the letter makes clear, Jacob Grimm’s visit to the North, was not his first contact with Denmark. Indeed, he and his brother Wilhelm had been corresponding with leading intellectuals in Denmark for many years, among them being the aforementioned Carl Christian Rafn, Christian Molbech (1783–1857), the Icelandic scholar Finnur Magnússon (also known as Finn Magnusen: 1781–1847),9 and the Polish-Danish-German painter, Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann (1819–1881) who painted the most famous portrait of the Grimms in 1855.10 Rafn and Jacob Grimm had been corresponding for 20 years, and would go on doing so until Jacob Grimm’s death in 1863. The Grimms’ contact with Denmark went back to Jacob Grimm’s association with the influential Danish-Norwegian professor Henrik Steffens (1773–1845) when they had both been living in Halle in 1809–1810.11 Steffens in turn had close contacts with Danish intellectuals such as Rasmus Nyerup (1759–1829), the head of the Library of the University of Copenhagen (Københavns Universitets Bibliotek) which housed the world’s largest collection of Old Icelandic manuscripts, known as the Arnamagnean Collection (Den Arnamagnæanske Samling).12 Wilhelm Grimm, who had taken on some of his brother 8 9 10

11 12

See Fenger, “Brødrene Grimm”, 28. On Finnur Magnússon, see further the chapter on Jón Árnason by Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume. See Fenger, “Brødrene Grimm”; and Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 185–202 (letters from Molbech), 145–184 (letters from Rafn), and 203–211 (letters from Finnur Magnússon). On the image by Jerichau-Bauman kept in Staatliche Museen zu Berlin: Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Nationalgalerie, see further Fenger, “Brødrene Grimm”, 29 and 39. On Jerichau-Bauman’s other connections with Romantic Nationalism, see, for example, María Kristjánsdóttir, “, … þegar maður vill læra einhvurja íþrótt…‘”, 173–174. On contacts between the Grimms and Steffens, see Dollerup, Tales and Translation, 16–19. On contacts between the Grimms and Nyerup, see Dollerup, Tales and Translation, 16 and 18–24; and Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 1–83. Nyerup also wrote the

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Jacob’s duties at the Electoral Library (Kurfürstliche Bibliothek) in Kassel, went on to make use of Nyerup to acquire books and copies of manuscripts for the library. From this time onwards, a frequent correspondence took place between Copenhagen and Kassel, letters which dealt with matters of state, study, trade and war often being personally delivered by travellers.13 In 1811, Wilhelm extended his correspondence to include the Danish philologist and founder of comparative linguistics, Rasmus Rask (1787–1832), who in 1825 became an inaugural founder of the earlier-noted Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries along with Rafn and a group of Icelandic scholars living in Copenhagen (Sveinbjörn Egilsson [1791–1852], Þorgeir Guðmundsson Repp [1797–1857],14 and Gísli Brynjólfsson [1794–1827]). Henrik Steffens was clearly a nodal point in an impressive wide-ranging European network of leading German scholars and other figures connecting Scandinavia and Germany. He had become a cultural conduit between the German Romantics and Denmark as a result of a series of talks he had held at Elers Student Hall of Residence (Elers Kollegium) in Copenhagen in 1802. Such networks are a clear example of what Joep Leerssen has come to call “viral nationalism”,15 and in Denmark that can be said to have reached a peak when Jacob Grimm set foot in Copenhagen. The letters between Rask and Jacob Grimm16 came to an end when it became clear for Rask that Jacob Grimm was increasingly stealing his thunder. Their relationship, which has often been distorted by patriotic fervour on the part of both Danes and Germans, has recently received a more objective evaluation, but certain points remain which will require further clarification in the future.17

3

Folklore and the Idea of the Roots of the Nation

Joep Leerssen has connected the interest in collecting oral literature to primitivism which has a long history in Europe and is especially evident in the focus on researching the culture of the countryside rustic people that formed such a central feature of Romantic Nationalism in “the long nineteenth century”.18 As Leerssen states:

13 14 15 16 17 18

preface to Thiele’s Prøver af Danske Folkesagn (A Sampler of Danish Folk Legends: 1817): see further the chapter on Thiele by Timothy R. Tangherlini elsewhere in this volume. See Dollerup, “The Grimm Tales in 19th Century Denmark”, 191–214. On Þorgeir Guðmundsson Repp, see further Wawn, The Anglo Man. See Leerssen, “Viral Nationalism”. See Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 84–126 (letters from Rask). See, for example, Bloom, “Rasmus Rask and Romanticism”, 245. See Leerssen, “Oral Literature and Folk Music”.

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In the course of the 18th century, the image of native-rustic simplicity […] acquired the political connotation of being untouched by the pretentious, culturally self-denying imitation of foreign fashion […]. The process was gradual and leads from English sentimental comedies to Herder; but Jacob Grimm’s interest in folk-verse still incurred Friedrich Schlegel’s withering comment that there was no poetry to be found in the souls of street urchins.19 The indirect connection between the Grimms and Hammershaimb has much of this backdrop.20 As noted above, Jacob Grimm’s arrival in Copenhagen can be seen as a high watermark of the great Romantic Nationalistic wave started by Herder and Grimm. Central to this wave was the transnational search for a usable past, and a hankering after the greatness and bygone glories of a Nordic “Golden Age”, something reflected in the establishment and work of many well-known Danish historical societies such as The Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries which came to fame with its translation and editing of original Old Nordic (and especially Old Icelandic) sources. Such work helped create a new level of national self-understanding in the north.21 These endeavours would later be strengthened as part of the pan-national ideology of pan-Scandinavism, in which Rafn and the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries were active proponents.22 At its heart, this was antiGermanistic and anti-Slavist, and especially hostile towards the idea of panGermanism and pan-Slavism. This might be said to have formed part of the intellectual and political backdrop that the pan-Germanist Jacob Grimm faced during his stay in Copenhagen.23

4

Hammershaimb, Rafn and the Grimms

Interestingly enough, the first mention of Faroese folktales in discussions between the scholars noted above appears soon after Grimm’s visit in a letter from Rafn to Grimm in 1847 when Rafn writes:

19 20 21 22 23

See Leerssen, “Oral Literature and Folk Music”, 68. Simonsen, “Oral Literature: Faroese”. See Grambye, “Historical Societies: Denmark”. Simonsen, “Scandinavism”, and “The Cultivation of Scandinavism”. Simonsen, “The Cultivation of Scandinavism”.

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On behalf of our Society, I would like you to accept these two volumes from 1844–1845 and 1846 of our Annaler for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie which are published by the Society. Here you will find several pieces which I presume will be of special interest to you. (Fra vort Selskab beder jeg Dem endvidere modtage de to Bind for 1844–1845 og for 1846 af vore Annaler for nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, udgivne af Selskabet. Deri vil De finde flere Afhandlinger, som jeg antager ville have en speciel Interesse for Dem.24) Among the “special pieces” that Rafn notes is a short article on “Færøiske Folkesagn” by the 28-year-old V. U. Hammershaimb containing two folk legends and a short overview of beliefs in the huldufólk (lit. “hidden people”).25 The article in question is one of three relating to the Faroe Islands that had been printed in Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie in 1846.26 In this context, it is worth bearing in mind that the Royal Society had recently (in 1845) published an article by George Stephens (1813–1895) in Antiquarisk Tidsskrift entitled “Forslag til Islændernes Uudgivne Folkesagns og Sanges Optegnelse og Bevaring” (A Suggestion on how the Unpublished Icelandic Folk Legends and Songs should be Recorded and Preserved: see fig. 14.3),27 which was based on a paper that Stephens had delivered for the society in Copenhagen on 17th July 1845. Of particular interest is the subtitle of the article which states that “as a result of the received investigations by Amtmand Pløyen, the article is extended to the Faroes” (“I Anledning af modtagne Beretninger fra Amtmand Pløyen udstakt til Færöerne”28). Christian Pløyen (1803–1867) was the chief administrative officer (amtmand) in the Faroe Islands. The following year, a letter from Pløyen to the Vice-President of the Royal Society, Finnur Magnússon, was printed in same edition of Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie that Rafn sent to Jacob

24 25

26 27

28

Schmidt, Briefwechsel der Gebrüder Grimm, 156: Letter from Rafn to Jacob Grimm, dated 21st July 1841. Closely related to the Icelandic huldufólk and the Norwegian huldre (both meaning “hidden people”), the Faroese huldufólk are human-sized spirits that live within the landscape. Pløyen, “Færøiske Trylleformularer”; and Hammershaimb, “Færøiske Sagn”, and “Bemærkninger med Hensyn til den færöiske Udtale”. Stephens, “Forslag til Islændernes Uudgivne Folkesagns og Sanges Optegnelse”. On Stephens and this call, see further the chapter on Stephens by John Lindow and that on Jón Árnason by Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume. Stephens, “Forslag til Islændernes Uudgivne Folkesagns og Sanges Optegnelse”, 191.

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Grimm. The letter, sent to Finnur Magnússon on 31st March 1845 (presumably the “received investigations” mentioned by Stephens), and published under the heading of “Færøiske Trylleformularer” (Faroese Magic Charms), included a charm which the Faroese farmer Ole Jespersen (1810–1882) had collected on the Faroese island of Suðuroy. This text by Pløyen is followed by the aforementioned article by Hammershaimb.29

5

Rafn and Faroese Culture 1817–1846

Rafn, who was recommending Hammershaimb’s first collection of Faroese folk legends to Grimm, was no stranger to Faroese literature and cultural development. Indeed, he had been working with Faroese culture and literature since 1827, when he had been the defining force in establishing a library in the Faroe Islands.30 The collection of folklore in the Faroe Islands had nonetheless got underway some time before this.31 Some ten years before, the botanist and clergyman Hans Christian Lyngbye (1782–1837) had started collecting oral literature in the Faroe Islands in line with the emphasis that Herder (1744–1803) had earlier placed on folk poetry. In 1822, Lyngbye had published an edition entitled Færøiske Qvæder om Sigurd Fofnersbane og hans Æt (Faroese Ballads on Sigurðr Fáfnisbani and his Family), a book of nearly 560 pages which included most of the important Faroese ballads. In the nineteenth century, cultural nationalism was evidently becoming a dominant force in the literary and political life in the Faroe Islands just as it was elsewhere in the Nordic countries and in Europe, and it was leading Faroese literature to move out of obscurity into being part of the “World Republic of Letters”.32 In 1824, Lyngbye’s work was reviewed by Wilhelm Grimm in Gö ttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen.33 The fact that these fragments of folk ballads were supposed to originate from the Middle Ages had clearly enhanced the interest not only of the romantically-minded philologists, but 29 30

31 32 33

Simonsen, “Oral Literature: Faroese”. See further Simonsen, “Paper Monuments of the North”, “Rafn, Carl Christian”, Before the Library, 14, “Hammershaimb, Venceslaus Ulricus”, and “Literature, Imagining and Memory”, 218. See further Simonsen “Paper Monuments of the North”. See further Casanova, The World Republic of Letters. On the “republic of letters”, see further the chapter by Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in this volume. See Grimm, “Färö iske quäder”, also published in Wilhelm Grimm, Kleinere Schriften, II, 338–347.

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also the Nordic antiquarian elite of the time. The fact that new research seems to suggest that the ballads in question were probably partially “invented” between the years 1817 and the publication in 1822 does not reduce the importance of the fact that at the time they increased awareness of the Faroe Islands and their culture.34 The publication of the ballads had been followed up in 1832 by Færeyínga Saga eller Færøboernes Historie (The Saga of the Faroe Islands, or the History of the Faroese) which was published in the Icelandic original with a Danish translation by Rafn and a Faroese translation by the clergyman Johan Henrich Schrøter (1771–1851: see further below).35 The publication of both the ballads and the saga can be regarded as having set the stage for Hammershaimb’s work that followed. Rafn, meanwhile, had been the leading inspiration behind the founding of the National Library of the Faroe Islands (Færøernes Amts Bibliotek) in 1828, books being sent to the library by Rafn and his friends all over Europe, some even coming from as far afield as Tranqubar in India.36

6

Hammershaimb and Folklore

Who, then, was Venceslaus Ulricus Hammershaimb?37 He was a Faroese Lutheran minister who was born in the small village of Sandavágur in Vágoy in the Faroe Islands, died in Copenhagen, and has come to be seen as the founding father of the Faroese nation. This has led to Hammershaimb’s life and work being described in the form of a cultural hagiography with a strong touch of methodological nationalism. It is thus valuable to re-evaluate his work as part of a wider European context.38 What is clear is that Hammershaimb came from an elite Faroese family, his father being the last real Chief Justice and Chairman of the old Faroese parliament (løgting). After Denmark dissolved the Faroese parliament in 1816, however, the family had slipped from greatness to more modest means. Hammershaimb moved to Denmark with his family at the age of 13, later going on

34 35

36 37 38

Andersen-Vinlandicus, “Origin and Age of Sjúrðar kvæði”. Faereyinga saga was subsequently translated into German by the German priest, Gottlieb Mohnike (1781–1841) in 1833. The Faroese ballads were published in German in Versuch einer geschichtlichen Charakteristik der Volkslieder germanischer Nationen in 1840. Simonsen, Before the Library, 14. It might be noted that Rafn was also the orchestrator of the development of the Faroese orthography. See Simonsen, “Hammershaimb, Venceslaus Ulricus”. See Simonsen, “Literature, Imagining and Memory”, 218.

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to study theology, even though he saw Nordic philology as his true vocation.39 During the years 1841, 1847–1848, and 1853, he nonetheless returned to the Faroes, on the two later trips specifically to study dialects and collect native ballads, folktales and folklore, all of which he went on to publish in his own orthography,40 gradually making a name for himself, under the encouragement of Rafn, N. F. S. Grundtvig (1783–1872), his son Svend Grundtvig (1824–1883), and presumably also the Swedish folklorist, Gunnar Olof HylténCavallius (1818–1889) whom he met in Copenhagen in 1843.41 This had all begun when he started to write about the political situation of the Faroese language and its standing, his first article on “Det færøiske Sprog” (The Faroese Language) appearing in 1844 in Kjøbenhavnposten under the name of “en færing” (a Faroese man). As noted above, while still a student, Hammershaimb made his first return trip to the Faroe Islands in 1841, during which he visited most of the islands (often accompanied by Christian Pløyen [noted earlier]), refreshing his knowledge of the environment and the way of life of the islanders. His detailed diary from the trip, later published in 1941 by Christian Matras under the title Færøsk Dagbog 6.7–16.8 1841 (A Faroese Diary 6.7–16.8 1841), says nothing about any collection of folktales, suggesting that the first short article from 1846 was largely based on personal knowledge.42 The longer second trip, however, had a clear agenda behind it, which Hammershaimb later credited directly to Rafn (although there is a possibility that his meeting with Hyltén-Cavallius in 1846 [see above] might well have played a part).43 By this time (in 1847), Hammershaimb had already been made a full member of The Royal Society of Northern Antiquarians, something he thanks 39 40

41

42 43

See Simonsen, “Literature, Imagining and Memory”, 177. See Hammershaimb, “Færøiske Sagn” (1846), “Færøiske Folkesagn”, “Færøiske Ordsprog”, “Nogle Færøiske Talemåder”, “Færøiske Skikke og Lege”, “Barneviser og Ramser”, “Færøiske Gåder” (1849–1851), Færøiske kvæder (1851–1855), and a new translation of Færeyinga saga (Føroyingasøga, 1884). With regard to work on ballads, see also Hammershaimb, “Olufas Kvad” (1846–1848), and Sjúrðar kvæði (1851). See Joensen, “Hammershaimb sum heimildarmaður”. As Joensen shows, Hammershaimb provided Hyltén-Cavallius with some notes about Faroese folklore which are included in this article, along with a picture of the notes in question (102). Hyltén-Cavallius is nonetheless not mentioned by Hammershaimb in his autobiography, “Træk af mit Livsløb”. On Hyltén-Cavallius, see further the chapter by Terry Gunnell and Fredrik Skott elsewhere in this volume. See Hammershaimb, Færøsk Dagbog. A map of Hammershaimb’s wide-ranging travels during this trip can be found on page 6 of this publication. As Hammershaimb writes in “Meddelelser fra en rejse på Færøerne i 1847–48”, 258: “I was encouraged to do this by Counsellor Rafn and others who had some knowledge of and interest in the Faroese ballads and other antiquities” (“Hertil upmuntredes jeg også af

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Rafn for in a letter from the Faroes in August 1847.44 The introduction of Hammershaimb’s detailed description of this expedition, published in Antiquarisk Tidsskrift (1846–1848), gives a clear picture of what he had aimed to do on this occasion, and his attitudes to the material in question. It is worth quoting in some detail. As Hammershaimb writes, when he became a student: I learnt to understand that in the life of the Faroese, their way of presenting themselves and their songs had been so beautifully passed down from generation to generation that it deserved to be better known and saved from a quick extinction, from being lost without trace. Unfortunately, this applies more now than ever before in the Faroes, because the tone changes, and the young people in many places have all but lost the sense for the old heroic ballads, the old legends about the past, and the old ways; the interesting poetic creations about those beings that pop up in the mysterious natural landscape are no longer accepted by the young people growing up now. Those old people that are still alive may well have enjoyed listening to such tales in their youth, but they have lost all life amongst them now they have no chance to refresh them by telling them to the young; the elaboration which kept them alive has been lost now, meaning that people can only remember the outlines of so many of those legends that used to be known by everyone. In order to preserve what was left of the ballads, narratives, proverbs, games and so on, and also to learn how the language is spoken on the different islands, I decided in the spring of 1847 to make a trip up there and to try to go round all the islands. ([…] jeg lærte at indse, at der i Færingens liv, hans forestillingskreds og hans sange var så meget smukt nedarvet fra forfædrene fra slægt til slægt, at det nok kunde fortjene nojere at kendes og reddes fra en brat tilintetgerelse og sporløs for svinden. Desværre truer det hermed stærkere nu end nogensinde på Færeerne; thi tonen forandres, de unge

44

Etatsråd Rafn og flere, som havde noget bekendtskab til og interesse for de færøiske kvæder og øvrige oldtidsminder”). Simonsen, “Oral Literature: Faroese”. In the letter in question written in Tórshavn on 17th August 1847, Hammershaimb thanks Rafn for being granted with membership of the society, saying how honoured he feels: “[…] my sincere wish is now that I can be worthy and live up to the trust that has been bestowed upon me by your Excellency here in my homeland” (“[…] mit oprigtige ønske er nu kun, at jeg måtte kunne virke noget for dets formål her i mit hjem og derved vise mig noget af den tillid værdig, hvormed Hr. Etatsråden har beæret mig”).

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have på mange steder så godt som ganske tabt sansen for kæmpekvadet og de gamle sagn om old tidens og forlidens bedrifter; de interessante poetiske forestillinger om de væsener, der dukke op gennem den hemmelighedsfulde natur, påagtes aldeles ikke af den opvoxende ungdom. De nulevende gamle have vel i deres unge dage med glæde lyttet til slige fortællinger, men de tabe alt liv hos dem, da de ikke kunne opfriske dem ved at fortælle dem igen for de unge; indklædningen, som er det belivende, går således tabt, skont man endnu kan huske hovedtrækkene i særdeles mange sagn, som have været almindelige deroppe. For at bevare hvad der endnu er levnet af kvæder, frasagn, ordsprog, lege o. s. v., samt for at lære sproget at kende, som det tales på de forskellige øer, bestemte jeg mig i foråret 1847 til at gore en rejse derop og såvidt muligt se til at komme rundt omkring på alle eerne.45) Here we can clearly see at work the transnational Romantic Nationalistic ideas with regard to historical conscience and national image that Hammershaimb seems to have picked up after his first trip. As Hammershaimb notes in his report, the trip this time was largely limited to the more southerly islands of Suðuroy, Stóra Dimun, Skúvoy, Sandoy, Vágoy, Mykines and Streymøy where he collected ballads, legends and occasionally fairy tales from a variety of people (including a blind old woman in Vesturvík in Suðuroy46). As he says himself, this time he did not manage to reach the islands in the north.47 Further details about this collecting trip and Hammerhaimb’s working methods with regard to his material are apparent from his letters written to Rafn during this time.48 In a letter from Tórhavn written on 17th August 1847, Hammershaimb underlines once again his close association with Pløyen and his sense that Suðuroy is a good source of material (both ballads and legends): “[…] Since I arrived in these islands I have been on a trip to Suðuroy with Amtmand Pløyen, and there I managed to find a lot of things with of antiquarian 45

46 47

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Hammershaimb, “Meddelelser fra en rejse på Færøerne i 1847–48”, 258. The aim of the trip (“to collect […] ballads and folk legends” [“at samle (…) Kväjir (sic) og Folkesagn”]) is underlined still further elsewhere in the same journal: see “Det Historisk-Archæologiske Arkiv”, 172. (Translation by Terry Gunnell.) Hammershaimb, “Meddelelser fra en rejse på Færøerne i 1847–48”, 260. Hammershaimb, “Meddelelser fra en rejse på Færøerne i 1847–48”, 266. Hammershaimb nonetheless says that he already knew Borðoy and tried to get as much information as he could about these islands, among others from Sheriff (Sysselmand) Samuel Michael Matras (1778–1857). Letters to and from Rafn are contained in the archive of the Royal Nordic Society of Antiquaries in the National Museum in Copenhagen (Rafn: Breve 1–2099); and in the Royal Library of Denmark (Rafn: Breve 1599).

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interest” (“[…] Siden min ankomst til disse Øer har jeg været en Tur til Suderø med Amtmand Pløyen, der lykkedes det mig at finde ting af Antiquarisk Interesse”49). In a later letter written in Skálavík in Sandoy on 12th November 1847, Hammershaimb praises the benefits of being able to distribute tobacco, noting how people in Sandoy are coming to him throughout the day with proverbs, legends and fairy tales.50 Hammershaimb’s 1847–1848 trip was followed up a year later with the publication of 22 new legends in Antiquarisk Tidsskrift (1849–1851),51 stories that would later receive canonisation when republished as part of Hammershaimb’s Færøsk Anthologi (A Faroese Anthology: 1886–1891: see fig. 12.2 and below).52 Other material collected during this period in the shape of antiquarian findings, language collections, proverbs, and ballads would be printed elsewhere in different journals published by the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries. All of this work makes clear the enduring influence of Rafn who Hammershaimb regularly visited in Copenhagen after his return. All the same, as his later letters to Rafn underline, it is evident that Hammersmaimb’s duties as a clergyman made it hard for him to complete his academic work. One thing that is striking about both Hammershaimb’s letters (especially the earlier ones) and the various articles he wrote about the Faroe Islands and their culture53 is that he saw the islands with estranged eyes. In short, he writes about the place where he was born somewhat like a foreign travel writer. Indeed, Hammershaimb’s extensive foreword to Færøsk Anthologi reads like a topographic report, containing chapters on geography,54 history,55 and the life of the Faroese people,56 with comments on their mentality and language, in addition to a massive section on grammar.57 The section entitled “Folkelivsbilleder” (Images of the Life of the People)58 contains a long romanticised description with shades of folklore dealing with the Faroese tradition of killing

49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58

See also Hammershaimb, “Meddelelser fra en rejse på Færøerne i 1847–48”, 259–261. Hammershaimb in a letter to Rafn, from Skálavík, Sandoy, dated 12th November 1847. See Hammershaimb, “Færøiske Folkesagn”. The legends here are given no introduction. See Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi (1886–1891), I, 326–385. As in the article mentioned above, no introduction is given. See the anthology of Hammershaimb’s articles: Savn úr Annaler for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie og Antiquarisk Tidsskrift. Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi (1886–1891), I, v–xii. Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi (1886–1891), I, xii–xxv. Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi (1886–1891), I, xxv–liii. Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi (1886–1891), I, lxxi–cxvi. Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi (1886–1891), I, 389–429.

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pilot whales.59 Also dealt with in this section alongside weddings and farming is the “Kvøldseta” (lit. evening wake), the Faroese practice of gathering around the fire in the evenings to process wool, tell stories and sing ballads.60 It is noteworthy that when Hammershaimb wrote about the material culture and everyday life of the ordinary Faroese, he always did so using the forms of the pastoral and the idyll, repeatedly celebrating nature and rural scenery, often in a contrast to the world of the city, as in the following description: The islands appear to the viewer in a large half circle with mountain tops and mountain summits, their steep rock walls are the homes of the seabirds, on the lovely green mountain sides sheep and cows are grazing. […] the pretty houses in these villages are not very prominent. Their roofs are covered with green turf, and they are therefore hard to distinguish from the fields, seen from a distance. When you come closer, the tarred houses with their white foundations and the painted windows are easy to see.61 ([…] idet øerne vise sig for beskueren liggende i en stor halvcirkel med deres fjældtoppe og tinder, deres lodrette forbjerge, hvor søfuglene have deres stade, dejlige grö nne fjældsider) (líðir), hvor får og kør gå og græsse. […] skö nt husene i disse bygder ikke ere meget fremtrædende, idet deres grö nsvær dækkede tage ikke let i afstand skelne sig fra de omgivende grö nne marker; kommer man nærmere, vise de tjærede huse sig med den hvide grund og de malede vinduer tydelig.) Hammershaimb was clearly inspired by foreign travellers, and a number of them are quoted in Færøsk Anthologi. What is less well known is that when he put together this work, he was starting to face some competition. By that time, his fellow clergyman, poet and travel writer Peter Alberg Holm (1823–1892) had already published three different editions of his own book about the Faroe Islands, Skildringer og Sagn fra Færøerne (Descriptions and Legends from the Faroe Islands), which first appeared in 1856, a third, revised and illustrated edition appearing in 1887. Holm was Danish but had been born on the Faroe Islands. At the age of nine, like Hammershaimb, he had been sent to Denmark to be educated. In 59 60 61

Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi (1886–1891), I, 389–429. For the “Kvøldseta”, see 389–391. Simonsen, “Hammershaimb, Venceslaus Ulricus”. Hammershaimb, Færøsk Anthologi (1886–1891), I, xxvi.

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1844, he travelled in the Faroe Islands, and his book seems to have been based on this journey.62 Like Hammershaimb, Holm wrote about many aspects of Faroese life, ranging from bird catching to the killing of pilot whales, and also about Færeyinga saga. He was also deeply interested in collecting legends and tales, and like Hammershaimb, included a section in his book about the Faroese language. While Hammershaimb must have known about Holm’s work, it is interesting to note that he does not mention him in his Færøsk Anthologi. Indeed, such omissions are noteworthy in Hammershaimb’s work. While he mentions Lyngbye, Rask, the German ornithologist Carl Julian von Graba (1789–1874), and the Scottish travel writer, George Stuart Mackenzie (1780–1848), nothing is said about many other Nordic writers who came before him such as Just Mathias Thiele (1795–1874) or Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius (see above). One also notes a lack of any mention of other folklore collectors such as the Grimms.

7

The Grand Finale

Færøsk Anthologi was Hammershaimb’s grand finale and paved the way for his young helper Jakob Jakobsen (1864–1918), whose work would effectively follow up and even surpass that of his mentor. Jakobsen, the only son of the first professional printer and rather wealthy owner of the first large bookstore in the Faroe Islands, would go on to become the biggest collector of folktales on the Faroe Islands (in spite of the fact that Hammershaimb was more famous internationally). While the corporation of the two men seems to have been fruitful, it was also at times problematic and even painful, mostly because Jakobsen went on to create a counter orthography which plunged the Faroese national movement into a cultural civil war about language which Jakobsen eventually lost.63

62 63

Simonsen, “Literature, Imagining and Memory in the Formation of a Nation”, 182–184. Jakobsen wanted a more modern language built on phonetics, whereas Hammershaimb’s orthography was more etymological and thus also more difficult. Hammershaimb was the one who first introduced Jakobsen to Faroese philology and indeed, Jacobsen made a contribution to Hammershaimb’s Færøsk Anthologi. At around the same time, however, Jakobsen wrote a series of articles in the Faroese newspaper Dimmalætting which opposed the earlier-noted highly etymological and erudite 1846 orthography that had been constructed by Jón Sigurðsson (1811–1879) and N. M. Petersen (1791–1862) and was used (with slight modifications) by Hammershaimb. Initial support for Jakobsen’s ideas soon eroded, and eventually, after a compromise known as broyting (change) was proposed in 1895, Jakobsen’s reform was eventually abandoned. The debate about

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With his collection Færøske Folkesagn og Æventyr (Faroese Legends and Fairy Tales: 1898–1901), containing 90 folktales (86 of which can be considered fairy tales), Jakobsen followed in the footsteps of those other nation builders discussed elsewhere in this volume that concentrated on the fairy tale such as Asbjørnsen (1812–1885) and Moe (1813–1882) in Norway; and John Francis Campbell (1821–1885) in Scotland, all of whom were building on the work initiated by the Grimms’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen.64 Interestingly enough, even though Jakobsen mentions Hammershaimb in the introduction to this almost 700-page-long book, he does not include any of Hammershaimb’s legends.65

8

Hammershaimb as a Collector

As noted earlier, Hammershaimb wrote at the start of his article, “Meddelelser fra en rejse på Færøerne i 1847–48”, that his hope was to re-appropriate the oral fountainhead of the nation’s literary heritage, allowing Faroese readers to re-immerse themselves in the world of past, and reconnect themselves with the earlier culture of the nation. This would become his mission in life. In this context, it is noteworthy that the emphasis in Hammershaimb’s collection of folk legends (like that in Iceland which was also inspired by Stephens’ call for collection66) is on supernatural legends, many of the stories published in his articles and Færøsk Anthologi dealing with the Faroese “huldufólk” (see above) and other beings such as dvørgar (dwarfs), veittrar (“nature spirits”), niðagrísar (ghosts of unbaptised children left out to die of exposure), nykur (sea monsters), havfrýr (mermaids), and marmennil (mermen). Here we also find the famous legend about seals being people that have committed suicide, and the iconic legend tale about “Risin og Kellingina” (The Giant and the Witch), which lies behind one of the most famous tourist sites of the Faroes today.

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language in the print media (the newspapers Dimmalætting and Føringatíðindi) nonetheless helped establish a public forum on the Faroe Islands, giving new agency to the speakers of Faroese who had hitherto been little more than informants for philological studies. See further Knudsen, “Language Use and Linguistic Nationalism”, 129–130. See further the chapters on Asbjørnsen, Moe and Campbell by Ane Ohrvik, Line Esborg, and John Shaw elsewhere in this volume. Today this work is still regarded as the cultural backbone of the Faroese nation. It is (still) published by the publishers, printer and bookstore H. N. J. Bókhandil started by Jacobsen’s father in Tórshavn. See further the chapter on Jón Árnason by Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume.

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With regard to the collections themselves, it is worth stressing that, as noted above, unlike some of his forerunners, Hammershaimb fails to name his informants. At the same time, one notes that unlike the Grimms, Faye and Thiele,67 he did not draw material from written archives. Indeed, no such archives existed in the Faroes at the time. All the same, in his aforementioned article dealing with his trip to the Faroes in 1847–1848, Hammershaimb does mention his fellow collector of antiquarian material, Rev. Johan Henrich Schrøter (see above) who, like the ballad-collector H. C. Lyngbye, had sent some oral literature to the Royal Society in 1817.68 In addition to recording ballads, legends, and working on the sagas,69 Schrøter, somewhat of an eccentric, was also famous for his translation of The Gospel of St Matthew, which was published in Faroese in 1823 by the Danish Bible Society (Det Danske Bibelselskab) under the title of Evangelium Sankta Mattæussa.

9

Folk Legends and Landscapes

One important feature of the way in which Hammershaimb writes about the Faroes and their folklore is found in the way he regularly connects legends with the landscapes that they come from. Indeed, from the time of his first diary entry from 184170 up until Færøsk Anthologi in 1891, his work is packed with references to places and often also the folklore that was commonly attached to them.71 As the nationalism scholar Athena Leoussi has pointed out, the landscape had become a powerful player with relation to the creation of national identity from the late eighteenth century onwards, something seen particularly clearly in ethnically-founded art and literature, as well as in folklore.72 In a sense, nature was being nationalised.73 Naturally landscape representations in art and stories are not only created within a culture; they also help create culture, and can be seen as being highly ideological. This is certainly applicable to the 67 68 69 70 71 72

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See the chapters on the Grimms, Thiele and Faye by Holger Ehrhardt, Timothy R. Tangherlini and Herleik Baklid elsewhere in this volume. See Hammershaimb, “Meddelelser fra en rejse på Færøerne i 1847–48”, 264. See Schrøter, “Færøiske Folkesagn” published in Antiquarisk Tidsskrift (1849–1851). See Hammershaimb, Færøsk Dagbog. See further Gunnell, “Narratives, Space and Drama”, 7, and “Legends and Landscape”. Leoussi, “The Ethno-Cultural Roots of National Art”, 143. See also Gunnell, “Legends and Landscape”, 307; and the chapter on topo-narratives by Joep Leerssen elsewhere in this volume. Simonsen, “Literature, Imagining and Memory”, 185.

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work of Hammershaimb and the aforementioned emphasis that he placed on the pastoral and the idyll. In a sense, it can be argued that in this way Hammershaimb was founding and defining a style of Faroese prose that would later come to the forefront in works like those of the authors Heðin Brú (1901–1987), Martin Joensen (1902–1966), and Regin í Líð (Rasmus Rasmussen: 1871–1962).74 This style was naturally also encountered in many other countries during this period, Romantic Nationalism being essentially a means of conceiving and processing certain shared values, creating and maintaining a sense of collective identity in a time of great change.75 As noted above, Hammershaimb stressed the need for preservation as one of the reasons lying behind his collection work. One can thus argue that his personal use of the pastoral style formed part of his attempt to preserve, reconstruct and romanticise a disappearing form of life, his folktales being viewed as another important means of reaching this goal.

10

Hammershaimb as a Cultural Nationalist

There is little question that like Carl Christian Rafn, Hammershaimb can be viewed as a protagonist of Faroese nationalism. Romantic Nationalists like him were both carriers of notions and forms of practice, taking active roles within numerous overlapping networks of actors in various fields. They form part of a shared institutional and social framework situated within letters (later belles lettres), following the notion of philology involving international networks of librarians, professional academics, archivists and many others who were concerned with the development of Romantic Nationalism, following the notion of historicism that lay behind the contemporary cultivation of “national” culture.76 Romantic Nationalism was (and is) a truly European pandemic that needs to be examined in international rather than merely national terms.77 In the case of Hammershaimb, it is certainly worth remembering that his world and cultural background was not limited to the Faroes. Indeed, he clearly spent

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Simonsen, “Literature, Imagining and Memory”, 185. Simonsen, “Literature, Imagining and Memory”, 185. See further Leerssen, “Notes Toward a Definition of Romantic Nationalism”, 11. See further Anttonen, “Oral Tradition and the Making of the Finnish Nation”; Arndt, Imagologie des Nordens; Conrad, Smagen og det nationale; Sveinn Yngvi Egilsson “The Reception of Old Norse Myths in Icelandic Romanticism”; Even-Zohar, “The Role of Literature in the Making of the Nations of Europe”; and Fjågesund, The Dream of the North.

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most of his life in Denmark and had influences that came from all over Scandinavia, as well as Germany. The mind-set of such Romantic Nationalists is underlined by their particular concern for texts, editions and culture in general. If we look at Hammershaimb’s career from the viewpoint of the perspectives noted above, it is clear that he was not only involved in the collection of folklore but also a wide range of other cultural activities which included both salvage and cultural productivity. He was engaged in the promotion of literacy and mass printing that followed the rise of historicism in universities, as well being closely associated with the establishment of associations and the support of publishing venues such as the journal Antiqvariske Annaler (Antiquarian Annals) and those others mentioned above edited by Rafn. As has been shown above, Hammershaimb’s collection work eventually led to an edition (Færøsk Anthologi) that would become a foundational text for the formation of Faroese culture and the idea of the Faroese nation. As noted above, Hammershaimb’s folk legends are still used and commemorated as motifs for monuments, and other kinds of decorative art such as stamps showing folkloric creatures.78 Hammershaimb himself is nowadays commemorated on statues, as the main character on the Annual Day of the Faroese language (Máldagurin), on stamps (the latest appearing in 2019: see fig. 12.3), and has even appeared on Faroese banknotes for decades.

11

Conclusion: The Cultivation of the Faroese Nation and Role of Hammershaimb’s Folk Legends

As a (later) cultural saint in the Faroe Islands, Hammershaimb would come to be given the sole credit for many of the things he was involved in, even when

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See further Simonsen, “V. U. Hammershaimb (1819–1909)”, “V. U. Hammershaimb 200 ár”, and “Frá V. U. Hammershaimb til Brøðurnar Grimm”, and https://en.stamps.fo/ShopItem/ 2012/0/PPA020412/SETT (the site of the Faroese postal service, Posta), showing a series of four stamps issued in 2012, which shows four “monsters” from Faroese legends: the grýla (see Gunnell, “Grýla, grýlur, ‘grøleks’ and skeklers”); the niðagrísur (the ghost of a child left out to die of exposure); the fjørutrøll (the beach monster); and the marra (the night-mare). In recent years, Faroese folk legends, including those originally collected by Hammershaimb, have come to be used as motifs for new statues in the Faroes, such as the Kopakonan (Seal Woman) in Mikladalur by Hans Pauli Olsen (2014); the Nykur in Sørvágsvatn, by Pól Skarðenni (2017); and the Marmennil (Merman) in Elduvík, also by Hans Pauli Olsen (2020). See further https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nykur-of -sorvagsvatn; and https://www.visitfaroeislands.com/about/stories-legends/kopakonan -the-seal-woman/.

Hammershaimb’s Collections of Faroese Folk Legends

Figure 12.3

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Faroese stamps issued by Posta, the Faroese Postal Service, on the 200th anniversary of Hammershaimb’s birth in 2019. The 11 kr. stamp shows Hammershaimb’s Færøsk Anthologi. In the background of the 17 kr. stamp containing an image of Hammershaimb are the rock formations “Risin og Kellingin” (see above) near Tjørnuvík on Streymoy, and the text of this legend as printed in 1846. The 19 kr. stamp shows “Móðurmálið” (The Native Tongue), a work by the Faroese sculptor Janus Kamban (1913–2009) commemorating Hammershaimb’s work on the Faroese language.

they involved others (as in the case of Faroese orthography). It is difficult to argue that he was the most able or most effective collector of folktales in the Faroes (this being a caveat that should rather be given to his student Jakob Jakobsen), and it would be wrong to say that he was as great a philologist as Jón Sigurðsson in Iceland. In spite of this, there is little question that Hammershaimb was a forerunner, and especially in his role as a cultural nationalist and a political figure. It should never be forgotten, though, that he would never

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have achieved his present cultural sainthood without the help of figures like C. C. Rafn and the number of powerful networks he had in various academies, universities, and publishing venues, many of which involved leading cultural nationalists such as Svend and N. F. S. Grundtvig (see above). All in all, Hammershaimb can be said to have been essentially a product of his times, just one figure in a wider international network that in the wake of the Grimm Ripples was taking on a life of its own and was already looking a Faroese representative. Hammershaimb would nonetheless go on to make his own personal contribution to the creation and eventual instrumentalisation of the Faroese national self-image, something in which the folklore he collected on his various field trips would play central role, just as it did in many other Nordic countries.

Chapter 13

Konrad Maurer: Cultural Conduit and Collector Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir

1

Introduction

There is little question that the German lawyer Konrad Maurer (1823–1902: see fig. 13.1) had a great impact on the collection of folktales in Iceland both during and after he travelled across the country in the summer of 1858, collecting folktales among other things. As will be shown below, when Maurer arrived in Iceland, Jón Árnason (1819–1888) and Magnús Grímsson (1825–1860) had largely abandoned collecting folktales following the negative reception that had greeted their first published folktale collection (Íslenzk æfintýri) in 1852. It was Maurer who encouraged them to continue with their collection, promising them that he would find a publisher for their work in Germany. In many ways, one can say that for the Icelanders he played a similar role as a cultural conduit to that played by George Stephens (1813–1895; in both Sweden and Iceland) and George Webbe Dasent (1817–1896; in Great Britain).1 The following article will focus on Maurer’s trip to Iceland, the relationship he established with the people he met, the legends and tales he collected, and the key role he played in the publication of Jón Árnason’s collection of folktales. It is also important to remember that Maurer published the legends that he collected in Iceland in German in 1860 (prior to the publication of Jón Árnason’s collection). Some attention will therefore also be given to the relationship between these two collections, examples being given of how Maurer and Jón Árnason made use of each other’s stories, and the different ways in which they presented the “same” stories taken from different sources.

2

Studies

Konrad Maurer was born on 29th April 1823 in Frankenthal in south-western Germany. His father, Georg Ludwig Maurer (1790–1872) was a lawyer and 1 See further the chapters on George Stephens and Jón Árnason by John Lindow and Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume. With regard to George Webbe Dasent, see also Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”; and the chapters on Asbjørnsen and J. F. Campbell by Ane Ohrvik, Line Esborg and John Shaw elsewhere in this volume. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_015

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politician, and later Professor of Law at the University in Munich, but Maurer’s mother passed away when he was only eight years old. In 1832, Maurer’s father was appointed a member of the council of regency for the young King Otto of Greece, which resulted in him spending nearly two years in Greece with his father, learning Modern Greek. Apart from that, he was raised in Munich and reaped every benefit that a cultural and rich home could give while also receiving the best education available. He graduated from grammar school in 1839 and hoped to study natural sciences, and above all, crystallography and mineralogy, subjects to which his uncle, Leopold Gmelin (1788–1853), a chemist from Heidelberg, had introduced him. In the end, under the influence of his father, Maurer began studying law in Munich (in the winter term of 1839–1840). He had already developed an interest in philology while at grammar school, and was at first mainly concerned with philological and legal studies. In the winter semester of 1841–1842, which he spent at the University of Leipzig, Maurer finally decided to concentrate on law.2 In the early nineteenth century, a paradigm shift was taking place in the field of research into law and legal history with the arrival of historicism.3 Thought was moving away from the idea that legal rights were founded in human reason, something which was seen as being innate and common to all nations throughout time, standing above the appointed laws of each country or region. Research into the history of law had not been highly regarded in terms of these considerations. It was instead felt that men of higher learning and philosophers should use their common sense to discover natural rights and make them part of the legal system. It goes almost without saying that with the arrival of historicism, history started becoming more important, many scholars viewing it as the core of all study of law. The new belief was that legal rights differed from nation to nation, within the context of each period. They evolved with the community and adjusted themselves to social needs, slowly changing and evolving, as languages evolve. This was why it was now felt necessary to study ancient law and anything that could shed light on legal systems and history from earlier times. All conceivable ways of doing this were explored. Scholars like Jacob Grimm were, for example, putting great stock in language research and comparative linguistics as a helping tool, along with all kinds of historical and philological studies, including, among other things, the study of folktales and folklore, folk poetry, and ancient literature. All of these 2 Biró, Konrad Maurers Islandsreise, 9–12; Schier, “Konrad Maurer: Ævi hans og störf”, xvi–xix; and Bauer and Schier, “1. Einleitung”, 1–4. 3 It goes without saying that this development ran alongside the rise of the Romantic Nationalism: see further Leerssen (ed.), Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe.

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Figure 13.1 Photograph of Konrad Maurer

provided clues about the state of the community at different times, about earlier laws, and, not least, about the development of modern-day laws. The stronghold of historicism in legal studies was the newly established University of Berlin (founded in 1810), and it was not long before emphasis came to be placed on the study of Germanic linguistics and ethnology as a necessary aid for aspiring German lawyers. Indeed, the study of law itself was also coming to be viewed as a field within Germanic studies.4 Jacob Grimm’s research into the history of law was very influential for this paradigm shift, both through his essay from 1815, “Von der Poesie im Recht” (Poetry in Law), and his compilation of sources of law from all German languages, Deutsche Rechtsaltertümer (German Legal Antiquities), which was published in 1828.5

4 Páll Sigurðsson, “Sögustefnan og Konrad Maurer”, 4–10. 5 Grimm, Jacob, “Von der Poesie im Recht”, and Deutsche Rechtsaltertümer.

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Figure 13.2

Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir

Konrad Maurer: Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart (1860). Title page

After his winter in Leipzig, Maurer, who was already developing an interest and a (natural) talent for Germanic studies, travelled to Berlin and began his studies in law under the guidance of the lawyers and Germanists Carl Gustav Homeyer (1795–1874) and Karl von Richthofen (1811–1888).6 It was in Berlin that Maurer came into close contact with Jacob Grimm. The influence that Jacob Grimm had on Maurer cannot be ignored. Maurer’s father knew Grimm personally; they exchanged letters and Jacob was a guest in Georg Ludwig’s home in Munich several times. Maurer naturally went on to attend Jacob Grimm’s lectures in German Linguistics in Berlin, and it was Grimm who pointed out to Maurer how useful language studies, ethnology

6 Biró, Konrad Maurers Islandsreise, 10–11.

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and oral sources were for the study of law.7 Grimm also encouraged Maurer to work with Old Norse and Old English sources. It is therefore likely that he was the one who was most responsible for the fact that Maurer later went on to collect folklore in both Bavaria and Iceland.8 It is clear that Maurer personally visited Jacob Grimm several times while he was in Berlin, and they later exchanged letters. At least six letters that Maurer wrote to Jacob Grimm have been preserved. In one of these letters, Maurer describes himself as Grimm’s “most thankful student” (“dankbarster Schüler”9), and after Maurer finished his dissertation in 1845, he sent Grimm a copy, doing the same with each of his published works over the following years.10 Only two years after completing his dissertation, Maurer was appointed Professor of Law at Munich University, but realised that that was not his calling. In a letter written to the editor of the Icelandic journal Eimreiðin in 1897, Maurer says that his studies had been essentially directed towards attaining a practical position in which he could carry out research in his spare time. He had never wanted to become a teacher.11

3

Maurer and Iceland

It is now time to turn to Maurer’s relationship with Iceland and the Icelanders. In the aforementioned letter to Iceland, Maurer speaks about how his interest in Old Norse court systems had been ignited as early as during his college years.12 His first work on Icelandic matters was published in 1852.13 This was 7

8 9

10 11 12 13

It might be remembered that at that time Grimm was working on Weisthümer, a compilation of oral and written legal tradition from rural Germany that was published in four volumes in 1840–1863. See Biró, Konrad Maurers Islandsreise, 11; Schier, “Konrad Maurer: Ævi hans og störf”, xviii; and Bauer and Schier, “1. Einleitung” 2–3. Letter to Jacob Grimm, dated 19th September 1846; see Katrín Matthíasdóttir, “… augliti til auglitis við Jacob Grimm fáein andartök”, 184 (where it is dated to 1847). Maurer’s letters to Jacob Grimm are kept in the State Library of Berlin (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: Preußischer Kulturbesitz) under the shelfmark: Nachlass Grimm 719: Maurer, Konrad. Information on the letters is also accessible at ERNiE: The Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe: http://romanticnationalism.net; and Verzeichnis von Jacob und Wilhelm Grimms Briefwechsel: http://www.grimmnetz.de/bv/. Unless otherwise stated, all translations in this chapter are those of the author. Katrín Matthíasdóttir, “… augliti til augliti við Jacob Grimm”, 184. Maurer, “Bréf frá Konr. Maurer”, 61. Maurer, “Bréf frá Konr. Maurer”, 60. Maurer, Die Entstehung des isländischen Staats und seiner Verfassung, in which Maurer writes about the beginning of the Old-Icelandic legal system. It was also around that time

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probably what caused the leader of the Icelandic independence movement, Jón Sigurðsson (1811–1879), to write to Maurer in 1855, sending a paper Jón had written on the national rights of the Icelanders.14 The following year, Maurer wrote an article (in three parts) about the relationship between Iceland and Denmark and, later on, three other articles (published in 1859, 1870 and 1874) in which he took a clear stance supporting Iceland in the independence struggle.15 Here he took up the same argument as that being made by Jón Sigurðsson, that Iceland had never become a part of the Norwegian or the Danish state; even though the Icelanders were subjects of the king, they had always retained their nationality. Both Maurer and Jón Sigurðsson supported this opinion by pointing out that Icelanders had their own laws and their own language, which was still used in court in Iceland, even though they were forced to speak Danish (or even Low-German) when in Denmark.16 Maurer’s idea for a trip to Iceland was born at around the same time that he started getting involved in the independence struggle. In a letter to Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1827–1889) in Copenhagen dated 17th October 1856, Maurer spoke of his plans to travel to Iceland in 1858. He said that he wanted to spend a whole year there but would first come to Copenhagen to prepare for the trip.17 The result was that Maurer stayed in Copenhagen for ten weeks in the

14 15

16 17

that Maurer got his first Icelandic manuscript (now MS Icel. 42 in Harvard University Library), although it is not known where this came from: see Hughes, “Skrá um íslensk handrit í Harvard”, 82. Jón Sigurðsson: Om Islands statsretlige forhold. The first article “Island und das dänische Grundgesetz” appeared in the newspaper Allgemeine Zeitung in Augsburg (2nd, 10th and 11th October 1856), and was later reprinted along with Maurer’s other writings in 1880 in Maurer, Zur politischen Geschichte Islands, a new edition of which appeared in 1968. The article was also published in the journal Ný félagsrit (Maurer, “Um landsréttindi Íslands”) translated into Icelandic by Guðbrandur Vigfússon (see his letter to Maurer, dated 3rd June 1857; letters to Maurer from Guðbrandur Vigfússon and Jón Sigurðsson are kept in the National and University Library of Iceland (Landsbókasafnið) under the shelfmark Lbs 1056 4to). Two other articles from 1859 and 1870 were also translated and published in the same journal, which was edited by Maurer’s friends in Copenhagen, Jón Sigurðsson and Guðbrandur Vigfússon: see Maurer, “Um stjórnardeilu Íslendínga við Dani”, and “Þáttur eptir Konrad Maurer um stjórnar og fjárhagsmálið”. Jón Sigurðsson, Om Islands statsretlige forhold, 68; and Maurer, Zur politischen Geschichte Islands; see also Guðmundur Hálfdanarson, “Hver er ég?”, 41–42. “I have the strong intention of going over to Iceland in the summer of 1858, and mean to spend a full year there; this coming autumn, I will prepare myself for the journey in Copenhagen …” (“Ich habe entschieden vor, im sommer 1858 nach Island hinüberzugehn, und zwar gedenke ich dort ein volles jahr zuzubringen; kommenden herbst werde ich suchen in Kopenhagen mich für die reise vorzubereiten …”): Letters to Guðbrandur

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fall of 1857, learning to speak Icelandic. He also practised reading manuscripts and became friends with Jón Sigurðsson, Gísli Brynjólfsson (1827–1888) and, last but not least, Guðbrandur Vigfússon who helped him most in learning Icelandic. The two were to become life-long friends.18 On 30th March 1858, Maurer departed from Munich for Copenhagen and from there, on 17th April, set sail for Iceland, stopping off at Leith in Scotland and Torshavn in the Faroe Islands.19 As can be seen from the above, it was Maurer’s interest in Old Norse law and literature, and the history and the language of Iceland that had sparked his interest in making this trip. At the start of Maurer’s travel journal, he writes of his hopes of finding original source material that had been preserved for centuries without coming under any outside influences.20 The same attitude is displayed in the foreword to his collection of Icelandic folktales where he states that he is also interested in contemporary culture, and points out how the limited availability of printed books in Icelandic makes the oral tradition in Iceland even more important.21 The fact that Maurer had already got to know Icelandic folktales from the Icelanders in Copenhagen is also evident in his article on the fairy tale, “Snow White”, which was published in the journal Germania 1857. Here he compares the Icelandic and German versions and reaches the conclusion that: The names Vala and Vilfríður for the stepmother and stepdaughter, the mention of two Finns instead of the otherwise usual twelve or seven dwarfs, confirm the independence of the Icelandic tradition as well as the age of this variant. (Die Namen Vala und Vilfríðr für die Stiefmutter und Stieftochter, die Nennung zweier Finnen statt der sonst üblichen zwölf oder sieben Zwerge, dürften die Selbständigkeit der Isländischen Überlieferung auch abgesehen von dem Alter der einen Aufzeichnung genugsam bestätigen.)

18 19

20 21

Vigfússon from Maurer are kept in the Bodleian Library: Oxford: Bodl. GV Germ. d. 2, but transcripts of many of them are available at http://www.jonarnason.is. See, for example, Schier, “Konrad Maurer, ævi hans og störf,” xxiii; and Maurer, Reise nach Island, I, 9. Maurer’s travel journal was originally published in Icelandic in 1997 (Maurer, Íslandsferð 1858), an edition of the original German version later appearing in 2017 (Maurer, Reise nach Island). Maurer, Reise nach Island, I, 2. Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, v–vii.

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His informant in Copenhagen had been Gísli Brynjólfsson, who had heard the tale from his mother, who had in turn heard it from her grandmother.22 Maurer arrived in Reykjavík on 27th April 185823 and spent almost two months there before departing on a close to three-month trip into the countryside. He made a rough circle of the entire western half of the country, and everywhere he collected stories.24 In his travel journal, Maurer writes that even though he had been advised to bring a tent, he had decided to use it only when travelling in uninhabited areas, because “if a traveller wants to get to know the 22

23

24

Maurer, “Schneewittchen,” 489–490. Magnús Grímsson had been the first to translate the tale from Kinder- und Hausmärchen into Icelandic, as late as 1852 (Mjallhvít: Æfintýri handa börnum). The tale is of the type ATU 709 Snow-White: see Uther, The Types of International Folktales, 383–385. Maurer naturally describes this arrival in his journal. Indeed, his arrival in Iceland received particular attention from the only newspaper in Reykjavík at that time, Þjóðólfur, which as usual announced the coming of the ship and those who arrived on it: “On the postal ship from overseas came: Dr Konrad Maurer, Professor of Law in Munich, Germany (Bayern), Newton, a naturalist, and Wolley, a professor and naturalist, both of whom are from Britain; all of these men mean to travel in Iceland; Dr. Maurer speaks and understands Icelandic, is very fond of it and Icelandic studies, and before travelling around the country, intends to stay here in town for six weeks, studying the manuscripts that are kept in the library” (“Með póstskipinu komu úr útlöndum: Konrað Maurer Dr. og prófessor í lögvísi í Munchen á Þýzkalandi (Baiern), Newton, náttúrufræðíngr, og Wolley, prófessor og náttúrufræðíngr, báðir frá Bretlandi; allir þessir menn ætla að ferðast hér um land; Dr. Maurer skilr og talar íslenzku, ann henni mjög og íslenzkri fræði, og ætlar hann, áðr hann leggr til ferða hér um landið, að dvelja hér í staðnum nú fyrst um 6 vikna tíma, til þess að kynna sér fornrit þau sem hér eru á stiptsbókasafninu”): Þjóðólfur, 1st May 1858, 81. Maurer’s travel plans were also announced in the newspaper, and people were asked to receive him and his travelling companion, Georg Winkler, well: “Next week, Professor, Dr Konrad Maurer, […] will commence his travels through the country with his partner, Professor Winkler. He first plans to travel east to the counties of Árnes and Rangárvellir, from there over Sprengisandur north to Bárðardalur, and then west across the north and west of the country to Ísafjörður County before finally returning back here. […] The paper’s editor was asked to help Mr. Maurer with making travel arrangements and lodgings. The editor has taken the liberty of writing to a few friends to such effect, a note that Mr M. will himself bring to them, but he entrusts Mr M. to his other acquaintances that he meets on his travels, and hopes that the travellers will be met with the warmth and hospitality that Icelanders are known for” (“Professor, Dr. Konráð Maurer, […] byrjar nú ferð sína héðan út um landið, með félaga sínum prófessor Winkler í næstu viku. Hann ætlar fyrst austr um Árnes- og Rángárvallasýslu, þaðan yfir Sprengisand norðr í Bárðardal, þá vestr eptir öllu norðrlandi og vestrlandi til Ísafjarðarsýslu, og svo híngað suðr aptr. […] Með því ábyrgðarmaðr „Þjóðólfs“ hefir verið fyrir það beðinn, að greiða fyrir ferð og dvöl herra Maurers hér í landi, þá mun ábm. leyfa sér, að rita nokkrum helztu vinum sínum sérstakan miða þar að lútandi, er herra M. mun sjálfr færa þeim; en öllum öðrum kunníngjum sínum, þá er herra M. hittir á leið sinni, leyfir ábm. að fela þá félaga, að þeim verði hvívetna tekið með þeirri alúð og velvild, sem landsmenn eru kunnir að”): Þjóðólfur, 19th June 1858, 113.

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people of the country he is travelling in, it is necessary to enjoy their hospitality instead of shutting himself off in a tent” (“für den Reisenden, der gewillt & befähigt ist das Volk des Landes zu studiren welches er bereist, ist es absolut nöthig, statt unterm Zelt zu liegen die Gastfreundschaft der Hofbesitzer in Anspruch zu nemen”25). This was an unusual practice for foreign travellers during this period because most of them found the turf-houses of the Icelandic farms both unclean and unattractive.26 This might have been one of the reasons for why the Icelanders came to be so impressed with Maurer who became popular with people of all social rankings. Indeed, the scholar Sigurður Nordal (1886–1974) relates how, when he was a young boy growing up in the North of Iceland, the old people still remembered Maurer’s visit and noted among other things that he wanted to visit a particular poor woman even though she had a cleft lip and was very hard to understand.27 Maurer writes himself about this visit in his travel journal. The Reverend Skúli Gíslason (1825–1888) had told him that Anna Loftsdóttir (1806–1871) knew the entire Icelandic poem about the German emperor Friedrich Barbarossa (“der Kaiser Friedrich den Rotbart”), parts of which he had already received in writing. Maurer writes: The old woman was met at home and was in high spirits, flattered that a foreign man would make a trip to hear a poem from her. She delivered it [the poem] without hesitation; the only problem was understanding her because of her ghastly cleft lip. […] Indeed I also had to accept schnapps from the old woman. I then gave her daughter a small present, and gave her [the old woman] a kiss, as is the custom in the country, despite her terrible mouth, and that concluded the visit. (Die Alte wurde glücklich zu Hause getroffen, & fühlte sich sehr dadurch geschmeichelt, daß ein Fremder eigens herbeireise um von ihr ein Lied zu lernen: so gab sie dieses gleich zum Besten, & die einzige Schwierigkeit bestand darin, sie zu verstehen, da sie eine gräuliche Hasenscharte über der Lippe hat. […] Von der Alten mußte ich noch durchaus einen Schnaps annemen; dann gab ich ihrer Tochter ein kleines Geschenk & ihr selber trotz ihres abscheulichen Maules den landesüblichen Kuß, & damit war diese Expedition zu Ende.28) 25 26 27 28

Maurer, Reise nach Island, I, 57. See, for example, Barrow, Visit to Iceland, 142; and Baring-Gould, Iceland, 44 and 57–59. Sigurður Nordal, “Forspjall”, I, xxxii–xxxiii. Maurer, Reise nach Island, I, 331.

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Maurer later published the poem in Germany in 1867,29 but for some reason it was not included in his collection of Icelandic folktales, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart (Icelandic Folktales in Our Own Times: see fig. 13.2), which was published in 1860, a year after Maurer’s collection of Bavarian folktales appeared in print.30

4

Maurer and Icelandic Folktales

It is interesting to note that during his travels around Iceland, Konrad Maurer collected both fairy tales and legends, and was indeed to become the first person to publish Icelandic fairy tales in print (in spite of Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson having called their earlier collection of legends from 1852 Íslenzk æfintýri [lit. Icelandic Fairy Tales]). Evidently Maurer would have liked to have collected more fairy tales, but he comments on the difficulty of gathering such tales, both because of the shortage of time and because it was more difficult to gather such tales than local legends.31 He nonetheless also speaks of the problems of collecting legends among the Icelanders. The first reason he gives is that, as in Germany, he sensed that the belief behind a large amount of legends was now gone, something that especially applied to the mythological legends, as only “a few old women and eccentrics […] still believe in the existence of elves, trolls and other monsters” (“höchstens ein vereinzeltes altes Weib, oder irgend ein Sonderling, […] glaubt noch an Elbe, Riesen oder andere Unholde”) and “the belief in the old gods showed very small traces in 29

30

31

See Maurer, “Ein isländisches Lied auf Kaiser Friedrich den Rothbart”. In the article, Maurer describes how he traces this Icelandic poem from Skúli Gíslason back to Anna Loftsdóttir, and how he later received the melody for the poem from Sigurður Guðmundsson málari (see below). On Sigurður, another highly influential figure with regard to the creation of Icelandic national culture, see further the entry by Karl Aspelund in ERNiE: The Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe: http://romanticnationalism.net, also published in Leerssen, Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe, I, 532–533; and Karl Aspelund and Gunnell (eds.), Málarinn og menningarsköpun. See Maurer, Die bayerischen Volkssagen. Unlike in his edition of Icelandic folk legends, Maurer never names his Bavarian informants. He nonetheless stresses in his foreword that he is publishing some of the legends for the first time. Although he mentions previously published books, he suggests he is adding to them: Maurer, Die bayerischen Volkssagen, 6–7. In a letter to Guðbrandur Vigfússon, written on 20th February 1859, he states that the king had asked for a topographic-statistical-social description of the area, but he wanted to make people aware of the important local legends that had been overlooked in such descriptions. It seems as if he did not take on this project before he went to Iceland. Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, 276–277.

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the Icelandic legends” (“Der alte Götterglaube des Heidenthums hat in der Isländischen Volkssage […] nur sehr geringe Spuren hinterlassen”).32 Maurer also notes that those who did believe in ghosts and magic, for example, were embarrassed about admitting their belief.33 The second reason he gives is that legends often centre on specific people or families, many of whom did not want the legends in question to spread.34 He nonetheless stresses that if one can make people realise the relationship between the living legends and the old sagas, they are much more willing to share their legends.35 All the same, one can feel a sense of disappointment in Maurer’s words because the ancient material he had been expecting to find was simply not in evidence. He nonetheless appears to have quickly reconciled himself to this fact, putting forth the opinion that contemporary tales say more about current times than the past.36 This idea is reflected in the title of his Icelandic collection (see above), and was also apparent in his later review of Jón Árnason’s collection in which he states that those still expecting to find meaningful resource material on people and events from ancient times in modern-day Iceland will be disappointed. He adds here that even though legends relating to people and actions from this magnificent past are still told, they are “not only noticeably few in comparison to the large quantities of other legends, but also without any historical value and largely of questionable origin and significance” (“nicht nur auffallend gering an Zahl, verglichen mit der großen Masse sonstiger Volkssagen, sondern auch ohne allen geschichtlichen Werth und gutentheils von sehr problematischer Entstehung und Bedeutung”37). This same attitude is displayed in Maurer’s collection from Bayern noted above, in which he points out that even though one can find remnants of the past in these legends, they have not remained unaltered over the passage of time and should rather be considered new accounts that involve considerations of modern times and the surroundings of those people telling them. He also talks here about the difference between fairy tales and legends in this regard, pointing out that when a legend tells of supernatural events, it not only asks to be believed, but is also really believed in by those who tell it.38 Legends 32 33 34 35 36 37 38

Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, viii; and 1. Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, viii. Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, viii. Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, ix. Letter from Maurer to Guðbrandur Vigfússon, dated 20th February 1859. Maurer, “Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri.”, 233–234. See above the reason that Maurer gives for his difficulty in collecting legends in Iceland; for the rhetoric of truth in legends and the ways in which they are presented as being true, see Oring, “Legendry and the Rhetoric of Truth”, especially 128–130.

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therefore provide information about old superstitions, he writes, noting at the same time that it is always important to bear in mind that changed tastes will lead to changed beliefs.39 These ideas are also discussed in a letter Maurer wrote to Guðbrandur Vigfússon in 1859 in which he ventures the opinion that new legends are always being formed and that it takes a long time for each legend to take on perfect shape in oral tradition. This, he argues, is why legends and their worth are often overlooked.40 It seems that Maurer does not find it necessary to explain in detail to Guðbrandur41 (or others) why it is so important to collect legends, but he is always thinking of the context. Following what he had learned from Grimm, Maurer argues that the research of legends is as essential as that of historical sources, such as those relating to law and language, if one wishes to understand societies and what turns a group of folk into a nation. This idea is evident in Maurer’s foreword to his Bavarian collection, where he states that the legends underline that the Bavarians were a distinct branch of the German people (“reinen und ächten Zweig des deutschen Gesammtvolkes bilden”42). He clearly felt that the same thing applied to Icelanders whose unique folktales demonstrate the fact that they are a specific nation.43 The collection of folktales is thus seen as having a strong political significance. In a letter to Jón Sigurðsson written on 22nd February 1859, Maurer underlines the fact that the Icelandic collection he later published in 1860 (see above) was mostly collected from oral tradition during his travels around Iceland.44 He states the same thing in the introduction he wrote for the collection. Regarding his methods of collection, he comments that he tried to write the stories down as they were being told or directly after listening to them,45 also apparently making notes about those occasions when this could not be done, something that can be seen when Maurer presents the legend of the Devil fathering a child.46 Here he writes: “Unfortunately I was unable to transcribe this remarkable tale immediately when I heard it, and it has slipped from my mind so that I cannot tell it correctly in all aspects” (“Ich konnte leider 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46

Maurer, Die bayerischen Volkssagen, 4; see also 44. Maurer’s letter to Guðbrandur Vigfússon is dated 20th February 1859. In line with Icelandic practice, Icelanders are referred to by Christian name rather than their patronymic or surname in this chapter. In references, their full name is given. Maurer, Die bayerischen Volkssagen, 5–6; see also Biró, Konrad Maurers Islandsreise, 23–24. See Maurer’s conclusion regarding the Icelandic “Snow White” tale noted above. Schier, “Konrad Maurer, ævi hans og störf”, xxvi. Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, xi. Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, 192–193.

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damals, als sie mir erzählt wurde, diese merkwürdige Sage nicht sogleich zu Papier bringen, und habe dieselbe jetzt nicht mehr genau genug in der Erinnerung um sie in allen Punkten correct widergeben zu können”47). Maurer also states that the folk narratives in his book are printed “as direct translations as far as that is possible” (“in möglichst wortgetreuer Übersetzung”) but adds that in particular cases where special wording, such as a formula or a verse, are included in a legend, he felt it best to let them remain in the original language.48 It thus seems apparent that Maurer translated the tales into German as he was listening to them. This can certainly be seen from his description of how Skúli Gíslason told him stories for half a day: “It was not just that the Reverend Skúli told his stories exceptionally, but rather that I could write them down as he told them, in German translation of course” (“Nicht nur erzählte Séra Skúli seine Sagen vortrefflich, sondern er ließ sie mich, natürlich ins Deutsche übersetzt, auch Wort für Wort nachschreiben”49). This means that the variants of the legends Maurer heard orally cannot be found anywhere in an original manuscript in Icelandic, but only in Maurer’s translation into German. Like Jacob Grimm, however, it is evident that Maurer also made use of various available written sources such as annals, sagas and other printed books, also publishing translations of all the legends in Jón Árnason’s and Magnús Grímsson’s earlier Íslenzk æfintýri. Indeed, in his introduction, Maurer thanks the Reverend Eiríkur Kúld (1822–1893) not only for his oral legends but also the written ones Maurer is expecting from him.50 That Eiríkur was true to his word in sending this material can be seen in the way that Maurer refers to these written legends more than once.51 From the above, it is evident that Maurer’s method of collecting tales was no different from that of many other collectors in his time, except that he was evidently working in two languages. A letter from Maurer to Guðbrandur Vigfússon, dated 9th October 1859, points to the fact that the two men had discussed differences in style between those legends directly translated into German from oral tradition and those translated from written accounts. This was probably when Guðbrandur visited Maurer in Munich in the summer of 1859. According to the letter, Maurer did not feel up to the task of ensuring 47 48 49 50 51

Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, 193. Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, xi. Maurer, Reise nach Island, I, 168. Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, xi. The four manuscripts Maurer received from Eiríkur Kúld are now preserved in the library of Harvard University (MS Icel. 20, 30, 31 and 40), along with the rest of Maurer’s manuscripts and books that were bought by the library after his passing.

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that all of the accounts were presented in the same style, arguing that it would be good for readers to be able to make a distinction between the two, and see that the tales collected orally formed part of a living tradition.

5

Maurer and the Publication of Jón Árnason’s Collection of Folktales

Maurer will be long remembered in Iceland for his research on the sagas and ancient law, as well as his support in the struggle for Icelandic independence. Nonetheless, it can be argued that his biggest influence was in the collection and publishing of folktales. Maurer met Jón Árnason in Reykjavík before departing on his travels across the Icelandic countryside, probably first meeting him on 12th May when they had a long conversation.52 As noted elsewhere in this volume,53 Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson had begun collecting in 1845 and had published a small collection (Íslenzk æfintýri) in 1852, several years before Maurer came to Iceland. Since the work had not been well received, they had all but given up. During his visit, Maurer nonetheless encouraged them to continue with their work and promised to help find a publisher for the tales in Germany,54 writing in his diary on 23rd May that he had talked with Jón about finding a publisher or at least about publishing some Icelandic tales and legends in the journal Germania.55 Finnur Sigmundsson, the editor of a selection of letters to and from Jón Árnason, states in the prologue to the volume in question that: Jón Árnason can never be thanked enough for his work in collecting and publishing folktales. Nonetheless it is clear that he would never have managed this colossal task without the help of Maurer, and no one was more forthcoming about that fact than Jón himself, as can be seen in his letters. (Jóni Árnasyni verður seint fullþakkað starf hans við söfnun og útgáfu þjóðsagnanna. En það er ljóst, að án Maurers hefði hann aldrei leyst þetta þrekvirki af höndum, og var enginn fúsari til að halda því á lofti en Jón sjálfur, eins og fram kemur í bréfum hans.56)

52 53 54 55 56

Schier, “Konrad Maurer, ævi hans og störf”, xxv. See the chapter on Jón Árnason by Terry Gunnell elsewhere in this volume. See Jón Árnason, Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og ævintýri (1954–1961), I, xx. Schier, “Konrad Maurer, ævi hans og störf”, xxv. Úr fórum Jóns Árnasonar, I, 82.

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There is little question that the assurance of the fact that their work would eventually be published and Jón’s experience of seeing Maurer’s collection in print had influence on Jón and Magnús starting to collect folklore again.57 Indeed, some of Jón’s best co-workers in the collection process were people that Maurer had met on his travels and recommended to Jón.58 In a letter written to Jón Árnason by one of these men on 24th September 1858, Jón Þorleifsson (1825–1860) states that he is: starting to think of collecting fairy tales for you. Dr Maurer, whom I spent two days with this summer and whom I have honoured greatly ever since, encouraged me to do so when we were in Þórsmörk. We talked at length about this subject and agreed on everything. He is, as you know, enthusiastic about this and knows Dr Grimm, the master of folktales, in Berlin. (þegar farinn að hugsa fyrir að safna æfintýrum handa þjer. Dr. Maurer, sem jeg dvaldi með í sumar 2 daga, og sem jeg heiðra mjög síðan, hvatti mig til þess inn á Þórsmörk. Við töluðum mikið um það efni og urðum í því öllu samdóma. Hann er, eins og þú veist, begeistret fyrir þessu og í kunningsskap við Dr. Grimm, meistara Æfintýranna í Berlin.59) This letter underlines that Maurer was already thinking of assisting Jón and Magnús with their work when he himself was collecting folklore in 1858. On 25th March 1859, Maurer wrote to Jón Árnason from Germany and informed him that he had reached a verbal agreement with the publisher Rost in Leipzig with regard to publishing Jón’s folktale collections in two

57

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59

See Árni Björnsson, “Konráð Maurer og Íslendingar”, xxxiv–xxxv; and Gunnell “Clerics as Collectors of Folklore in Nineteenth-Century Iceland,” 50; see also the letter from Maurer to Guðbrandur Vigfússon, dated 19th July 1860. See, for example, the letter from Maurer to Guðbrandur Vigfússon, dated 18th April 1860; and Maurer’s letter to Jón Árnason, dated 24th June 1860, in which he talks about the Reverend Skúli Gíslason and asks if Jón has talked to Hólmfríður Þorvaldsdóttir (1812–1876) who became one of Jón’s greatest storytellers: see Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir, “Jón Árnason þjóðsagnasafnari og heimildarfólkið hans”, 137–140. Letters to Jón Árnason from non-Icelanders are kept in the Royal Library in Copenhagen under the shelfmark NKS 3009 4to. Some of Maurer’s letters have been transcribed and can be found at http://www.jonarnason.is. Letters to Jón Árnason from his follow Icelanders are kept in the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík under the shelf mark NKS 3010 4to; transcriptions of some of them can be found at http://www.jonarnason.is and the scanned letters at http://einkaskjol.is/index.php/jon-arnason-brefasafn; this letter from Jón Þorleifsson is also printed in Úr fórum Jóns Árnasonar, I, 69.

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or three volumes. This letter initiated a long series of deliveries of material between Munich and Reykjavík, most of which stopped off in Copenhagen on the way. Indeed, soon after Jón started sending material to Germany, Maurer made the suggestion that both he and Jón should send all of their letters and packages via Guðbrandur Vigfússon, allowing him to review all of the contents.60 This was partly to speed up the process because mailing to Iceland was both sporadic and difficult,61 but also because Maurer wanted Guðbrandur to read over and correct the narratives, feeling that his Icelandic was not fluent enough to meet the task.62 Guðbrandur thus became a full participant in the editing of the folktale collection, sometimes also running material via Jón Sigurðsson, who became the go-between when Guðbrandur was away visiting Maurer in Germany.63 On occasion, Maurer and Guðbrandur even went behind Jón Árnason’s back, as can be seen, for example, in one letter Maurer wrote to Guðbrandur on 24th February 1861, in which Maurer states that he does not want Jón to know of the changes the two of them have made to the legends sent in by Gísli Konráðsson (1787–1877) and Bólu-Hjálmar (Jónsson; 1796–1875).64

60 61

62 63

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Letter from Maurer to Jón Árnason, dated 20th May 1860. No ship sailed for Iceland all winter and there are examples of them sending letters or packages almost simultaneously, as when Maurer asks Guðbrandur, in a letter dated 29th December 1859, to send Jón examples of Isländische Volkssagen, one by sailboat and others by steamboat so that Jón would receive the book as soon as possible. Letter from Maurer to Guðbrandur Vigfússon, dated 26th June 1860. See, for example, the letters from Guðbrandur Vigfússon to Jón Árnason, dated 13th July 1861 and 12th April 1862. Transcripts of many of the letters between these four men can be found at http://www.jonarnason.is. These two writers, and the question of whether their stories should be used or not, are often discussed in letters between Maurer, Guðbrandur and Jón. Both Maurer and Guðbrandur clearly think that the style of the writing of these two men is old-fashioned and that they are trying too much to make their material look historically accurate by using genealogies and excerpts from written sources, their work also being full of anachronisms in both subject and language. Jón agrees with Maurer and Guðbrandur about this but is less willing to make changes to the texts. This question is first mentioned in a letter from Jón Árnason to Maurer, dated 29th July 1860. They also had a great dispute about whether to print Sigurður Guðmundsson’s drawings of the runes on the gravestone that had apparently been dedicated to the ancient hero Kjartan Ólafsson: see Gunnell, “Sigurður Guðmundsson og þjóðsögurnar,” 429–432. The letters to Maurer from Jón Árnason and Guðbrandur Vigfússon are kept in the National and University Library of Iceland under the shelfmarks Lbs 2655 8vo and Lbs 1056 4to. Transcriptions can be found at http://www.jonarnason.is, the scanned letters being available at http://einkaskjol.is/index.php/brefasafn-bref-fra-joni-arnasyni and http://einkaskjol .is/index.php/brefasafn-4.

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A first-hand description of this complicated publication process can be found in a letter that Maurer wrote to the Norwegian folktale collector Peter Christen Asbjørnsen65 (1812–1885) on 18th May 1862, in which he says: Four years ago, I met the editor in Iceland, who at that time had already put together a small collection of legends & fairy tales, songs etc. The collection had stalled because the man was despairing about the possibility of publishing it. Now, through the mediation of our friend Möbius, I succeeded in obtaining the assurance of a Leipzig publisher. In the last few days of my stay in Reykjavík, it was quickly decided to resume the collection, & the most urgent details were agreed on. But now there was an enormous difficulty. The printing had to be done in Munich because I was doing the corrections; the publisher was in Leipzig; the editor in Reykjavík; the contributors were scattered all over Iceland. The mail only goes to the island six times in the summer, not at all in winter, & there is hardly any connection between the various parts of the island. So the contributions came in slowly, some only after the main manuscript was in my hands & the printing in progress. Breaking all expectations, a rich amount of material came in, of which neither I nor even the editor had a full overview. The latter sent me what he received, not always taking sufficient account of the scope of the work stated in the publishing contract; so I had to cut here and there, something which was doubly difficult because of the foreign language, & would have been impossible if my friend Guðbrandur Vigfússon had not supported us so faithfully. This excuses many irregularities, and many errors in the arrangement; the printing errors are all my fault, & with regard to them I can only point to the fact that my manuscript was written in a hundred different hands in the most varied types of orthography, & my typesetter was quite ignorant in Icelandic; certainly not a small obstacle for correct printing! (Vor vier Jahren lernte ich auf Ísland den Herausgeber kennen, der damals schon eine kleine Sammlung von Sagen & Mährchen, Liedern &c. zusammengebracht hatte; die Sammlung war ins Stocken gerathen, weil der Mann an der Möglichkeit sie herausgeben zu können verzweifelte. Nun gelang es mir, durch Vermittlung unseres Freundes Möbius die Zusicherung eines Leipziger Verlegers zu erhalten; in den letzten Tagen meines Aufenthaltes in Reykjavík wurde darauf hin rasch 65

See further the chapters on Asbjørnsen by Ane Ohrvik and Line Esborg elsewhere in this volume.

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die Wideraufname der Sammlung beschlossen, & das Dringendste in Betreff ihrer verabredet. Nun ergab sich aber eine gewaltige Schwierigkeit. In München musste gedruckt werden, da ich die Correctur besorgte; in Leipzig sass der Verleger; in Reykjavík der Herausgeber; seine Contribuenten über ganz Ísland zerstreut Nur 6. mal im Sommer geht die Post nach der Insel; im Winter gar nicht, & zwischen den verschiedenen Theilen der Insel giebt es fast keine Verbindung. So giengen die Beiträge langsam ein, zum Theil erst nachdem das Hauptmanuscript in meiner Hand & der Druck im Gange war; über alles Erwarten reiches Material lief ein, über welches doch weder ich noch auch nur der Herausgeber volle Übersicht hatte Letzterer schickte mir was ihm einging, nicht immer den im Verlagsvertrage festgestellten Umfang des Werks genügend beachtend; so musste ich hin & wider Kürzen, was der fremden Sprache wegen doppelt schwer fiel, & unmöglich gewesen wäre, wenn mein Freund Guðbrandur Vigfússon uns nicht so treulich unterstützt hätte. Manche Ungleichförmigkeit, mancher Fehler in der Anordnung findet hier seine Entschudigung, die Druckfehler vollends fallen alle mir zur Last, & kann ich behufs ihrer nur den Umstand geltend machen, dass mein Manuscript von hundert verschiedenen Händen in der verschiedensten Orthographie geschrieben, & mein Setzer des Ísländischen ganz unkundig war; gewiss nicht geringe Hemmnisse für correcten Druck!66) The letters that passed between Maurer and Guðbrandur during this period often discuss the work in progress and show ever more clearly that Maurer was growing weary of Jón Árnason and how late he was in sending material. In one letter, written on 18th April 1860, Maurer even talks of withdrawing from the whole project. However, before finishing the letter, he receives a package from Jón with new material, which makes him change his mind. Everything will become easier once the printing itself commences, he says in a letter to Guðbrandur dated 24th February 1861. All the same, as he notes in the same letter, he finds it somewhat tiresome that Jón keeps sending additions and corrections while the stories are being prepared for printing.67 As noted above in his letter to Asbjørnsen, he was also having troubles with overseeing the typesetting since no employee in the printing house understood a word of Icelandic, which meant he also had to translate all of Jón’s marginal instructions. 66 67

NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Konrad Maurer to Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen, dated 18th May 1862. See also the letter from Maurer to Guðbrandur Vigfússon, dated 27th December 1860.

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In the spring of 1861, however, Maurer was clearly becoming more optimistic, underlining how significant Jón Árnason’s collection was going to be for all folktale collection in the world. He nonetheless continues to comment on how much work the proofreading involves, as well as the cutting necessary to ensure that the material does not exceed the length that has been agreed on by the publisher.68 Maurer and Guðbrandur, along with Jón himself also discuss at some length the arrangement of the collection, whether each tale should have a heading or not,69 and whether the sources should be named along with each tale.70 They also discuss to whom the work should be dedicated. Jón wanted to dedicate it to Maurer himself,71 but Maurer felt he was personally too involved in the project for this to be appropriate. In a letter written to Jón on 29th December 1859, Maurer suggests that the collection should be dedicated to Jacob Grimm because Magnús Grímsson had informed him that Kinder- und Hausmärchen had been an inspiration for him and Jón Árnason to start their collection. Maurer also states that Grimm is personally aware of Jón’s collection and that he has shown interest in it. In the end, it was Guðbrandur who wrote the dedication to Grimm, as he tells Jón in a letter written 1st January 1861. Further trouble was caused for Maurer by the introduction to Jón’s collection, something which underlines the importance that introductions were seen as playing in framing the new folkloric material that was being collected. Jón had sent a short draft of an introduction to Guðbrandur in the autumn of 1860, and a fuller one on 9th May 1861,72 but neither met with Guðbrandur’s approval, as Guðbrandur informed Maurer in a letter dated 9th June 1861. Maurer clearly trusted Guðbrandur completely in this matter73 and the two men decided to urge Jón to rewrite the introduction. Jón subsequently sent 68

69 70 71 72

73

See letters from Maurer to Guðbrandur Vigfússon, dated 25th April, 29th April, 4th May, and 29th May 1861. In the letter to Jón Árnason, also written on 29th May, Maurer describes this matter in a very serious fashion, asking Jón to send the rest of the material immediately and to stop making additions to the sections he has already sent. See, for example, the letter from Jón Árnason to Maurer, dated 8th May 1860. See, for example, the letter from Maurer to Jón, dated 15th August, and Jón’s answer, dated 17th September 1859. This can also be seen from Jón’s draft for a title page in the manuscript Lbs. 529 4to, fol. 96v. Drafts of these introductions can be found in Jón Árnason’s manuscripts in the National and University Library of Iceland, the older and shorter version in Lbs 529 4to, 97r, and the other (dated 25th April 1861) in Lbs 528 4to, 1r–11v; see also Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir, “Jón Árnason, ævi og störf”, 92. From Maurer’s letter to Guðbrandur, written on 18th June, it is evident that Guðbrandur never sent either of Jón’s first introductions to him.

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a new version in November, following several months during which Maurer underlined to Guðbrandur that he urgently needed a title for the work, a dedication and, last but not least, an improved introduction.74 On 21st December, Guðbrandur wrote back to Maurer informing him that he and Jón Sigurðsson had decided together that Jón Árnason’s new introduction was still not fit for publication.75 On 5th January 1862, Maurer thus made the suggestion that they inform Jón that his introduction had simply arrived too late and asked Guðbrandur to write a short note for the publication, a kind of an apology, stating that Jón’s introduction would appear in the second volume. Guðbrandur then sent his own perfect introduction to Maurer instead of the apology that Maurer had asked for, and Maurer replied that he was sure Jón Árnason would be pleased to see his collection furnished with such a fine prologue.76 On 23rd February 1862, Maurer at last gave Guðbrandur the happy news that the first volume of Jón Árnason’s folktale collection was now ready for publication along with Guðbrandur’s introduction and a dedication to Jacob Grimm. It is interesting to see that Guðbrandur did not lie to Jón as Maurer had suggested, but simply stated: “You see what we have done with regard to the introduction. I hope that it will not offend you, as it was done in good faith. No one knows about it [i.e. the decision not to publish Jón’s introduction] except Jón Sigurðsson and Maurer” (“Með formálann sjáið þér, hvað við höfum gjört. Eg vona að þér ekki fyrtist því, eins og það og er gjört í græskuleysi, og veit enginn nema Jón Sigurðsson og Maurer neitt um það”77). The second volume of Jón Árnason’s folktale collection was published in 1864, once again with the help of Maurer, and once again with neither an introduction nor an afterword by Jón. When Maurer sent Jón the final proofs, he explained to Jón that the two latest letters from Jón had got lost for some time, and that they had only arrived when it was too late to do anything about either the afterword or Jón’s list of collaborators. Maurer had therefore made his own list himself and written a short note of his own to accompany the work.78 In this same letter, Maurer declared his happiness about the fact that his work on Jón’s collection was now completed and that he would not have to 74 75

76 77 78

See Maurer’s letters to Guðbrandur from 27th October, 24th November, 3rd December, and 20th December. Jón Árnason’s introduction was published for the first time in 1939 as an appendix to a facsimile edition of the collection: see Jón Árnason, Íslenskar þjóðsögur og æfintýri (1925–1939), II, 709–719. Letter from Maurer to Guðbrandur, written on 19th January 1862. Letter from Guðbrandur Vigfússon to Jón Árnason, dated 12th April 1862. Letter from Maurer to Jón Árnason, written on 28th February 1864. Maurer’s text is published in Jón Árnason, Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri (1862–1864), II, iii; Jón Árnason’s

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read and correct any further proofs. He added that he was happy for Jón and praised him for all his work. After that letters between Konrad Maurer and Jón Árnason became fewer, but they kept on corresponding up until Jón’s death. This, however, was not the end of Maurer’s involvement nor his considerations regarding Icelandic folklore, because he later went on to write several further articles about Icelandic folklore which were published in Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde between 1891 and 1898.79

6

Maurer and Icelandic Folktales

Maurer’s influence on Icelandic folk narrative was not limited to collection and publication, however. It can also be seen in the categorisation of legends that he used in his own collection, which became the model for many of the Icelandic published folktale collections that followed his Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart.80 Letters written by Jón Árnason in 1859 make it clear that Jón was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Maurer’s collection, which he planned to use as a template for his own work. In one letter, dated 14th November 1859, Jón states that he needs Maurer’s collection for three reasons: “1° to translate into Icelandic those tales I don’t already have, 2° to write up a prologue for each of the tale categories, and 3° to organise the tales using your work as a guideline” (“1° til að snara á íslenzku þeim sögum, sem eg ekki hefi áður, 2° laga eptir því formála fyrir söguflokkunum, og 3° að raða sögunum niður með hliðsjón af Yðar safni”81).

79

80

81

afterword and the list of collaborators were first printed in the six volume edition in 1954–1961: see Jón Árnason, Íslenskar þjóðsögur og ævintýri (1954–1961), II, 561–562. See Maurer, “Zur Volkskunde Islands” (1891), “Zum Aberglauben auf Island” (1893), “Die Hölle auf Island” (1894), “Zur Volkskunde Islands” (1895), “Íslenzkar þjóðsögur. Safnað hefir Ólafur Davíðsson. Reykjavík, Ísafoldarprentsmiðja, 1895: IV und 190 SS. 8°” (1896), “Das Elbenkreuz” (1898), and “Weiteres über die Hölle auf Island” (1898). Sigurður Nordal discusses the fact that Jón Árnason translates Maurer’s heading (“Mythische Sagen”: Mythical Legends) as a title for those legends about the hidden people (huldufólk), water dwellers, and trolls (tröll) directly even though it could seem strange for Icelanders to refer to tales about those beings as mythological tales, as they are seen as forming part of modern folk belief rather than of a heathen belief system of the past: see Sigurður Nordal, “Forspjall”, I, xxxiii. On the huldufólk, see note 84 below. In a letter, written on 17th September, Jón says that he only has Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens’ collection (Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr) to go by because that is the only original edition the library holds. He says that the library also only has Kinder- und Hausmärchen in a Danish translation so he cannot see how the Grimms themselves edited their own collection. This indicates that these two were the only folktale collections Jón had ever seen.

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Jón certainly often quotes or refers to material from Maurer’s collection as additions to the tales he himself has heard orally or received in manuscript form, but sometimes he merely states that Maurer has heard the stories in a different form. One example of this is seen in what Jón writes about the Icelandic version of the migratory legend telling of how dancing in or outside a church leads to the church sinking into the earth.82 In Jón’s account, the priest’s mother, who has repeatedly begged her son to stop dancing, sees a man who is holding the ring of the church door singing in a low voice. Jón then adds in a footnote: “Dr Maurer has heard somewhere that you could see from the man’s feet that it was the devil” (“Dr. Maurer hefur heyrt einhverstaðar hér á landi að það hafi átt að þekkjast á fótunum á þessum karli að það var kölski”). The legend in Jón Árnason’s collection taken from a manuscript sent by a farmer from North-East Iceland (“Jón bóndi Sigurðsson í Njarðvík í Múlasýslu”) does not come from the same source as Maurer’s tale which deals with school boys from the Latin School at Skálholt who entertained themselves in a church at Christmas.83 Another kind of relationship between the two collections can be seen in the legend about a man called Skafti Sæmundsson who served as a midwife to the hidden people (huldufólk)84 when he was a child himself and was rewarded with lifelong luck in medicine by these beings. In Jón’s collection, a footnote states that Skafti, the namesake and son of the original Skafti, also became a gifted doctor, before going on to refer to Maurer’s collection, which tells of the younger Skafti also having gained his skills from the supernatural world.85 In both cases, the younger Skafti appears to have been the informant, telling Maurer a memorat about himself, and Jón a legend about his father.86 It might also be noted that the earlier-noted manuscripts that Eiríkur Kúld sent to Maurer were sent via Jón Árnason.87 Before sending the material on to

82

83 84

85 86

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Jón Árnason, Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri (1862–1864), II, 6–7. The legend in question is the widely known “Kölbigk story” telling of how the Devil danced people into the ground: see Strömbäck, “Kölbigk og Hårga I”, and “Den underbara årsdansen”. Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, 191. The huldufólk (or álfar) are the Icelandic equivalent of the Norwegian nature spirits, the huldre or underjordiske (underground people): see Einar Ól. Sveinsson, The Folk-Stories of Iceland, 170–183; and Gunnell, “How Elvish were the Álfar?”. Jón Árnason, Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri (1862–1864), I, 19–20; and Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, 7. This type of migratory legend (ML 5070 in Christiansen, The Migratory Legends) was very popular in Iceland: see Almqvist, “Midwife to the Fairies (ML 5070) in Icelandic Tradition” and the accompanying “Variant List”. Jón Árnason sent Maurer the manuscripts with a letter dated 20th June 1859.

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Maurer, Jón clearly copied the manuscripts, the contents of which are used by both Maurer and Jón, both of whom quote from these manuscripts directly. While Maurer thanks Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson especially in the foreword to his collection, saying that he had had access to their manuscript collections,88 only once does he make any direct reference to any of Jón’s or Magnús’s manuscripts.89 All the same, as mentioned above, Maurer makes use of all the stories in the Íslenzk æfintýri collection as well as other older printed texts. These tales that Maurer received from printed and written sources can thus be regarded as an exception to the rule that Maurer generally recorded tales directly from the oral tradition as mentioned above. Maurer’s storytelling session with Skúli Gíslason has already been described and he often refers to Magnús Grímsson and Jón Árnason as other informants. His travelogue nonetheless contains other descriptions that shed yet further light on Maurer’s intentions with regard to the collection of Icelandic legends and the methods he used for this purpose.90 Maurer describes, for example, how he sat with Reverend Björn Þorláksson (1816–1862) in the early hours of the morning in Höskuldsstaðir in Northern Iceland, and listened to legends of álfkonur (“elf women”), changelings, magical “carriers”,91 and water dwellers over a glass of rum. Maurer says that the morning after, he realised how many parallels there were to German legends.92 In fact, Maurer describes Björn Þorláksson as having been his most valuable informant after Magnús Grímsson and Skúli Gíslason. At that point, however, he had yet to meet Sigurður Guðmundsson málari (“the painter”: 1833–1874) in Iceland. Sigurður and Maurer knew each other from Copenhagen so Maurer must already have known how good a storyteller Sigurður was. They met once again on the island of Flatey in August 1858, when Maurer was on his way back to Reykjavík and was visiting with the Kúld family. Maurer describes how, at the end of the first day, the people enjoyed “an entertaining meal along with the usual drinks, and I even received many assets for my collection of legends” (“Ein fröhliches Abendeßen sammt entsprechendem Trunke beschloß 88 89 90

91

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Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, ix–x. On Magnús Grímson’s collection and manuscripts, see Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir, “Magnús Grímsson og þjóðsögurnar”. Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, 20. See, for example, Maurer, Reise nach Island, I, 149–150, with regard to his session with the farmer Sighvatur Árnason (1823–1911), who had to be convinced to share his stories; and I, 167 on another session with the Reverend Guðmundur Jónsson (1810–1889). The “carrier” (Icel. tilberi or (froðu)snakkur; Ger. Zuträger) is a creature of Icelandic folklore, created by witches to steal milk, somewhat like the cats and “milk hares” known in other Nordic countries. Maurer, Reise nach Island, I, 305.

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den Tag, & warf mir für meine Sagensammlung gar manchen Gewinn ab”93). Sigurður was evidently the main storyteller of the evening, and Maurer praises him for his skills, saying that Sigurður is better than most at making his stories thrilling with a good proportion of humour.94 The most colourful description of a storytelling session that Maurer gives is nonetheless found in his folktale collection, and deals with that same trip to the islands of Breiðafjörður: On the way from Flatey to Svefneyjar, Ebenezer, the carpenter in Flatey, told me a marvellous fairy tale about the king’s son Línus. But the sea was rough, and the waves were crashing into the boat constantly which meant I had no chance to write and later realised that I only remembered the main points of this splendid tale. (So erzählte mir der Schreiner Ebenezer von Flatey auf der Überfahrt von dort nach den Svefneyjar ein wunderschönes Märchen von dem Königssohne Línus. Aber die See gieng hoch die Wellen schlugen in Einem fort in das Boot; ans Schreiben war somit nicht zu denken, und späterhin zeigte sich, dass mir nur folgende Grundzüge der trefflichen Erzählung im Gedächtnisse geblieben waren.95) The fairy tale of Línus that Maurer heard in the boat as the waves crashed over him was later published by Jón Árnason in his collection, although there it is copied from a manuscript provided by the storyteller himself, which Jón had to go to some lengths to get in writing.96 In answer to Jón’s apparent request for help in getting the tale from Ebenezer, Eiríkur Kúld’s wife, Þuríður, wrote a letter to Jón in which she underlines that Maurer was totally wrong in stating that Ebenezer is a storyteller. In their role as a local curate and his wife, the Reverend Eiríkur and Þuríður, were high on the social ladder of the island of Flatey where Ebenezer the carpenter lived. Þuríður’s statement seems to indicate that the carpenter had never trusted her or her husband with his stories and that Maurer had somehow been more trusted as a listener than the storyteller’s fellow countrymen, at least those who had a higher social position.

93 94 95 96

Maurer, Reise nach Island, I, 392. Maurer, Reise nach Island, I, 392; see also Gunnell, “Sigurður Guðmundsson og þjóðsögurnar”, 418; and “Sigurður Guðmundsson and Jón Árnason’s Icelandic Folktales”. Maurer, Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart, 277. Maurer gives Jón information about the tale and its teller in a letter dated 15th August 1859.

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This idea is given further support by the example given earlier telling about the old woman who knew, and was willing to share the poem about the German emperor. As Maurer states himself, it also mattered that people realised that he was familiar with folktales beforehand.97 All the same, we can see that he was not always successful in his mission, as when he met the former member of parliament, Jón Jónsson (1804–1859), nicknamed “cat” [köttur]), who was not willing to tell any legends because he did not want people to think that he believed in them, and was not “educated enough to see how these stories are important for research or how valuable they are for understanding the nation’s state of mind” (“nicht gebildet genug, um einzusehen welches Interesse solche Erzählungen für die Forschung, welchen Werth sie für die Würdigung der geistigen Anlage des Volkes haben”98).

7

Conclusion

The above examples show that the relationship between Maurer’s and Jón Árnason’s collections was complex, and that it is evident that they used each other’s material freely. Indeed, in the discussions that took place between Jón and Maurer about whether Jón should refer to Maurer’s collection, Maurer made the point that this was not necessary because his work was so much smaller, “except in the very few cases of items that you are missing, which should therefore be borrowed from it” (“ausser etwa bei den, gewiss nur sehr wenigen, Stücken, welche Ihnen etwa gefehlt haben könnten, und welche darum aus jener zu entlehnen wären”99). This point illustrates not only Maurer’s modesty but also his intrinsic respect for Jón’s work (in spite of the numerous problems that were involved in the publication process). This respect is confirmed in Maurer’s letter to Peter Christen Asbjørnsen in which he apologises for not having sent his Icelandic collection when it was published and goes on to say that this is no loss to Asbjørnsen as his [Maurer’s] collection only contains simple material, and that a large collection carried out by a “very qualified Icelander” (“einen dazu sehr wohl geeigenschafteten Isländer”) is due soon.100 As mentioned above, Jón had been eager to dedicate his work to Maurer, but this had been something else that Maurer had found inappropriate owing to his personal involvement in the project. 97 98 99 100

Maurer, Reise nach Island, I, 169–170. Maurer, Reise nach Island, I, 308. Letter from Maurer to Jón Árnason, dated 20th May 1860. NFS Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Konrad Maurer, dated 20th May 1860.

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The examples given above also underline the near direct connection that existed between the Grimms and Iceland. As was noted at the start, Maurer had learned from Jacob Grimm how important it was to include the research of local legends alongside history, literature, and law if one wanted to construct a picture of a society and understanding how it became a nation. By setting an example of such work and getting people in Iceland to understand the importance of this kind of collection, there is little question that Maurer played a crucial role in the collection of Icelandic folktales. Without his help and encouragement, it is impossible to tell when such a collection as that which Jón Árnason produced would have come into being.

Chapter 14

Jón Árnason and the Collection of Icelandic Folk Legends: Ripples, Flotsam, Nets and Reflections Terry Gunnell

1

Introduction1

The collection of folk legends in Iceland actually began less than one year after the publication of the first volume of Deutsche Sagen, but, in spite of this, did not result in a large published edition of material until nearly 50 years later. The following article, building on several earlier articles on the subject by the present author,2 will examine how and why this happened, noting also the degree to which the eventual printed collection Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri (lit. Icelandic Folktales and Fairy Tales, although in fact it contained mainly legends) from 1862–1864 (see fig. 14.1), was actually just one key part of a largescale Romantic Nationalist movement that was taking place in the growing capital of Iceland in the mid-nineteenth century. Inspired and encouraged in no small degree by foreign cultural conduits, and viewed as an expression of native art, ancient belief, and native worldview, the two-volume work was deliberately distributed free to influential figures around the country (see below). The hope was that it would provide material for new forms of national art, and a new level of self-respect for the creativity of the local people and their living traditions which were now shown as being intrinsically linked to the medieval Golden Age of Iceland’s past. Its editor, Jón Árnason (1819–1888: see fig. 14.2) found himself becoming a central player in a local network of local cultural thinkers, who, in space of just over 25 years (between 1858 and 1874), created not only a key collection of national folktales, but also a national costume, a national anthem, a national museum and two models for a new kind 1 In line with Icelandic practice, in this chapter, Icelanders are often referred to by their Christian name rather than their patronymic or surname. In references, their full name is given. Unless otherwise stated, all translations are those of the present author. 2 Gunnell, “Clerics as Collectors of Folklore in Nineteenth-Century Iceland”, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, “The Development and Role of the Fjallkona”, “From Sagen to Translated Sagnir”, “National Folklore, National Drama and the Creation of Visual National Identity”, “Sigurður Guðmundsson og þjóðsögurnar”, “Sigurður Guðmundsson and Jón Árnason’s Icelandic Folktales”, and “Iceland: Wolverhampton of the North”.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_016

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Figure 14.1

Jón Árnason: Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri (1862), vol. I. Title page

of national drama, as well as a blueprint for how the capital of the imagined Icelandic republic of the future might look.

2

Finnur Magnússon and the First Call for the Collection of Material

As has been noted elsewhere,3 the first call for Icelanders to collect folk legends came as early as in 1817. It was issued by a new member of the Danish Archaeological Commission (Oldsagskommission/ Commisionen for Oldsagers Opbevaring), the librarian and later professor Finnur Magnússon (1781–1847).

3 See Sveinbjörn Rafnsson, ed. Frásögur um Fornaldarleifar 1817–1823, xxxviii; and Ögmundur Helgason, “Upphaf að söfnun íslenzkra þjóðfræða”, 17.

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Figure 14.2 Photograph of Jón Árnason. (Courtesy of the National Museum of Iceland.)

Finnur later went on to become the President of the Copenhagen branch of the Icelandic Literary Society (Hið íslenzka bókmenntafélag) (1819–1820; 1821–1827; 1827–1831; and 1839–1847) and was an active Deputy-President of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries (Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftsselskab) from 1828–1847.4 He was also the first editor of the key Copenhagen-based Icelandic historical and literary journal Skírnir (1827). Philologist, runologist, mythologist, antiquarian and close follower of the Indo-European movement, and friend of Rasmus Christian Rask (1787–1832), Adam Oehlenschläger (1779–1850) and Nikolai Grundtvig (1783–1852), Finnur was a highly influential cultural hub of his time. He was known internationally for having written one of the first key works on Nordic mythology and for making the ancient Icelandic Eddic poems available in Danish, with critical commentaries, for those people in the Nordic countries who could not read Icelandic or Latin.5 (The Grimms and von der Hagen had earlier done this in German

4 See further Halink, Asgard Revisited, 146–166, and “A Tainted Legacy”. 5 Finnur Magnússon, Den Ældre Edda: En Samling af de Nordiske Folks Ældste Sagn og Sange (1821–1823); and Eddalæren og dens Oprindelse (1824–1826).

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in 1812 and 1815.6) Nowadays, highly underrated if not culturally blacklisted in his homeland after badly misreading some runes and selling numerous early manuscripts to foreigners to cover his financial problems,7 Finnur had 300 copies of a questionnaire sent to clerics all around Iceland, requesting them to send the Commission details of any archaeological remains that they knew about along with “legends told by the common people about people of the ancient past (other than those which are found in written sagas), noteworthy places, ancient beliefs or superstitions regarding various things, especially things that have happened, and so on, particularly when they are related to such archaeological remains” (“sögusagnir medal almúgans um fornmenn [adrar enn þær sem eru í ritudum sögum], merkileg pláts, fornan átrúnad edr hiátrú á ymsum hlutum, sérlega vidburði o.s.fr., einkum nær þær vidvíkia slíkum fornalldarleifum”8). The parallels with the kind of material that was contained in Deutsche Sagen, the first volume of which had been published the year before, are obvious, as are the direct influences. The call for material had some success with regard to archaeological material and gleaned a few stories relating to a couple of ancient heroes. It nonetheless received a number of snorts from many clerics, among them being the father of the later main collector of Icelandic folktales, Jón Árnason.9 Indeed, the Reverend Árni Illugason (of Hof in Skagaströnd) (1754–1825) was in no two minds about what he felt about this kind of material, muttering: “It is impossible to write up, let alone understand such rubbish as you find in countless old wives’ tales and superstitions, from which I would happily distance myself for as long as possible. All the same….” (“Soddan rugl úr óteljandi kerlingafrásögnum og hjátrú er aldeilis ómögulegt upp að teikna eða í að botna, hvar fyrir ég vil feginn hafa mig þar undanþeginn sem lengst. Þó er enn….”10). (Clearly the influences of figures like Bishop Erik Pontopiddan [1698–1764], who had attempted to wipe out folk belief and tradition in Denmark and Norway with his Lutheran tract Everriculum fermenti veteris [Kicking out the Sour Dough]11 in 1736 still ran deep in Iceland.)

6 7 8 9 10 11

von der Hagen, Altnordische Lieder und Sagen (1812); and Grimm, Lieder der alten Edda (1815). See Halink, Asgard Revisited, 146–166, and “A Tainted Legacy”. Sveinbjörn Rafnsson, “Inngangur”, xxxvii and xxxix. On Jón Árnason, see further Einar Ólafur Sveinsson, “Jón Árnason (1819–1888)”; and Pálmi Pálsson, “Jón Árnason”. Sveinbjörn Rafnsson (ed.), “Inngangur”, xxviii. Pontoppidan, Everriculum fermenti veteris seu residuae in Danico (1736).

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389

Fjölnir and the Second Attempt

Witness to the fact that similar attitudes continued to be held widely in Iceland over the next 20 years, in spite of the appearance of Thiele’s popular collection of legends and that of Faye (neither of which seems to have picked up much attention in Iceland),12 is seen in an article probably written by the philologist Konráð Gíslason13 (1808–1891) in 1839 for the fourth volume of the romantically inspired cultural journal Fjölnir, which among other things called for support for the Icelandic language, Icelandic culture, and political independence. This journal, edited by several Icelandic students studying in Copenhagen (including the romantic poet, Jónas Hallgrímsson [1807–1845]), had received a negative response from several Icelanders to a translation in the first volume of a fairy tale composed by Johann Ludwig Tieck (1773–1853) (“De blonde Eckbert” [The Blonde Eckbert], translated as “Ævintír af Eggerti Glóa” [The Tale of Shining Eggert] by Jónas Hallgrímsson and Konráð Gíslason).14 Konráð’s article is designed to answer this criticism, underlining the need for Icelanders to follow more closely the literary and other cultural developments that were taking place abroad, and not least the way in which since the Napoleonic Wars: People began to pay more attention to how rich their countries were, and to everything they contained that had been preserved unchanged or was strange in some way. Among other things, people became more aware of the treasure trove that patriotism could draw on, in the shape of the past. Literary scholars organised themselves and started collecting as carefully as possible all the remnants of ancient times, preserving them like national treasures. Poets and historians showed interest in all of those stories and oral traditions that had been attached to the common people century after century, carried from person to person; they placed emphasis on finding versions that were as uncorrupted as possible. Most nations have enough stories of this kind which have been inspired by particular events that took place in ancient times, or gradually come into being in the minds of people, others adding to them and passing them on. Poets then used these stories to create poems and

12 13 14

See further the chapters on Thiele, Faye and Maurer by Timothy R. Tangherlini, Herleik Baklid and Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir elsewhere in this volume. Ögmundur Helgason, “Upphaf að söfnun íslenzkra þjóðfræða”, 115. Tieck, “Ævintír af Eggerti Glóa”. See also Ögmundur Helgason, “Upphaf að söfnun íslenzkra þjóðfræða”, 114.

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folktales, each of which, as one might expect, carried the characteristics of the nation that created them, its conditions and fortunes, much better than older types [of poetic works] which aimed less at presenting national characteristics than human nature with its strengths and weaknesses as it is found in each nation. (Menn tóku að gjefa meiri gjætur að því, er landi þeírra var vel gjefið, og öllu því, er hún hafði til að bera fábreitið eður eínkjennilegt. Þá var auk annars farið að taka eptir því, hvílíkan fjársjóð ættjarðarástin á, þar sem eru umliðnu tímarnir. Bóknáms-mennirnir tóku sig nú til, að safna sem vandlegast öllum menjum hinna fornu tímanna, og varðveita þær eíns og þjóðdírindi. Skáld og sagnafræðíngar gáfu sig að öllum þeím sögum og munnmælum, sem loðað hafa við hjá alþíðu öld eptir öld, og borizt mann frá manni, og lögðu á það mikla stund, að finna þœr óbrjálaðar. Flestar þjóðir eíga nóg til af þesskonar sögum, og eru þœr ímist sprottnar af eínhvurjum atburðum, er gjörzt hafa í fornöld, eður þær eru spunnar upp úr hugum manna smátt og smátt, er eínn bætir við, og tekur við af öðrum. Út úr sögum þessum gerðu skáldin kvæði og ævintíri, og höfðu þau, sem vonlegt var, meíra snið eptir þeírri þjóðinni, er þau voru undir komin og hennar kjörum og forlögum, enn hin eldri, er síður áttu að lísa nokkuri þjóðeínkunn sjer í lagi, enn mannlegu eðli með þeím kostum og anmörkum, er finnast með hvurri þjóð.15) Reference is then made to the collection work of the Grimms (who had been honorary members of the Icelandic Literary Society since 1823), and the creative work of Tieck and Walter Scott16 (1771–1832) which had drawn on such folkloric material (material which had initially met with similar disdain in the homelands of each of these men), the argument being that material of the same kind collected at home in Iceland could provide inspiration for similar individual national works of art: Konráð continues: Our common people, and especially older people – men and women – know many of these stories, which people have ceased caring for, and are generally referred to as “ligasögur” [lit. lying stories; fictions], “bábiljur” [lit. superstitions] and “kerlingabækur” [lit. old wives’ tales]. There is, however, more truth in them than people suppose, and many would prove to be interesting, noteworthy or have amusing origins; sometimes 15 16

Anonymous, “Fjölnir”, 11–12. On Walter Scott, see further the chapter on John Francis Campbell by John Shaw elsewhere in this volume.

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they have been inspired by something that has actually taken place; sometimes they come from afar; sometimes they are totally made up. They are often very old indeed. The same applies to the many ancient poems [fornkvæði: i.e. ballads] which still exist in the country. It would be good if clerics and other learned parties [my italics] who have the possibility of doing so, could start keeping an eye open for everything of this kind that exists in their vicinity, have it written up, and have it sent to a safe place, such as the library in Reykjavík, so that what remains does not get lost in the future. (Alþiða vor, og eínkum eldra fólk – karlar og konur – kunna mart af þesskonar sögum, sem hætt er að hirða um, og almennt eru kallaðar: ligasögur, „bábiljur“ og kerlingabækur. Það er þó meíra satt í þeim enn menn higgja, og margar munu þær reínast merkjilega eður kátlega undir komnar og eptirtektaverðar; stundum hafa þær atvikast af einhvurju, sem hjer hefir við borið, stundum eru þær lángt að komnar, stundum algjörlega uppspunnar, og margopt feíkigamlar. Hið sama er að seígja um mörg fornkvæði, sem enn eru til um landið. Það væri betur, að prestar og aðrir fróðleiksmenn, sem hægast eíga aðstöðu, tækju sig til, og lægju út firir allt þessháttar, hvur í kríngum sig, ljeti skrifa það upp, og kjæmu því so á óhultan samastað, sosem t.a.m. í bókasafnið í Reíkjavík, so það glatist ekkji hjeðan af, sem enn er til.17) Konráð ends by effectively reminding his Icelandic readers that the ancient Icelandic Eddic poems, which had received so much international respect in recent years, had also lived in the oral tradition before people chose to record them.18 That same year, Jónas Hallgrímsson, another of the editors of Fjölnir, initiated a second call for collection of material amongst the educated clergy of Iceland dealing with geographical, social, political, archaeological and cultural information about the various Icelandic counties and parishes, the idea being that “It is essential that every nation has a detailed knowledge of the land it inhabits” (“Það er harla áríðandi hvörri þjóð að þekkja til hlítar landið sem hún býr í”19). Sent out in 1839, this produced the so-called “County and 17 18 19

Anonymous, “Fjölnir”, 13. Anonymous, “Fjölnir”, 13. Jón Sigurðsson, Hið íslenzka bókmenntafélag, 71–72. A forerunner of questionnaires of this type aiming to collect information about antiquities, traditions and customs in different areas was that published in the first volume of the Mémoires of the French Celtic Academy (Académie celtique) in 1807, and sent out to all of the French départments: see Ó Giolláin, Locating Irish Folklore, 39–42.

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Parish Descriptions” (Sýslu- og sóknalýsingar) which provide a great deal of invaluable (if not always trustworthy material) about the state of things in Iceland at this time. Organising the survey along with Jónas were five other romantically-inspired Icelanders who were working, studying, or researching in Copenhagen: the aforementioned Finnur Magnússon and Konráð Gíslason, Brynjólfur Pétursson (1810–1851) and the later “national father” of Iceland, Jón Sigurðsson (1811–1879). Funded by the earlier-noted Icelandic Literary Society, the questionnaire was sent to all parish priests and local provosts in the country. Most of them answered (even if it took some 30 years, and a reminder or two).20 Few, however, bothered to answer the question [69] “Are there ancient stories being passed around between people? If so which? Or rare ancient poems?” (“Eru nokkrar fornsögur manna á milli, og hverjar? Eður fáheyrð fornkvæði og hver.”21)

4

George Stephens’ Call for Material

The next attempt to persuade the Icelanders to start collecting took place six years later in 1845 and 1846, and was initiated by yet another international cultural conduit in the wake of the large wave of publications that had taken place between 1841 and 1845, as Asbjørnsen and Moe’s Norske Folkeeventyr (Norwegian Folk Fairy Tales) appeared (1841–1844), followed by expanded editions of Thiele’s and Faye’s collections, Danmarks Folkesagn (Danish Folk Legends: 1843), and Norske Folke-Sagn (Norwegian Folk Legends: 1844), along with the first volumes of George Stephens and Hyltén-Cavallius’ Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr (Swedish Folktales and Fairy Tales: 1844) and Asbjørnsen’s Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn (Norwegian Huldre [Hidden People22] Fairy Tales and Folk Legends: 1845), the latter of which also focused on legends.23

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See Jón Sigurðsson, Hið íslenzka bókmenntafélag, 71–78. The survey was proposed by Jónas on 25th August 1838. It was eventually sent to all Icelandic parish priests on 30th April 1839, and received 116 answers in the first two years. Other reminders followed until 1859, and a new appeal was made in 1870, which led not only to information on a few new parishes, but also a few updates: see Múlasýslur, VII–VIII. See Jón Sigurðsson, Hið íslenzka bókmenntafélag, 78; and Ögmundur Helgason, “Upphaf að söfnun íslenzkra þjóðfræða”, 117. The “huldre” (hidden ones), often referred to as the “underjordiske” (underground people) are the most common nature spirits on Norway and are some of the most common subjects of Norwegian folk legends, much like the similarly named “huldufólk” (hidden people) in Iceland. On these works, see further the chapters on Thiele, Faye, Asbjørnsen and Moe by Timothy R. Tangherlini, Herleik Baklid, Line Esborg and Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in this volume.

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George Stephens24 (1813–1895: see fig. 8.1), the English philologist and runologist, who was still working in Sweden after publishing Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr, made the call in question on behalf of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries, which, as noted above, included among its members two of the usual suspects: Finnur Magnússon, and Jón Sigurðsson (1811–1879), as well as the Icelandic employer of the later Icelandic folk legend collector, Jón Árnason,25 the schoolmaster and translator, Sveinbjörn Egilsson (1791–1852). The call (fig. 14.3) which was directed at all readers of the learned journal Antiquarisk Tidsskrift attempted to reach beyond the Icelandic clerics (who made up a large per cent of its readers), noting that: In almost every country, something has been done to preserve the floating remains of the old oral narratives of the Folk and their recordings; the value of those works that have already appeared is universally accepted. While Old Iceland, in terms of “Folk History”, stands above any other country in or outside Europe, modern Iceland is perhaps the only place in Europe where no collection has been made of folktales, songs, heroic ballads and legends from the mouths of the common people. Whether such survivals could help shed light on Nordic mythology and history, we cannot say. But they are likely to help improve our knowledge of popular archaeology and poetry. (Næsten i ethvert Land er noget blevet gjort for at bevare de svævende Erendringer ved det gamle Folks mundtlige Fremsigelse og dennes Optegnelse; de derved fremkomne Værkers Værd er nu almindelig erkjendt. Medens det Gamle Island i folkehistoriske Henseende staaer höiere end ethvert andet Land i og udenfor Europa, afgiver det nyere Island maaskee det eneste Exempel paa et europæisk Folk, bandt hvilket man endu ikke saaledes har omhyggelig samlet Folkesagn, Sange, Kjæmpeviser og Legender fra Almuens egen Mund. Om slige Levninger der ere tjenlige til at oplyse Nordens Mythologie og Historie, kun vil ikke sig; i

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On Stephens, see further the chapter on George Stephens by John Lindow elsewhere in this volume; and Wawn, The Vikings and the Victorians, 215–244, and “George Stephens, Cheapinghaven and Old Northern Antiquity”. It might be noted that Stephens developed his international career by moving on to Copenhagen in 1851. See further Wawn, The Vikings and the Victorians, 215–244, and the chapter on George Stephens by John Lindow elsewhere in this volume. Jón was employed as a live-in tutor for Sveinbjörn’s children from the winter of 1842 until 1852: see Einar Olafur Sveinsson, “Jón Árnason”, 420.

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alle Tilfælde synes de dog at maatte kunne afgive gode Bidrag til vor fuldstændigere Kundskab om populair Archæologie og Digting.26) Stephens’ hopes of finding a new Edda (or at least something from the Middle Ages) seem clear from his list of priorities, which start with folk verses, ballads, dance verses, and verses sung to children by their parents, or sung by children as part of their games. He then moves on to folk legends (rather than fairy tales, which come almost as an afterthought), starting once again (like the Grimms) with legends of ancient times, including those of settlers or ancient heroes, and those involving folk beliefs with roots in the distant past, like those dealing with jötnar (often mistakenly translated as “giants”), álfar (lit. “elves”27); natural phenomena or particular places; and then ghosts, witches and magic.28 He then proceeds to folk myths dealing with folk beliefs, and other potential remnants of myths relating to natural phenomena, stressing the Grimmian rule that that everything must be recorded correctly word for word, with nothing dropped, special attention being given to dialect expressions. Of particular interest is the fact that Stephens stresses that information about the name of the storyteller, and his/ her age, position and place of residence must also be recorded.29

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Stephens, “Forslag Til Islændernes Uudgivne Folkesagns Og Sanges Optegnelse Og Bevaring”, 191. On this call and its influence, see further the chapter on Hammershaimb by Kim Simonsen elsewhere in this volume. On the álfar, see Gunnell, “How Elvish were the Álfar?”. Original text: “FOLKESAGN. a) Alle de gamle Fortælling og Fabler, som mundtig pleie at meddeles af de Ældre, eller ere amindelige blandt de Yngre, om man end ikke har den Tro dem, som i forrige Tider, f. Ex. Om Jætter Trolde, Alfer, Dyr, som talende, o.s.v.; – Helgensagn eller Legender, især aabenbare indenlandske, Æventyr, Börnesagn eller Sagn, der pleieat fortælles til Börn, m. m. b) Historiske, som om Landnamsmænd eller andre Fortidens navnkundige eller mærkelige Personer, o. s. v.; saa og om visse Tildragelser f. Ex. Ildsprudninger, Jordskjælv, den sorte Död, m. m.; LOCALE SAGN, om eller for visse Egne eller Steder; OVERTRO, som om Varsler, overnaturligt Syn, m.m.; Gjengangere; Trolddom, de dertil hörende gamle Formularer, Besværgelser, Hexeruner og andre overtroiske Characterer eller Figurer o. s. v.”: Stephens, “Forslag Til Islændernes Uudgivne Folkesagns Og Sanges Optegnelse Og Bevaring”, 192. Original text: “FOLKMYTHER. Nöiagtig Optegnelse af Sagn og Meninger om den ældre mulig endnu ikke allevegne udryddede Almueovertros Væsener, som Jætter, Trolde, Dverge, Alfer, Huldrefolk, Vætter, Uvætter o. s. v.; MYTHISKE BENÆVNELSER paa og særegne Forestillinger om Sol, Maane, Stjerner, Meteorer, Luftsyner, Havets Bevægelser, Vandfald (Fosse), Stene, Bjerge, Planter, Dyr, Insekter o.s.v. saavel fra den hedenske, som om den Katholske Tid, eller endog mulig af nyere, især indlandsk Oprindelse. Ved at samle disse Sager maatte fölgende Forholdsregler nöiagtig iagttages: A: Enhver Vise, Fortælling, Legende, Gaade o. s. v. maa skrives, for sig selv, paa et særskilt Stykke Papir,

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Figure 14.3

George Stephens: “Forslag til Islændernes Uudgivne Folkesagns og Sanges Optegnelse og Bevaring”

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The call was followed up by another a more detailed version (along with a call for manuscripts and descriptions of particular sites) in Icelandic through the Society of Antiquities (Fornfræðafélag) in the following year.30 This call clearly underlines Stephens’ knowledge of the recent collections in Germany, Denmark and Norway, and stresses essentially the collection of all kinds of material that can provide knowledge of the past. The wording of the first section is of particular interest, and not least because it attempts to answer the misgivings of those at home about the value of oral legends: It has been proven that ancient narratives, ancient poems and much more, which have been preserved in human memory for centuries, and in many ways shed light on the thoughts, beliefs and ways of life of our forefathers, are fast disappearing, and there is reason to fear that all of this will disappear completely if nothing is done in time to write it up and thereby preserve what remains, which may well be all too little if one thinks carefully about it. Many individuals have admittedly [already] collected some of this material, but their collections often get scattered and lost when they die, and their good work will all go to waste if everything that has been gathered is not all collected in one place, preserved and then analysed by those who can dedicate themselves to investigating everything that concerns our knowledge of ancient times and the actions of our forefathers. In Norway, Sweden and Denmark, people have already started collecting, not only archaeological artefacts but also many other things that have been preserved amongst the people which in some way or other helps to explain our knowledge of past centuries; and the more that is collected, the more we realise that even those things which at first sight may seem to be of no value, which others have called total superstitious twaddle, can actually give us important insights, and help explain

30

for at det senere kan, tilligemed andre tilsvarende, bringes i Orden af Vedkommende i Selskabets Archiv. For den större Tydelegheds Skyld of lettere Afbenyttelse i Fremtiden önskes alt helst skrevet med latinske Bogstaver; B. At Tonen eller Melodien, saavidt muligt, tilföies eller angives for enhver Vise eller Sang især; C. At alt maa blive optegnet med den störste Troskab, uden at noget tages fra eller lægges til; D. Dialekt eller særegne locale, eller dialektiske Ord forklares i Margen, i Overeensstemmelse med den Mening, som den Fremsigende tilægger dem; E. Om mulig bör Meddelerens eller Fremsigerens Navn, Alder, Stilling, og Opholdssted i ethvert Tilfælde optegnes. KJÖBENHAVN, de 9de Juli 1845”: Stephens, “Forslag Til Islændernes Uudgivne Folkesagns Og Sanges Optegnelse Og Bevaring”, 192. Stephens, “Boðsbréf til íslendinga um fornrita-skýrslur og fornsögur”.

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a number of things, [especially] when it is all put together in the right place as part of the wide-ranging field of the study of antiquities. (Það er sannreynt, að fornar frásagnir, fornkvæði og mart annað, sem haldizt hefir í manna minni lángt fram eptir öldum, og lýsir á margan hátt hugmyndum, átrunaði og lifnaðarháttum feðra vorra, er óðum að gleymast, og óttast má að það hverfí allt vonum bráðara, ef ekki er hirt að rita það upp í tíma og safna því sem enn er eptir, sem vera má að eigi sé all-lítið, ef vel er athugað. Margir einstakir menn hafa að sönnu safnað ymsu slíku, en söfn þeirra dreifast opt og týnast, þegar þeirra missir við, og verðr fyrirhöfn þeirra til einkis, þegar ekki er safnað á einn stað því sem margir draga saman, og þvínæst geymt og rannsakað af þeim mönnum, sem með alhuga ígrunda allt það, er viðvíkr þekkíngu fornaldarinnar og öllu athæfi feðra vorra. Í Noregi, Svíþjóð og Danmörku hafa menn þegar safnað miklu, bæði af fornaldargripum og mörgu öðru, því sem geymzt hefir meðal manna og á einhvern hátt má skýra þekkíngu manna um framliðnar aldir; en því meira sem safnað er, því framar finna menn, að jafnvel það, sem í fyrsta áliti má virðast vettugis vert, og áðr hefir verið kallað eintómt hindrvitni og markleysa, gefr mönnum mikilvægar bendíngar og er til mikillar skýríngar, þegar allt kemr saman og hvað kemr á sinn stað á hinni margkvísluðu grein fornfræðanna.31) The call goes on to describe the new archive that has been formally set up by the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries (accepted by the king on 27th August 1845 and 7th February 1846), with two main departments, the first dealing with Iceland, Greenland and the Faroes (which Jón Sigurðsson was to lead as head of the archive), and the second with Denmark itself. Finnur Magnússon was to be one of the three figures on the supervising committee, along with C. C. Rafn (1795–1864)32 and C. J. Thomsen (1788–1865), Head of the National Museum (Nationalmuseet) of Denmark. As with the Danish version of the call, it suggests that a great deal of material might still be found in the oral tradition of Iceland, which might help explain a number of key questions that have arisen from the study of the sagas. Following a call for manuscripts of all kinds, it goes on to request all available information on farms, places, place names, and archaeological sites and objects, including anything that might relate to pagan times (such as temples [hof ] and sacrificial stones [blót-steinar]). The 31 32

Stephens, “Boðsbréf til íslendinga um fornrita-skýrslur og fornsögur”. On Rafn, see further the chapter by Kim Simonsen elsewhere in this volume.

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third section then deals with popular antiquities (“alþýðleg fornfræði”) and has the same emphases as in the Danish call, on the distant past, folk beliefs and potential pagan remnants, underlining once again that everything is of value, even if it is considered to be mere superstition (“að hafa sér hugfast, að fella ekkert undan fyrir þá sök, að þeim virðist það fánýtt eða hégyljur einar […] hégómi í fyrsta áliti”). Those interested in such material are requested to begin collecting as soon as possible and to send their material to the new archive (“Vér vonum […] að sumir kunni að leggja fyrir sig að safna ymsu af því”33).

5

Jón Árnason, Magnús Grímsson and Íslenzk æfintýri

The results of this request were more numerous than those had resulted from previous calls: Several people started making collections of folkloric material including two clerics, Páll Jónsson (1812–1889)34 at Myrká in the north of Iceland (1812–1889) and the student editor and budding playwright Magnús Grímsson (1825–1860) living in the south-west, both of whom were later to play a key role in Jón Árnason’s main collection of folk legends. Magnús was one of several people who sent a copy of his records to Copenhagen.35 Even

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Stephens, “Boðsbréf til íslendinga um fornrita-skýrslur og fornsögur”. See Úr forum Jóns Árnasonar, I, 92–94 (letter from Páll Jónsson to Jón Árnason, dated 3rd February 1859). “Det Historisk-Archæologiske Archiv: Den Oldnordisk-Islandske Afdeling” (1846–1848), 169–172; and (1849–1852) mention a number of Icelanders who are known to have collected material, some of which was sent to Copenhagen. In addition to Magnús (see also Magnús Grímsson, Ferðabók Magnúsar Grímssonar, xxiv, on the material sent by Magnús in 1849) and Ólafur Ólafsson (1806–1883) of Hvammur in Hjaltadalur (who focused on legends to do with the álfar), the reports mention legends sent by the clerics Sigurður Gunnarson (1812–1878) of Desjarmýri; Benedikt Þórarinsson (1795–1856) of Ás á Felli and other unnamed clerics at Klyppstapur; by the student Arnljótur Ólafsson (1823–1904); by Guðmundur Sigurðsson (1808–1874) of Loftstaðir; by the sheriff Gísli Sigurðsson (1783–1862) in Selströnd; by the farmer-scholar Gísli Konráðsson (1787–1877); and by the carpenter Ólafur Briem (1808–1859). It might be noted that Magnús Grímsson graduated from the Latin School in Reykjavík in 1848, qualified as a priest in 1850, and became the author of the journal Ný tíðindi in 1852. He also wrote several dramas and was interested in experimental engineering, among other things working on inventing a rowing machine for fishing boats. In addition to collecting folk legends from his home area in the south-west of Iceland, Magnús also seems to have collected material during a trip made around the country collecting geological specimens in 1848–1849: see further Magnús Grímsson. Ferðabók Magnúsar Grímssonar; and Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir, “Þjóðsögur Magnússar Grímssonar”. It is noteworthy that the German scholar Konrad Maurer (see below) obviously trusted Magnús as a means of measuring the “typical” quality of the stories he himself had collected: see Maurer, Íslandsferð, 382–383. Sigurður

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as a student, he had been in direct contact with Finnur Magnússon, and had translated the Grimms’ “Snow White” into Icelandic (“Mjallhvít”) in a small book designed for Icelandic children published in Copenhagen in 1852.36 Like many other prospective folklorists such as Asbjørnsen,37 he was also interested in the natural sciences (and especially geology). The most apparent result of Stephens’ call would seem to be that it encouraged Magnús and the slightly older Jón Árnason to start collecting folktales in Iceland in earnest (even though Jón would later question Stephens’ influence on him and Magnús in the introduction he wrote for the main collection of Icelandic folktales, Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri38). In 1852, the pair published the modest first collection of Icelandic folktales under the title of Íslenzk æfintýri (lit. “Icelandic Fairy Tales”).39 This includes a number of pieces that had earlier been sent to Denmark in answer to the various calls, including several legends on the magician priest Sæmundur fróði (the wise) including one telling of his escape from the Black School, and another Magnús had collected on the Black Death: “Galdramennirnir í Vestmannaeyjum” (The Magicians of the Westman Islands).40 It also included a version of the so-called Guntram legend (“Dalakúturinn” [The Money Chest])41 and another very interesting legend that obviously belonged to the Beowulf-Grendel tradition (the story of “Silfrunarstaða Skeljungur” [Skeljungur of Sifrúnarstaðir]42), even though the international background of neither is mentioned.

36 37 38

39 40

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Nordal (“Forspjall”, I, xxviii–xxix) notes that material had also been collected by other clerics at this time, such as Friðrik Eggerz (1802–1894) who was collecting fairy tales in his twenties; and Lárus Sigurðarson (1808–1832) who apparently encouraged Ólafur Sveinsson á Purkey (1762–1845) to record his “álfasögur” (legends of álfar). Some of the material collected at this time is recorded in Aðalheiður Guðmundsdóttir, “DFS 67”. Magnús Grímsson, Mjallhvít. See further the chapters on Asbjørnsen and Moe by Line Esborg and Ane Ohrvik elsewhere in this volume. Jón Árnason, “Formáli Jóns Árnasonar”, xx. See also Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir, “Þjóðsögur Magnússar Grímssonar”, 110–111, where Rósa points to the letter from Benedikt Gröndal noted in note 51 as evidence of the fact that the two men may well have begun collecting earlier, perhaps under the influence of the earlier calls for collection. See further Einar Ólafur Sveinsson, The Folk-Stories of Iceland, 135–136. Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson, Íslenzk æfintýri, 36 and 57–62; see also Jón Árnason, Icelandic Legends, I, 228–230 and 237–244. On these legends and their international context, see further Gunnell, “The Return of Sæmundur”, and “Mists, Magicians and Murderous Children”. Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson, Íslenzk æfintýri, 127–129; see also Jón Árnason, Icelandic Legends, I, 222–226. See further Lixfeld, “Die Guntramsage (AT 1645 A)”. Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson, Íslenzk æfintýri, 13–19; see also Jón Árnason, Icelandic Legends, I, 140–147. On the age and international context of this legend, see further Gunnell, “The Coming of the Christmas Visitors”.

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Most interesting about this early collection is the emphasis on legends rather than fairy tales, in spite of the title, and in spite of the international success of Kinder- und Hausmärchen. In line with the thinking of Herder and the Grimms, the short introduction reflects the focus of Deutsche Sagen and the other collections that had followed it in stressing the idea that the material in question belonged to the Icelandic nation (which at that time, like many of its neighbouring countries, was involved in a struggle for political and cultural independence43): These folktales are the poetic creation of the nation [þjóðarinnar or nation being used here rather than alþyðunnar or fólksins, which would refer to “the people”]. They are the creation of the naivity that the nation experiences and experienced. In them we see both the nation’s longing for history and the special feel that the nation’s narratives tend to be veiled in. Events are described frankly, without any excess wording or affectation. With regard to the material itself, it is rich and variable, and often shows the level of knowledge that the nation has reached; and the wealth of heresies/ delusions and superstitions – as they are now called – that have lived amongst the nation. In this sense, the folktales are very important for the history of our nation’s education. They are a kind of latter-day Edda, or a mythology, which time has altered or changed. (My italics.) (Þessi ævintýri eru skáldskapur þjóðarinnar. Þau eru búningur hinnar einföldu hugsunar, sem þjóðin lifir og hefur lifað í. Þar kemur sögulöngun hennar fram og hinn einkennilegi blær, sem frásögur hennar eru vanar að vera hjúpaðar í. Viðburðirnir eru sagðar blátt áfram án allrar orðamælgi eða tilgerðar. Hvað efnið snertir, þá er það mjög ýmislegt og auðugt, og sýnir það opt, á hvaða þekkingarstigi þjóðin hefur staðið; hvað villa og hjátrú – sem nú er kallað – hefur verið ríkt hjá þjóðinni. Í þessu tilliti eru því ævintýrin harla markverð fyrir menntunarsögu þjóðar vorrar. Þau eru eins konar seinni tíma edda hennar, eða goðafræði, sem tíminn hefur lagað og breytt.44) (My italics.)

43

44

See the various articles on Iceland in the on-line Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe: http://ernie.uva.nl/; printed in Leerssen, ed., Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism. See also Karl Aspelund and Gunnell (ed.), Málarinn og menningarsköpun; and the associated website on Sigurður Guðmundsson and the Evening Society (Kvöldfélag), which contains original source materials from Iceland during this period: https:// sigurdurmalari.hi.is/. Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson, Íslenzk æfintýri, 3.

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One also notes once again the deliberate attempt to place the collected material alongside the Eddic material that Finnur Magnússon and the Grimms had been making available for the scholarly world (see above); and the attempt to allay local Icelandic misgivings about the value of the material by stressing that similar collections had previously appeared in Germany and Denmark, which had been well received, and showed close parallels if not links to the material that had been found in Iceland.45 The differences between the Icelandic versions and those found elsewhere, the authors stress, are related to national characteristics. All in all, they argue, “this material is something that bestows honour on the nation rather than dishonour” (“Þær eru frekar til sómar, en ósóma fyrir þjóðina”46). They thus ask people to send in more material to them, especially that dealing with place names.

6

Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri

In spite of this attempt to underline the importance of folktale collection, Íslenzk æfintýri was largely ignored in Iceland, and both Magnús and Jón went back to their day jobs. As I have shown elsewhere, those clerics who had been educated in Iceland, and had little contact with the academic world outside showed little interest. Indeed, the whole project would almost certainly have died had it had not been for the arrival of two men in Iceland in the summer of 1858: Konrad Maurer (1823–1902), and then, less directly, the Icelandic painter Sigurður Guðmundsson (1833–1874), who will be dealt with in more detail below with regard to the cultural networks that surrounded the eventual publication of the follow-up two-volume collection, Jón Árnason’s Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri in 1862–1864. Konrad Maurer is dealt with in more detail by Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir elsewhere in this volume.47 There is good reason to place him alongside Finnur Magnússon and George Stephens as another of the foreign cultural conduits that lie behind the eventual publication of Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri. Suffice to say, Maurer’s visit to Iceland and the collection of folk legends he undertook during his trip across the centre and down the west of the country in 1858 appear to have prompted Magnús and Jón to start collecting again.48 The publication of Maurer’s own Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart in 1860

45 46 47 48

Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson, Íslenzk æfintýri, 4. Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson, Íslenzk æfintýri, 3. See also Einar Ólafur Sveinsson, The Folk-Stories of Iceland, 136. See Maurer, Reise nach Island (im Sommer 1858); Icelandic translation in Maurer, Íslandsferð 1858.

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also led directly to Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri being published in Leipzig, both works containing legends rather than fairy tales.49 As has been noted elsewhere in numerous chapters and articles,50 the collection of the material for Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri (the title of which is a direct echo of Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens’ collection from 1844–1849: Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr) did not involve anyone travelling around the country collecting legends from people. Maurer certainly collected material directly from storytellers as he travelled, and Magnús Grímsson had carried out similar collection work in his home area of Borgarfjörður in 1845–1846,51 and almost certainly also while acting as a guide for various foreign visitors in 1846–1847 and when collecting geological specimens in 1848, trips which took him all round the country.52 However Magnús, who had intended to focus on legends, now had a position as a full-time cleric, and died in 1860. Jón, who had meant to focus on folk poetry and games in line with Stephens’ earlier call,53 was now a full-time librarian in charge of the Provincial Library in Reykjavík (Stiftsbókasafn). In addition to writing numerous personal letters, he therefore had to send out two calls for material in Icelandic papers hoping for a positive response, in particular from his friends, school friends, relations and those clerics who had some knowledge of the international collection project. The first call appeared in the paper Norðri on 30th May 1859 (published in Akureyri, in North Iceland) while the second extended version came out in 49

50

51

52 53

Fairy tales made up less than a quarter of the two-volume collection, appearing at the end of the second volume along with a list of customs, superstitions and omens. The fact that the collection contained both legends and fairy tales was nonetheless somewhat unique in the Grimm Ripples and underlines the fact that both types of story were now beginning to be seen as different types of “folktales”. See Úr fórum Jóns Árnasonar; Jón Árnason, “Formáli Jóns Árnasonar”; Guðbrandur Vigfússon, “Formáli”; Ögmundur Helgason, “Upphaf að söfnun íslenzkra þjóðfræða fyrir áhrif frá Grimmsbræðrum”; Einar Ólafur Sveinsson, The Folk-Stories of Iceland, 136–140; Sigurður Nordal, “Forspjall”; Ólína Þorvarðardóttir, “Þjóðsögur Jóns Árnasonar? Tilraun til heimildarýni”; Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir, “Jón Árnason þjóðsagnasafnari og heimildarfólkið hans”, and “Jón Árnason, ævi og störf”; and Gunnell, “Clerics as Collectors of Folklore”, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, “Sigurður Guðmundsson og þjóðsögurnar”, and “Sigurður Guðmundsson and Jón Árnason’s Icelandic Folktales”. See Benedikt Gröndal, Ritsafn, V, 11–13: letter written by Benedikt Gröndal (1826–1907) to Magnús Grímsson on 10th August 1846, in which, reacting to the Icelandic version of George Stephens’ call for material from that same year, he talks of “collections […] like that you and J. Árnason are making” (“söfn […] einsog því og J. Árnason eruð að safna”). See also Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir, “Þjóðsögur Magnússar Grímssonar”, 111 and 110–115. See note 35 above; Magnús Grímsson, Ferðabók Magnúsar Grímssonar, xxiv–xxxviii; and Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir, “Þjóðsögur Magnússar Grímssonar”, 107 and 110–115. Einar Ólafur Sveinsson, The Folk-Stories of Iceland, 138.

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1861 (in Íslendingur, on 19th October).54 A great deal of material began to be sent in from all over the country. It must always be borne in mind, however, that even though in his extended call from 1861 Jón asked for material to be recorded word for word,55 the process involved legends being told by a storyteller to a recorder, then sometimes being sent on to Jón via a local collector. After this, Jón went over the texts before sending them on to Copenhagen where they were read over once more by the Icelandic scholar (and dictionary maker) Guðbrandur Vigfússon (1827–1829), who then sent the final versions on to Konrad Maurer in Leipzig where they were read over once more and eventually type-set by a man who could not speak Icelandic. This far-from-perfect process which involved texts changing in varying degrees, is now available on the two related web sites dealing with the process which enable those interested not only to compare the original manuscripts to the eventual published texts (as well as translations where they are available), but also to examine any accompanying letters from collectors that accompanied. All of this material has been attached to a mapping programme which enables users to see the surroundings from which the each of the legends came.56 As noted above, this process has been examined in some detail elsewhere. The same applies to the two introductions written for the collection by Jón Árnason and Guðbrandur Vigfússon, which, like the other introductions that have been examined as part of this present project, were designed to explain for readers how the material contained in the collections should be read

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Jón Borgfirðingur, “Hugvekja um alþýðlega fornfræði”; and Jón Árnason, “Hugvekja um alþýðleg fornfræði”. See also Guðbrandur Vigfússon, “Formáli”, xxxv–xxxvi. “With regard to all the legends and descriptions and poems and everything else that has been listed above, it is my wish that collectors follow as closely as possible the account as told by the storyteller, poems being recorded exactly as told, without anything being dropped or added, unless someone else has a certain and clear conviction of a different version, in which case this this should be recorded separately; do not write them on the same page unless they are legends belonging to the same type. Sources and storytellers should be listed everywhere, and all words that are rare or difficult to understand should be explained in footnotes, following the meaning that the storyteller or collector gives them.” (“Allar sagnir, og lýsingar, og kvæði, og hvað eina, sem hjer að framan er upp talið, óska jeg að safnendur taki sem næst verður komizt frásögn sögumanna, en kvæðin orðrjett eptir þeim, án þess neitt sje úr fellt eða í aukið, nema annar viti gjör eða greinilegar, sem þá yrði að geta sjer í lagi; ekki ætti heldur að skrifa á sömu blöðin nema þær sagnir, sem hverjum flokki hlýða. Heimildir og sögumenn þarf að tilgreina alstaðar, og skýra og skýra þungskilin og sjaldgæf orð neðanmáls, eptir því sem sögumaður eða safnandi leggur í þau.”): Jón Árnason, “Hugvekja um alþýðleg fornfræði”, 93. See http://www.jonarnason.is; and http://sagnagrunnur.com/en. On the editing process, see also the chapter on Konrad Maurer by Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir elsewhere in this volume.

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and understood. In the interests of international comparison, it is thus worth reviewing the nature of these introductions in some detail. Jón Árnason’s introduction to the collection did not appear in print until 1939.57 The official reason for this (given in Guðbrandur’s introduction) was that the final version of Jón’s foreword arrived too late for it to be printed, although there is now evidence to suggest that this was essentially an excuse made up by Guðbrandur and Maurer who were unhappy about its quality.58 The same problem apparently recurred with regard to an introduction for the second volume and a potential afterword.59 There are certainly some very interesting differences between the eventual introduction by Guðbrandur that accompanied the published work, and that by Jón which did not. This relates partly to style (Jón Árnason, it has to be admitted, was not a very accomplished writer), and partly to approach and attitude to the material. Much of Jón’s introduction is taken up by an attempt to answer the criticism his previous volume and his present collection campaign had received from many clerics,60 underlining the degree to which Enlightenment attitudes and fundamental Lutherism had managed to destroy the ancient oral tradition in Iceland, and the irreparable damage this might have done. He then moves into a similar Grimmian vein to that used in his previous introduction:

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Jón Árnason, “Formáli Jóns Árnasonar”. See Guðbrandur Vigfússon, “Formáli”, xxxviii. See further Úr fórum Jóns Árnasonar, I, 306–308, 324–326, 344–346, and 349–352 (letters from Guðbrandur to Jón Árnason, dated 1st June, 23rd August and 1st November 1861; and from Jón to Maurer, dated 22nd November 1861), and the letter from Konrad Maurer to Guðbrandur Vigfússon, dated 5th January 1862: Oxford, Bodleian Library (Bodl.) MS GV Germ. d. 2, in which Maurer writes: “Since all that is left to be typeset now are the title, dedication, overview of contents and foreword, I must demand that you send me the latter as soon as possible. It is rather annoying that Jón’s new foreword is once again no good, and [that it is] now difficult to find a pretence that allows us to add one [i.e. a foreword] of our own. Or should we pretend that the foreword was written and printed before the ship arrived? Whatever the case, I beg you to deliver it in both our own names!” (“Da jetzt nur noch Titel, Widmung, Inhaltsübersicht und Vorrede zu setzen sind, muss ich Dich also nothgedrungen bitten, die letztere mir möglichst bald zu schicken. Es ist recht ärgerlich, dass Jón’s neue Vorrede wider nicht taugt, und schwer jetzt einen Vorwand zu finden, der uns erlaubt auf eigenen Namen eine solche beizugeben. Oder sollen wir thun, als ob die Vorrede geschrieben und gedruckt wäre ehe das Schiff kam? Jedenfalls bitte ich Dich, sie in unserer beider Namen zu stellen!”) (Translation: Felix Lummer). My thanks to Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir for bringing this letter to my attention. Indeed, the matter is also discussed in the chapter on Konrad Maurer by Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir elsewhere in this volume. Úr fórum Jóns Árnasonar, I, 306–308, 324–326: letters from Guðbrandur to Jón Árnason, dated 1st June, and 23rd August 1861. See further Gunnell, “Clerics as Collectors of Folklore in Nineteenth-Century Iceland”.

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No one knows how old some of the popular tales or oral accounts and fairy tales are. […] Such stories are legitimate daughters of the national spirit, equal to the literary sagas themselves, which as yet no one has managed to lavish too much praise on. One might state that the oral accounts were born and created in and alongside the nation, they are the poetic creation of the nation and her spiritual offspring century after century and show better than most other things the nation’s way of thought and traditions.) (My italics.) (Það eru alþýðusögur eða munnmælasögur og ævintýri og veit enginn hvað gömul þau eru sum hver. […] slíkar sögur eru jafnskilgetnar dætur þjóðarandans sem bóksögurnar sjálfar sem enginn hefur enn getað oflofað. Það má fullyrða það að munnmælasögur hafi fæðzt og myndazt í og með þjóðinni, þær eru skáldskapur þjóðarinnar og andlegt afkvæmi hennar öld eftir öld og lýsa því betur en flest annað hugsunarháttum hennar og venjum.61) (My italics.) Guðbrandur Vigfússon’s introduction62 is without doubt more scholarly, showing also knowledge of the folktale collections made in not only Germany and Denmark, but also Sweden and Norway (although Guðbrandur wrongly suggests that the Norwegian collection of Asbjørnsen and Moe did not appear until 1845, the same time at which he suggests the Icelanders started collecting).63 Providing a detailed history of the collection of folklore in previous centuries, this introduction walks more carefully with regard to criticism of the

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Jón Árnason, “Formáli Jóns Árnasonar”, xvii. Guðbrandur Vigfússon, “Formáli”. Guðbrandur Vigfússon, “Formáli”, xxxii–xxxiii. Guðbrandur (“Formáli”, xxxiii) suggests that both Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson had read Kinder- und Hausmärchen in the Latin School in Reykjavík. In a letter to Konrad Maurer in September 1859, Jón certainly states that he knows Kinder- und Hausmärchen in Danish (translations of the first volume had been available since 1821: see Dollerup, Tales and Translation, 72–81) and has access to the first edition of Hyltén-Cavallius’ and Stephens’ Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr and Thorpe’s collection of fairy tales from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany, Yule-Tide Stories (1853), but says nothing about Deutsche Sagen (Úr fórum Jóns Árnasonar, I, 142; see also Jón Árnason, “Formáli Jóns Árnasonar”, xx). Nothing is mentioned by Jón directly about either Thiele’s or Asbjørnsen and Moe’s collections, although in their introduction to Íslenzk æfintýri, v, Jón and Magnús Grímsson show awareness of similar collections having been published in both Germany and Denmark, but do not make it clear whether they are referring to collections of legends or fairy tales: while they talk of “æfintýri”, as has been noted above, their collection (made up mainly of legends) makes it clear they are not certain what the term means.

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clergy. While it joins the Icelandic chorus of underlining the intrinsic connection between the oral tradition and the sagas, it nonetheless seeks to question the emphasis on this project being a study of antiquities (“fornfræði”). As Guðbrandur writes: Because the ancient times [fornöld: that is the saga age] are the mother of our own times, people often make the mistake of saying that everything that is good comes from that time, that everything has been passed down orally, person to person, and that the people of later times have done nothing but remember and write down that which has been preserved from ancient centuries; the same thing applies to the folktales. However, people forget that as long as a nation is a nation and life is life, the old disappears or changes colours or shape; it is replaced by new things, and the nation which does nothing other than remember is little more than a fossil and can hardly be counted among the ranks of the living. These folktales [þjóðsögur: lit. national stories] are living proof that the people were just as able to create new material in the space left by the old as they were to remember one [generation] after another….) (My italics.) (Mönnum hætti oft við af því fornöldin er móðir vorra tíma að eigna henni sem flest það sem gott er, allt sé þaðan komið munn frá munni og mann frá manni og siðari aldar menn hafi lítið annað gert en að muna og siðan að rita það sem geymzt hafi frá hinni fornu öld, þjóðsögurnar sé og þannig undir komnar. En menn gæta ekki þess að meðan þjóð er þjóð og líf er líf þá hverfur hið gamla eður skiptir litum og líkjum, en nýtt kemur í staðinn, og sú þjóð sem ekkert gjörir annað en muna er réttur steingjörvingur og getur varla talizt í tölu lifenda. Þjóðsögur þessar bera þess ljósan vott að þeir kunna ekki siður að skapa nýtt í skarð hins gamla en að muna mann frá manni….64) (My italics.) He then adds: The folktales [þjóðsögur] are no ancient knowledge in the usual sense of the word, meaning something that has been preserved over the centuries untouched. […] They are ancient in spirit, but newly created; old sagas wizen and die, but in their place come new people and new stories which the poetic mind of the nation continuously reproduces….) (My italics.)

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Guðbrandur Vigfússon “Formáli”: xv.

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(Þjóðsögurnar eru engin fornfræði í hinni vanalegu þýðingu þessa orðs er geymist öld frá öld óbreyttar. […] Þær eru fornar í anda, en nýjar að smið; hinar gömlu sögur hrörna og líða undir lok, en í staðinn koma upp nýir menn og nýjar sögur sem skáldahugur þjóðarinnar leiðir æ fram nýjar….65) (My italics.) In short, legends are continuously reborn in similar forms connected to new figures and in line with new times: they are about the present, rather than the past, and not least have a great deal to say about present creativity. As the present author has noted in an earlier article, Guðbrandur’s introduction can be seen as: an excellent piece of trapeze walking, not least in its expertise at meeting the interests of two markets a once, underlining the value of the collection for Old Norse enthusiasts, while simultaneously stressing that the present “united” nation is equal in ability to the forefathers.66 Obvious parallels in wording can be seen in a review of Maurer’s Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart (Icelandic Folktales in Our Own Times: 1860) written by Guðbrandur’s colleague Jón Sigurðsson two years previously.67 Here we see immediately the degree to which the collection of folktales was seen as being interwoven with the political struggle for independence in Iceland. As noted above, Jón Sigurðsson, whose statue dominates the square outside the present-day Icelandic parliament, and whose birthday (on June 17th) is annually honoured in Icelandic national day celebrations, was the central, unifying figure in the Icelandic independence movement. He had kept a careful eye on the editing of the collection in Copenhagen, and it was he who later ensured that copies of the collection would be sent free to all members of the Icelandic Literary Society.68 As Jón writes: our nation has long been particular in the way that it, more than most others [i.e. other nations], looks behind itself rather than ahead, like a 65 66

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Guðbrandur Vigfússon, “Formáli”: xvi. Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, 26. Guðbrandur’s words might be viewed as an indirect answer to the calls of romantic Icelandic poets like Jónas Hallgrímsson who, in poems like “Ísland” and “Gunnarshólmi”, had compared the present-day lack of spirit of Icelanders with the heroic nature of the saga heroes: see, for example, Beck, Icelandic Lyrics, 48–49; and 50–57. Jón Sigurðsson, “Review of Konrad Maurer”. Sigurður Nordal, “Forspjall”, II, lii–liii.

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man walking backwards […]. But people must not do too much of this, because otherwise it will happen to us that while we look back at our ancient times, and wonder at them wide-eyed and staring, we do few or none of the things that need doing; then our mother Iceland will go backwards, will go living into the grave, wizen and die because of the lackadaisical behaviour of her children, and cannot keep them alive, because they have no ability to feed themselves. (My italics.) (þjóð vor hefir lengi verið einkennileg í því, framar flestum öðrum, að líta allt af meira aptur fyrir sig en fram, eins og maður, sem gengur öfugur áfram […]. En menn mega samt ekki gjöra ofmikið að þessu. Því annars fer svo fyrir oss, að meðan vér horfum aptur á bak á fornöld vora, og undrast hana glápandi og starandi, en gjörum lítið eða ekkert sem gjöra þarf, þá fer móður vorri Íslandi aptur, svo það gengur lifandi ofan í jörðina, það er, eyðist og hrörnar fyrir ódugnað barna sinna, og getur ekki framfært þau, því þau hafa ekki lag á að gánga sér að mat.69) (My italics.) In short, for Jón, as for Guðbrandur, far from being superstitious rubbish or mere echoes of the past, this material reflects the artistic potential of the Icelanders of the present. To Jón’s mind, however, the material that goes into a collection must be carefully chosen, because it is meant to reflect the qualities of the nation rather than its foibles. As Jón writes, “it is no less of a problem to choose [material] in such a way that the uncorrupted opinion of the nation appears, rather than the exaggerated superstitions of certain individuals, or the jokes of idiots, or the disbelief of eccentrics” (“Það er ekki minni vandi, að velja svo, að sú rétta óspillta skoðun þjóðarinnar komi fram, en hvorki ofstæki hjátrúar einstakra manna, né spott heimskra gárúnga, né trúleysa ofvitringanna”70). (My italics.)

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Material for New Forms of National Art

There were, however, other uses for such material, as Niels Laurits Høyen (1798–1870) had suggested in his lecture from 1844, “Om Betingelserne for en skandinavisk Nationalkunsts Udvikling” (On the Importance of the Development of Scandinavian Nordic National Art), which encourages Nordic artists to make use of motifs from Nordic history and folklore as part of the creation of 69 70

Jón Sigurðsson, “Review of Konrad Maurer”, 190–191. Jón Sigurðsson, “Review of Konrad Maurer”, 196.

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new forms of national art, national drama and national literature. Such ideas had, of course, been expressed earlier, and they were adopted not only by playwrights like Oehlenschläger, Ibsen (1828–1906) and Strindberg (1849–1912), but also fervently encouraged in Iceland by the artist Sigurður Guðmundsson noted earlier. While studying art in Copenhagen with people like G. F. Hetsch (1788–1864), Sigurður had been inspired by the Romantic Nationalistic ideas of the time, and not least those of Høyen.71 He had returned to Iceland from his studies in Copenhagen in the summer of 1858, at around the same time that Konrad Maurer arrived. Indeed, Sigurður had previously met Maurer in Copenhagen, and in 1858, told him some folk legends on the island of Flatey.72 In many ways, it might be argued that while Jón Sigurðsson played a key political role in the fight for Iceland’s independence abroad, Sigurður Guðmundsson played a similarly important role in the development of national culture at home. Creator of the national costume, father of the national museum, a highly proficient painter and storyteller, and the man behind the movement for national drama and a national theatre and the collection of archaeology, Sigurður, who had found himself stranded in Iceland, was yet another cultural conduit.73 He came from the same northern area of Iceland as Jón Árnason (Skagafjörður), and they had shared friends. For a period in the autumn of 1861, at the time that Jón was working on the final stages of the first volume of Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri, they also lived in the same house on the main street of Reykjavík (Aðalstræti 7),74 along with another young mature student named Matthías Jochumsson (1835–1920), who was working on his first drama, to be entitled Útilegumennirnir (The Outlaws). Matthías, it might be noted, would later write the lyrics for the new national anthem of Iceland, and his 71

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On Sigurður Guðmundsson’s education and cultural background, see further Sveinn Yngvi Egilsson, “‚alt meir Grískt en Rómverst‘”, and María Kristjánsdóttir, “‚… þegar maður vill læra einhvurja íþrótt‘”. See also the various original materials available on the website on Sigurður Guðmundsson and the Evening Society (Kvöldfélagið): https:// sigurdurmalari.hi.is/. See Gunnell, “Sigurður Guðmundsson og þjóðsögurnar”, and “Sigurður Guðmundsson and Jón Árnason’s Folktales”; see also the chapter on Maurer by Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir elsewhere in this volume. On Sigurður Guðmundsson’s influence, see further Karl Aspelund and Gunnell, Málarinn og menningarsköpun; and the various articles on Iceland in the on-line Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe: http://ernie.uva.nl/, printed in Leerssen (ed.), Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism. See also the various source materials on the website dealing with Sigurður Guðmundsson and the Evening Society: https://sigurdurmalari.hi.is/. See further Matthías Jochumsson, Sögukaflar af sjálfum mér, 159; and Þórunn Erla Valdimarsdóttir, Upp á sigurhæðir, 146, 153–154 and 583 (sources: Þjóðskjalasafn Íslands Kirknasafn Dómkirkjan í Reykjavík: BC 8: Sóknarmanntal 1854–1861; and BC 9: Sóknarmanntal 1862–1867).

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play is regularly referred to as the first Icelandic “national drama”. That spring (in January 1861), all three men had become founding members of a secret cultural society in Reykjavík, called the Playgroup of the Spirit (Leikfélag Andans); changed in 1862 to the Evening Society (Kvöldfélagið),75 which was made up of students, teachers, thinkers, merchants and other men interested in developing a new form of national culture in Iceland, and in reconstructing Reykjavík as a cultural centre on a par with other capitals in Europe. Sigurður Guðmundsson’s key role as one of Jón Árnason’s main sources for his folk legend collection has been examined elsewhere,76 as has the role in which the folk legends in Jón’s new collection came to play as sources for Iceland’s fledgling national drama, in works such as Matthías’ aforementioned Útilegumennirnir (1862); and the more politically motivated Nýársnótt (New Year’s Eve: 1872) written by Indriði Einarsson (1851–1939).77 In 1860–1862, Sigurður was himself actively involved in designing and presenting tableaux vivants in Reykjavík using motifs drawn from heroic sagas and Eddic poetry.78 His active role in encouraging the use of folk legend motifs for the new dramas (which he was personally involved in producing) is clearly seen in a letter written to an Icelandic friend during the spring of 1861. Here Sigurður encourages the poet Steingrímur Thorsteinsson (1831–1913) to work on creating new historical dramas, directly drawing on the folk legends for inspiration. As Sigurður writes, “… there is a great need for such works, […] to give the poetic fiction a clearer direction” (“víst er það að stór nauðsin er á þesskonar ritum, […] bæði til að géfa skáldskapnum fullkomnari stefnu”79). Indeed, as Sigurður was 75

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On the Evening Society, see further Eiríkur Valdimarsson and Karl Aspelund, “Svipmyndir af Kvöldfundum”; and Sveinn Yngvi Egilsson, “Frá bókmenntavakningu til ræðuæfinga”. The minutes of the meetings, and various letters and papers relating to this group are available on the web site https://sigurdurmalari.hi.is/. See also the references under “Literary societies, reading clubs, book clubs: Iceland” in http://ernie.uva.nl, and the section dealing with Iceland in Leerssen (ed.), Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism, 1078–1097. Gunnell, “Sigurður Guðmundsson og þjóðsögurnar”, and Sigurður Guðmundsson and Jón Árnason’s Folktales”. See further Gunnell “National Folklore, National Drama and the Creation of Visual National Identity”; Sveinn Einarsson, “Sigurður málari og áhrif hans á íslenskt leikhús”, and A People’s Theatre Comes of Age, especially 106–111; and Magnús Þór Þorbergsson, “A Stage for the Nation”, 3–4, 23, 29, 47–51, 59, 66, 68, 75–76, 80–85, 89, 91, 160, 172, 175, 202, 205–207, 211, 288 and 331–332. On Sigurður’s tableaux vivants, see further Sveinn Yngvi Egilsson, “‚alt meir Grískt en Rómverst‘”, 82–86; and Magnús Þór Þórbergsson, “Stage for the Nation”, 47–51, 68 and 75. Sveinn Einarsson, “Sigurður málari og áhrif hans á íslenskt leikhús”, 360. It might be noted that in this letter, Sigurður also encourages Steingrímur to translate Shakespeare’s plays, underlining the special need for translations of works like King Lear, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and Othello.

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later to note in 1873, a year before his death, he saw the stage as being “very important nationally, historically, aesthetically, musically and in terms of all progress” (“þjóðl. historisku, æthetisku, musicölsku og öllu framfara tilliti”80). Here, he argues, one can effectively: educate the whole nation in literature, singing, and music, and show audiences how people lived at different times, both mentally and visibly, and thus strengthen our nationality more than by most other means…. (menta þjóðina í skáldskap, söng, músík, sína mönnum alla helstu þjóðsiði á öllum öldum, bæði andlega og út vortis, og stirkja með því þjóðernið vort meir enn með flestu öðru….81) For this purpose, folk legends were somewhat easier to use in Iceland than the sagas and Eddic poems which were slightly more problematic, since the material was well known, and near sacrosanct. Similar recommendations about the use of folkloric material for new forms of national drama would, of course, soon be heard in Dublin.82

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Networks

There is little question that Jón Árnason and his collection of folktales (the majority of which were folk legends) were just one part of a more widespread cultural movement that was gaining steam in Iceland in the 1860s. Jón would himself go on to actively support Sigurður in his fight to establish an Icelandic National Museum,83 also applying (in vain) for a grant for Sigurður and himself to be able to tour the country, collecting both legends and archaeological artefacts.84 In addition to collecting the folk legends, Jón also built up a collection of folk poetry, verses and games, which formed the basis of Íslenskar gátur, skemtanir, vikivakar og þulur (Icelandic Riddles, Entertainments, Ballads and Rhymes) which was published after Jón’s death by his great-nephew 80 81 82 83 84

Sveinn Einarsson, “Sigurður málari og áhrif hans á íslenskt leikhús”, 360. Sveinn Einarsson, “Sigurður málari og áhrif hans á íslenskt leikhús”, 360. See further Gunnell “National Folklore, National Drama and the Creation of Visual National Identity”, and the introduction to this volume. See further Sigurjón Baldur Hafsteinsson and Edda Björnsdóttir, “Sigurður Guðmundsson og stofnun Forngripasafnsins”; and Skúli Magnússon, “Gull og grafnar bríkur”. Úr fórum Jóns Árnasonar, I, 316: letter from Jón Árnason to Jón Sigurðsson, dated 10th August 1861. This is reflected in another letter from Sigurður to Guðbrandur Vigfússon, dated 21st September 1861: Bodl. MS. Icelandic. d1. SG. 438v.

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Ólafur Davíðsson (1862–1903) in 1887–1903. An avid letter writer, an active member of the Evening Society until it folded after Sigurður Guðmundsson’s death in 1874, and a constant campaigner for the collection and preservation of national antiquities of all kinds, there is little question that Jón Árnason was almost as much a cultural hub in Iceland as Sigurður. Much better known to Icelanders today than his friend, Jón was admittedly easier to deal with than the somewhat fractious and temperamental Sigurður whom the Danish authorities seem to have done their best to forget. With regard to international connections, however, Jón Árnason seems to have been more cut off than his colleagues in Copenhagen. Konrad Maurer was, of course, a long-standing friend. While Jón may well have dedicated his main collection to Jacob Grimm on Guðbrandur’s advice (when Maurer declined to be named),85 possibly again following the model of Stephens and Hyltén-Cavallius, the title of whose collection he has also emulated (as noted above, Jón seems to have known little about the collection of Asbjørnsen and Moe86), he seems to have had little direct contact with the Grimms. Only one letter exists from Jacob Grimm to Jón from 15th March 1862 thanking him for the dedication.87 Of other figures closely associated with the “Grimm Ripples” in general, both Jón and Sigurður Guðmundsson certainly seem to 85

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Úr fórum Jóns Árnasonar, I, 266: letter from Guðbrandur Vigfússon to Jón Árnason, dated 1st January 1861. See also the chapter on Maurer by Rósa Þorsteinsdóttir elsewhere in this volume. The dedication at the front of the first volume of Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri runs: “these folktales are dedicated to the excellent senior scholar Jakob [sic] Grimm, the author of popular antiquities” (“Hinum ágæta fræðimannaöldungi Jakob [sic] Grimm höfundi alþýðlegrar sagnfræði eru helgaðar þjóðsögur þessar”). The apparent misspelling of Grimm’s name is, in fact, the result of an Icelandic tradition of Icelandicising names where possible. In a letter from Guðbrandur Vigfússon to Jón Árnason, dated 13th September 1862 (after the first volume of Jón Árnason’s Icelandic folktales have appeared), Guðbrandur nonetheless voices his hope that Asbjørnsen (as well as “Goffroy” in Paris), will write a review of the collection: see Úr fórum Jóns Árnasonar, II, 215. Det Kongelige Bibliotek, Copenhagen: Den nye kongelige samling (NKS) 3009 4to: Letter to Jón Árnason from Jacob Grimm. The letter reads as follows: “Most honourable Sir, You have given me a treat, and done [me] a great honour with the dedication of your þjóðsögur og æfintýri, which has now been in my possession for fourteen days. Nothing could have pleased me more. I will benefit greatly from this beautiful work involving objects and words which are mutually dependent. God placed the Icelandic nation in the farthest corner of Europe so that it could nurture and preserve this treasure of legend and language in this home, something which elsewhere would have perished or withered amidst the noises of the world. We are learning from this and are surprised by these vibrant sounds of vivid folk poesy that are now coming to light. Sincere thanks are due to you and your assistants. I look forward to the continuation of your collection in advance. Yours, with sincere deference and friendship. Yours Sincerely, Jacob Grimm. Berlin 15 March 1862. My regards to the great Mr Guðbrandur Vigfússon, the humble author of the

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have been well acquainted with George Dasent (1817–1896), the English translator of Asbjørnsen and Moe’s fairy tales (Popular Tales from the Norse [1859], which included a detailed introduction on the international background of folktales; and Tales from the Fjeld [1874]), Jón clearly meeting him on his trip to the British Isles (for health purposes) in 1863, although there is no written evidence that the two men ever discussed folktales.88 Indeed, Dasent, as the translator of Njáls saga (1861) had other fish to fry at this time. As noted elsewhere in this volume, the Scottish folktale collector John Francis Campbell (1821–1885)89 was also a close friend of Dasent, and accompanied Dasent and the Icelandic poet Grímur Thomsen (1820–1896) on two trips to Iceland in August 1861, and July and August 1862, at which time both men

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foreword. I was saddened by the demise of Mr Magnús Grímsson.” (“Hochgeehrter Herr, Grosze Freude haben Sie mir gemacht und grosze ehre angethan durch die widmung Ihrer volksagen und märchen, die schon seit vierzehn tagen in meinen händen sind. Es hätte mir nichts angenehmeres können zu theil werden. Ich ziehe reichen gewinn aus dem schönen werke für sachen und für dinge, die sich gegenseitig bedingen. Gott hat in die fernste spitse Europas das isländische volk gesetzt, damit es in dieser heimat einen schats von sage und sprache hegen und retten sollte, der anderwärts überall im geräusche der welt untergegangen oder verkümmert worden wäre. wir alle lernen daraus und werden jetzt auch durch due vollen klänge lebendiger volkspoesie überrascht, die an den tag kommen. Ihnen und Ihren gehülfen gebührt der aufrichtigste dank. Ich freue mich im voraus auf die fortführung. Ihrer samlungen und verbleibe mit wahrer hochachtung und freundschaft. Ihre ergebener Jacob Grimm, Berlin 15 merz 1862. herrn Guðbrandur Vigfússon, den vrf. der vorrede bitt ich zu grüszen. Betrübt hat mich Herrn Magnús Grímssons ableben.”) (Translation: Felix Lummer.) See Úr fórum Jóns Árnasonar, I, 15 (where, in a brief, unfinished autobiography, Jón talks of meeting Dasent, also a good friend of Guðbrandur Vigfússon, in London in 1863); other mentions of Dasent appear in Úr fórum Jóns Árnasonar, I, 267, 279–280 and 314; and II, 14–15. In a letter from Guðbrandur Vigfússon to Jón Árnason (described as a good acquaintance [“goðkunningi”]), dated April 12th 1862, Guðbrandur talks of sending Dasent a copy of the first volume of Jón’s new folktale collection: see Úr fórum Jóns Árnasonar, I, 372; see also II, 14–15 (the earlier-noted letter from Guðbrandur to Jón dated 13th September 1862, in which he also voices disappointment about having heard no more from Dasent). On Dasent as a cultural conduit and his connections to both Norwegian and Scottish folktales, see further Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”, and the chapters by John Shaw, Ane Ohrvik and Line Esborg elsewhere in this volume. On Dasent’s connections with Iceland, see also Wawn, The Vikings and Victorians, 142–182, and especially 144, where Dasent’s earlier associations with George Stephens in Stockholm between 1840 and 1845 are noted. This, of course, was the time at which Stephens and Hyltén-Cavallius were working on Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr (first volume: 1844), when Stephens made his call for the collection of Icelandic folklore (1845), and when Jacob Grimm visited Stockholm (1844), spending time with Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens: see further the chapter on Stephens by John Lindow elsewhere in this volume. See further the chapter on Campbell by John Shaw elsewhere in this volume.

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(as well as Jón Árnason) seem to have somehow missed meeting the English folk-song collector Sabine Baring-Gould (1834–1924) who was also travelling around the country at the time.90 Interestingly enough, this was the same time at which Campbell’s own Popular Tales of the West Highlands was being completed (1860 and 1862), and when Jón was frantically working on finalising the first volume of his own collection,91 and one would have hoped to read more about the two men (who had shared acquaintances) meeting up and discussing the collection of folklore. While Jón and Campbell appear to have met briefly in August 1862, at which time Jón gave Campbell a copy of the first volume of his work,92 Campbell (who also worked for the coal board) seems to have been more interested in the degree to which the landscape resembled a West Midland smelting factory.93 Jón Árnason may well have also met William Morris (1834–1896) briefly during Morris’ second visit to Iceland in 1873, if we can trust letters (from 18th April and 17th June 1873) to Jón from the chemist R. Angus Smith (1817–1884) which suggest that plans were afoot for such a meeting to discuss the possibility of the British Museum purchasing books from Jón.94 However, if such 90

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93 94

See also Baring-Gould, Iceland: Its Scenes and Sagas (1863). On Baring-Gould himself, see further Iceland: Its Scenes and Sagas (2007), xiv–xl; Wawn, The Vikings and Victorians, 295–302; and the chapter on England by Jonathan Roper elsewhere in this volume. See further Dorson, The British Folklorists, 393; Wawn, The Vikings and the Victorians, 171 and 295; Dasent, “A Fortnight in Faroe”; and Baring-Gould Iceland: Its Scenes and Sagas (2007), xvii. On the second trip, see further Halldór Hermansson, “George Webbe Dasent”, 126–130; [Clifford], Travels by “Umbra”; and Campbell, Frost and Fire, 414–420 in particular. See also Bryson, Notes of a Trip to Iceland, 1–19, in which the author describes how on his trip to Iceland, he was accompanied by “an editor of the ‘Times’ [Dasent] and knight of Denmark, famous for his Scandinavian lore [Grímur Thomsen]; also a gentleman well known for his knowledge of Celtic antiquities” who had “before paid visits to Iceland [Campbell]” (Notes of a Trip to Iceland, 3). Alexander Bryson (1816–1866) later travelled back home on 2nd August with Baring-Gould: Bryson, Notes of a Trip to Iceland, 54. On this trip, see also the chapter on Campbell by John Shaw elsewhere in this volume. In a letter to Guðbrandur Vigfússon, dated 19th August 1862, Jón Árnason writes with regard to the recently published first volume of his collection, “Campell [sic] er hér og á ferð, og afhenti eg honum í eigin hönd” (“Campbell is here travelling, and I personally let him have a copy”). See: http://sagnagrunnur.arnastofnun.is/s/#/letter/282. See also Úr fórum Jóns Árnasonar, II, 14 (a letter from Guðbrandur Vigfússon to Jón Árnason, dated 13th September 1862 which follows this up). The inscribed volume in question (accompanied by a copy of the second) is now held in the National Library of Scotland: see further the chapter on Campbell by John Shaw elsewhere in this volume. See further Campbell’s descriptions in Frost and Fire, and particularly 88 and 446–447. See also Gunnell, “Iceland: Wolverhampton of the North”. NKS 3009 4to. Interestingly, both letters also mention a transaction Smith wants to make with Sigurður Guðmundsson.

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a meeting ever took place, it goes unmentioned in Morris’ own Icelandic Journals.95

9

Translation and the Arrival of the Fjallkona

More interesting perhaps is the speed at which translations were made into English of a large number of the stories contained in Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri by Eiríkur Magnússon (1833–1913) and George E. J. Powell (1842–1882) in their Icelandic Legends in 1864 and 1866 (published by Richard Bentley [1794–1871] in London).96 Powell, who had access to finance (silver and lead mines),97 had become a close friend of Morris’ associate Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909) and later went on to stay with Richard Wagner (1813–1883). Eiríkur Magnússon, another founding member of the Evening Society, was later to become a cultural conduit in his own right, among other things translating many of the Icelandic sagas with Morris (from 1869 onwards).98 The translation of these selected “records of the lower classes”99 which appeared in two volumes, begins with a quote by the Icelandic national poet and fellow Evening Society member, Matthías Jochumsson (see above), and was accompanied by a number of illustrations by Gustav Doré (1832–1883).100 It was originally meant to be dedicated to Jón Árnason 95

96

97 98 99 100

Frustratingly, Morris, who came to Iceland with Eiríkur Magnússon (see below), talks of having met some of Eiríkur’s friends (including Jón Sigurðsson) the previous evening in his journal entry for July 15th 1871 (during his first visit); and later (in an entry for August 30th) talks of having visited the new museum in Reykjavík which was being run by Sigurður Guðmundsson with support from Jón Árnason (see above). However, neither Morris, Sigurður nor Jón ever make any mention of having met each other that year in the extant sources: see Morris, Journals of Travels in Iceland, 26 and 179. The second journal (for 1873) is even less informative about such potential encounters. On Morris and Iceland, see further Wawn, The Vikings and Victorians, 245–279. Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon, “Preface”, 10–11, where reference is also made to a translation of several legends (some from Íslenzk æfintýri and some from oral accounts) which had been made earlier by two British friends of Jón Árnason, A. J. Symington (1863–1939) and David Mackinlay (n.d.), and published in Symington, Pen and Pencil Sketches of Faröe and Iceland, 219–259. (Letters from both men to Jón Árnason are available in NKS 3009 4to. Interestingly, in one letter from Symington, dated 17th October 1862, Symington, who questions his own ability to take up the task, voices the hope that Dasent might eventually translate the Icelandic collection as he had done with that from Norway.) See further http://museum.aber.ac.uk/collections-bequests-georgepowellbiography.php. On Eiríkur Magnússon, see further Wawn, The Vikings and Victorians, 354–367. Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon, “Preface”, 8. Wawn, The Vikings and Victorians, 361.

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who, in Eiríkur’s introduction to the first volume, is grandly bestowed with the title of “The Grimm of Iceland”,101 an idea reflected in a letter to Jón from his friend A. J. Symington,102 but met with little approval by Jón. Indeed, the first of Eiríkur and Powell’s prefaces introducing the work to English readers seems for some reason to have infuriated the original editor,103 in spite of the fact that it includes translations of several extracts from Guðbrandur Vigfússon’s original introduction. These prefaces (probably largely written by Eiríkur and translated by Powell) are naturally also of interest here. Noting in the first preface that the translation is intended “more for amusement than instruction,”104 the authors effectively follow Guðbrandur’s lead (noted above) in stressing how these “national” works demonstrate that “the flame of imagination is not extinct in the minds of the people,” underlining that more emphasis should be placed on present skills than the laurels of the past.105 Similar ideas are expressed in the preface to the second volume in 1866 (a work which included a much longer “Introductory Essay” on Icelandic folklore, largely based on Jón Árnason’s and Konrad Maurer’s earlier chapter introductions):106 “The flame of fancy still burns, bright and warm, in all this desolation, even as the great ice-body of Icelend [sic] contains a heart of fire. Surely, of no other nation, all things being considered, can we say as much.”107 One notes also the praise lavished on George Dasent (although more for his translation of Njáls saga than that of the Norwegian folktales),108 and the morality warnings that Eiríkur felt necessary to give his delicate-minded English readers who, on reading the books, would be coming face to face with the rough mind-set of northern peasants. Eiríkur writes:

101 102 103

104 105 106 107 108

Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon, “Preface”, 6. NKS 3009 4to: Letter from A. J. Symington to Jón Árnason, dated 31st May 1864. See Úr fórum Jóns Árnasonar, II, 25–26 (letter from Eiríkur Magnússon to Jón Árnason, dated 29th February 1863; 45–46 (letter from Eiríkur, dated 9th April 1864); 51–52 (letter from Eiríkur, dated 28th April 1864); and 99–101 (undated letter from Eiríkur from a later point in 1864): see also 82–83 (letter from Benedikt Gröndal, dated 22nd July 1865). Benedikt suggests here that Jón’s disapproval stemmed from Eiríkur’s additional editorial work on the text (see Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon, “Preface”, 9–11). It is possible that Jón took further umbrage at the suggestion that the storytellers were “peasants, uncultivated and unlearned” (Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon, “Preface”, 5). Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon, “Preface”, 6. Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon, “Preface”, 7. Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon, “Introductory Essay”, xix–cli. Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon, “Introductory Essay”, x. Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon, “Preface”, 10.

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In dealing with a folk-lore, such as that of Iceland, it is an extremely difficult task to do full justice to its rude but ingenuous simplicity, on the one side, and to the refined delicacy of the English reader on the other. Many manners and customs which, in that northern land, excite no attention, and boldly meet the face of day, are by the English regarded as coarse, improper and the like, – so sensitive is the English moral nature, and so prone to blush the English cheek. But manners, sayings, and customs, sprung from the every-day events of a simple, pastoral life, where necessity, and the hard struggle with a wild nature abroad and poverty within, rule and invent fashions, must in truth, be more or less opposed to those which arise from an artificial refinement and the hot-house soil of luxury. The wild flower looks strange beside the exotic. Considered in their true light, and regarded from their proper point of view, however, both meet with their due appreciation. And yet, in this case, it is rare to obtain full fair play. A refined reader is too apt to be disgusted at, and to look down upon all that may seem to him to be beneath his standard of life and living, upon everything that descends upon the nakedness of nature; albeit in fact, the true offence may lie in his own over-artificiality. Education, and the surrounding influences of a whole lifetime, have so formed his mind and views, that too often he acts the part of a blind man judging of colours. What a truism it is, that the impropriety of a thing as often exists in the mind of the reader or beholder as in the thing itself! Where omnipotent Custom, blind himself, binds his distorting glasses on men’s eyes, how are we to expect their judgements to be correct?109 In the context of the “Grimm Ripples”, possibly of even more interest is the illustration drawn by the German artist J. B. Zwecker (1814–1876) for the frontispiece of the second volume of Icelandic Legends (1866), which is dedicated to Lord Dufferin (1826–1902) and Algernon Charles Swinburne (see above). As the present author has noted elsewhere,110 this image of the “Iceland Maiden” or “Maiden of Iceland”111 draws on not only a motif from earlier romantic 109 110

111

Powell and Eiríkur Magnússon, “Introductory Essay”, vii–viii. See Gunnell, “The Development and Role of the Fjallkona”, “From Sagen to Translated Sagnir”, and “National Folklore, National Drama and the Creation of Visual National Identity”. Writing to George E. J. Powell on January 1st 1866 (see further below), Zwecker also refers to the image as “Iceland Maiden”. In an inventory of Zwecker’s paintings belonging to Powell (which, along with the watercolour painting itself, belongs to the George E. J. Powell Bequest at Aberystwyth University School of Art Gallery and Museum), the image is simply referred to as “Iceland”.

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Icelandic poetry personifying the country as a woman112 and even earlier Icelandic folk beliefs of female protecting spirits such as the valkyrjur and dísir,113 but also the recurring international ideas of female national mothers such as Moder Danmark, Britannia, Germania, Helvetia, and Marianne. It would go on to inspire the image of the so-called “Mountain Woman” (Fjallkona) who still annually appears on national days in Iceland. It is nonetheless questionable whether Eiríkur Magnússon and Powell originally considered the figure to represent Iceland as an entity or a nation. The implications are that the “Iceland Maiden” was viewed more as a cultural Volksgeist.114 One notes the emphasis not only on nature but also Viking armour and then the rune staves shown washing up at her feet. It is particularly interesting to compare the image in question with that of “Die Sagen” which was used as the frontispiece to the first volume of the second edition of Deutsche Sagen, edited by Herman Grimm (1828–1901) with additional material, which was published in 1865, a year after Prussia’s devastating victory over Denmark in 1864, and one year before Zwecker designed his 112

113 114

See references in Gunnell, “The Development and Role of the Fjallkona”, 25–26. The image of the “Mountain Woman” (Fjallkonan) seems to be first used by the poet Eggert Ólafsson (1726–1768), for his poem “Ísland” (Iceland) and for a visual image that was meant to accompany another poem called “Ofsjónir við jarðaför Lóvísu drottningar 1752” (Visions at the Funeral of Queen Louisa 1752). It also appears in the poem “Íslandsminni” (A Toast to Iceland), by the romantic poet Bjarni Thorarensen (1786–1841) and goes on to be used in other works by Sigurður Breiðfjörð (1798–1846), Jón Thoroddsen (1819–1868), Jónas Hallgrímsson and Gunnlaugur Oddsson (1786–1835). See further Gunnell, “The Season of the Dísir”; and Murphy, Herjans dísir. There is still some uncertainty about who originally designed the image of the “Maiden of Iceland”. Based on the fact that his monogram accompanies the name of the work in a handwritten inventory, the web site of the Museum of Aberystwyth suggests that it was George Powell. This is given some support by a letter written by Zwecker to Powell on January 1st, 1866 stating that Powell paid for the images in the book. Árni Björnsson, in Árni Björnsson and Halldór J. Jónsson, Gamlar þjóðlífsmyndir, 152, nonetheless credits Eiríkur Magnússon as having designed the image, citing a letter from Eiríkur to Jón Sigurðsson, dated 11th April 1866, in which Eiríkur presents his own personal interpretation of the images, stressing that the female figure is supposed to represent “Iceland”. Here Eiríkur points to deliberate Óðinnic associations in the figure of the raven in the picture, and how “across the surf of time and history are borne rune-staves to the land and up into the embrace of the woman […]. This is intended as a symbol of our literary land and our historical land” (“yfir brimsævi tíma og sögu berast rúnakefli að landi eða upp í fang konunni […]. Þetta átti svo sem að vera symbolum (tákn) bókmenntalandsins og sögulandsins okkar”): Árni Björnsson and Halldór J. Jónsson, Gamlar þjóðlífsmyndir, 152. It is worth remembering that Zwecker had earlier provided the illustrations for a translation of Hans Christian Andersen’s Ice Maidens in 1863, and for the frontispiece of the first volume of Icelandic Legends in 1864. The letter from Powell also forms part of the George E. J. Powell Bequest at Aberystwyth University School of Art Gallery and Museum.

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image for Icelandic Legends. The similarities between the two images are striking. As the present author has noted elsewhere,115 “Die Sagen” was drawn by another book illustrator, Wilhelm von Kaulbach (1805–1874) who, like Zwecker, had belonged to the so-called “Düsseldorf School” of art. Direct associations between the two men are evident in the fact that Zwecker had earlier (in 1845) made a drawing of an image of Goethe’s “Alexis und Dora”, originally executed by von Kaulbach, as a basis for a book engraving. While nothing is mentioned about von Kaulbach’s image in letters from either Eiríkur or Powell, a direct comparison of the images leaves little doubt about either the borrowing or the deliberate reference. Indeed, many people with an interest in Germanic/ Nordic legends in the 1860s would have possessed both books and been well aware of the similarities. The implication is that the designer of the “Maiden” saw the German figure as the older figure of the two in evolutionary terms (the former having Stone and Bronze associations while the latter is deliberately connected to the more recent Viking Age), something supported by the fact that Icelandic figure is obviously younger than her German counterpart. “Die Sagen”, with a left hand raised in a declamatory gesture, also seems to be more associated with the oral than the written, while the “Maiden” has written symbols at her feet (a probable reference to the Icelandic Eddic poems and sagas which the Icelanders were so proud of). The implication is that rather than attempting to construct an individual national image with his “Iceland Maiden”, Zwerker was emphasising the genetic links that existed between the Germanic and Icelandic legends contained in the two books, and not least the shared oral tradition that linked them. In a sense, his image with its mirroring of “Die Sagen” and its watery foundation underlines the cultural ripples that the Grimms had set in motion with Deutsche Sagen in 1816, ripples that had now reached their most northerly point, and were already starting to spread back south with the publication of Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri in Leipzig in 1862–1864, and Icelandic Legends in 1866. In Iceland, however, as in many other countries, this was just a beginning. Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri would go on to lead to a flood of other folktale collections, most of which would focus on legends rather than fairy tales.116 115 116

Gunnell, “From Sagen to Translated Sagnir”. See further the Icelandic Sagnagrunnur database, containing records of over 10,000 legends that have appeared in print since the middle of the nineteenth century: http:// sagnagrunnur.com/en/. See also Gunnell, “Sagnagrunnur: A New Database”, and “Sagnagrunnur: En kartlagt database”.

Chapter 15

The Grimms and Folklore Collection in Estonia in the Mid-nineteenth Century Liina Lukas

[…] the spirit of one of the Grimms, which showed in his work on German mythology what diligence and combined talent may accomplish, arrived in the Baltic via many men, and even the women who did not avoid research. ([…] der Geist eines Grimm, der in seinem Werke über deutsche Mythologie gezeigt hat, was Fleiss und Combinatsionsgabe vermögen, kam über viele Männer in baltischen Lande und auch die Frauen enzogen sich nicht dem Nachforschen.1)

∵ 1

“The Land of Legends”

In 1846, Das Inland (The Home Country), the German-language weekly magazine which appeared in Tartu between 1836 and 1863 and was devoted to local history, published a long poem entitled “Die Sage in Livland”2 (The Legend in Livonia3) written by Karl Heinrich von Busse (1787–1860); under the pseudonym Heinrich Blindner). Three of its verses run as follows:

1 von Schultz-Bertram, “Zur Geschichte und zum Verständniß”, 437. Unless otherwise stated, all translations are by Marika Liivamägi. 2 Blindner, “Die Sage in Livland”, 909–910. 3 Livland (Livonia) is a historical region which covers most of present-day Estonia and Latvia that were conquered by the Livonian Order (an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order) during the Livonian Crusade (1198–1290). After the seventeenth century, the territory of Livonia was reduced to the southern half of Estonia and the northern half of Latvia. As a part of the Russian Empire, the territory of Old Livonia was divided into three Governorates: Livonia, Estonia and Courland.

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_017

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This must be a land of legends, By the Emajõgi river, by the rocks of the Belt! The water gurgles at the edge of the wood Flowing, blue, to the seashore

Dies muss ein Land der Sagen sein, An Emma’s Strom, an Belts Gestein!

When we look into history For some reason, the legend is not heard. Why does it speak so little Although its face can be seen everywhere?

Doch ob man auch Geschichte schaut, Die Sage wird nur wenig laut. Was ist’s, daß sie so wenig spricht, Da überall sich zeigt Gesicht?

As we do not hear the legend, it has ceased to be, it has quietly faded away. But if you listen carefully, it will come into being again.

Das ist’s, daß man sie nicht gehört, So hat die Sage aufgehört, Sie mußte still in sich vergehn. Man horche auf, sie wird erstehn!

Das Wasser rauscht am Waldesrand Blau flutend hin zum Meeresstrand.

The search for legends, expressed here in verse form, raises a number of socialhistorical questions which need to be explained in order to understand the specific reception conditions that met the arrival of the Grimm brothers’ Deutsche Sagen in Estonia. By 1846, the year of our poem, the popularity of folk legends had grown throughout the Baltic area (the historical Livonia), and, as the poem suggests, Estonia was already considered to be “a land of legends” (“ein Land der Sagen”). There is little question that the legend form had become popularised in Estonia about the same time as it had done in Germany where, after the publication of the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818) and especially, Deutsche Mythologie (1835), the land had been flooded with Sagenbücher. According to Rudolf Schenda, just including the first editions, 198 books with titles including the word Sage were published in the German-language area (that is in all those areas in which German was the main language of academia and education) between 1850 and 1869.4 The largest number of titles appeared in 1854. Similar book titles, in German or in the Estonian language, were appearing in Estonia in the same period.5 There is little question that the Grimm Ripples had reached Estonia. 4 Schenda, “Mären von Deutschen Sagen”. 5 In Estonian, the term muistend as a translation of the word Sage did not come into use until the 1920s; prior to this, the more widely used terms were: ennemuistne jutt, muistejutt (both meaning ancient story), vana jutt (old story), and rahvajutt (folk story). The use of these

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Baltic-German Philological Discourse

As the above-mentioned poem and the titles of the many collections of legends (Sagenbücher) indicate, the search for legends in Estonia was predominantly carried out in German. As in Germany, where the interest in legends informed a philological discourse held by “a closed circle of bourgeois scholars” (“eine geschlossene Gesellschaft bürgerlicher Akademiker”6), the interest in legends in the Baltic area in the mid-nineteenth century formed part of German-language philological discourse. In Estonia, this was focused in the university in Tartu (Dorpat), the only German-language university in the Russian Empire,7 and the learned societies under its influence which were engaged in collecting local history and cultural heritage (above all, the Learned Estonian Society [Gelehrte Estnische Gesellschaft], founded in 1838). Indeed, in the nineteenth century, Tartu had clearly established itself as a centre for intellectuals and academics interested in philology and folklore. Until the first Estonian-language collection of folktales made by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald8 (1803–1882: see figs 15.1 and 15.2) was published in 1860, all the folkloristic discourse was documented in German for a German academic audience. To understand the possible influence of the Grimm brothers in the Baltic area in the early and mid-nineteenth century, one should thus turn to the German-speaking intellectuals (that is, the Baltic literati) who would have been the possible agents of such influence. These included people of Estonian words in titles can be seen in the following list of works (given in chronological order): Russwurm, Nordische Sagen der deutschen Jugend (1842); Pabst, Bunte Bilder, das ist: Geschichten, Sagen und Gedichte nebst sonstigen Denkwürdigkeiten Ehstlands, Livlands, Kurlands und der Nachbarlande (1856); Russwurm, Sagen aus Hapsal und der Umgegend (1856); von Wittorf, Baltische Sagen und Mähren (1859); Russwurm, Sagen aus Hapsal, der Wieck, Oesel und Runö (1861), and Aberglauben, Märchen und Sagen in den russischen Ostseeprovinzen (1861); Kreutzwald, Kalew’s Sohn: Eine estnische Sage (1857–1861), Eesti-rahwa Ennemuistsed jutud ja wanad laulud, noore põlwele mälestuseks korjatud ja kirja pandud (1860–1864), and Estnische Märchen (1869–1881); Jannsen, Märchen und Sagen des estnischen Volkes (1881–1888); Eisen, Esivanemate varandus (1882), Endise põlwe pärandus (1883), and Vanad jutud (1894); LerchisPuschkaitis, Latweeschu tautas teikas un pasakas (1891–1896); Kreutzwald, Kodused jutud (1896); Bienemann, Livländisches Sagenbuch (1897); Kreutzwald, Eesti ennemuistsed jutud (1911); von Löwis of Menar, Märchen und Sagen (1916); and von Stern, Estnische Volkssagen (1935). 6 Schenda, “Mären von Deutschen Sagen”, 32. 7 The university in Tartu was re-established in 1802 as Kaiserliche Universität zu Dorpat (Dorpat being the German name of Tartu). See further Mägi and Drechsler, Kaiserliche Universität Dorpat 200, 370 Academia Gustaviana; and von Pistohlkors, Raun and Kaegbein, Die Universitäten Dorpat/Tartu, Riga und Wilna/Vilnius 1579–1979. 8 https://utlib.ut.ee/eeva/index.php?lang=en&do=autor&aid=24.

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Figure 15.1 Photograph of Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald

(or Latvian) descent who had been absorbed into German society via Germanlanguage education, men such as Friedrich Robert Faehlmann9 (1798–1850) and Kreutzwald, both of them Estonians who wrote in both languages, in German and in Estonian. The German philological tradition in Tartu, which increasingly included an interest in folklore, went back to the first half of the nineteenth century. Johann Leonhard von Parrot (1755–1836), the brother of the university chancellor Georg Friedrich Parrot (1767–1852), was interested in both the Estonian language and mythology and, in 1828, had published Versuch einer Entwicklung der Sprache (Essay on the Evolution of Language), which contained comparative research in both of these fields. The German language lecturer Carl Petersen (1775–1822) was also engaged in translating Estonian folk songs in the beginning of the nineteenth century,10 and in 1841, Ludwig Preller (1809–1861), a professor of classical philology, gave lectures on the Kalevala which were discussed in the earlier-noted Learned Estonian Society. The publishers of the collections of legends, however, were not Tartu University scholars, but rather “outside” operators: teachers such as Christian Eduard Pabst (generally referred to as Eduard Pabst: 1815–188211) and Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Russwurm (1812–188312); and physicians such as Friedrich

9 10 11 12

https://utlib.ut.ee/eeva/index.php?lang=en&do=autor&aid=18. Two of these songs were published in the almanac Neujahrsangebinde für Damen des Jahres 1817, 103–106. See https://utlib.ut.ee/eeva/index.php?lang=en&do=autor&aid=320. See https://utlib.ut.ee/eeva/index.php?lang=en&do=autor&aid=777.

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Figure 15.2

Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald: Eesti-rahwa Ennemuistsed jutud, vol. I (1860). Title page

Reinhold Kreutzwald and Georg Julius von Schultz-Bertram (alias Dr Bertram: 1808–187513). There is good reason to consider how the Grimm Ripples reached these men.

13

See https://utlib.ut.ee/eeva/index.php?lang=en&do=autor_yldandmed&aid=61.

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3

425

The Grimm Brothers’ Contacts with the Baltic Literati

It is natural that German language-speaking intellectuals like those mentioned above were following the cultural developments that were taking place in Göttingen, Kassel and Berlin, and that they had acquired and read the relevant literature that was available in German. Often the editors of the collections of Estonian legends had either studied in Germany or came from there, as in the cases of Eduard Pabst who studied in Göttingen in 1836–1837; Franz Anton Schiefner (1817–1879), a Baltic-German philologist from Tallinn who studied in Berlin in 1840–1842; and Carl Russwurm, a German who came to teach in Estonia in 1835. It can also be assumed that many of these men had personal contact with the Grimms. Indeed, references to the Grimms’ works can be found in almost all the Estonian collections of legends discussed below. The interest in folk legends here was clearly not one-sided. The Grimm brothers kept in touch with the activities in Tartu academic circles, and they had personal contacts within Tartu’s intellectual circle, with figures such as Schiefner, who had translated the Kalevala into German in 1849,14 expressed his opinions about the Kalevipoeg (see below),15 and wrote the foreword and the comments to the German-language edition of Kreutzwald’s Estnische Märchen (1869).16 Indeed, Schiefner acted as mediator for Kreutzwald’s works, including his Estonian fairy tales noted above, which he introduced to the Grimms. He also met with Jacob Grimm in Berlin several times, the first time probably being in 1840s during his years of study in Berlin.17 It is also worth noting that Carl Reinthal (1797–1872), the translator of the Kalevipoeg into German, sent a copy of the publication to the Grimms and in return received a letter of thanks and encomium from Jacob Grimm.18 With regard to the Grimms’ contact with the Baltic area, however, particular note should be taken of Karoline Stahl (1776–1837, maiden name Dumpf, born on the Oli [Ohlenhof] manor in the parish of Cesvaine in Livonia), who achieved renown with her children’s fairy tales. Her first collection, entitled Erzählungen, Fabeln und Mährchen für Kinder, was published in 1818, just a few

14 15 16 17 18

See Lönnrot, Kalewala, das National-Epos der Finnen, published in 1852. Schiefner, “Über die estnische Sage vom Kalewipoeg”, and “Ueber die Mythenstoffe des Kalewipoeg”. Schiefner, “Vorwort”. On Schiefner’s contacts with Grimm, see further Kunze, Jacob Grimm und Finnland, 91–96. The letter is published in Grimm, Sitzungsberichte der gelehrten estnischen Gesellschaft 1872, 95–97.

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years after the appearance of Kinder- und Hausmärchen, a second revised edition, Fabeln, Märchen und Erzählungen für Kinder, appearing in 1821. It is worth noting that Wilhelm Grimm gave an overview of three fairy tales from this collection in the commentary volume of his Kinder- und Hausmärchen that was published in 1822. He later adapted one of Stahl’s fairy tales (“Der undankbare Zwerg” [The Ungrateful Dwarf]) under the title of “Schneeweißchen und Rosenrot” (Snow-White and Rose-Red) for Hauff’s Märchen-Almanach in 1827, later including it among the 50 selected fairy tales that appeared in the 1837 edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen (as tale number 161).

4

The Role of Estonian Folk Heritage in the Works of the Grimm Brothers

The relationship between the Grimms and Estonian legends is another question.19 The Grimms’ role in introducing Estonian legends to the German language-speaking world was remarkable. In his monograph devoted to Finnish folkloristics, Erich Kunze argued that up until 1844, Jacob Grimm considered Estonian folklore material to be more interesting than that from Finland, his feelings changing after he developed a deeper interest in the Kalevala.20 Traces of Grimm’s interest in Estonian folktales can be found in both his correspondence and his works. His book Reinhart Fuchs (1834), for example, contains the chapter “Ehstnische Thierfabeln” (Estonian Animal Tales) which contains six animal fairy tales that Jacob Grimm had himself translated from Estonian. Estonian material is especially highlighted in Deutsche Mythologie (1835), where Grimm notes the abundance of legends related to bodies of water in Estonian folklore and mentions several Estonian local legends (such as “Der See Eim” [The River of Eim] and the legend about the Võhandu River).21 In his essay, Über den Ursprung der Sprache (On the Origin of Language: 1851), Grimm also tells an Estonian legend about the origin of the languages.22 The Estonian material found in the earlier Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818) is nonetheless rather marginal. Only one Livonian legend appeared in the first volume. This was a version of a werewolf legend “Die Werwölfe ziehen aus”

19 20 21 22

See Hasselblatt, “Jacob Grimm und Estland”. Kunze, Jacob Grimm und Finnland, 93. See Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie (1835), 338–339, and 383, 576–577, and 708 for other references to Estonian materials. Grimm, Über den Ursprung der Sprache, 29.

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(“Werewolf Rock”: legend 215 in Deutsche Sagen), a narrative which actually originated from a sixteenth-century Latin source.23

5

Social and Cultural Circumstances of the Collection and Presentation of Folk Legends in the Baltic Space

As noted above, an interest in collecting Estonian folk legends had clearly been awoken by the 1840s. By 1846, when the poem by von Busse quoted at the start was written, many local magazines, almanacs and pocket-books in Estonia had already started publishing legends and adaptions of their stories in poetic form.24 At the same time, it is noteworthy that no collections of Estonian legends had yet been published, even though, as the poem suggests, the search for such material was still ongoing. It was nonetheless not going smoothly. As has been noted, even though the poet recognises the cultural importance of legends, he laments that they are not at all easy to find. He asks where he should look for them and whose legends he should collect? One possible answer to this question was given in another poem composed by an “O. Dreistern” that appeared in the next issue of Das Inland, and used a similar verse form: Yes, it is true! About our dear fatherland Many legends are known; Not in the tongue/ vernacular of our land – The chronicles alone make them known to us.

Ja wol! Vom theuren Vaterland Ist manche Sage noch bekannt; Doch nicht in unsres Volkes Mund – Die Chronik thut sie nur uns kund.25

The question, though, did not only concern whether legends should be collected from oral or written sources. (Indeed, as this volume underlines, early collections of legends by both the Grimms and others contained both written and oral material.) If we consider the social and historical situation in the Baltic area at the time, it is also important to consider exactly which heritage to preserve, and for which peoples such a collection would be of value. In short, whose national agenda would it advance? Was it for the German

23

24 25

Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, 296–297. This was nonetheless a motif that was very often associated with the beliefs and the legend traditions of the native people of Livonia: see further Metsvahi, “Estonian Werewolf History”. See, for example, Der Refraktor (1836–1837), and Das Inland (1836–1863). See further Lukas, “Estonian Folklore as a Source of Baltic-German Poetry”. Dreistern, “Dem Verfasser des Gedichts ‘Die Sage in Livland’”, 949.

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population living in the cities, whose linguistic national identity needed to be fed with legends, or for the Estonian and Latvian-speaking population living in the countryside whose national spirit and identity could potentially be reconstructed by means of local oral traditions (something that had, of course, been recommended by Johann Gottfried Herder [1744–1803] as far back as the 1770s)? The search for legends that took place in Estonia in this period leads us back to the focal point of the colonial history of the Baltic area, a situation that differed in many ways from the social context that greeted the Grimm Ripples in other countries. Without elaborating too much on the specific features of Baltic colonialism, it should be stressed that until the early twentieth century, Baltic society lived under a form of domination in which the demarcation between different social strata was essentially a national one: the dominant, privileged group consisted of Baltic-Germans while the subordinate class consisted of the Estonian and Latvian peasantry (serfs). The Baltic-Germans (including not only the nobility but also the so-called literati noted above), never made up more than 6% (in Estonia only 3,5%) of the total population, but nonetheless dominated the political, cultural, and economic life of the region until 1918 when the nation-states of Estonia and Latvia were finally established. The tradition of calling Estonians and Latvians “Undeutsche” was widely used among Baltic-Germans as late as in the nineteenth century, while the Estonian word “saksad” (origins from the German word “Sachsen”) means both the Germans and masters. Both terms reflect the nature of this colonial relationship.26 It is worth noting that the author of the second poem quoted above advises potential collectors to direct their search for legends towards the Germanlanguage chronicles, which had essentially documented the Baltic-German local heritage. The Baltic chronicles had indeed been popular and re-issued or translated (from Latin or Low-German) into German in the mid-nineteenth century. In terms of early legends, the most sought after was, without doubt, The Chronicle of Livonia (1578) by Balthasar Russow (1536–1600), several editions of which were re-issued in the mid-nineteenth century.27 This work, originally written in an enjoyable narrative style in Low German, was to become a rich treasury of source material for people interested in legends. The complete text of another chronicle written by Christian Kelch (1657–1710), and edited 26 27

On Baltic Colonialism in this regard, see further Plath, Esten und Deutsche in den baltischen Provinzen Russlands; and Lukas, “‘Who Holds the Right to the Land?’”. Balthasar Rüssow’s Livländische Chronik and Balthasar Russow’s Chronica der Provintz Lyfflandt.

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by Johannes Lossius (1842–1882), was published in 1875,28 and two different German-language translations of the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia (before 1188–after 1259) were published in the mid-nineteenth century (in Riga in 1857 in a translation by A. Hansen [n.d.],29 and in Tallinn in 1867 in a translation by Eduard Pabst30). These works contained a number of local legends which were soon represented in both prose and in poetry. Even Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, when he wrote his first German-language poems (see below), made use of legend motifs borrowed from these chronicles. The Baltic-German intellectuals were nonetheless clearly also interested in local Estonian and Latvian legends and had started looking for them in earlier written sources as well as in living oral tradition. This interest had a prequel of its own. It might be argued that the interest of the Baltic-Germans in Estonian and Latvian folklore actually went back to the end of the eighteenth century, when the earlier disapproving attitude towards pagan customs of the Estonians and Latvians had transformed into ethnographic and folkloric interest. The inspiration for this change in approach was Johann Gottfried Herder who had promoted this interest during his stay in Riga from 1764–1769 and especially during the year 1777 in which he was preparing his second collection of folk songs, Volkslieder (Folk Songs: 1778–1779). It was at his request that a campaign for the collection of Estonian and Latvian folk songs was organised.31 Although traces of Herder’s influence continued to be discernible after the publication of Volkslieder, it should be stressed that the Herderian understanding of the folk song did not actually become firmly established within the Baltic philological discourse until the 1830s and 1840s. The re-evaluation of folkloric heritage material that took place at this time as a result of the work of the Grimms thus went hand in hand with the continuing interest in folk songs that was also evident across the water in Finland.32 In the first decades of the nineteenth century, the magazine Beiträge zur genauern Kenntniß der ehstnischen Sprache (Contributions to a More Precise Knowledge of the Estonian Language: 1813–1832), published by Johann Heinrich Rosenplänter (1782–1846) in 28 29 30 31

32

Kelch, Liefländische Historia. Henry of Livonia (Henrich von Lettland/ Henrichus der Lettis), Origines Livoniae sacrae et civilis. Henry of Livonia (Henrich von Lettland/ Henrichus der Lettis), Livländische Chronik. See further Arbusow, “Herder und die Begründung der Volksliedforschung”; Lukas, “‚… mit Treue, Lust und Liebe‘”; and Baškevica, “Läti rahvalaulud Johann Gottfried Herderi kogus”. See also the chapters by Pertti Anttonen, and Ulrika Wolf-Knuts and Susanne ÖsterlundPötzsch elsewhere in this volume.

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Pärnu, had already become the main forum in which Estonian folk songs, tales, and legends were introduced. The construction of Estonian mythology had been initiated by the translation of Mythologia Fennica (Finnish Mythology, by Christfrid Ganander [1741–1790]33) by Kristian Jaak Peterson (1801–182234), which was published in 1822 in Beiträge along with a comparative commentary by the translator concerning Estonian mythology.35 Peterson’s reconstruction had great literary potential, and it was based on this that Friedrich Robert Faehlmann presented his “Estnische Sagen” (Estonian Myths) at the Learned Estonian Society in Tartu between 1838 and 1849.36 Although the legends presented here were mostly literary, it is important to note their presentation and that the Baltic-German intellectual community accepted them as being authentic and original legends of the Estonian people. Indeed, Faehlmann’s myths would go on being seen as “authentic” representatives of Estonian folklore in scholarly literature at home and abroad for some time after this, providing plenty of subject matter for both Baltic-German and Estonian literature and art.37 The systematic collection of Estonian folk legends, inspired by both the works of the brothers Grimm and the Kalevala in Finland (1835) began in the 1830s.38 A hub for the presentation of this material to a wider readership was the earlier-noted magazine Das Inland published in Tartu between 1836 and 1863, which was principally devoted to local history. This journal published a range of Estonian and Latvian fairy tales and legends along with a number of translations of folk poetry (by authors such as Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, Alexander Heinrich Neus [1795–1876],39 Georg Julius von Schultz-Bertram [1808–1875], Eduard Pabst, Nikolai von Rehbinder [1823–1876],40 and Gustav

33

34 35 36 37

38 39 40

Ganander’s Mythologia Fennica was a work dealing with the folk culture, religion and early history of the Finnish people, that had been published in 1789 in Swedish. On Ganander, see also the chapter on Finland by Pertti Anttonen elsewhere in this volume. See https://utlib.ut.ee/eeva/index.php?lang=en&do=autor&aid=59. Peterson, Christfrid Ganander Thomasson’s Philos. Mag. Finnische Mythologie. See Faelmann, “Estnische Sagen”, later reissued in Faehlmann, Teosed, 35–80, 117–129, 173–182. See further Lukas, “Estonian Folklore as a Source of Baltic-German Poetry”. In terms of art, see, for example, the graphic images created by Friedrich Ludwig von Maydell (1795–1846) for Faehlmann’s myths: https://digikogu.ekm.ee/est/virtuaalnaitus?ex_id=7&cat_id=19& item_id=378. On the Kalevala and collection in Finland, see further the chapter by Pertti Anttonen elsewhere in this volume. See further https://utlib.ut.ee/eeva/index.php?lang=en&do=autor&aid=107. See further https://utlib.ut.ee/eeva/index.php?lang=en&do=autor&aid=108.

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Heinrich Schüdlöffel [1798–185941]).42 Several legends collected by Kreutzwald which were later published in the Estonian-language collection Eesti-rahwa Ennemuistsed jutud ja Wanad laulud (Ancient Estonian Folktales: 1860–1864: see fig. 15.2) appeared first in German in this journal.43 The collection of folk legends gained impetus in the 1840s and 1850s in connection with the activities of the earlier-noted Learned Estonian Society (founded in Tartu in 1838) and the Estonian Literary Society (Estländische Literärische Gesellschaft) which was founded in Tallinn in 1842. The first theoretical approach to the nature and role of folktales in general can be found in a speech that was given by von Schultz-Bertram at the Learned Estonian Society in 1839. Here the three basic genres of poetic fiction, song, legend and national jokes (Volksposse) are seen as deriving from the three basic states of the human spirit (lyrical, epic, and humour). The song is seen as being the oldest expression of feeling, connected with human sexuality and thus containing more feminine influences, while the legend, and especially the heroic legend, is seen as reflecting more highly developed masculine feelings. Because these feelings are not seen as being ethnic-specific by von SchultzBertram, but rather general human psychological or physiological qualities, they are seen as being something that explains the striking common features found in the folk legends of different peoples.44 For von Schultz-Bertram, in its present form, the legend is a remnant of a larger, now lost body, of which other remnants can also be discerned in the epic (Epopöa): “They are crushed giant limbs, the links between which have been lost and require a poetic Cuvier45 to be recognised as an organised whole, a living being, which once moved delightfully” (“Es sind zerstückelte Riesenglieder, deren Verbindungen verloren gegangen sind, und die eines poetischen Cuviers bedürfen, um zur Anerkennung eines organisiert gewesenes Ganzen, eines lebendigen Wesens das sich einst herrlich bewegte – zu gelangen”46). To understand von Schultz-Bertram’s approach, it should be remembered that on his return from Finland earlier that year, he had brought with him a

41 42 43 44 45

46

See further https://utlib.ut.ee/eeva/index.php?lang=en&do=autor&aid=124. See further https://utlib.ut.ee/eeva/index.php?lang=en&do=autor&aid=124. See Laidvee, Fr.R. Kreutzwaldi bibliograafia, and https://utlib.ut.ee/eeva/index.php?lang =en&do=autor&aid=24. von Schultz-Bertram, “Ein Vortrag von Dr. G. Schultz über „Kallewipoeg”, 96. By “Cuvier”, von Schultz-Bertram is referring to the French naturalist and zoologist, Baron Georges Cuvier (1769–1832), one of the leading figures who helped establish the field of paleontology. von Schultz-Bertram, “Ein Vortrag von Dr. G. Schultz über „Kallewipoeg”, 97.

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copy of the Kalevala, and in his speech, he suggested that the Estonian legends (Sagen) about the Estonian folk hero, a giant Kalevipoeg (Kalev’s son) should be collected to reconstruct the epic.47 Just as Kristian Jaak Peterson had a few decades earlier used Finnish mythology as a means of introducing and explaining Estonian mythology, von Schultz-Bertram now wished to (re-?)construct an Estonian epic with the help of the Finnish national epic. In this quest, von Schultz-Bertram had probably been influenced by the Sammeltheorie of Friedrich August Wolf (1759–1824) about the epics of Homer which was surely known in Tartu at that time, having first been introduced by Professor Karl Morgenstern (1770–1852), a disciple of Wolf’s who was teaching literary theory and classical literature at Tartu University, although Wolf’s theory was also mentioned by other collectors of folk legends.48 The idea of creating a common Finnish mythology was nonetheless probably also shaped by Jacob Grimm’s idea of a common Germanic mythology presented in Deutsche Mythologie in 1835, in which Grimm drew heavily on legends to rebuild a history and mythology for his people. Indeed, for him, the epic and history were seen as having one and the same objective.49 Von Schultz-Bertram’s aim was to do something similar for the Estonian people, in other words, give them both an epic and a history. His optimistic slogan was: “Give the people an epic and history, and everything will be won” (“Geben wir dem Volke ein Epos und eine Geschichte und alles ist gewonnen!”50).

6

Collections of Estonian Legends

The first collections of Baltic (Estonian, Livonian, Curonian) legends started to appear in 1850, and were compiled by the earlier-noted school inspectors Eduard Pabst and Carl Russwurm. These early works were unfortunately all published without forewords, meaning that we learn little about the original intentions of their authors. 47

48 49 50

The group of legends referred to as the Kalevipoeg centres around the life and travels of the folk hero Kalevipoeg who plows the ground and constructs towns as well as defeating Satan in a combat of strength. After his death as a result of a cursed sword, Kalevipoeg is sent to guard the gates of hell. Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (see below) collected numerous oral stories and wove them into an epic poem which has since come to be regarded as an Estonian national epic. See further Kreutzwald, Kalevipoeg: The Estonian National Epic. See Annist, Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwaldi „Kalevipoeg“, 430–431. Grimm, “Gedanken”. von Schultz-Bertram, “Ein Vortrag von Dr. G. Schultz über „Kallewipoeg”, 97.

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Eduard Pabst was working as a senior teacher (Oberlehrer) at the Reval School for Knights and Lawyers (Ritter-und Domschule zu Reval) while he published his two small volumes of local legends, Bunte Bilder, das ist: Geschichten, Sagen und Gedichte nebst sonstigen Denkwüdigkeiten Ehstlands, Livlands, Kurlands und der Nachbarlande (Colourful Pictures, or: Stories, Legends, Poems and Other Curiosities of Estonia, Livonia and Curonia: 1856) which followed up his earlier series of “Sagen und Curiosa des Inlandes” (Inland Legends and Curiosities) that had been published in the journal Das Inland between 1850 and 1852.51 As their titles suggest, these collections contain different types of texts, but mostly include legends in both prose and poetical form. For the most part, they originate from written sources of various ages drawn from a wide geographical area: among others, one finds material taken from the works of Saxo Grammaticus, Dionysius Fabricius, Balthasar Russow, St Nestor the Chronicler, and Geoffrey of Monmouth. One also finds material drawn from the Icelandic saga Ragnars saga loðbrókar (the Saga of Ragnar loðbrók) and various popular books, including Volksbuch von der schönen Melusina (The Folk Tale of the Beautiful Melusine), which are presented alongside literary adaptions of several “authentic” Estonian folk legends (such as the legend of Suur Tõll [Big Tõll], a mythological hero from the Estonian island of Saaremaa). While the collections evidently also contain a number of German, Estonian, Latvian and Swedish legends, the majority of them are in some way related to Estonia, Livonia, and Kurland, as their titles suggest. As such, it might be argued that they represent the first attempt to organise the multilingual heritage of the region (Estonia, Livonia, and Kurland) rather than that of a single nation. Indeed, this would become a characteristic feature of the BalticGerman collections of legends that appeared over the next few years: instead of focusing on national identity, they appear to aim to construct a trans-lingual regional identity, using German language as a medium. Pabst’s colleague from the Reval School for Knights and Lawyers, Carl Russwurm, later a teacher and inspector at the county school of Haapsalu, had been born in Schleswig-Holstein and studied in Bonn and Berlin, only arriving in Estonia in 1835. His first collection of legends, entitled Nordische Sagen (Nordic Legends: 1842), published in Leipzig, probably under strong influence from Grimm’s Deutsche Mythologie, was dedicated to the Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries (Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskab) in Copenhagen. In his preface, Russwurm gives an introduction to shared Nordic mythology which actually had little to do with the Baltic area, but in the collections that followed over the following years, he focused more on the 51

See Pabst, “Sagen und Curiosa des Inlandes und der Nachbarschaft”.

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Baltic heritage, paying particular interest to Estonian and especially EstonianSwedish legends.52 His next collections Sagen aus Hapsal und der Umgegend (Legends from Haapsalu and Its Vicinity, which appeared in 1856, in the same year as Pabst’s collection) and Sagen aus Hapsal, der Wiek, Ösel und Runö (Legends from Haapsalu, Läänemaa, Saaremaa and Ruhnu: 1861), published by Franz Kluge in Tallinn, were restricted to the legends of single areas in western Estonia. These books are clearly based on the Grimms’ notion of legends. Indeed, the influence of Deutsche Sagen (which, like other works by the Grimms, appears in the list of references) can be seen not only in the manner of presenting the legends, but also the method of numbering, which followed the Grimms’ model. As with Deutsche Sagen, the collections contain narratives drawn from various sources including chronicles and earlier literature, but also include accounts taken directly from the oral tradition. They nonetheless differ from the Grimms’ work in that they contain heritage drawn from the various different languages and cultures of the same region (that is Estonian, Swedish and German legends) rather than attempting to focus on a single national unity like that expressed in Deutsche Sagen. It was at around the same time that Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald started publishing the various installments of his influential Kalevipoeg simultaneously in Estonian and in German (in five volumes) between 1857 and 1861. The introductory quote for this work taken from the second edition of Deutsche Mythologie53 underlines the importance of Jacob Grimm for Kreutzwald, who subtitled his work Eine estnische Sage (An Estonian Legend). Unlike von Schultz-Bertram, who had been hoping for an epic, Kreutzwald saw this work in a more modest light. In the German-language foreword for the first edition of the Kalevipoeg, Kreutzwald wrote: Now that I have completed this work […] I will be announcing that the competition for creating an Estonian national epic in the spirit imagined 52

53

It might be noted that Russwurm’s monograph on Estonian-Swedish culture, Eibofolke oder die Schweden an den Küsten Ehstlands und auf Runö (The Eibo People, or the Swedish People on the Coast of Estonia and on Runö Island: 1855) also contains a chapter on legends. On the Estonian Swedish culture on the coastal areas of North-Western Estonia, see further: http://stmikael.ee/index.php/enajalugu/2-1/112-estonian-Swedes. “One intended to surpass the folktale and [yet] fell always short of it. No supplement should be made whenever it [i.e. the folktale] appears incomplete, like all remnants, seeming to befit new whitewash which would smear its appeal with a couple of strokes” (“Man meinte die Volkssage zu überbieten und ist immer hinter ihr geblieben; nicht einmal soll da, wo sie lückenhaft vortritt, eine Ergänzung vorgenommen werden, die ihr wie allen Trümmern neue Tünche ansteht und mit ein paar Strichen schon ihren Reiz verwischt”): Jacob Grimm, Deutsche Mythologie (1844), I, xiii.

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by Dr G. Schultz will remain open for everyone. My Kalevipoeg, at least, does not make the slightest claim to attain to such a high-flown title. Nor does it wish to be a poetic work of art. It is simply a collection of legends that are still living in common memory of the people […]. (Jetzt, da die Arbeit fertig vor mir liegt […], erkläre ich, daß die Concurrenz zur Abschaffung eines Estnischen Nationalepos, wie es Dr. G. Schultz im Geiste sich abgebildet hatte, für Jedermann offen bleibt. Mein Kalewipoeg wenigstens macht nicht den geringsten Anspruch an so hochtrabenden Titel und will kein poetisches Kunstwerk sein, sondern nur eine Sammlung von wirklich im Munde des Volkes lebenden Sagen […].54) It was during the same period (1860–1864) that the first collection of legends in the Estonian language appeared. This was Kreutzwald’s Eesti-rahwa Ennemuistsed jutud ja Wanad laulud, noorele põlwele mälestuseks korjatud ja kirja pandud (Ancient Tales and Old Songs of the Estonian People, Collected and Written Down for Young People to Remember). As the title suggests, the book contains only those Estonian “ancient tales” (“ennemuistsed jutud”), that were taken directly from the oral tradition, and had been written down word by word, as Kreutzwald underlines in a letter to von Schultz-Bertram on 17th February 1867.55 Kreutzwald’s collection is divided into two parts. It is worth noting that the first (and largest) section contains fairy tales, but the second section is entitled “Localsagen” (local legends). It is thus evident that like the Grimms, Kreutzwald saw a clear difference between fictional stories or fairy tales (Märchen) and those stories that were related to certain locations and historical events (Sagen). The influence of the Grimms’ works, both Kinder- und Hausmärchen and Deutsche Sagen, can thus be clearly seen in Kreutzwald’s collection. Indeed, Kreutzwald notes the similarity that some of his tales had to the German narratives, explaining this on the basis of the close contact between Estonians and Baltic-German landlords on manors, where Estonians often worked as wet nurses and babysitters. Kreutzwald, however, makes no attempt to search for “authenticity”. In his foreword to the second Estonian-language edition of Eesti-rahwa Ennemuistsed jutud ja Wanad laulud, Kreutzwald stresses that:

54 55

Kreutzwald, Kalewipoeg: Eine estnische Sage, XV–XVI. Kreutzwald, Fr. R. Kreutzwaldi kirjavahetus, 185.

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Ancient tales are like homeless animals, whose place of birth is sometimes unknown, but which still live in all countries and among all kinds of people, having at first arrived there as strangers, before gradually adapting to the ways and customs of these people as if they had been born and raised in their present location. (Ennemuistsesed jutud on koduta loomade sarnased, kelle sündimise paik mõnikord teadmata on, kes siiski igal maal ja kõige rahwa sugude keskel elawad, ja ehk kül esiotsalt kui võõrad sinna tulnud, aega mööda sealatse rahwa kombeid ja viisisi mööda endid kujutawad, kui oleksiwad nemad praeguses paigas sündinud ja maast madalast üles kaswanud.56) The stylistic closeness between the Estonian material and that known from German literary sources, and especially the apparent “reminiscences of Grimms’ fairy tales” (“Reminiscenzen an die […] Grimm’schen Märchen”) was noticed immediately at the time of the publication of Kreutzwald’s legends,57 and later research has clearly underlined the role of the Grimms’ work as examples.58 While no special study has been undertaken into the various influences behind Kreutzwald’s legends, features of Deutsche Sagen can certainly also be seen here, Kreutzwald’s formal representation of his Localsagen reminding us of the German legends, as does the way in which he numbered his legends (but not his fairy tales) following the standard set by the Grimms. During the period of the “national awakening” (“rahvuslik ärkamisaeg”), which had been launched in Estonia by the end of the 1860s, the enthusiasm for writing and publishing in Estonian continued to grow. A new generation of folklorists, primarily Jakob Hurt (1839–1907) and Matthias Johann Eisen (1857–1934),59 were galvanised by the works of Kreutzwald, and having received a philological education, these men began the task of collecting folklore both systematically and scientifically. While both men worked within German intellectual contexts, being well-versed in German folklore tradition, and while their work contains various indications that underline the influence of the Grimms’ work, their close relationship with Finnish folklorists and

56 57 58 59

Kreutzwald, Eestirahwa Ennemuistsed jutud, V. See Löwe, “Vorwort”, III. Annist, Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwaldi muinasjuttude algupära ja kunstiline laad, 362. Hurt’s folklore collection includes more than 122,000 pages (260,000 folklore texts: see Jaago, “Jakob Hurt”, 46), while Eisen, with his collection of about 100,000 pages of material (30,000 narratives), became the second largest collector of folklore in Estonia.

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Finnish research traditions was now equally important.60 Their focuses were nonetheless slightly different. Hurt went on to publish five scholarly volumes of song collections,61 while Eisen devoted himself to the publication of folk legends from 1882, publishing many thematic collections of folk legends written in a poignantly “folksy” narrative style,62 works which became immensely popular. Unlike Hurt, who focused on academic publications, Eisen had a didactic vocational mission, seeing ordinary people as his main target audience. He saw legends as being migratory narratives and stressed both their international character and educational impact, underlining that legends do not automatically travel with a language but rather as part of education.63 In parallel with these works published in Estonian language several collections of Estonian (and Latvian) folk legends would be published in German in the Baltic area over the next decades, all of which followed the Grimmian models. Here one can mention Livländisches Sagenbuch (The Book of Livonian Legends: 1897) by Friedrich Bienemann jr (1860–1915), in which Bienemann encourages the collection of local German folk legends (those related to castles and fortresses), and Märchen und Sagen (Fairy Tales and Legends: 1916), published by August von Löwis of Menar (1881–1930). Bienemann’s Livländisches Sagenbuch was the work which was most directly based on Deutsche Sagen, focusing on legends related to specific locations, historical events, or persons, and quoting as part of its introduction Jacob Grimm’s explanation of the differences between Märchen and Sagen. As with the Grimms,64 Bienemann differentiates between local (örtliche) and historical legends (geschichtliche Sagen), placing this differentiation within the socialhistorical context of the Baltic area. Bienemann argues that the real source of the local legends, “which are in some way connected locally to lakes, mountains, cliffs” (“die irgendwie wie örtlich, an Seen Berge, Steine gebunden sind”) can be found “directly and exclusively in the profundity of the Estonian and Latvian people, the native population of this country” (“unmittelbar und ausschließlich in der Tiefe des estnischen und lettischen Volkes, der ursprünglichen Bevölkerung dieses Landes”). They (the local legends): flow out, like unbreakable rays of light, from the lives of the people, intertwining with the surrounding nature of the homeland from ancient 60 61 62 63 64

Hurt defended a dissertation in linguistics at the University of Helsinki in 1886. Eisen was awarded an honorary doctorate at the same university. For example, Hurt, Vana kannel. Kuutma, “Matthias Johann Eisen”, 88. Eisen, “Kuninga-jutud”, 29. See Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, v–vi.

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times, from generation to generation; due to the changing fate of the people, nothing of alien origin has been able to interfere […] in an obstructive, volatile or dissolute way with their [the people’s] relationship with nature. […] It is therefore relatively rare to find nature legends among the Germans of Livonia, who created a new home in an unfamiliar land and did not entirely cut their relationship with their old home. In a similar way, among the Estonians and Latvians, the original historical legend has shown itself to have a much lower driving force than that which lies behind the local legend.) (Sie entquellen, wie ungebrochene Lichtstrahlen, dem Volksleben, wie es seit uralten Zeiten, Generation auf Generation, mit der umgebenden Natur des heimatlichen Bodens verwachsen ist, in sein Verhältnis zur Natur konnte durch den Wandel des äußeren Geschickes des Volks nur wenig oder nichts fremdartiges hemmend, verflüchtigend, auflösend eingreifen. […] Daher kommt es, daß unter den Deutschen Livlands, die ja auf fremdem Boden sich erst eine neue Heimat schufen, ohne doch den Zusammenhang mit der alten gänzlich zu verlieren, die Sage verhältnismäßig nur wenig laut wird, und ebenso, daß unter Esten und Letten die eigentlich historische Sage auch eine viel geringene Triebkraft gezeigt hat, als jene andere Gattung, die Lokalsage.65) In short, the relationship that a colonising culture has with the local landscape differs from that of the native culture. This is an idea that can also be found in the Grimms’ introduction.66 Bienemann’s collection was nonetheless largely limited to a compilation of already printed legends in order to avoid competition with the collections of Estonian and Latvian material that Jakob Hurt in Estonia and August Bielenstein (1826–1907) were working on in Latvia at the same time. It is also worth noting that, following the example of Pabst and Russwurm, Bienemann made a clear effort to synthesise the historical and folk traditions of all of the peoples of the Baltic area who spoke different languages into a common Baltic local legend heritage (“Sagengut”), something that is also reflected in the collection edited by von Löwis of Menar (see above).

65 66

Bienemann, Livländisches Sagenbuch, viii. See, for example, Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, v–x.

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Sagendichtung: Folk Legends as a Source for Baltic-German and Estonian Lyro-epic Poetry

Inspired by the published collections, folk legends soon became an important source for Baltic-German literature and art. Literary adaptations of folktales quickly found their way into journals, newspapers, poetry collections and anthologies, often in the popular form of ballads – the genre which had achieved some notoriety with the works of the authors of the German literary Sturm und Drang movement in the 1770s and was later shaped and developed by German Romanticism. With the increase of interest in folk poetry during the period under discussion, and especially after the publication of the collection Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn, compiled by Achim von Arnim [1781–1831] and Clemens Brentano [1778–1842] in 1801–1806), the ballad had become a popular literary genre in the German-speaking area and would remain so throughout the nineteenth century. Characteristically, the ballad does not usually present an original story but is rather based on a narrative that is already in existence which it can refer to. The new collections of legends in Estonia therefore offered rich source material for new ballads. Indeed, the boom of the ballad as a “truly German genre” had started in Germany soon after the appearance of Deutsche Sagen which had proved to be inspirational for a number of new works.67 As has been noted elsewhere in this volume (see the chapters by Joep Leerssen and Holger Ehrhardt), Deutsche Sagen had been followed by numerous other collections of legends in Germany, all of which provided useful models for the new Sagendichtung, which often became a hobby of the collectors themselves.68 The same can be said about the developments that took place in the Baltic area. In the early nineteenth century, ballads were already being included in several almanacs, collections, and literary magazines that were being published in this area (such as Livona [1812–1818 in Riga and Tartu], Inländisches Museum [1820–1821 in Tartu], and Inländischer Dichtergarten [1828–1830 in Tallinn]). At first, most took the form of romantic ballads about unhappy love, which were based on the themes of the German or Scandinavian legends which had already appeared in works such as Russworm’s Nordische Sagen (see above). A typical example is Melusine: Eine deutsche Volks-Sage (Melusine: A German Folk Legend: 1836) by Martin Asmuss (1784–1844),69 a poet from Tartu, which 67 68 69

Taylor Starck, “Die Deutschen Sagen der Brüder Grimm als Balladenquelle”. Taylor Starck, “Die Deutschen Sagen der Brüder Grimm als Balladenquelle”, 464. https://utlib.ut.ee/eeva/index.php?lang=et&do=tekst_detail&tid=2418.

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was based on the Grimms’ legend “Herr Peter Dimringer von Staufenberg” (DS522).70 It was natural that the new collections of Estonian and Latvian legends would also become an important source for Baltic-German poets as they started appearing.71 Between 1831 and 1836, for example, Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald wrote a number of German-language ballads which were based on local legends. 1846, the year in which the poem mentioned at the start was published, nonetheless deserved well to be called “the year of the BalticGerman ballad”. As if in answer to the lament of the author of that poem, a number of local legend-based ballads were published that same year in Das Inland.72 1846 also saw the publication of the anthology Balladen und Lieder (Ballads and Poems) containing poems by Jegor von Sivers (1823–1879), Reinhold Schellbach (1825–1857),73 Andreas Wilhelm von Wittorf (1813–1886), Karl Walfried von Stern (1819–1874) and other poets. The most prolific Baltic ballad-writer of the mid-nineteenth century was von Wittorf, who published his collection Baltische Sagen und Mähren (Baltic Legends and Fairy Tales) in 1859. The main type of Baltic-German local-legend-based ballad from the period was, as noticed by Bienemann, the historical ballad, which drew its themes especially from legends drawn from the earlier-noted Baltic chronicles dealing with castles, manors, churches and their ruins, the noble persons who lived in those buildings, and their heroic deeds.74 The other common type of locallegend-ballad was thematically influenced by the Estonian and Latvian oral tradition. It is nonetheless often impossible to clearly identify the exact original source of these ballads, since many motifs from the chronicles had taken root in folk tradition over the course of time and vice versa, the chronicler retelling the stories they had heard as a form of generally accepted historical truth. Although folktales relating to the Estonian folk hero Kalevipoeg were receiving constant attention from the Learned Estonian Society during this period, appearing both in the Das Inland and in Kreutzwald’s Kalevipoeg, it is noteworthy that these legends were not used as inspiration by the German poets. Indeed, an Estonian giant who fought heroic battles against the so-called “iron men” (“raudmehed”, symbolising the German crusaders) was

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Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), II, 249–253. See Lukas, “Estonian Folklore”. See Lukas, “Kohapärimuslik luule nädalalehes ‘Das Inland’”. See further https://utlib.ut.ee/eeva/index.php?lang=en&do=autor&aid=311. Lukas, “Kohapärimus baltisaksa ballaadis”.

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hardly a fitting image for Baltic-German poetry. Instead, one finds the BalticGerman poets often adapting the mythic legends that had been presented by Faehlmann in the 1840s and early 1850s. A favourite motif was the romantic fairy tale of “Koit ja Hämarik” (Dusk and Dawn), two figures who, having had to remain an eternal bridal couple, were only allowed to embrace and kiss each other once a year on Midsummer Night. Another popular source was Kreutzwald’s earlier-noted Eesti-rahwa Ennemuistsed jutud ja Wanad laulud, which helped mediate the Estonian folk heritage to the Germans. The budding Estonian literature of the time clearly found inspiration in the same sources.75 The Estonian-language ballad of the nineteenth century was essentially an adaptation of German examples by authors such as Matthias Claudius (1740–1815), Gottfried August Bürger (1747–1794), Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805), Goethe (1749–1832), Ludwig Uhland (1787–1862), Heinrich Heine (1797–1856); Nikolaus Lenau (1802–1850), Adelbert von Chamisso (1781–1838), and Josef Freiherr Eichendorff (1788–1857). Kreutzwald’s translation of Bürger’s “Leonore” in 1851, was an important marker of the beginning of the history of Estonian ballads and followed on from Kreutzwald’s first Estonian-language ballad, also entitled “Koit ja Hämarik” (Dawn and Dusk), which had used the formal methods of the old Estonian folk song (the regivärss76). From this point onwards, one finds Estonian ballad-writers increasingly turning away from German poetry and making ever more use of local folklore and the folk ballads which had been living their own lives alongside the translated literary ballads (which had naturally been having an influence on them).77

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77

On the Estonian ballad, see Merilai, Eesti ballaad 1900–1940; and Eesti ballaad: Antoloogia. Regivärss, also known as “the Kalevala-metre” and “runo-verse”, is a poetic form shared by the Baltic-Finnic peoples. It is characterised by a trochaic rhythm involving four stresses and a persistent, distinct use of alliteration working in tandem with parallelism. In later times, Jakob Hurt took the central role in the “literalisation” of the Estonian oral folk ballad; it was he who initiated the campaign to collect folklore which resulted in the recording of about 50,000 folk songs (see Hurt, Vana kannel [1875–1886], and Setukeste laulud [1904–1907]. Many authors including Jaan Bergmann (1856–1916), Matthias Johann Eisen, Jakob Tamm (1861–1907), Jakob Liiv (1859–1938), and Karl Eduard Sööt (1862–1950) would go on to use the example of folk ballads and folkloric themes in their (lyro-)epic poetry in the coming years. The poetic innovations of Noor-Eesti (Young Estonia) would then raise the ballad to a new level: according to folklorists, “Toomas ja Mai” (Toomas and Mai: 1924) by Villem Grünthal-Ridala (1885–1942) and “Lapse sünd” (The Birth of a Child: 1922) by Gustav Suits (1883–1956) are the most successful imitations of regivärss in Estonian poetry: see Mirov, “Kalevipoja’parandamisest ja Ridala ümberluulendusest”, 569–581. The rise of the ballad at the end of the 1920s was nonetheless also facilitated by the Estonian translations of the “Helkarvirsiä” (Helka-Hymns) and several ballads by

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The Influence of Deutsche Sagen on the Collections of Estonian Folk Legends

The actual impact of Deutsche Sagen on Estonian legends, which has been noted above in several places, has not yet been studied in any detail. Earlier studies on the effect of the Grimms’ Kinder- und Hausmärchen on the later Estonian fairy tale heritage have nonetheless certainly underlined the influence of the Grimm brothers:78 the first translation of the Grimms’ fairy tales in Estonian was published in 186779 and practically all of its contents were absorbed into the folk tradition very soon. In the various recordings of fairy tales, one can find word-for-word reproductions of the aforementioned 1867 translations, as well as various re-tellings and adaptions of, for example, “Rumpelstilzchen” (Rumpelstiltskin), “Schneeweißchen” (Snow White), “Hänsel und Gretel” (Hansel and Gretel), “Dornröschen” (Briar Rose), “Frau Holle” (Mother Holle), “Rotkäppchen” (Little Red Riding Hood), “Fundevogel” (Foundling Bird), “Die drei Männlein im Walde” (The Three Little Men in the Woods), “Die goldene Gans” (The Golden Goose), and so on.80 In most cases, the narrator has borrowed elements from the literary account and merged it into the existing tale tradition. A brief comparison of the Grimms’ legends and Estonian legends certainly confirms an abundance of “migratory motifs” and the role of literature (written texts) in the development of the oral tradition. In his afterword to the collection Estnische Volkssagen (Estonian Folk Legends: 1935), Lutz Mackensen gives a list of apparently shared motifs, such as those relating to spirits in a church, nightmares, black birds (the so-called Kyffhäusersage), and more.81 There is no question that a rigid line cannot be drawn between the oral and written traditions which are often deeply intertwined. Local legends, like fairy tales, travel. A good story which is familiar in literature may well have taken on entirely new characteristics and found itself related to entirely new places and persons in the oral tradition.82 In short, a good story could travel from the oral to

78 79 80 81 82

Eino Leino (1878–1926) which were carried out by August Annist (1899–1972). This rise peaked with the collection of ballads, Õnnevarjutus (The Eclipse of Happiness: 1929) by Marie Under (1883–1980), in which folk legends occupy a central position. See, for example, Toomeos-Orglaan, “Kinder- und Hausmärchen eesti imemuinasjuttude allikana”. See Grimm, Wiis kenna jutto. On the study of shared or travelling motifs, see Toomeos-Orglaan, “Kinder- und Hausmärchen”. Mackensen, “Nachwort”. With regard to one possible way in which narratives could travel, see Kreem and Lukas, “Romeo ja Julia: Liivimaa moodi?”.

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the written tradition and vice versa, just as easily as it could move from one language to another, particularly in a multilingual area like the Baltic.

9

The Goals and Motivations behind Collecting Folk Legends in Estonia

What then actually inspired the interest in folk legends in the Baltic area that has been noted above? What were the Baltic-Germans looking for in Estonian folklore? How different from each other were the motivations of those folklore collectors who were of Estonian and Baltic-German origin? What were their objectives in collecting legends (and using them as sources for artistic creation) in the Baltic area? It is possible to point to several kinds of different interest and motivation: 1. The idea of saving and collecting (“zu retten und zu sammeln”83). On the basis of the information given in this chapter, it is certainly possible to talk of folkloristic interest in the philological circles of Tartu which focused on the need to preserve the cultural heritage of a nation that was in decline, in other words “the documentation of the swan song of the dying nation” (“das Schwanenlied der sterbenden Nationalität aufzuzeichnen”84). Collectors had observed that traditions were vanishing as a result of the negative impact of Pietism and particularly the Moravian movement85 which had had a strong influence throughout the Baltic during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, fighting against folk legends and beliefs. The feeling was that this material needed saving before it disappeared. However, the new folklorists were convinced that the Estonian heritage could also offer valuable material for the kind of international folkloristic studies that were starting to be undertaken in this period. 2. The idea that “tales can teach people about truth” (“Ka tõeõpetust võib vanajutu kombel anda”) and that tales activate intellectual powers.86 According to Kreutzwald in particular, making people conscious of their folk heritage served an important pedagogical purpose in the field of popular enlightenment. 3. The idea that this was a means of giving the nation a voice. As far back as the time of Herder, the collection of folk material had been connected to both 83 84 85 86

“to save and collect”: see Grimm, “Cirkular wegen Aufsammlung der Volkspoesie” (originally published in 1815). von Schultz-Bertram, Zur Geschichte und zum Verständniß, 433. See further Vogt, “‘Everywhere at Home’”; and Hope, “German and Scandinavian Protestantism, 251–255. See Kreutzwald, Eessõna: Eesti rahva ennemuistsed jutud, 6.

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the anti-colonial movement and the abolitionist debate in the Baltic region.87 Kreutzwald considered the folk narratives and songs of the Estonians to be “the only self-created speaking memorial that this nation had of its past” (“das einzige selbsterzeugte redende Denkmal der Vergangenheit dieses Volkes”88). Von Schultz-Bertram was even more enthusiastic about this idea, stating that: To our minds, the main objective of adapting the material about Kalevipoeg seems to be to return to the Estonians their destroyed and semifaded Nationalgedicht in its ethical unity, to invigorate their weakening national consciousness and to help this frightened and self-doubting nation to straighten its back again. (Als Hauptzweck der Bearbeitung der Kalewasage erscheint uns, daß den Esten ihr zerstörtes und halb verklungenes Nationalgedicht als sein ethisches Ganze wiedergegeben würde, um ihr hinsichendes Nationalgefühl zu beleben und dieses geängstigte und an sich selbst verzweifelnde Volk wieder emporzurichten.89) Von Schultz-Bertram divided the Baltic scholars of folklore into two groups: those who were genuine friends of the people, who wanted Estonians to remain Estonian and to become an educated nation, guiding them towards higher levels of education through natural development and elevating their self-consciousness, and then those who recommended the most rapid Germanisation of the people possible. He thought that while assimilation into neighbouring nations could not be considered totally improbable, “we should not begrudge the native people the documentation of the swan song of the dying nation” (“Möge es den den Genuienen wenigstens vergönnt sein, das Schwanenlied der sterbenden Nationalität aufzuzeichnen”90). In his earliernoted presentation dealing with the Kalevipoeg in 1839, von Schultz-Bertram had expressed a more optimistic view about the future prospects of Estonians and Latvians: Do we believe in the future of the nation or not? Is it more probable that it will gradually be absorbed and disappear into one of the two strong 87

88 89 90

See the works of Garlieb Merkel (1769–1850), and especially Die Letten, vorzüglich in Liefland, am Ende des philosophischen Jahrhunderts (The Latvians, Mainly in Livland, at the End of the Philosophical Century: 1787). Kreutzwald, “Vorwort”, III. von Schultz-Bertram, “Die Estensage vom Kalewipoeg in ihrer neuen Gestalt”, 884. von Schultz-Bertram, Zur Geschichte und zum Verständniß, 433.

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neighbouring nations? […] No – I believe in the natural power of the people. I believe that they [the Estonian and Livian people] represent just one element in the long line of peoples. (Glauben wir an eine Zukunft des Volkes oder nicht? Ist es wahrscheinlicher, dass es allmählich in eine von den beiden mächtigen Nachbarvölkern sich verlieren sollte? […] Nein – ich glaube an eine originelle Kraft des Volkes. Ich glaube, dass es in der langen Völkerreihe gleichsam ein Element darstellt.91) The collection of legends for the Baltic-Germans may thus arguably have been seen as a “moral obligation”, in other words, as an attempt to compensate for colonial guilt: As we read in Das Inland: The German habitants of the Ostseeprovinzen have a special relationship with the Estonian people. Through the process of civilisation, they have spoilt the pleasure of legend. […] The Germans as well as the spiritual guardians of the Estonian people have an obligation…. (Die deutschen Bewohner der Ostseeprovinzen stehen zum Estenvolk in einem besonderen Verhältniß. Sie haben ihm durch die Civilisation die Lust an der Sage vergällt. […] Die Deutschen, als geistige Vormünder des Estenvolkes sind verpflichtet….92) 4. Patriotism. In collecting German legends, seen as “purely German fare”93 (“lautere deutsche Kost”94), the brothers Grimm had committed themselves to fostering German national identity.95 In the case of Estonia, it is worth bearing in mind that unlike in the other countries noted in this volume, the collectors did not belong to the nation whose national spirit they were promoting. The nineteenth-century collections of legends in the Baltic certainly did not promote herald such nationalism. As von Schultz-Bertram stated: We, the writers, have a much nobler task – we should not incite hatred among nations but rather lame [weaken] them. […] Lamartine was the

91 92 93 94 95

von Schultz-Bertram, “Ein Vortrag”, 97. von Schultz-Bertram. “Die estnische Sage von Kallewi-poeg”, 89–90. Grimm, The German Legends of the Brothers Grimm, I, 11. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, xxiv. See further the chapter on the Grimms by Holger Ehrhardt elsewhere in this volume.

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first to voice the famous sentence: Nations! A brilliant word to denote barbarism, etc. Encouraging nationalistic feelings leads to the loss of humanity. But the slogan of our time is – humanisation. (Wir Schrifststeller haben eine viel noblere Aufgabe, wir sollen nicht die Nationen verhetzen, sondern sie verlähmen […] Lamartine hat zuerst die berühmte Worte ausgesprochen: Nationen! Ein prächtig Wort für Barbarei […] Verstärken der Nationalgefühle führt zur Entmenschlichung. Die Parole unserer Zeit daher heißt – Vermenschlichung.96) In spite of this, the collectors considered their work to be patriotic, seeing their purpose as being that of strengthening love for both the fatherland and homeland. According to the poet Hedda von Schmid (1864–1921) in her Livonian legend, “Am Astjärw” (By Astjärw), the reason for her interest in folk tradition was that: He who loves his homeland Holds its legends dear to his heart

Wer liebe für seine Heimath hegt, Auch ihre Sagen im Herzen trägt.97

In later times, Karl von Stern (1859–1944) and Lutz Mackensen (1901–1992) stated that their reason of publishing Estonian folk legends was that “folktales deepen the sense of home. That is why, for us Baltic-Germans, the Estonian and Latvian folktales are more than a trinket, […] they are a piece of our very home” (“Volkssagen haben es in sich, vertiefend auf Heimatgefühl zu wirken. Darum sind für uns Balten estnische und lettische Volkssagen mehr als ein schöner Wandschmuck […] sie sind ein Stück unserer Heimat selbst”98). In other words, the knowledge of Estonian and Latvian heritage formed part of a sense of home (Heimatsinn), and, at the same time, an attempt to create an entangled multicultural heritage through the medium of the German language. This application, however, did not prove to be viable, as it grew out of older colonial associations. A national cultural approach, like that which was gaining strength in the national agendas of German, Norwegian, Scottish, Irish, and Finnish folkloristics, came to be seen as a more workable alternative to the German-language concept of regional multi-culturalism.

96

97 98

Letter from G. J. von Schultz-Bertram to J. V. Jannsen, dated 18th March 1870: Estonian Literary Museum (Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum), Cultural History Archives: KM EKLA, f. 117, EKS segak. 1:4. von Schmid, Am Astjärw, 157. von Stern, Estnische Volkssagen, 8.

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In the case of Estonia, we can therefore see an interesting competition going on between of two models: it is apparent that the direct impact of the Grimms was bent by scholars strongly in the direction of the current German-language folkloristic discourse which clearly encouraged the collection and publication of local legends. The Finnish influence noted above, which arose with the appearance of the Kalevala in 1835, and the resulting attention that was paid to the local “regi-verse” (regivärss) folk song, brought about a different kind of folklore collection that was rooted more in the Herderian tradition that had been popular in the last quarter of the eighteenth century and in the beginning of the nineteenth century.99 Arguably, this competition between the Grimms and the Herder-Lönnrot influences was well expressed in the search for the correct form (prose or verse?) for what became the national epic, the Kalevipoeg.100 Over time, with the intensification of contact with Finland in the latter part of the nineteenth century, as the immediate effect of the Grimm Ripples began to die down, the Finnish influence and impact would become more important. 99 100

See further the Introduction to this volume. Faehlmann proposed prose, while Kreutzwald chose Estonian regi-verses.

Chapter 16

The Grimm Brothers and the Quest for Legends in Nineteenth-Century Finnish Folklore Studies Pertti Anttonen

1

Introduction

When examining the possible early influences of the Grimm brothers on Finnish folklore studies and especially on the collecting of oral legends, while one finds occasional references to the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen in surveys of folkloristic research history and methodology, one soon comes to the conclusion that unlike in most other northern European countries, the publication of this collection does not appear to have had much, if any, influence on the collection of folklore in Finland during the nineteenth century. Indeed, in 1935, on the centenary of the national epic, the Kalevala, the Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura) organised a competition for the collection of oral prose narratives, and according to Lauri Simonsuuri (1910–1964), the archivist at the Society’s Folklore Archive and a specialist in mythological legends in the late 1940s through early 1960s, this is the date that can be said to mark the beginning of the scientifically planned and guided collecting and cataloguing of legends in Finland.1 Comparatively little legend collection took place before this in Finland, where folk poetry, fairy tales and the Kalevala led the way (see below). The present article2 will discuss the relationship between the fairy tale and the legend as an object of interest in nineteenth-century Finland in the wake of the Grimmian influence, noting also the influence of collection and research relating to folk poetry and the Kalevala that was taking place in the period under investigation in this book. The chapter takes as its starting point the major argument being made in the present volume: the conception that the publication of Deutsche Sagen had a much bigger influence on the initial collection of folk narrative in Northern Europe than Kinder- und

1 Simonsuuri, Typen- und Motivverzeichnis der Finnischen Mythischen Sagen, 17. 2 I wish to express my gratitude to Terry Gunnell for his many insights and suggestions regarding earlier versions of this text and the whole writing process. I am also indebted to Jukka Sarjala and Juhana Saarelainen, both from the University of Turku, for their valuable comments and corrections. © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_018

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Hausmärchen. Legends led, fairy tales only gradually catching up. This was a development noted decades ago by Bengt Holbek (1933–1992), who argued at the time that the literary and historical study of legends “did not constitute a radical departure from the current antiquarian method of research in Scandinavia.”3 This, however, did not lead to much more attention being paid to the role or influence the legend had in the early decades of the nineteenth century. This order of developments does not seem to have applied to Finland, and it is of research historical interest to consider why this is so. Indeed, the knowledge of legends leading the way in the Grimm Ripples seems to have been lost and replaced by a preference for the fairy tale over the legend4 as well as by a conception that the genre of legend remained obscure in Finnish folklore collecting and study until the early twentieth century (see below). Consequently, discussion of the Grimm brothers’ influence on Finnish folklore study in the nineteenth century has mainly been concerned with two things: the collection and study of fairy tales on the one hand, and Jacob Grimm’s significance in establishing a position for the Kalevala in international mythological research on the other.5

2

Herder Rather Than the Grimms

One way to approach the question of the Grimm brothers’ influence on Finnish folklore collecting and research is to examine the impact of the German philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder (1744–1803), who was a great 3 Holbek, “Nordic Research in Popular Prose Narrative”, 146. 4 According to Simonsuuri, while the appearance of Kinder- und Hausmärchen caused a great sensation and inspired collectors to put together corresponding collections of folktales, Deutsche Sagen was not intended as a reading book for wider circles, and it did not arouse a similar interest in the collection and publication of legends: Simonsuuri, Typenund Motivverzeichnis der Finnischen Mythischen Sagen, 14. In an article published in 2012, Satu Apo writes that Kinder- und Hausmärchen began to conquer Europe as early as in the 1830s, influencing oral storytelling in several countries, including Scandinavia and Finland, and in the 1830s and 1840s, the Grimms’ example set in motion the collecting and publishing of folktales also outside the German-speaking world. According to Apo, the brothers’ influence on folklore research was also significant in Finland: Apo, “Satugenre kirjallisuudentutkimuksen ja folkloristiikan riitamaana”, 24. In her most recent book from 2018, dealing with the history of fairy tales, Apo makes a reference to a delay in the enthusiasm sparked by the Grimms’ Märchen publication. To her mind, the most significant collections were only made after the 1840s, the delay being due to the hierarchy of folklore genres: in the Nordic countries, ballads were more highly valued than fairy tales, and in Finland, the fairy tales were overshadowed by the Kalevala: Apo, Ihmesatujen historia, 42–43. 5 The work referred to here is Jacob Grimm, “Über das finnische epos”. This will be discussed in more detail below.

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inspiration for the Grimms in their early work.6 Indeed, Herder’s influences on philosophy and scientific thinking, and Herderian ideas concerning the role and use of folklore in the production of national culture and heritage have received much more attention from Finnish folklore scholars and many others interested in folkloric materials and/or mythology than the Grimms, the impact of whom has received comparatively little mention and certainly no real study in Finland.7 In an extensive, 557-page work of research articles on Herder, edited by the cultural historians Sakari Ollitervo and Kari Immonen, and published in 2006, the Grimms receive only a short reference written by Satu Apo. Both Kinder- und Hausmärchen and Deutsche Sagen are mentioned essentially in their role as aftermaths of Herder.8 Here Apo underlines how Herder’s essays in the anthology Stimmen der Völker in Liedern (The Voices of the People in their Songs: 1807), the second edition of Herder’s Volkslieder (Songs of the People: 1778–1779), anticipated the beginning of folklore research. Apo quotes Herder’s call for the study of the origins and diffusion of the most common and most peculiar folk narratives.9 She then gives the Grimm brothers credit for taking the steps anticipated by Herder and for starting the systematic collecting of folklore and the comparative research of narrative tradition, and thereby marking the beginning of the 200-year-old narrative of folkloristics.10 The focus of her article is nonetheless mainly on the connections between Herder’s Volkslieder and the anthologies compiled by James Macpherson (1736–1796) and Thomas Percy (1729–1811). Nothing is said here about how Herder’s follow-up in the shape of folkloristics by the Grimms reached Finland. The literary historian Pertti Karkama has also scrutinised both Herder’s philosophy and its reception in Finland in a number of works, distinguishing between Herder and Herderian thinking. As Karkama notes, if one examines the works and letters of the members of the literary circles in Finland at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth, one finds few direct references to Herder’s writings, even though insights 6

7

8 9 10

According to Richard Bauman and Charles Briggs, the Grimm brothers “clearly stood on Herder’s shoulders, embracing his nationalist project and advancing his lead in providing it with a linguistic and textual base”: Bauman and Briggs, Voices of Modernity, 197. See further, however, Kunze, Jacob Grimm und Finnland, which deals with Jacob Grimm’s contacts with Finnish research and researchers as well as his own research concerning Finland. Apo, “Kansanlaulujen ääni 1700-luvun kirjallisuudessa”, 263. Apo, “Kansanlaulujen ääni 1700-luvun kirjallisuudessa”, 263–264; and Herder, “Ähnlichkeit der mittlern englischen und deutschen Dichtkunst”, 51. Apo “Kansanlaulujen ääni 1700-luvun kirjallisuudessa”, 264.

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drawing heavily on Herder’s thinking and writings were being widely distributed throughout the whole of Europe at the time, including Finland. As Karkama contends, circumstances in Finland in the beginning of the Finnish autonomy in the early nineteenth century were certainly favourable to the diffusion of Herderian ideas.11 According to Karkama, at this time the nation was seeking itself and building up the material foundations of its sovereign existence and its own identity. Herder’s views on the people, the nation and culture were thus in many respects seemingly designed for the circumstances in Finland,12 underlining that it was the task of the civilised circles in Finland to write the Finns’ own history, a great narrative that would bear witness to the Finnish people’s competence with regard to development and their will for cultivation and cultural investment.13 Michael Branch (1940–2019) echoes these ideas, calling this period in Finland the “Herderian phase” of cultural nationalism, a period which was followed in the late 1830s by “the political nationalism of Hegel led by Johan Vilhelm Snellman (1806–1881) with its emphasis on the nation-state and the importance of conducting its business in Finnish and developing a ‘Finnish culture’.”14 In his recent doctoral dissertation, the cultural historian Juhana Saarelainen examines the “thinking and practical action” of the compiler of the Kalevala (1835), Elias Lönnrot (1802–1884), and especially Lönnrot’s conception of poetry and knowledge in the context of contemporary German philosophy.15 The central focus here is on the philosophy of nature by F. W. J. Schelling (1775–1854), together with that of a number of other German philosophers of the time, including Jacob Grimm and his ideas on Naturpoesie and unconsciously produced poetry. Nothing is said, however, about the Grimms’ collection of folklore. While Saarelainen finds a great deal of similarities between the thinking of the Grimm brothers and that of Lönnrot, he does not establish any direct influence.16

11

12 13 14 15 16

A similar statement is made by Kaisa Häkkinen, who emphasises the low and unequal status of Finnish speakers under Swedish hegemony at this time: see Häkkinen, “Suomen kielitieteen nousu 1700- ja 1800-lukujen vaihteessa”, 291. Karkama, Kadonnutta ihmisyyttä etsimässä, 418. Karkama, Kadonnutta ihmisyyttä etsimässä, 466. Branch, “The Academy of Sciences in St Petersburg”, 134. Saarelainen, Runous, tieto ja kansa. Saarelainen, “Kansanrunous luonnon ja kulttuurin rajalla Elias Lönnrotin ajattelussa”, 60–65, and 75.

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The Turku Romanticists

Much has been written on the historical period in which Herder’s influence was especially strong. Particularly relevant in this context is the literary and philosophical movement retrospectively called “Turku Romanticism”, which was active in Turku and especially at the Imperial Academy of Turku (Kejserliga Akademien i Åbo/ Keisarillinen Turun akatemia) in the 1810s and the early 1820s.17 The most recent work that has been published on this movement is Turun romantiikka. Aatteita, lukuvimmaa ja yhteistoimintaa 1810-luvun Suomessa (Turku Romanticism: Ideas, a Passion for Reading, and Collaboration in the 1810s in Finland) by the cultural historian Jukka Sarjala from the University of Turku. Analysing the activists in this movement and their agency as a transnational academic network, Sarjala offers, among other things, a detailed account of the different phases that occurred in the interest in folklore collecting – albeit only that of oral poetry – among the Turku Romanticists.18 Sarjala notes how a number of interesting border crossings seem to have taken place in the collecting of Finnish-language folklore which was taking place in the same period: Geographical distances were crossed when collectors travelled from Turku to Eastern Finland and Lapland; social boundaries were tested when members of the academic class approached people of the lower classes; and language boundaries were crossed when the Swedish-speaking collectors recorded poetry sung in Finnish. Indeed, they were also crossing communicative categories when they wrote down oral tradition. The language boundary would also be crossed in the other direction when this Finnishlanguage oral poetry was subsequently translated into Swedish and German. Much inspiration for this nationally important activity came from abroad, especially, during this period, from Germany and Sweden.19 Sarjala’s list of borders and border crossings find their social and political context in the emergence of Finland as an autonomous entity as one of the end results of the Napoleonic wars. Russia had conquered Finland in 1808 and under the conditions of the Treaty of Fredrikshavn (Hamina in Finnish), the 17 18

19

William Wilson’s Folklore and Nationalism in Modern Finland provides a detailed account of these developments in English. See Sarjala, Turun romantiikka, 152–169. Both “Turku Romantics” and “Turku Romanticists” are used as concepts in English-language literature on the subject: see, for example, Marjanen, “Turku Romanticism”. Sarjala, Turun romantiikka, 153. Two other recent sources on Turku Romanticism are Heli Rantala, “Eurooppalaisia aatteita 1800-luvun alun Turun akatemiassa”; and Asko Nivala “Eurooppalainen romantiikka ja Kalevala”.

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Finnish provinces were detached from the kingdom of Sweden and annexed as an autonomous Grand Duchy to the Tsarist Russian empire. Finland’s new entity as an autonomous country between Sweden and Russia added impetus to the need to achieve a new political and cultural identity. Even though as Tiilikainen writes, “the focal political principles of the Swedish era were handed down in the structures of the administration and legislation that Finland was entitled to maintain,”20 the new situation – under the control of the Russian structure of power that the Finnish nationalists had consented to21 – entailed the severing of many of the cultural and political links that had existed between Finland and Sweden.22 Turku Romanticism as a short-lived activist movement indirectly followed the intellectual tradition of Henrik Gabriel Porthan (1739–1804), Professor of Rhetoric and Rector at the Royal Academy of Turku (Kungliga Akademien i Åbo/ Turun akatemia), but it was more politically and romantically oriented than Porthan’s Neo-Humanistic approach. The most famous member of Turku Romanticism was Adolf Ivar Arwidsson (1791–1858), who was banished from the university in 1822 because of his Romantic Nationalist political activism, the following year moving and then eventually emigrating to Stockholm, Sweden.23 Porthan was the key figure in directing late eighteenth-century academic research into Finland’s history, including work on local history, folk poetry, language, economics, geography, and Finno-Ugrian studies.24 Werner Söderhjelm, who published a book on Turku Romanticism in 1915, contends that Porthan carried out his research approach in a way that hardly corresponds to

20 21 22

23

24

Tiilikainen, Europe and Finland: Defining the Political Identity of Finland in Western Europe, 120. See, for example, Klinge, Från lojalism till rysshat; Liikanen, Fennomania ja kansa; and Tiilikainen, Europe and Finland. The present author has described the political situation and the question of Finnish national identity elsewhere as follows: “Finnish nation building was comprised of actions that were to strengthen the country’s separate identity within the Empire and make its rather abstract nationness more concrete. This concretization included a set of representations that could be jointly labeled national culture and/ or national literature. The role that Finnish-language folk tradition had in this was to provide such representations”: Anttonen, Tradition Through Modernity, 164. For a detailed description of Arwidsson’s activities, see the chapter on Oskar Ranken by Ulrika Wolf-Knuts and Susanne Österlund-Pötzsch elsewhere in this volume. See also the chapters on George Stephens and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius by John Lindow, and Terry Gunnell and Fredrik Skott elsewhere in this volume. Branch, A. J. Sjögren: Studies of the North, 26–27.

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anything else except the work of the Grimm brothers in Germany during the Romantic Nationalistic era several decades later.25 Porthan’s most important work in folk poetry research was De Poësi Fennica (On Finnish Poetry: 1766–1778), which not only presented a thorough analysis of what today would be called vernacular poetics but also approached the documents of oral tradition as sources for the study of ways of life. According to Hannu Riikonen, Porthan had access to ten books and one preface by Herder in the collection at the university, and Herder’s works were referred to in several doctoral dissertations supervised by Porthan.26 According to Riikonen, however, Porthan, who was the older of the two men, was not very enthusiastic about Herder, nor influenced by him.27 Porthan nonetheless had many international contacts and made a five-week trip to Göttingen in 1779, familiarising himself with the research materials on the Nordic and Finno-Ugrian peoples and languages that had been collected by the Professor of History of Eastern Europe in Göttingen, August Ludwig Schlözer (1735–1809). Schlözer was well known for his book Allgemeine Nordische Geschichte (General Northern History) from 1771–1772, and Porthan had followed Schlözer’s lead in his own quest for the study of the origin of the Finnish people.28 In contrast to many previous assumptions, Riikonen concludes that Porthan did not learn about Herder during his trip to Göttingen.29 Indeed, it was not until approximately 15 years later that Herder would first be cited in texts produced by academics in Turku, the first being a dissertation on the development of language by Porthan’s student Frans Mikael Franzén (1772–1847), a work published in two volumes in 1791–1795.30 Werner Söderhjelm characterises Franzén’s dissertation as a typical mixture of Enlightenment philosophy and pre-Romanticism, the first part starting with a motto by Horatius and the second with a quote from Herder.31 Riikonen contends that Franzén, who was Professor of Literary History from 1798 until 1810, after which he moved to Sweden in 1811, was not only the 25 26

27 28 29 30

31

Söderhjelm, Åboromantiken och dess samband med utländska idéströmningar, 61. Riikonen, “J. G. Herderin tuntemus Turun Akatemian piirissä Porthanin ja Franzénin aikana”, 266–268, 270–276, and 283–286. As Riikonen notes here, the books by Herder included the two volumes of Volkslieder. Riikonen, “J. G. Herderin tuntemus Turun Akatemian piirissä Porthanin ja Franzénin aikana”, 289. Sarajas, Suomen kansanrunouden tuntemus 1500–1700-lukujen kirjallisuudessa, 274. Riikonen, “J. G. Herderin tuntemus Turun Akatemian piirissä Porthanin ja Franzénin aikana”, 269. Riikonen, “J. G. Herderin tuntemus Turun Akatemian piirissä Porthanin ja Franzénin aikana”, 270. See also Sarajas, Suomen kansanrunouden tuntemus 1500–1700-lukujen kirjallisuudessa, 300–306. The cited work by Herder was Vom Geist der Ebräischen Poesie. Söderhjelm, Åboromantiken och dess samband med utländska idéströmningar, 82.

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first but also the most significant person in Finland to show influence from Herder.32 One of his most notable contemporaries was Zachris Topelius the elder (1781–1831), whose collection of folk poetry and incantations Suomen Kansan Vanhoja Runoja ynnä myös Nykyisempiä Lauluja (Old Poems of the Finnish People and More Current Songs) published in 1822–1831 would provide a model for Elias Lönnrot, the compiler of the Kalevala epic. Porthan’s student Pehr Johan Alopaeus (1773–1814) went on to work as a teacher at Borgå Gymnasium33 and transmitted Porthan’s admiration for folk poetry to his own students, many of whom themselves became central figures in Turku Romanticism.34 In addition to the aforementioned Arwidsson, the most well-known among these were Abraham Poppius (1793–1866), Carl Axel Gottlund (1796–1875), Anders Johan Sjögren (1794–1855), Axel Gabriel Sjöström (1794–1846), Johan Josef Pippingsköld (1792–1832), and to some extent also Johan Jakob Tengström (1787–1858). In addition to Porthan, the Turku Romanticists were influenced and inspired by an encyclopedic work on folk religion entitled Mythologia Fennica (Finnish Mythology: 1789) by Christfried Ganander (1741–1790); Svenska folkvisor från forntiden (Swedish Folk-Ballads from Antiquity: 1814–1817) by Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783–1847) and Arvid August Afzelius (1785–1871); The Works of Ossian (1765) by James Macpherson (1736–1796); and by Herder’s Adrastea (1801–1803). The Turku Romanticists also had close contact with the Romantic Phosphorist movement in Uppsala, Sweden.35 Indeed, Söderhjelm suggests

32 33

34

35

Riikonen, “J. G. Herderin tuntemus Turun Akatemian piirissä Porthanin ja Franzénin aikana”, 274. See also Sarjala, Turun romantiikka, 155. Borgå Gymnasium was the only gymnasium in Finland at the time. According to Kaisa Häkkinen (“Suomen kielitieteen nousu 1700- ja 1800-lukujen vaihteessa”, 299), it was the next-best school in Finland after the Academy of Turku. Pehr Johan Alopaeus was the son of the school’s rector Magnus Jacob Alopaeus (1743–1818), who was a close friend of Porthan’s: see Häkkinen, “Suomen kielitieteen nousu 1700- ja 1800-lukujen vaihteessa”, 300. This is one of the indirect links between Porthan’s era and the Turku Romanticists. Liisa Castrén, who has written extensively on Arwidsson, contends (albeit rather metaphorically) that there were few personal or institutional connections between Porthan’s era and Turku Romanticism: see Castrén, Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, 269–270. See also Sarjala, Turun romantiikka, 152–162. The so-called “Phosphorists” were a group of extreme Romantics, who were associated with the journal Phosphoros, started in 1810, which preceded Swensk Literatur-Tidning (Swedish Literature News): Eriksson, “Romanticism in Scandinavia”, 179. As discussed by Sarjala (Turun romantiikka, 13–21), Turku Romanticism was not merely characterised by Romanticism and the anti-Enlightenment interest in, for example, medievalism, mythologies and vernacular languages. Porthan’s legacy also pointed towards the con-

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that the Phosphorists’ Polyfem and other periodicals were passed from hand to hand among younger academics in Finland in the early 1810s, reaching, among others Arwidsson, Poppius and Sjögren.36 In around 1815, these publications also reached Gottlund, who was inspired by Sjögren and Poppius to start collecting folklore.37 Sjögren had been strongly inspired by Herder’s Adrastea, which he had read in 1812 and 1813, translating parts of it into his diary, after having obtained it from the Borgå Gymnasium library.38 As Michael Branch writes about Sjögren: “The importance of his reading while still at school in Porvoo [Borgå] was that it made him ready for the Romantic ideas that he was to encounter in Turku when he began his university studies in 1813.”39 According to Pertti Karkama, Sjögren would go on to become the most influential person in the distribution of Herderian thinking in Finland.40 An often-cited narrative, based on Sjögren’s diary entry for 20th April 1814, is that the young Poppius and Sjögren […] shook hands with each other, and swore that we, as much as we could, would follow Herder’s idea to collect and seek out monuments of the spirit of our forefathers, whether this be included in poetry or

36 37 38 39 40

tinuation of Neo-Humanism with an interest in Classical languages and cultures in the German tradition of Bildung and self-cultivation. This Neo-Classical aspect is conspicuously present in the first visual representation of Väinämöinen, the main epic hero of Finnish oral poetry, in the plaster relief made in 1814 by the sculptor Eric Cainberg (1771–1816) which decorates the wall of the Ceremonial Hall in the Old Academy building in Turku. (The building luckily survived the great fire of Turku in 1827.) Originally designed by Porthan’s student Franzén (see above), this is one of the six reliefs that depict the history of Finnish civilisation and the triumph of enlightenment and science. Väinämöinen, in the shape of Orpheus, Apollo and Prometheus, represents the first historical step in the development of Finnish civilisation. See further Stewen, “Unohdetut kuvitelmat Kalevalasta kuvataiteessa”. See also Knif, Bränna vingarna; and Pöykkö, Erik Cainberg ja hänen reliefisarjansa Turun vanhassa akatemiatalossa. Söderhjelm, Åboromantiken och dess samband med utländska idéströmningar, 96–97. Pulkkinen, Vastavirtaan: C.A. Gottlund 1800-luvun suomalaisena toisinajattelijana: psykobiografinen tutkimus, 53–54; and Sarjala, Turun romantiikka, 159. Häkkinen, “Suomen kielitieteen nousu 1700- ja 1800-lukujen vaihteessa”, 301; and Sarjala, Turun romantiikka, 157. Branch, A. J. Sjögren, 36. Karkama, Kadonnutta ihmisyyttä etsimässä, 427. Sjögren became a strategically important figure in supporting ethnographic and linguistic fieldwork by Finnish academics in Russia, and especially the scholarship of the linguist and ethnographer, Matthias Alexander Castrén (1813–1852). Castrén, the first professor of Finnish language at Helsinki, would come to be the most accomplished field researcher among the Finno-Ugric language groups in Russia in the 1840s and early 1850s.

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whatever else, in a word, that we would seek out and collect everything that we could get hold of, folktales and the like, which might serve in some way to be used in the research of our forefathers.41 ([…] låfvade hvarandra med hand och mun att deruti följa Herders idee att vi, så mycket vi åtkomma, samla och uppsöka monumenter af våra förfäders esprit öfverhufvud, detta må då ingå i poesi eller hvad som hälst, med ett ord, att vi uppsöke och samla allt, som vi kunna överkomma, folksagor och dylikt, som kan tjena till att på något sätt användas vid forskningen om våra förfäder.42) The first attempts at folklore collecting were made in 1814 and 1815 by Sjögren, Poppius, Gottlund and Arwidsson, who were later joined by Reinhold von Becker (1788–1858), who became Lönnrot’s teacher. Lönnrot’s collecting trips would, of course, become highly significant, while the collecting and publication achievements of the aforementioned Turku Romanticists remained, as Sarjala argues, rather low in terms of both quantity and esteem.43

41

42

43

Another important call for action in the collection and study of Finnish-language folklore was Johan Jakob Tengström’s Hegelian-oriented essay, “Om några hinder för Finlands litteratur och cultur” (On Certain Obstacles to Finnish Literature and Culture), published in the Turku Romanticists’ journal Aura in 1817 and 1818: see Tengström, “Muutamista Suomen kirjallisuuden ja kulttuurin esteistä”. Tengström’s patriotic and anti-Enlightenment approach promoted the idea that the Finns, meaning all speakers of Finnish, formed a nation on the basis of their language and character. However, he did not see how they could ever constitute an independent state since they lacked self-awareness, something that represented the greatest theoretical and philosophical challenge for any people or individual. The debate that followed mainly concerned the status of the Finnish language: see, for example, Castrén, Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, 257–269. Sjögren, Allmänna Ephemerider, 1478. See also Wilson, Folklore and Nationalism in Modern Finland, 3. See also Häkkinen, “Suomen kielitieteen nousu 1700- ja 1800-lukujen vaihteessa”, 303, and 486, note 26; Branch, “Herderin vaikutus Anders Johan Sjögreniin ja sen seuraukset”, 330–331; Laine, Suutarinpojasta Venäjän tiedeakatemian akateemikoksi, 13; Anttila, Elias Lönnrot, elämä ja toiminta, 78; and Karhu, Kansakuntaa luomassa, 60–61. Sarjala, Turun romantiikka, 157–162. Liisa Castrén has carefully examined Arwidsson’s collecting activities. As she shows, the first indications of Arwidsson’s interest in obtaining mythological folk poetry (runo songs) are from 1815, more specifically from his friend Eric Anders Crohns (1785–1865), the intention being to translate them into Swedish. In 1816, Crohns and Arwidsson also discussed the possibility of obtaining Karelian fairy tales for inclusion in the Asarne epic (1816–1833) that was being written by the Swedish poet Pehr Henrik Ling (1776–1839). In 1816, Arwidsson also obtained folklore materials through correspondence with his and Crohns’ student friend from the Borgå Gymnasium, Karl Gabriel Lyra (1786–1872), who had either collected them himself or obtained them from

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The work was not completely without its highlights, however. One of the key events in the Turku–Uppsala folklore connection was inspired by the Swedish translation of Finland und seine Bewohner (Finland and its Inhabitants), written by the German professor of history at the University of Greifswald, Friedrich Rühs (1781–1820).44 The book was published in Greifswald in 1809 and appeared in Swedish translation45 under the title of Finland och dess invånare in 1811–1813.46 The Swedish literary magazine Swensk LiteraturTidning (see above) asked C. A. Gottlund, who was a student at Uppsala at the time, to write a review. The book contained a treatise on Finnish mythology, and it was in this review, published in 1817, that Gottlund would make his famous proposal for a Finnish-language epic compilation that would resemble the Homeric epics, the Works of Ossian, and the Nibelungenlied.47 As is also well known, Elias Lönnrot, who himself became a student in Turku in 1822, would fulfil this expectation with the Kalevala epic in 1835, albeit without giving Gottlund any credit for having had the original idea.48 As Sarjala points out, the Turku Romanticists did not produce any substantial folklore collection or publication of their own, but instead put a great deal of effort into lending a hand with a publication by the young German scholar Hans Rudolph von Schröter (1798–1842), who had been a student of Friedrich Rühs. Von Schröter was in Uppsala carrying out research into the ancient times of the north.49 He was also translating Geijer and Afzelius’ Svenska folk-visor från forntiden into German, and after learning about Finnish folklore from the

44

45 46

47 48 49

other providers. These materials included incantations and spells, runo songs, proverbs, riddles, fairy tales and four legends: see Castrén, Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, 269–274. In 1819, Arwidsson made a collecting trip of his own and, largely together with Crohns, obtained approximately 145 runo songs. He translated some of these into Swedish, publishing them in the Turku Romanticists’ Swedish-language journal Mnemosyne. In 1836, these materials were donated to the Finnish Literature Society. Castrén writes in passing that the material included “a few legends and fairy tales” (“Tarinoita ja satuja on eräitä”): Castrén, Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, 283. Rühs was a student of August Ludwig Schlözer (1735–1809), whom Porthan had visited when in Göttingen in 1779: Sarajas, Suomen kansanrunouden tuntemus 1500–1700-lukujen kirjallisuudessa, 308. The translator’s name is given as “R-d”. The second edition, published in 1827, would be translated and expanded by Adolf Ivar Arwidsson. According to Johanna Wassholm, Rühs’ book in Swedish translation was the most read overview of the history of Finland at the beginning of the nineteenth century in Finland: Wassholm, Svenskt, finskt och ryskt, 104, and 204. See Gottlund, Review of Rühs, Finland och dess invånare, 394. For the recent debate on this question, see Anttonen, “The Kalevala and the Authenticity Debate”, 57–58. Söderhjelm, Åboromantiken och dess samband med utländska idéströmningar, 151.

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Turku Romanticists who were in town, such as Gottlund, Poppius and Germund Fredrik Aminoff (1796–1876), he wanted to translate Finnish folk poetry as well. A number of Finnish folklore enthusiasts in both Uppsala and Turku provided him with a number of folkloric texts that they first translated into Swedish prose,50 along with some previously published scholarly materials.51 As Sarjala notes, the resulting book received a great deal of attention, but the fact that von Schröter failed to mention those who had assisted him meant that the Turku Romanticists lost a valuable chance to make themselves internationally known.52 This collection of approximately 30 epic and mythical folk poems, incantations and lyrical songs in both Finnish and German was published as Finnische Runen (Finnish Runo Songs) in 1819 (second edition in 1834). Soon after its publication it became a Romanticist showcase of Finnish folklore on the larger European stage. As Pirkko Alhoniemi has noted, von Schröter’s “little book dealing with the nature of the Finnish language, poetry and the places where the poems had been found […] meant that the Germans were introduced to the heroic figure Väinämöinen at about the very time that he was being written about, partly in poetry, partly in prose, in Finnish and Swedish by such men as Jaakko Juteini [1781–1855], C. A. Gottlund, Reinhold von Becker and A. I. Arwidsson.”53 As the Russian Karelian scholar Eino Karhu points out, the Finnish-Karelian runo songs thus first entered European consciousness in the shape of German translations.54 50 51 52

53

54

Söderhjelm, Åboromantiken och dess samband med utländska idéströmningar, 152. See Sarjala, Turun romantiikka, 162–169. Sarjala, Turun romantiikka, 165. Somewhat similarly, but with more nationalistic sentiment, Liisa Castrén comments that von Schröter was a foreigner who had completed a task that should have been carried out by someone from Finland: Castrén, Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, 274. In his study of Finnish language and literature, Sjögren nonetheless does some advertising: “We remind the reader of the astute Dane R. Rask and the German H. von Schröter, who during his stay in Upsala, with the help of some hopeful young Finns who were studying there, prompted and supported the learned world in such a glorious way for the first time as a surprising way to get acquainted with the north’s own new source of song.” (“Wir erinnern den Leser an den scharfsinnigen Dänen R. Rask und den Deutschen H. von Schröter, der, während seines Aufenthaltes in Upsala, durch dort studirende, hoffnungsvolle, junge Finnen veranlasst und unterstützt, die gelehrte Welt zum ersten Male auf eine so rühmliche als überraschende Weise, mit einer eigenen, neuen Liederquelle des Nordens bekannt gemacht hat”: Sjögren, Ueber die finnische Sprache und ihre Literatur, 3–4.) Alhoniemi, “The Reception of the Kalevala and Its Impact on the Arts”, 234. See also Alhoniemi, Isänmaan korkeat veisut. Turun ja Helsingin romantiikan runouden patrioottiset ja kansalliset motiivipiirit, 57. Karhu, Kansakuntaa luomassa, 63.

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The publication and reception of Finnische Runen points to two interrelated general features of folklore activities in Finland at the time. First of all, folklore was being collected in order to provide material for published collections, which in turn inspired further collecting and further published collections. In addition to Arwidsson and Eric Anders Crohns (see note 43), Reinhold von Becker was inspired by von Schröter’s book to go collecting folk poems, something that was directly consequential to the emergence of an idea in Lönnrot’s mind of an epic that centred around the figure of Väinämöinen.55 Secondly, it is clear that the published collections were useful in establishing communication between colleagues in international networks, inspiring new research. According to the music scholar and professor Otto Andersson (1879–1969), Johan Josef Pippingsköld (see above) was von Schröter’s closest collaborator in Uppsala,56 and he sent a copy of Finnische Runen to Jacob Grimm.57 According to Erich Kunze, Grimm got hold of this book in December 1819, and from this time on, Finnish mythology and folk poetry would increasingly captivate him.58 Indeed, Grimm wrote a review of Sjögren’s study Ueber die finnische Sprache und ihre Literatur (On the Finnish Language and Its Literature: 1821) in Göttingische Gelehrte Anzeigen in 1822.59 Grimm would go on to be in correspondence with selected individuals in Finland in the 1820s and the 1840s, 1850s and 1860s.60 By the 1820s, the Grimms’ collections of fairy tales and legends had already appeared, and as this volume shows, during the next decade, these works were being followed up by the first collections of folk legends by J. M. Thiele 55

56 57 58

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Söderhjelm, Åboromantiken och dess samband med utländska idéströmningar, 153. Söderhjelm remarks: “We can see how the link joins the chain!” (“Vi se, huru i kedjan länk sluter sig till länk!”). Andersson, “Upprepning och parallelism”, 193. Andersson, Johan Josef Pippingsköld och musiklivet i Åbo 1808–1827, 87. See Kunze, Jacob Grimm und Finnland, 7. According to Kunze, Jacob Grimm’s curiosity with regard to the Finnish language was first aroused by Mithridates, oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde (Mithridates, or General Linguistics: 1809) by Johann Christoph Adelung (1732–1806), and Undersøgelse om det gamle Nordiske eller Islandske Sprogs Oprindelse (Investigation of the Origin of the Old Norse or Icelandic Language: 1818) by Rasmus Rask (1787–1832). Kunze writes elsewhere (in “Kalevalan vaikutus Jacob Grimmiin”, 58–59) that in addition to von Schröter’s Finnische Runen, Grimm was also familiar with Porthan’s De Poësi Fennica, Ganander’s Mythologia Fennica, and the dissertation by Christian Lencqvist (1761–1808), De superstitione veterum Fennorum theoretica et practica (The Ancient Superstitions of the Finns in Theory and Practice: 1782). See Grimm, Jacob, “Über die finnische sprache und ihre literature”. See Kunze, Jacob Grimm und Finnland, in which Grimm’s correspondence with individuals in Finland is listed and printed on pages 105–116. Most of the letters are from the 1840s and 1850s. Some are lost.

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(1795–1874) in Denmark (1817, 1818–23), Andreas Faye (1802–1869) in Norway (1833) and Thomas Crofton Croker (1798–1854) in Ireland (1825–28). Little attention seems to have been paid to this work in Finland.61 As noted above, the Romanticists in Turku were certainly aware of the Grimms, but very little information is available as to what extent the Finnish Romanticists were reading the Grimms’ publications in the 1810s and 1820s, and to how much the Turku Romanticists saw their own interests in folklore collecting in Finland as being linked to the simultaneous activities of the Grimms in Germany.62 Werner Söderhjelm’s above-mentioned comparison of Porthan’s significance in his time to the significance of the Grimms in their time is quite exceptional in the Finnish context, even if it represents an insight from one hundred years later. The literary scholar, Annamari Sarajas (1923–1985), concludes in her 1956 doctoral dissertation Suomen kansanrunouden tuntemus 1500–1700-lukujen kirjallisuudessa (Knowledge of Finnish Folk Poetry in Sixteenth to Eighteenth Century Literature) that the interest in folklore in the 1810s in Turku was strengthened by the influence of German and Scandinavian Romanticism, such as Herder’s works and Geijer and Afzelius’ Svenska folk-visor från forntiden. Yet, instead of seeing this as a game changer, she emphasises that the earlier-noted vow made by Poppius and Sjögren represents essentially a consolidation of Porthan’s program to collect monuments of the spirit of the forefathers in all forms of its manifestation.63 Although the scope of Sarajas’ research ends at the end of the eighteenth century and therefore does not cover the time of the Grimms, it is evident that her narrative prioritises the centuries old history of folklore documentation in Finland. 61

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See further the chapters on the Grimms, Thiele, Faye and Croker by Holger Ehrhardt, Timothy R. Tangherlini, Herleik Baklid, and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne Almqvist elsewhere in this volume. In addition to personal contacts, such as those between Pippingsköld and Jacob Grimm, other sporadic links are known to have existed. In the December 1821 issue of the Turku Romanticists’ journal Mnemosyne, one finds F. A. Meyer’s bookstore in Turku advertising the availability of Deutsche Sagen from 1815: see Intelligens-blad till Mnemosyne 6, 22. From 1834, a list of books, musical scores, maps, and so on previously owned by the late F. A. Meyer (1771–1831) which were to be sold at an auction includes a copy of the two volumes of Deutsche Sagen: see Förteckning öfver en del af aflidne lectoren Fr. A. Meijers efterlemnade boklager. Discussing black magic among the Finnish people in his 1834 publication dealing with the Roman historian Tacitus and his descriptions of the Germanic peoples, C. A. Gottlund makes a reference to “Huldufolk” (lit. hidden people: nature spirits) in Nordic mythology in which he refers to Deutsche Sagen as his source of information regarding the German mythical figure, Frau Holla: see Gottlund, Försök att förklara Caj. Corn. Taciti omdömen öfver Finnarne, 50. Sarajas, Suomen kansanrunouden tuntemus 1500–1700-lukujen kirjallisuudessa, 308–309.

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The Quest for Prose Narratives

Turku Romanticism was succeeded64 by “Helsinki Romanticism” and, among other things, the establishment in 1831 of the Finnish Literature Society for the support of Finnish-language literature and folklore collecting. As has been shown above, Jacob Grimm’s name and that of his brother Wilhelm, had only rarely appeared in the context of Turku Romanticism, but Jacob’s name would become critically important in Finnish educated circles after the publication of the second edition of his Deutsche Mythologie in 1844 (the first edition having been published in 1835), in which Grimm discusses the epic myths of the Kalevala alongside Greek and Teutonic myths and tales.65 In March 1845, Grimm gave a public lecture on the Kalevala at the Berlin Academy of Sciences (Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften). This was published as “Über das finnische epos” (On the Finnish Epic) in Germany in Hoefers Zeitschrift für die Wissenschaft der Sprache in 1846,66 and in Finland in Swedish translation as “Om det Finska Epos” (On the Finnish Epic) in 1845. The attention given to the Kalevala by Jacob Grimm, now an internationally acclaimed scholar in historical-comparative linguistics, would repeatedly be mentioned and discussed in both scholarly and popular literature on the Kalevala. As before, little was said in this period about the brothers’ collections of fairy tales or legends, or the other collections that were appearing elsewhere in northern Europe.

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There was actually no direct continuation between the two, since the literary and philosophical interests in the new university environment in Helsinki tended to be more strongly Neo-Humanistic and Hegelian rather than drawing on German Romanticism: see, for example, Sarjala, Turun romantiikka, 13–18. Juha Manninen, in “Uudestisyntynyt Aura?”, 25, argues that the Turku Romanticists became outsiders in the national questions that emerged after the 1830s in Helsinki. M. A. Castrén was one of those scholars most strongly influenced by Jacob Grimm, and especially by the second edition of Deutsche Mythologie (1844). In their extensive introductory article to the Finnish translation of Castrén’s Föreläsningar i finsk mytologi (Lectures in Finnish Mythology, 1851) from 2016, Joonas Ahola and Karina Lukin provide various insights into the links between Grimm’s views on comparative mythology and comparative linguistics and those of Castrén. Indeed, as Ahola and Lukin point out (in “Matthias Alexander Castrénin suomalaisen mytologian taustoja”, 49), Castrén cites Grimm often in his text. All in all, for Castrén, Deutsche Mythologie appears to have constituted a model not only with regard to methodological premises but also in terms of the structure and organisation of his lectures. On the similar influences of Deutsche Mythologie in Estonia and Sweden, see further the chapters on Estonia and the work of Hyltén-Cavallius by Liina Lukas, and Terry Gunnell and Fredrik Skott elsewhere in this volume. See Jacob Grimm, “Über das finnische epos.”

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It should suffice to say here that the general attention given to Jacob Grimm in Finland at this time in the context of the Kalevala has since been met with both applause and sarcasm. William Wilson, an expert on nationalism in Finnish folklore studies, comments that: “When the famous German philologist and folktale scholar Jacob Grimm lectured on and praised the Kalevala, the Finns, who have always sought the praise of foreigners, found further justification for their rising self-esteem.”67 A similar comment is made by Pertti Karkama who, while stating that Grimm’s essay was neither very significant nor original, notes that, as is often the case in Finland, the foreign dignitary’s laudatory remark appears to have aroused national enthusiasm. In short, it was taken as proof that the Finns were now being acknowledged as an equal member in the family of nations in Europe.68 From another perspective, it was nonetheless evident that Finland was behind in the Grimm-inspired cultural wave that had taken place with regard to folk narrative research and collection. Even though the Turku Romanticism of the early nineteenth century was critically important for the upsurge of oral poetry documentation and in the planning and processing of the national epic, it does not appear to have inspired much activity in the research or documentation of oral prose narratives, such as legends. Several fairy tales and legends were nonetheless recorded in the 1810s by Arwidsson, Sjögren and Gottlund. According to Pirkko-Liisa Rausmaa, half of the 18 folktales found in Sjögren’s collection, possibly recorded in 1816 or 1822, are legends, while Gottlund’s early collection from 1815–1817 contains a total of 26 fairy tales.69 After central parts of the town of Turku burned down in September 1827, including the university’s library and its many folklore collections, the university was relocated to Helsinki. The first major collection of fairy tales was made in 1836 by the student Johan Fredrik Cajan (1815–1887) on a collecting trip with Lönnrot to Finnish and Russian Karelia. This was Lönnrot’s seventh folklore collecting trip, and what is reported as having been collected by the two men is not perfectly clear in terms of genre categorisation. According to Pirkko-Liisa Rausmaa, Lönnrot and Cajan recorded a number of what Rausmaa calls “satu” (fairy tales). She nonetheless quotes Lönnrot describing in three separate letters how he had encountered an endless number of “saarna” (lit. sermons, which he says was the local term for legend) while recording 25 Finnish fairy 67 68 69

Wilson, “Sibelius, the Kalevala, and Karelianism”, 131; see also Wilson, Folklore and Nationalism in Modern Finland, 43. Karkama, Kansakunnan asialla. Elias Lönnrot ja ajan aatteet, 310. Rausmaa, “Kansansatujen keruu, julkaisu ja tutkimus Suomessa”, 13.

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tales word for word.70 The key question is: did he collect legends or fairy tales or both? Or something that was difficult to categorise as being one or the other? Lönnrot’s use of the local term for legend certainly serves as an indication of his awareness of the legend as a specific genre. Indeed, in a letter to a colleague from March 1835, he writes about his extensive plans to collect folklore in all Finnish speaking areas in Finland and Russia, listing his interests and marking each of them specially with the use of capitalisation: “Poems, Songs, Fairy Tales, Legends, Words, Proverbs, [and] all sorts of other lore about the country, customs, life etc” (“Runoja, Lauluja, Satuja, Tarinoita, Sanoja, Sananparsia, Kaikenlaisia muita tietoja maasta, tavoista, elämästä jne”71). Rausmaa writes that Lönnrot states in his travel account that he collected approximately 80 fairy tales, but only 51 of these can be found in the Folklore Archive of the Finnish Literature Society, which means that some of them are missing. Rausmaa also quotes Lönnrot as saying that fairy tales are everywhere, and require their own collectors, noting that unlike the old folk poems, which are more easily forgotten, the kind of legends that he had encountered are not in danger of extinction, meaning that their collection is less important.72 Interestingly enough, Lönnrot writes in his original travel report, dated 70 71 72

Rausmaa, “Kansansatujen keruu, julkaisu ja tutkimus Suomessa”, 13–14. Lönnrot, Valitut teokset 1. Kirjeet, 96. Rausmaa, “Kansansatujen keruu, julkaisu ja tutkimus Suomessa”, 14–15. The emphases in the collection are clearly seen in Lönnrot’s original travel report in which he writes: “Sayings, riddles and fairy tales can be found all over the place, fairy tales especially in Russian Karelia and the parishes around Sordavala. […] I had hoped in vain on this trip to make an almost complete collection of the various products of Finnish poesie, sayings, and riddles, especially from the common people of Karelia. Only about half of this still lives in the memory of the people, from whom it can be recorded, otherwise it will disappear for eternity. The danger of sayings, riddles and stories becoming lost is not as great as it is in the case of the runo songs; in the case of the former, these memories are not replaced by anything else from outside, whereas the latter are under attack from the half-Russian, half-Swedish or other new verses. One therefore hopes that the Society will continue to take care of their collection, something which should be made easier by the fact that there is time for the material that has been recorded to be organised and published.” (“Ordspråk, gåtor och sagor funnos överallt, sagor dock företrädesvis i ryska Karelen och i socknarne omkring Sordavala. […] Fåfängt var mitt hopp att under denna resa få, helst hos den karelska allmogen, finska poesiens alster, ordspråk, gåtor m.m. något så när fullständigt samlade. Väl hälften torde ännu lefva endast i folkets minne, tills den framledes hinner upptecknas eller för alltid försvinner. Med ordspråkens, gåtornas och sagornas bortglömmande är faran ej så stor, som med de gamla runornes; ty för de förra får minnet ej utifrån någon sådan ersättning, som för de sednare, hvilka allt mer och mer tillbakaträngas af de halvryska eller halfsvenska eller andra nyare visor. Derföre vore önskligt, att Sällskapet äfven framdeles droge försorg om deras samlande, hvilket ock… torde blifva lättare, sedan de förut upptecknade hunnit bringas i någon ordning och utgifvas genom trycket”: Lönnrot, “Seitsemäs matka 1836–1837”, 133.)

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8th March 1838, that he collected 80 “so-called legends” (“s.k. tarinoita”), using the Finnish terms “kasku” and “saarna” in brackets as explanations. This information forms part of a list of collected materials, organised according to genre. The other genres mentioned beside legends include different kinds of runo songs, proverbs, riddles, and speech and dialect remarks.73 It is noteworthy that Lönnrot’s comments on the abundance of fairy tales is included in the paragraph dealing with speech and dialect remarks, rather than that dealing with legends. All the same, it is evident that the Finnish Literature Society had had an early plan to publish a collection of folktales. This meant the materials collected by Cajan in 1836, since, according to Rausmaa, the Society had no other folktale collections in its possession at the time.74 As Rausmaa notes, the collections were not made with research in mind, the purpose being to organise the collected materials and publish them. According to Rausmaa, Cajan’s collection consisted of, among other things, 21 fairy tales. He appears to have planned to make a publication of his own, and even started to write a preface that was dated 11th March 1841. This apparently unfinished preface contains a listing of locations where the collecting took place, discussion of the differences between the fairy tale and the fable, and an examination of language and dialect in the tales.75 One notes that Jouko Hautala, the research historian par excellance in Finnish folklore studies, describes the development of prose narrative collecting in Finland in this period from a conspicuously fairy tale perspective. Making a reference to the Finnish Literature Society’s early plan to collect folktales (meaning fairy tales), Hautala states (like Simonsuuri: see above) that it was some time before anyone in Finland paid attention to legends as a specific folklore genre.76 Hautala sees the Literature Society’s interest in collecting fairy tales as being in direct connection with the enthusiastic fairy tale collecting that was beginning to occur in other countries. Here he lists the Grimms’ collection from 1812–1815 as well as the collection from 1841–1844 by Asbjørnsen and Moe in Norway, and that from 1844–1849 by Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens in Sweden, “to mention only a couple of examples.”77 Apart from

73 74 75 76 77

Lönnrot, “Seitsemäs matka 1836–1837”, 133. Rausmaa, “Kansansatujen keruu, julkaisu ja tutkimus Suomessa”, 16. Rausmaa, “Kansansatujen keruu, julkaisu ja tutkimus Suomessa”, 17. In English translation, “legends, as a special kind of tradition did not of course manage to attract attention for a long time”: Hautala, Finnish Folklore Research 1828–1918, 55. Hautala, Finnish Folklore Research 1828–1918, 55, and Suomalainen kansanrunoudentutkimus, 164. Another work from this period that is worth noting in this context is Udvalgte Eventyr og Fortællinger (A Selection of Fairy Tales and Narratives), by Christian

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Figure 16.1

Drawing of Eric Rudbeck by Carl Eneas Sjöstrand

the Grimms’ publications, all of these works were nonetheless published after Cajan collected his material. In 1844, M. A. Castrén opened up a new initiative aimed at the publication of folktales, essentially for the purpose of having Cajan’s materials published. The Literature Society offered the task first to Lönnrot, then to Cajan himself, then to the active collector D. E. D. Europaeus (1820–1884), and finally to Erik Rudbeck (1830–1867: see fig. 16.1), who was Castrén’s young student and had a growing reputation. Martti Haavio (1899–1973), the first director of the Finnish Literature Society’s Folklore Archive, recounts in 1955 how the 19-year-old Rudbeck, together with his slightly older student companion Albin Rothman (1823–1890), set out for a collecting trip to central Finland in 1850, coming back to Helsinki with a total of 58 fairy tales, eleven stories and “a whole bunch of other folklore” (“koko joukon muuta kansanperinneainesta”78). The Literature

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Molbech (1783–1857), published in Denmark in 1843. See further the chapter on Thiele by Timothy R. Tangherlini, and that on Hyltén-Cavallius by Terry Gunnell and Fredrik Skott elsewhere in this volume. Haavio, “Eero Salmelainen”, vi. Pirkko-Liisa Rausmaa writes in the online Finnish National Biography (Kansallisbiografia-verkkojulkaisu) that Rudbeck and Rothman came back with 72 summaries of folktales, plus songs, riddles and proverbs: Rausmaa, “Salmelainen, Eero”.

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Figure 16.2 Erik Rudbeck (Eero Salmelainen): Suomen kansan satuja ja tarinoita, vol. I (1852). Title page

Society regarded the results as being of high quality and thus offered Rudbeck the long-planned task of editing a folktale collection, which, according to Haavio, had been “rejected by Lönnrot, neglected by Cajan and possibly forgotten by Europaeus.”79 Working now under the pseudonym of Eero Salmelainen, Rudbeck went on to publish the first volume of Suomen kansan satuja ja tarinoita (The Fairy Tales and Legends of the Finnish People) in 1852 (see fig. 16.2), the fourth and final volume appearing in 1866. Rudbeck (regularly identified in Finnish scholarly and popular references as Salmelainen, sometimes Rudbeck-Salmelainen) consequently became the first designated folktale scholar in Finland, someone commonly characterised as following the Grimms closely, not only in terms of making a folktale

79

Haavio, “Eero Salmelainen”, vi.

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collection but also in terms of folklore theory,80 and the use of a literary style for the presentation and representation of folktales.81 Haavio portrays him as an exceptionally skilful user of prose who narrates the folktales in his own distinctive and artistic style, thereby turning folktales into “Salmelainen’s tales” (“Salmelaisen satuja”).82 Offering Rudbeck much praise, Haavio explicitly contrasts him with the Grimms, at the expense of the latter: “He invaded the world of fairy tales with the Brothers Grimm as his closest guides. But while these were chamber scholars, mythologists and linguists, Salmelainen was deeply acquainted with living folk tradition and was an innovative poet” (“Hän tunkeutui satujen maailmaan lähimpinä oppainaan Grimmin veljekset. Mutta kun nämä olivat kamarioppineita, mytologeja ja kielimiehiä, Salmelainen oli syvästi perehtynyt elävään kansanperinteeseen ja oli uutta luova runoilija”83). Haavio also claims that Rudbeck’s collection was “incomparably superior” (“verrattomasti etevämpi”) to its model, the Grimm’s collection: “Where the Grimm brothers’ tales cosily twinkle and warm, Salmelainen’s tales flame and blaze” (“Missä Grimmin veljesten sadut kodikkaasti tuikkivat ja lämmittävät, siinä Salmelaisen sadut liekehtivät ja leimuavat”84).

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According to Hautala, Rudbeck, following Grimm, “asserts that folktales are the last echoes of the age-old myths spread over Europe in ancient times, the similarities they have among different nations being caused by a common origin”: Hautala, Finnish Folklore Research 1828–1918, 56. According to Apo, none of the editors of the classical fairy tale collections published accurate recordings of the narrators’ performances, but instead, turned them into a more literary shape (see further the other chapters in this volume). Apo mentions in this context the work of Peter Chr. Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe, noting that Rudbeck (Salmelainen) followed the example of both the Grimms and his Scandinavian colleagues, but unlike them, selected a single folktale recording as the foundation for his text, without mixing in motifs from other versions: Apo, Ihmesatujen historia, 59–60. Rausmaa, in “Kansansatujen keruu, julkaisu ja tutkimus Suomessa”, 29–31, is more precise in this regard, emphasising that Rudbeck changed both language and style in order to both expand and standardise his texts, stressing that in the first volume of his collection, at least 22 texts out of 27 were based on only one version. It is worth noting that in its meeting in December 1879, the Finnish Literature Society voted in favour of a new folktale collection because Rudbeck’s collection was not considered to be scientific enough, due to its compilations and stylisations: Rausmaa, “Kansansatujen keruu, julkaisu ja tutkimus Suomessa”, 33. Haavio, “Eero Salmelainen”, vii. It might be noted that Urpo Vento, the long-term Secretary General of the Literature Society characterises Rudbeck as a “pioneer folklorist and writer […], whose anthology of folktales in the 1860s stood as a model for future Finnish prose writers”: Vento, “The Folklore Activities of the Finnish Literature Society”, 5. Haavio, “Eero Salmelainen”, vii. Haavio, “Eero Salmelainen”, xiii.

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After publishing the first volume of his collection, Rudbeck completed an article-length study entitled “Försök att antyda folkäfventyrets egendomliga karaktär” (An Attempt to Explain the Nature of the Fairy Tale) in 1854.85 This repeated some of the contents of his introduction to the aforementioned collection and antedates some of the main points made in his 70-page dissertation entitled Om Finnarnes Folkdikt i obunden berättande form (On Finnish Folklore in Prose Form), presented to the Historical-Philological Faculty of the Imperial Alexander University in Helsinki (now the University of Helsinki) in November 1857.86 This work, supervised and pre-examined by Elias Lönnrot, and, according to Satu Apo, the first doctoral dissertation on folktales to be written in the Nordic countries,87 turned out to have tragic consequences for Rudbeck. Hautala writes that while Rudbeck’s thesis “can be considered quite satisfactory […] and even as showing an amount of knowledge worthy of respect,”88 Rudbeck found himself accused of plagiarism, the thesis being rejected by the faculty on the basis of the report by the official opponent, Carl Gustav Borg (1823–1895).89 In his biography of Elias Lönnrot, Aarne Anttila writes that Borg demonstrated how approximately one fourth of the thesis had been previously published by Rudbeck himself, as well as borrowing from the work of Asbjørnsen and Moe, and that by Grimm without using any quotation marks or giving references.90 Hautala recounts this accusation as follows:

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The article is available online at https://digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi/aikakausi/binding/101844 ?page=1. The title page says “Akademisk Afhandling” (Academic Dissertation) and accordingly, most sources refer to this as a doctoral dissertation. However, Bleckwenn and Kauppala, in “Die Sammlung Eero Salmelainen” refer to it as a Licentiate thesis, and the same applies to the University of Helsinki records of the defence of the dissertation, published in Professor J. V. Snellman’s Kootut teokset, XI, 31–33. Apo, Ihmesatujen historia, 259. Hautala, Finnish Folklore Research 1828–1918, 56. Borg was a lifetime friend and co-operative of Lönnrot: see Anttila, Elias Lönnrot, elämä ja toiminta. He became a lecturer in Finnish language in 1854, and by then, had, among other things, translated parts of the Kalevala into Swedish, and some of the Grimms’ tales into Finnish, published a scholarly biography of Castrén in 1853, as well as editing (also in 1853) Castrén’s lectures for a volume entitled Föreläsningar i Finsk mytologi (Lectures on Finnish Mythology), which was translated into Finnish in 2016. Borg was also the opponent of the first Finnish-language dissertation defence by Rietrikki Polén (1823–1884), held on 1st May 1858. According to Kai Laitinen in his entry on Polén in the online National Biography, Borg was also critical here: see Laitinen, “Polén, Rietrikki”. Anttila, Elias Lönnrot, elämä ja toiminta, 398. Pekka Laaksonen has examined the university documents concerning the incident and writes that just under one third of the

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When Salmelainen was writing the work he had absorbed some of the opinions contained in the source literature so completely that he was no longer able to differentiate between them and his own, and therefore, not being used to scholarly exposition, he used numerous quotations in his work without giving sources.91 The rejection of the thesis led to Rudbeck retiring from scholarly work, apart from publishing two more volumes of Suomen kansan satuja ja tarinoita, the third in 1863 and the fourth in 1866. According to Haavio, Hautala and a number of other commentators, the rejection of the thesis led to Rudbeck’s premature death.92

5

Rudbeck’s Legacy

Although Rudbeck met with an untimely demise, his collection of folktales survives to this day as a highly popular publication, and regardless of the question of plagiarism, his dissertation continues to be available in international distribution. Indeed, the dissertation makes some highly relevant points for the discussion that is underway in the present volume, if not directly in connection with Deutsche Sagen, then at least with regard to the relationship between the fairy tale and the legend in Finland at the time in question. As noted above, Hautala, when commenting on the Finnish Literature Society’s early plan to collect folktales, notes that “legends, as a special kind of tradition did not of course manage to attract attention for a long time.”93 Indeed,

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dissertation is plagiarised. According to Laaksonen, Rudbeck cites material taken from Molbech and the Grimm brothers without reference. What Borg, according to Laaksonen, regards as being worst is that one chapter in the dissertation is simply a translation of Jørgen Moe’s detailed introduction to his and Asbjørnsen’s revised collection from 1852, while another short section on the essence of animal tales plagiarises a work published by Jacob Grimm in 1834: Laaksonen, “Eero Salmelaisen väitöskirjan kohtalo”, 301; see also Haavio, “Eero Salmelainen”, x–xi. On Moe’s introduction, see further Gunnell, “Daisies Rise to Become Oaks”. Hautala, Finnish Folklore Research 1828–1918, 56. Hautala, Finnish Folklore Research 1828–1918, 54–56, and 62–63. Pekka Laaksonen refers to a group of narratives distributed among Finnish folklore scholars in which Rudbeck is initially presented as a highly admired scholar and personality, but after the unfortunate turn of events at the defence of his dissertation, ends up being described as an alcoholic who rejects his family, friends and colleagues: Laaksonen, “Eero Salmelaisen väitöskirjan kohtalo”, 298–299. See also Haltsonen, Eero Salmelainen. Elämäkerrallisia piirteitä. Hautala, Finnish Folklore Research 1828–1918, 55.

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as he points out with regard to Rudbeck’s published collection, the four volumes “consist entirely of folktales (Märchen), in spite of the name of the work; the concept of the legend (Sage) had not been clarified at the time.”94 The idea that the concept of the legend had not been clarified at the time sounds rather peculiar in light of the fact pointed out, for example, by Joep Leerssen in his chapter elsewhere in this volume, that in their publication of the first volume of Deutsche Sagen in 1816, the Grimms “clearly distinguish [the Sagen/ legend] by the specificity of its location.” Leerssen calls this “topographical anchoring”. As noted above, Rudbeck was known specifically for following the scholarship and publications of the Grimms, so one would expect him to be well aware of this work. Hautala is not alone in his thinking that legends were regarded as being undistinguishable from fairy tales in nineteenth-century Finland: According to Lauri Simonsuuri, Rudbeck’s collection of Finnish folktales, which, in spite of the promise of its title does not contain any legends, serves as proof that the Finnish word tarina (legend) or kansantarina (folk legend) “was generally known as meaning “fairy tale” (“kannte man im allgemeinen in der Bedeutung, ‚Märchen‘”95). According to Simonsuuri, Kaarle Krohn (1863–1933) was the first person to define legends (Volkssagen) as being representations that tell of historical or assumed historical events involving named persons.96 Indeed, in the introduction to Krohn’s dissertation, folk narratives are divided into three categories: mythological tales (kansantaru), folk legends (kansantarina) and fairy tales (kansansatu). Folk legends, according to Krohn, recount historical or presumedly historical incidents involving named persons which take place at a given point of time in a given place, meaning that they are often referred to as heroic or local legends.97 The notion of the legend as having been an unknown category in Finland during the period in question has also been expressed by Lauri Honko (1932–2002), the most well-known and influential Finnish folklorist in the latter part of the twentieth century. Honko was especially interested in the question of genre, and in his article on genre analysis, published in Finnish in 1967, Honko sees the differentiation between the folktale, myth and legend 94 95 96 97

Hautala, Finnish Folklore Research 1828–1918, 55; see also Hautala, Suomalainen kansanrunoudentutkimus, 165. Simonsuuri, Typen- und Motivverzeichnis der Finnischen Mythischen Sagen, 14–15. Simonsuuri, Typen- und Motivverzeichnis der Finnischen Mythischen Sagen, 15. Krohn, Tutkimuksia suomalaisten kansansatujen alalta, 3. It is noteworthy that Krohn’s characterisation of the legend echoes that given by Rudbeck (see below). In spite of this, as Laaksonen notes (in “Eero Salmelaisen väitöskirjan kohtalo”, 306), no reference to Rudbeck is made in Krohn’s dissertation.

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made by the Grimms 150 years earlier as having been a much more significant milestone in the folkloristic chronology than any experimental interpretation of folklore like that made in Deutsche Mythologie. Both Kinder- und Hausmärchen and Deutsche Sagen are referred to by Honko in a footnote on the Grimms’ genre distinction, but it is in Deutsche Mythologie that Honko locates the distinction made between the fairy tale, legend and myth.98 While giving much credit to the Grimms with regard to their work on genre analysis, Honko points to the odd time delay that seems to have occurred in Finland with regard to the recognition of folklore genres. According to Honko, this delay can also be seen in the work of Kaarle Krohn and his colleagues and students who brought about the international status of Finnish folklore study, figures who, according to Honko, must have been familiar with the work of the Grimms.99 All in all, Honko contends that the concept of the legend seems to have remained considerably obscure among Finnish folklore scholars right up until the end of the 1920s.100 According to Honko, it was the Finnish linguist E. N. Setälä (1864–1935) who, in a lecture on religion, myth and magic given at the meeting of the Finno-Ugrian Society (Suomalais-Ugrilainen Seura) in 1917, pioneered in the field of genre analysis by stating that one can group genres on the basis of different criteria, such as structure and content. Setälä also took a stand on terms such as myth, folktale, legend, hero narrative, local story, anecdote, aetiological narrative and religious legend.101 In a later article, Lauri Honko returns for a few lines to the question of the role of the Grimms in the development of folkloristic genre theory, suggesting that the concepts that they held of “the relationships and differences between the fairytale, legend and myth” are just “[o]ne possible point of origin.”102 He follows this up by repeating his view on the significance of the early twentiethcentury developments: “Not until the 1920s […] did any more profound study of the theory of genre get under way, followed by a second wave of interest in the 1960s.”103 98

99

100 101 102 103

Honko “Perinnelajianalyysin tehtävistä”, 125. Interestingly, the comment on the Grimms is not included in the English language version of the article, published a year later in Temenos: see Honko, “Genre Analysis in Folkloristics and Comparative Religion”. Indeed, the Grimms are not cited or referred to at all in the English-language version, which indicates that Honko was aiming his discussion of the Grimms at Finnish-speaking audiences only. Honko “Perinnelajianalyysin tehtävistä”, 125. Simonsuuri’s and Honko’s understanding of Kaarle Krohn’s acquaintance with the category of the legend evidently appears to have been in conflict. In the very least, they have a different estimation of it. Honko, “Perinnelajianalyysin tehtävistä”, 125. Setälä, “Uskonto, myytti ja taikuus”, 40–50. Honko, “Folkloristic Theories of Genre”, 14; in Finnish in Honko, “Perinnelajiteoria”, 101. Honko, “Folkloristic Theories of Genre”, 14; in Finnish in Honko, “Perinnelajiteoria”, 101.

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Interestingly, Rudbeck’s dissertation puts these research historical statements by Hautala, Simonsuuri and Honko in a somewhat dubious light with regard to the overall cognisance of legends in Finland. Indeed, it is clear that Rudbeck was fully aware not only of the category of the legend but also its analytical definition. As pointed out by Rudbeck’s opponent, parts of the thesis had previously been published by Rudbeck himself, something that applies, among other things, to his aforementioned study entitled “Försök att antyda folkäfventyrets egendomliga karaktär”. Both here and in the dissertation, Rudbeck outlines the key differences that he sees between the fairy tale and the legend. As he writes: Folklore, as it appears in the unbound, narrative form, is usually referred to with the common name of folksaga [folktale]. However, this designation is, generally speaking, improper and even incorrect; for folklore in this form is given two distinct species – the legend [sagan] and the fairy tale [äfventyret], and though they are often enough wrongly confused, or even taken as perfectly identical concepts, the distinction between them is nevertheless essential enough or the same as that between the concepts Sage and Mähre, Märchen in German. (Folkdikten, sådan den förekommer i obunden, berättande form, kallar man vanligen med ett gemensamt namn folksaga. Dock är denna benämning i det hela taget oegentlig ja till och med oriktig; ty att folkdikten i denna form gifves det tvenne särskilta arter – sagan och äfventyret, och om de än ofta nog med orätt förvexlas, eller ock fattas såsom fullkomligen liktydiga begrepp, är likväl åtskilnaden dem emellan väsentelig nog eller densamma, som emellan begreppen: Sage och Mähre, Mährchen [sic] i Tyskan.104) Rudbeck goes on to state that: The scope of the legend is more limited, but as a result also more definite than that of the fairy tale. It is sometimes stated when and where the event in question took place, and even if this hint is still doubtful and indeterminate, it is expressed as an attempt to further limit the scope of the subject and thereby give the story greater probability and a more definite form. Often, the legend has a similar clear historical flavor and is attached in its entirety to those decidedly named places and personalities or at least generally known historical events about which the story 104

Rudbeck, “Försök att antyda folkäfventyrets egendomliga karaktär”, 257–258.

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revolves, spinning endless, constantly changing threads. One therefore sometimes finds the word legend used in the sense of real history […]. (Sagans område är inskränktare, men i följd deraf äfven bestämdare än äfventyrets. Der angifves understundom redan, när och hvar den i fråga varande händelsen tilldragit sig, ock om också denna antydning ännu är sfäfvande och obestämd, yttrar sig deri dock redan liksom ett sträfvande att närmare begränsa ämnets omfång och derigenom gifva sjelfva berättelsen större sannolikhet och bestämdare form. Ofta nog har folksagan dessutom en redan tydlig historisk anstrykning och är till hela sitt innehåll fästad vid dessa bestämdt namngifvna orter och personligheter eller åtminstone allmänt bekanta historiska tilldragelser, omkring vilka berättelsen kretsar, utspinnande sig i ändlösa, ständigt skiftande trådar. Man finner derföre äfven ordet saga stundom användt i betydelse af verklig historie […].105) The fairy tale, on the other hand: […] as we understand it, does not need any local or historical basis, but is the freest creation of the imagination that the world of poetry has to present. It makes no claim to probability and does not want to make the claim that it is anything other than the purest poetry, meaning that the composition of the story and the connection that the events have with each other do not avoid taking on the most wonderful, most unexpected combinations; in general it is completely independent of both time and space. ([…] sådant vi fatta det, behöfver ej understödjas af någon hvarken local eller historisk grund, men är den friaste skapelse af fantasin, diktens verld har att förete. Det gör inga anspråk på sannolikhet och vill ej gå och gälla för annat, än den renaste dikt, hvarföre det vid berättelsens sammansättning och händelsernas förknippande med hvarandra ej heller skyr de underbaraste, mest oväntade kombinationer, men öfverhufvudtaget är fullkomligen oberoende af både tid och rum.106) Rudbeck’s distinctions between the fairy tale and the legend closely follow the lines of argument presented by the Grimms in Deutsche Sagen,107 even though 105 106 107

Rudbeck, Om Finnarnes Folkdikt i obunden berättande form, 4–5. Rudbeck, Om Finnarnes Folkdikt i obunden berättande form, 5. Grimm, Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), I, v–vi.

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he does not make a reference to them in this context. He is making analytical distinctions, rather than claiming that these distinctions are present in everyday language. Indeed, as he writes, the Swedish word äfventyr (like the Italian avventura; the French aventure; and the German Abenteuer) had previously denoted an event and eventually come to denote a narrative about an event without an indication of time or place. In Finland, he notes, “people nowadays do not usually make any definite distinction between legends and fairy tales; each type of folk narrative is called either sadut, jutut or kaskut, tarinat [lit. tales, stories, anecdotes and legends]” (“Hos oss i Finland göres av folket numera vanligen ingen bestämd åtskilnad mellan saga och äfventyr, utan benämnes hvardera slaget av folkberättelser antingen sadut, jutut eller kaskut, tarinat”108). Indeed, while it has become customary in scholarship to maintain a category distinction between satu (fairy tale) and tarina (legend), outside the world of scholarship such a distinction commonly serves little purpose.109 What is especially interesting here is that of the two kinds of free-form narratives Rudbeck presents, he says that only the fairy tale can be encountered in Finland. There are historical songs, he says, for example those about figures like Klas Kurck and his mistress Elin, Bishop Henry and Lalli, and Jacob “the Lazy” de la Gardie which are sometimes narrated as legends. He also makes a reference to certain aetiological local legends like those that explain a particular place name or a peculiar natural formation. According to Rudbeck, however, the Finns do not have folk narratives that rest on historical grounds in the same way as, for example, the Scandinavians, the British, the Germans and the French do, the only possible exceptions being the narratives contained in the Kalevala.110

108

109

110

Rudbeck, Om Finnarnes Folkdikt i obunden berättande form, 8; and “Försök att antyda folkäfventyrets egendomliga karaktär”, 258. Sadut is the plural form of satu (fairy tale), jutut the plural of juttu (story, talk, case, tale, etc.), kaskut the plural of kasku (anecdote; < сказка / skázka, the Russian for a story or fairy tale), and tarinat the plural form of tarina (story, tale, anecdote, narrative, legend < старина́ / stariná in Russian, referring to olden times, the old days, or antiquity). Ahola notes that M. A. Castrén uses the terms saga [legend] and sagoberättelse [fairy tale] interchangeably for folk narratives in his work: see Castrén, Luentoja suomalaisesta mytologiasta, 306, note 24. Ahola comments that when translating the text into Finnish, the meaning had to be interpreted on a case-by-case basis. Rudbeck, Om Finnarnes Folkdikt i obunden berättande form, 6. A particular legend tradition worth considering in this context comprises of vernacular narratives concerning the Russian invasion and violent occupation of Finland in the latter part of the Great Northern War (1700–1721), a period between 1714 and 1721 commonly called “Isoviha” (“The Great Wrath”). “Great Wrath” narratives in the shape of both local and historical legends have been in circulation up until modern times, and many were documented in the

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Rudbeck goes on to provide an explanation for the selection of materials included in his four-volume collection of folktales. All of them, he says are “pure fairy tales” (“rena folkäfventyr”), rather than legends.111 This, in my understanding, is not because he was unaware of legend scholarship or the legend as a category, but simply because this is the kind of material that he obtained when collecting. He nonetheless uses the term “legend” for some of his own materials. Indeed, however much one may wish, terminology in scholarship is rarely exact, and (as noted above), genre categories are far from distinct in everyday language. In the notes section, meanwhile, Rudbeck repeatedly refers to his materials with the Finnish term tarina (legend). In short, he seems to have been following apparently contemporary practice in Finland in avoiding separating the two words in his usage. In the notes and explanations section to his collection,112 Rudbeck not only explains presumably unfamiliar words and expressions but also notes the original location of each record as well as providing references to international comparative material for many of the published narratives in the collection, demonstrating his acquaintance with relevant international literature. Regarding the Grimms, there are 22 references to Kinder- und Hausmärchen (the 1850 edition), one reference to the Grimms’ translation of Croker’s Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland, Irische Elfenmärchen (Irish Elven Fairy Tales: 1826), one reference to Jacob Grimm’s Deutsche Mythologie, three references to his Reinhart Fuchs (1834), and one reference to Russische Volksmärchen in den Urschriften gesammelt und ins Deutsche übersetzt von A. Dietrich, mit einem Vorwort von Jac. Grimm (Russian Folktales Collected in the Original and Translated into German by A. Dietrich with a foreword by Jac. Grimm: 1831). There is no mention of the Grimms’ Deutsche Sagen.

111 112

competition for the collection of oral prose narratives organised by the Finnish Literature Society in 1935, on the centenary of the Kalevala national epic. These narratives have been chronicled since the eighteenth century, studied by historians since the mid-nineteenth century, and were eventually collected by both academics and lay people. Popular resentment regarding the terror of the times became a major motivation for their collection and publication, although, in recent decades, scholars have also witnessed elements of politically motivated anti-Russian sentiment in this activity. Not much is known about how this legend tradition was viewed by the folklore collectors of the early nineteenth century; it is possible that they failed to pay attention to these narratives for political reasons. Regarding the “Great Wrath”, see Vilkuna, Viha. Perikato, katkeruus ja kertomus isostavihasta (summary in English: 562–589). Rudbeck, Om Finnarnes Folkdikt i obunden berättande form, 6. Rudbeck’s collection has been and continues to be reissued in numerous editions, most in the form of popular editions which do not contain the notes and explanations. In the 1955 edition published by the Finnish Literature Society, however, the section with notes and explanations is found on pages 637–656.

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Although Rudbeck’s collection places emphasis on the fairy tale, which, as has been noted, was gaining increasing attention by 1855 in the field of prose narrative collections, many of the titles of the other references indicate that the fairy tale and the legend were commonly placed side by side. Among these references one finds mentions of the following: the first volume of Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens’ Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr (Swedish Folk Tales and Fairy Tales: 1844);113 Molbech’s Udvalgte Eventyr og Fortællinger (Selected Fairy Tales and Other Narratives: 1843); the first volume of Magyarische Sagen, Märchen und Erzählungen (Magyar Legends, Fairy Tales and Stories: 1837) by Johann Grafen Mailath (János Majláth [1786–1855]); Polnische Volkssagen und Märchen (Polish Folktales and Fairy Tales: 1839) by Kazimierz Władysław Wóycicki (1807–1879), and Friedrich Heinrich Levestam (n.d.); Volkslieder und Sagen der Wenden (Folk Songs and Legends of the Wends: 1843) by Leopold Haupt (1797–1883) and Johann Ernst Schmaler (Jan Arnošt Smoler [1816–1884]); Sagen, Märchen und Lieder der Herzogthümer Schleswig-Holstein und Lauenburg (Legends, Fairy Tales and Songs of the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein and Lauenburg: 1845) by Karl Müllenhoff (1818–1884); Deutsche Märchen und Sagen (German Fairy Tales and Legends: 1845) by Johann Wilhelm Wolf (1817–1855); Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche (North German Legends, Fairy Tales and Customs: 1848) by Adalbert Kuhn (1812–1881) and Wilhelm Swartz (1821–1899); and Ungarische Sagen und Märchen (Hungarian Legends and Fairy Tales: 1850) by Gottlieb Stier (1825–1896). 18 references are made to the work of Asbjørnsen and Moe. At the same time, no mention is made of the collections of Just Mathias Thiele and Andreas Faye. From the above, one can draw the overall conclusion that those writing about Rudbeck in later times have evidently not paid enough attention to the extent to which he had been in touch with international narrative scholarship and the Grimmian ripples before his career as a researcher ended so abruptly.

6

Legend Collections Do Not Serve the Nationalist Cause?

The question remains as to why Deutsche Sagen as a work seems not to have inspired the collection and publication of collections of legends in Finland as it did in many other Nordic countries and the British Isles. It is not difficult to find the most obvious explanation for the apparent or alleged lack of great interest in the legend as an oral genre: in Finland during 113

See further the chapters on Stephens and Hyltén-Cavallius by John Lindow, and Terry Gunnell and Fredrik Skott elsewhere in this volume.

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the period in question, there was a strong preference, if not a bias for the collection and study of oral poetry. The kind of oral poetry that Lönnrot used for the Kalevala had been documented in manuscripts since the sixteenth century, and its significance for research was strongly consolidated during the nineteenth century. Jouko Hautala makes this clear in his research historical treatise: […] in Finland, folklore research was at first almost entirely, and later for the most part, concerned with its most interesting and yet most unique aspect – the old poems and incantations, represented and reflected by the Kalevala, the national epic, and, until almost the present day, paying rather less attention to other branches of tradition.114 Few other explanations have been offered. In June 1981, Nordic folklorists assembled in Liperi in Eastern Finland for the 22nd Nordic Congress of Ethnology and Folkloristics to discuss and evaluate research traditions in Nordic studies of folk culture. In his contribution entitled “Nordic Research in Popular Prose Narrative” (see above), Bengt Holbek discussed, among other things, the follow-ups to Deutsche Sagen in Scandinavia.115 In her commentary on Holbek’s presentation, Satu Apo gave a detailed account of what seems to have occurred in Finland with regard to the study of prose narratives: The collection, publication, and interpretation of folklore in the Romantic period was inspired by the desire to prove that the non-dominant countries in European culture also had their own valuable past – a history stretching back farther than was realised, and a fascinating prehistoric religion. As Holbek reminded us in his paper, in Germany and in Scandinavia this nationalist-romantic significance was apportioned to the fairy tales and legends, whereas in Finland, it was built on the epic poems of the Kalevala. Finnish folklorists did also collect prose narratives in the Romantic period, but these were completely overshadowed by the interest in the Kalevala poems. Only after a great deal of effort was the first Finnish collection of fairy tales completed, 40 years after the appearance of the Grimm Brothers’ tales, 30 years after the first Norwegian and Danish collections, and 13 years after Afzelius’ fairy tale collection.116

114 115 116

Hautala, Finnish Folklore Research 1828–1918, 11, note 2. Holbek, “Nordic Research in Popular Prose Narrative”, 145–146. Apo, “Commentary”, 163.

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To explain the “thinness of Finnish studies of folk narratives prior to the rise of the historical-geographic-school,”117 Apo suggests that “the fairy tale tradition did not offer material for the construction of a national identity on the same scale as the apparently ultra-Finnish Kalevala poetry, which is unique within the European poetic tradition.”118 She makes a reference to Rausmaa’s earlier-noted discussion of folktale collecting in the 1840s, when both Castrén and Europaeus collected tales from the eastern regions of Northern Karelia, Olonets, Ingria and Tver Karelia, and found the collected materials to largely be of “foreign origin” (“vierasperäiset”). For this reason, according to Rausmaa, these collectors had felt that the collecting of these materials was not necessary.119 Apo’s conclusion is that “Finnish nationalists were reluctantly forced to recognize the Russian origins of the Karelian tales, and were hardly any more delighted by the realisation that the western Finnish tales were clearly related to the Scandinavian tradition.”120 The implication here is that a crucial feature in determining the value of prose narratives related to their cultural origins. To some extent, while this was an issue associated with the Grimm-related question of monogenesis versus polygenesis, it also touched on the matter of cultural diffusion, in other words, the historical migration of tales, from preferred and non-preferred geographical directions. As this volume demonstrates, in other countries, folktales, be they fairy tales or legends, regularly served as symbolic capital in the arguments for cultural uniqueness and authenticity, valuable material in the cause of cultural nationalism, much as scholars in Finland since the time of Turku Romanticism have viewed Finnish-language oral poetry. As an obvious Romantic Nationalist, Rudbeck was very much in favour of nationalising popular prose narratives both for public use and in his theorisation of their origins. Considering the evidence presented in this chapter, it

117

118 119 120

The “historical-geographic school” refers to early twentieth-century folkloristic research using a historically-oriented comparative approach that aimed at determining the ‘Urform’ of a given narrative, song or a folk poem. Apo, “Commentary”, 163. Rausmaa, “Kansansatujen keruu, julkaisu ja tutkimus Suomessa”, 15 and 17. Apo, “Commentary”, 163. Apo returns to this issue in her book from 2018, in which she comments on Rudbeck’s argument that similarities in the fairy tales of different peoples have roots in independent creation rather than migration and borrowing. According to Apo, Rudbeck was going against the facts here, seemingly following the older and outdated Grimmian theory of fairy tales originating in the common cultural origins of humankind: Apo, Ihmesatujen historia, 260–262. Sulo Haltsonen, the author of Rudbeck’s biography published in 1931, expresses a similar opinion to Apo: see Haltsonen, Eero Salmelainen. Elämäkerrallisia piirteitä, 84.

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may well be that biased approaches are partially to blame for the conception that the legend remained an obscure prose narrative category in Finland in the nineteenth century. Equally problematic is the mistaken conception that no attention was given to the legend as an object of documentation in Finland. When it comes down to it, Erik Rudbeck’s rapid retreat from the scholarly stage in the mid-nineteenth century may have played a significant role with regard to the comparative lack of attention that legends received, since this meant that he was no longer available to argue the need for further study into legends and other narratives. It would take 30 years for the next fairy tale scholar to enter the academic stage and 80 years before the legend started to get both systematic scholarly and explicitly nationalistic attention.

Chapter 17

Oskar Rancken, Swedish-Language Folklore Collection in Finland and the Grimm Ripples Ulrika Wolf-Knuts and Susanne Österlund-Pötzsch

1

Introduction1

As is noted in the other chapters in this volume, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s seminal publications, such as Deutsche Sagen (1816–1818), shaped the emerging field of Folklore Studies and sparked similar collection projects in many European countries. Indeed, the Grimm model for collecting and publishing historical legends was in direct alignment with contemporary thinking on nationhood and the earlier Herderian concept of the Volk. Deutsche Sagen, in particular, sparked an almost immediate interest in collecting legends in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Ireland, England and Estonia. In neighbouring Finland, however, it is noteworthy that the interest in legends was initially overshadowed by the attention given to other folklore genres, in particular Kalevala-poems and folk songs.2 Nevertheless, it might be said that the impact of the brothers’ work and their interest in legends can also be detected here and there in Finland throughout the nineteenth century and beyond. Among those scholars arguably influenced by the Grimms, albeit in a circuitous manner, was the historian, folklorist and pedagogue Johan Oskar Immanuel Rancken (1824–1895: see fig. 17.1), one of the first to advocate the collection of folklore among the Swedish-speaking population in Finland in the mid nineteenth century.3 Oskar Rancken was born in 1824 in a small commu-

1 This paper is a reworking and expansion of three articles by Ulrika Wolf-Knuts: “Johan Oskar Immanuel Rancken: En pionjär inom folkloristiken” (1997), “Johan Oskar Immanuel Rancken: Den finlandssvenska folkloristikens fader” (2001), and “On the History of Comparison in Folklore Studies” (2000); and a book chapter by Susanne Österlund-Pötzsch: “Discovering Swedish-Speaking Folklore in Finland” (2008). 2 See further the chapter on Finland by Pertti Anttonen elsewhere in this volume. 3 Until the war of 1808–1809 between Sweden and Russia, Finland had been part of the Swedish Kingdom. Consequently, the administrative language of Finland (even after this) was Swedish. Although the majority of the population in Finland was Finnish-speaking, there was also a substantial Swedish-speaking population residing predominantly along the Finnish coastal areas. Research about the Swedish inhabitants of Finland is vast, but a recent

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2022 | DOI:10.1163/9789004511644_019

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Wolf-Knuts and Österlund-Pötzsch

Figure 17.1 Photograph of Johan Oskar Immanuel Rancken (1893)

nity in the south-west of Finland. After earning his doctorate from the Imperial Alexander University (Suomen Keisarillinen Aleksanterin Yliopisto) in Helsinki, Rancken worked as a lecturer and, later, headmaster of an upper secondary school in Vaasa on the Finnish west coast. While never receiving the academic recognition he would have welcomed during his lifetime, he was a prolific writer and had a wide scholarly network both within Finland and internationally.

2

Oskar Rancken: Background and Influences

Influences for Oskar Rancken’s future folkloristic endeavours can be found in his childhood environment. In the war of 1808–1809, Sweden had lost its eastern half, present-day Finland, to Russia (see note 3 above). Finland had thus become a grand duchy under Russian rule. A growing concern among the Finnish intelligentsia was the necessity of safeguarding the old Swedish constitution and legal system from being replaced by Russian laws. In the light of this, strengthening the idea of Finland as a separate national entity seemed imperative. Oskar Rancken’s father, Engelbrekt Rancken (1790–1862), general investigation is found in Engman, Språkfrågan. See also Mickwitz, “Åboromantiken och A. I. Arwidsson”, 216–220. A folkloristic perspective can be found in Wolf-Knuts and Hakamies, “The Intellectual and Social History of Folkloristics”, and Wolf-Knuts, “Coping Mechanisms among the Finland-Swedes”.

Rancken, Swedish-Language Folklore and the Grimm Ripples

Figure 17.2

483

Johan Oskar Immanuel Rancken: Några traditioner från Wörå (1862). Title page

had embraced the patriotic mood of the time and was a close friend of the outspoken political commentator Adolf Ivar Arwidsson (1762–1843).4 There is little question that Arwidsson’s thinking and approach were (indirectly) highly influential on the young Rancken. Indeed, Arwidsson can be viewed as having been a cultural conduit of Romantic Nationalistic ideas into the Swedish-speaking milieu of Finland. During his time as a student at the Royal Academy in Turku (Kungliga Akademien i Åbo),5 Arwidsson had established and maintained contacts with various scholars belonging to the Romantic Movement at Uppsala University and even undertaken a year-long visit in Sweden in 1817–1818, in addition to 4 See Engman, Språkfrågan; and Söderhjelm, Åboromantiken. For further reading on Finland during the nineteenth century, see, for example, Engman, Ett långt farväl. A total of c. 370 letters from Arwidsson to Engelbrekt Rancken are contained in the Vasa Svenska Lyceum library underlining that the two kept in close contact after Arwidsson settled in Stockholm. 5 The Royal Academy of Turku/Åbo was the first university in Finland, founded 1640. In 1828, after the devastating fire in Turku the year before, the university, renamed the Imperial Alexander University (Kejserliga Alexanders Universitetet), was moved to the new capital of Helsinki. See further Nikula, Fakta och reflexioner om Åbo Akademi.

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shorter stays in 1812 and 1821. He was also personally acquainted with the Swedish literary critic Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom (1790–1855), the librarian Lorenzo (Lars) Hammarsköld (1785–1827), and the pedagogue Pehr Henrik Ling (1776–1839), who were early proponents of the Romantic movement in Scandinavia. In addition to this, Arwidsson had attended the lectures of the influential historian and leading Swedish Romanticist, Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783–1847), and studied the basics of Icelandic with the famous Danish linguist Rasmus Rask (1787–1832),6 who was residing in Stockholm between 1816 and 1818.7 Back in Finland, Arwidsson went on to become one of the dominant figures of the group of Turku Romantics who had all been influenced by the German and Uppsalian brand of Romanticism and took great interest in Finnish-speaking folklore.8 Arwidsson was an early proponent of the need to develop a separate Finnish nationality, both culturally and politically, something he had not been afraid to express in writing in various pamphlets and journals, and especially in his own paper Åbo Morgonblad (from 1821 onwards). In 1822, however, Arwidsson’s publishing activities eventually cost him his position as lecturer at the Royal Academy in Turku. He subsequently moved to Sweden and became a Swedish citizen in 1825.9

6 Rasmus Rask’s linguistic work had significant influence on the work of Jacob Grimm (1785–1863): see, for example, Diderichsen, Rasmus Rask og den grammatiske tradition, 134. 7 See Andersson, Finländsk folklore, 79–80, and 84; Tarkiainen, “Arwidsson, Adolf Ivar”, 63; and Kunze, Jacob Grimm und Finland, 7. 8 The Turku Romantics were a group of young, intellectual men with an interest in national Finnish nature and culture. Their brand of Romanticism was inspired by corresponding German ideas that were also present at Uppsala University. Friedrich von Klopstock (1724–1803), Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814), Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831), and Friedrich von Schelling (1775–1854) are examples of famous German philosophers who had asserted a Romantic reaction against rationality and materialism and whose thinking influenced academics and writers in the Uppsala circles. (For a fundamental investigation of Romanticism, see Huch, Die Romantik; and on Turku Romanticism, Söderhjelm, Åboromantiken.) After the loss of Finland in the war of 1808–1809, Sweden had also needed a new basis for a reconceptualised national identity, and German Romantic philosophy had provided a source of inspiration for this venture. As implied above, Finnish national identity had needed to be reformed to fit a life without Sweden, while at the same time staying clear of merging with Russia. Arwidsson was one of the leading figures in this Romantic Nationalistic Finnish endeavour. Another prominent scholar, who was ideologically involved in the Turku Romantic movement was Carl Axel Gottlund (1796–1875), who had moved to Sweden from Turku in 1816 to continue his studies. He had undertaken two expeditions to the Swedish provinces of Dalecarelia (Dalarna) and Värmland in 1817 and 1821–1822, during which he collected folklore and other ethnographic data among the so-called Forest Finns, who were descendants of Finnish-speaking immigrants: see Pulkkinen, “Gottlund, Carl Axel”, 306–308. See further the chapter by Pertti Anttonen elsewhere in this volume. 9 Andersson, Finländsk folklore, 74–99.

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In Finland, Arwidsson is mostly remembered today for his political writing and radical ideas related to promoting a Finnish national identity.10 In Sweden, however, he was to take on another role. He found employment as a librarian at the Royal Library (Kungliga Biblioteket) in Stockholm from 1825 onwards, becoming chief librarian in 1843, and here Arwidsson became more associated with folkloristic work. Indeed, it is worth noting that Arwidsson, together with Professor George Stephens (1813–1895) and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius (1818–1889),11 played an instrumental role in the founding of the Swedish Society for Ancient Manuscripts (Svenska fornskriftsällskapet) in 1843, a society whose purpose was to publish medieval texts in Swedish and Latin. Incidentally, Hyltén-Cavallius was also employed as amanuensis at the Royal Library, and thus became Arwidsson’s colleague between 1839 and 1856, a period during which Hyltén-Cavallius was active in collecting first Swedish folk legends (following the model of the Grimms in Germany and Thiele [1795–1874] in Denmark), and then fairy tales. Arwidsson’s most significant contribution to the field of folkloristics was as editor of Svenska fornsånger (Ancient Swedish Songs) in three volumes (1834, 1837 and 1842), for which he developed a classification system for ballad types that was later used and expanded by Svend Grundtvig (1824–1883) in his fundamental work Danmarks gamle Folkeviser (The Ancient Folk Verse of Denmark: 1853–1876). The first two volumes of Arwidsson’s work consisted predominantly of medieval ballads from the large collections housed at the Royal Library, primarily the collections made by L. F. Rääf (1786–1872) and by the brothers Daniel (1791–1818) and Johan Wallman (1792–1853). Svenska fornsånger can be seen as a continuation and expansion of A. A. Afzelius’ (1785–1871) and E. G. Geijer’s Svenska folk-visor från forntiden (Swedish FolkBallads from Antiquity), published in 1814–1818 under the earlier influence of Herder (1744–1803), who had suggested that the spirit of a nation (Volksgeist) could be found in folk poetry.12 In his introduction to the third volume of Svenska fornsånger, which contained mostly song games, one notes how Arwidsson expresses thanks to, among others, the Swedish folklore collectors Richard Dybeck (1811–1877: see below), Carl Säve (1812–1876: see below), and Hyltén-Cavallius, who had all contributed to the volumes. Arwidsson also included material from Swedish-speaking Finland,13 namely a few song

10 11 12 13

Tarkiainen, “Arwidsson,” 62–66; Söderhjelm, Åboromantiken; and Kunze, Jacob Grimm. See further the chapters on Stephens and Hyltén-Cavallius by John Lindow, and Terry Gunnell and Fredrik Skott elsewhere in this volume. See Ramsten, “Adolf Ivar Arwidssons Svenska fornsånger”, 7–13. It is worth noting that unlike the songs and games from Sweden, which for the most part are accompanied by information about the province in which the sample was collected,

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games he recollected from his own youth and a small collection of song games contributed by the student Carl Constantin Meurman (1807–1883). In his introduction, Arwidsson notes the way in which legends, fairy tales and folk songs have become an area of interest for researchers in most European countries (“Folksägnerna, sagan och folkvisan äro, i nästan alla Europeiska länder, numera flitigt bearbetade”), but also points out that the main interest has been in examining material “from an archaeological and poetic perspective” (“ur arkeologisk och poetisk synpunkt”).14 He nonetheless underlines the value of folklore as a source of information about the people’s history and culture: All collections of a people’s fairy tales, songs and games, […] possess a profoundly true value in this respect. They give a more or less clear idea about the previous life conditions of people, as well as constituting a mirror of the present degree of their education at the time of documentation. One can see this in its unfalsified state, and if one is fortunate enough to find evidence from several moments in time, one thereby obtains a kind of gauge of the progress of education. What, at first glance, seems insignificant, or, at the utmost, somewhat peculiar, can thus become the subject of serious research. (Äfven i detta avseende äga […] alla samlingar af ett folks sagor, sånger och lekar ett i hög grad sannt värde. De gifva en mer eller mindre tydlig åsigt om slägtets föregående lefnads förhållanden, samt utgöra, för det tidsrum när de upptecknades, en spegel af dess dåvarande odlings grad. Man ser det oförfalskadt sådant det är, och har man varit nog lycklig att finna lemningar från olika tidpunkter, så erhåller man derigenom ett slags afmätare af bildningens framsteg. Hvad således, vid första ögonkastet, synes obetydligt, eller, på sin höjd, blott någonting eget, kan blifva ämne för alfvarlig forskning.15)

14 15

the material from Finland is simply described as having been “played in Finland” or “documented in Finland”, without any further specific geographic data being provided about provinces or region. See Arwidsson, “Företal”, iii. All translations from Swedish and German in this chapter are by Susanne Österlund-Pötzsch. Arwidsson, “Företal”, iv.

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Rancken’s Growing Interest in Finnish Folk Culture

There is little doubt that the Rancken family’s close connection with Arwidsson coloured the young Oskar Rancken’s growing enthusiasm for studying expressions of Finnish folk culture. Indeed, he later alluded to the influence of Arwidsson’s work on his own efforts to collect folk song.16 In 1840, Rancken enrolled at the Imperial Alexander University in Helsinki to pursue studies in languages and history. One of his teachers was Matthias Alexander Castrén (1813–1852) who was a renowned expert on Finno-Ugric languages and Old Norse.17 As with so many other of his peers in Finland, Rancken’s interests were primarily directed towards the Finnish language and Finnish-speaking folk. The Kalevala (first version published in 1835) by Elias Lönnrot (1802–1884)18 would gain increasing fame and interest throughout the nineteenth century, and the fascination for Finnish-speaking folk poetry consequently flourished among the younger generation in Finland. In the summer of 1843, Rancken and a few of his fellow students planned an excursion on foot through the district of Uusimaa, the southernmost part of Finland. The main ambition, as Rancken wrote 30 years later, was to improve his Finnish language skills and learn about “the country and population in general” (“land och folk i allmänhet”).19 In a letter from 22nd January 1843, written in a somewhat crude German, Rancken had pleaded with his father for permission to undertake the expedition: The walking tour next summer, which Father did not agree to, would partly be recreation for me if I study diligently this semester, and, apart from this, it would be useful for me with respect to natural history, as I know the plants that bloom in the spring the best, but know the ones that bloom in the summer less well. (Die Wanderung im nächsten Sommer, die Papa nicht beyfällt, wäre mir ein wenig zur Recreation, wenn ich diesen Termin fleißig läse, und wäre ohne dies mit Absehen auf der Naturgeschichte mir nützlich seyn, weil

16 17 18 19

See for example, Rancken, Förteckning (1874), 7, where Rancken describes how he had the advantage of reading through Arwidsson’s publication “page by page” (“ark för ark”). On Castrén, see further the chapter on Finland by Pertti Anttonen elsewhere in this volume. On Lönnrot, see further the chapter on Finland by Pertti Anttonen elsewhere in this volume. Rancken, Förteckning (1874), 4.

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ich am besten kenne die Gewächse, die des Frühlings blüthen, minder aber die, welche seine Blüthungszeit des Sommers haben.20) Rancken succeeded in changing his father’s mind and gained permission to join the walking tour. On 19th February that same year, he happily wrote his father: “I am very grateful for the permission to be allowed to do the walking tour in the summer […]” (“Ich danke so sehr für die Erlaubnisse im Sommer wandern zu dürfen […]”21). However, as fate would have it, this first of Rancken’s walking tours ended almost before it had started. Before reaching the Finnish-speaking countryside, he fell ill and had to remain behind in a Swedish-speaking village in order to recuperate. Many years later, he writes that the weeks he spent among the villagers at this time made him reflect on the similarities between the local spoken Swedish and Icelandic. He had studied the works of the linguist Rasmus Rask who had conducted comparative research into the grammar in Icelandic, Anglo-Saxon, Spanish, Sinhalese and other languages,22 and was excited to hear about the links between ancient Scandinavian and Swedish countryside dialects.23 These observations are later described by Rancken as having been the spark that ignited his interest in documenting Swedish-speaking folk culture in Finland.24 In the autumn of 1844, Rancken commenced his studies in the Finnish language under the tutelage of Castrén. Rancken must have made a favourable impression as he was invited to join Castrén on a research expedition to Siberia in order to study local languages and conduct archaeological studies. However, being apprehensive of the potential hardships involved in the undertaking, Rancken declined the offer and focused instead on gaining qualifications as a teacher. In 1846, he moved to Vaasa, one of the urban centres in Ostrobothnia, a Swedish-speaking area, to accept his first teaching position. Although it was probably not Rancken’s intention at the time, Vaasa would come to be his place of residence for the rest of his life. Meeting the population of the Ostrobothnian countryside convinced him still further of the importance of studying

20 21 22

23 24

The Tritonia Academic Library, Vaasa (Vetenskapsbiblioteket Tritonia, Vasa): The Rancken Collection (RA) 90: Letter from J. O. I. Rancken to E. Rancken. RA 90: Letter from J. O. I. Rancken to E. Rancken. Rask’s work was instrumental for the development of comparative linguistics. Indeed, it was Rask who formulated the laws behind the sound shift rules later referred to as “Grimm’s law”, after Jacob Grimm set down the law in the second edition of his Deutsche Grammatik (1822). Rancken, Förteckning (1874), 4. Rancken, Förteckning (1874), 4.

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Swedish-speaking folk culture in Finland, alongside the need for promoting a Finnish-speaking culture, something which was still very close to his heart.

4

An Appeal for the Collection of Finland’s Swedish Folklore

In the spring of 1848, Rancken anonymously published a public appeal printed in two consecutive issues of Ilmarinen (1st April 1848 and 5th April 1848), a Vaasa journal he himself had been involved in founding one year earlier.25 The appeal was the first call for collecting folk culture among the Swedishspeaking population in Finland.26 Rancken’s oft-quoted paper begins with a general observation about how the newly awoken love for the Fatherland has resulted in great efforts being made to improve the country in every possible way. Echoing the Finnish language movement’s emphasis on the importance of promoting Finnish culture, Rancken states that cherishing the history of Finland was the duty of every citizen, regardless of gender, age, social position and education (“Vi anse derföre såsom en skyldighet för enhvar, att utan afseende på kön, ålder, stånd, bildningsgrad o. s. v. […]”27). The appeal consequently asked for: […] information about people’s mindset, character, education, ways of life, foodways, clothing, and luxuries. These tasks should be easy as they are included among the topics in the outline for local descriptions that the Finnish Literature Society in Helsinki28 promote, and, since they orig25

26

27 28

The name of Ilmarinen refers to the master smith in the epic Kalevala, who forged the vault of heaven. In spite of the Finnish name, the journal was published in Swedish: see Thölix, En annan historia. Although Rancken’s call was the first one to focus on Swedish speaking culture in Finland, public appeals for collection of folklore were becoming a common feature of the time (see further the other chapters in this volume, such as those on Deutsche Sagen by Holger Ehrhardt; on folk tale collection in England by Jonathan Roper; on Stephens by John Lindow; and Jón Árnason by Terry Gunnell). In 1843, Svend Grundtvig and C. S. Ley (1806–1874) had published a manifesto with the title “Til danske mænd og kvinder” (To Danish men and women) that outlined the importance of collecting Nordic folk songs from the Middle Ages. Like Rancken’s appeal four years later, Grundtvig’s call was addressed to those who “feel strongly for the Fatherland and its spiritual property” (“føle varmt for Fædrelandet og dets aandelige Eiendom”): see Piø, “Svend Grundtvig og hans folkloristiske arbejdsmetode”. Ilmarinen, 1st April 1848, 97. The Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura: SKS) was founded in 1931 with the purpose of strengthening and promoting Finnish language, literature and culture. The collection and publication of folk poetry was an important part of its

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inate there, are not likely to be forgotten. But moreover, and above all, we cherish receiving information about fairy tales, ancient songs, memorials, historical traditions, popular practices, customs and pastimes, all kinds of folk songs: romances, ballads, herding songs, children’s songs and lullabies, jocular verses, songs for games and dances, especially older, proverbs, riddles, colloquialisms and sayings. Also information about old publications printed in Finland, with the naming of the title in its entirety, printing place and year, format, number of pages etc., is of relevance here; however, it is of importance that all notation is as genuine as possible, that peculiarities in the language are made visible in writing and are not changed to contemporary orthography. Furthermore, we would welcome several recordings of e.g. the same song, since many important truths may be revealed through comparison. ([…] att erhålla underrättelser om folkets lynne, karaktär, bildningsgrad, lefnadssätt, föda, klädnad och lyx. Dessa uppgifter böra så mycket lättare kunna finna sin lösning, som de ingå bland de ämnen, hvilka höra till planen af de landortsbeskrifningar, hvartill Finska Litteratursällskapet i Helsingfors uppmanat och hvilka såsom utgångna derifrån, säkert icke blifva lemnade åt glömskan. Men vidare, och hufvudsakligast, älske vi att få meddelanden om sagor, fornsånger, minnesmärken, historiska traditioner, folkbruk, seder och tidsfördrif, folkvisor af alla slag: romanser, ballader, vallvisor, barn- och vaggsånger, skämtsamma qväden, sånger till lekar och danser, särdeles äldre, ordspråk, gåtor, provinsord och talesätt. Äfven uppgifter om gamla skrifter tryckta i Finland, med angifvandet af fullständig titel, tryckningsort och år, format paginatal m. m. hör hit, men en betydande omständighet är att hvarje anteckning blir så genuin som möjligt, egenheter i språket genom skrifsättet göras åskådliga och ej förändras till nuvarande orthografi. För öfrigt se vi gerna flera uppteckningar af t. ex. samma sång, ty mången vigtig sanning kan genom jemförelsen komma i dagen.29) It is interesting to observe the stress on the importance of variants and comparison, which were already becoming an established method for folklore

29

mission. The Society provided financial backing for the collecting expeditions made by Elias Lönnrot (the Secretary of the SKS) and published the Kalevala (1835, 1849) and the Kanteletar (1840). For further discussion on Finnish language collection, see the chapter by Pertti Anttonen, elsewhere in this volume. Ilmarinen, 1st April 1848, 97.

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research. A few decades later, the comparison of variants would be given a paramount position through the historical-geographical method that would be developed by the Finnish folklorist Kaarle Krohn (1863–1933). It is difficult to find evidence about where Rancken learnt this comparative research method. His interest in Rask’s work may have been one channel to this way of thinking. The comparative method was certainly also cherished by Theodor Benfey (1809–1881) and is also regularly seen in the work of the Grimm brothers. Indeed, Castrén had also conducted comparative research when he wrote about the relationship between the declinations in Finnish, Estonian and Sámi. Whatever the case, as its wording underlines, the appeal closely followed the outlines for documenting and collecting Finnish folk culture that had been adhered to since the 1820s, with a strong emphasis on folk songs and fairy tales and no mention of legends. In this respect, there was nothing particularly remarkable about raising an appeal for the type of material enlisted by Rancken, nor about referring to the documentation work as being “the duty of everyone” (“skyldighet för enhvar”). However, in this case, treasuring the country’s history also meant preserving the traditional culture of Swedish-speaking people at a time when many voices were advocating a complete eradication of the Swedish language in Finland.30 The appeal went on to explain: Judging by this, it may seem that we want to cover too much, but we will immediately limit ourselves to the sphere we are in fact referring to. The subject for the investigations is Swedish nationality as it appears among the peasantry in Nyland [Uusimaa], the Southern archipelago and southern Ostrobothnia. There is no need to fear that Finnish [culture] will be neglected by the attention given to the Swedish element in our country; on the contrary, it will possibly gain important illumination, as we will try to follow in the footsteps which, on the Western shore of the sea, have been made by Geijer, Afzelius, Arwidsson, Rääf, Wallman, Reutersvärd, Dybeck, Hyltén-Cavallius, and Stephens31 among others. (Det tyckes häraf såsom ville vi utsträcka oss för vida, men vi skola strax inskränka oss till den krets, vi egentligen afse. Ämnet för under30

31

See Elmgren, “Om den Svenska bildningens ställning i den Finska.” See also Engman, Språkfrågan, 165–168; and Wolf-Knuts, “Johan Oskar Immanuel Rancken: Den finlandssvenska folkloristikens fader”, 9. It is worth noting here that Rancken only refers to the folklore collection that has taken place in Sweden and mentions only those folklorists active in Sweden as his source of inspiration.

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sökningarne vore således den Svenska nationaliteten sådan den i Nyland, södra skärgårdsorterna och södra Österbotten bland allmogen visar sig. Man behöfver ej frukta att det Finska skulle vanvårdas genom den uppmärksamhet, som egnas det Svenska elementet i landet, tvertom vinner det från denna sida en möjligtvis vigtig belysning, då vi försöka träda i de fotspår, som vester om hafvet blifvit lemnade af en Geijer, Afzelius, Arvidsson, Rääf, Wallman, Reutersvärd, Dybeck, HylténCavallius, Stephens m. fl. m. fl.32) The author is discernably eager to deflect criticism from his suggestion of paying most attention to Swedish-speaking folk culture by referring to the work of his predecessors in Sweden. Although Rancken’s call might seem rather innocuous, it stood in stark contrast to the more radical voices noted above that were demanding that the Swedish in Finland should merge into the Finnish.33 Indeed, in some circles, for instance around the active librarian and honorary professor Sven Gabriel Elmgren (1817–1897), maintaining Swedish-speaking cultural expressions was seen as counterproductive, and even harmful, to the Finnish nation. Rancken, therefore, carefully underlines that gathering Swedish-speaking folklore will serve the interests of the nation as a whole and will not constitute a threat to the work undertaken on behalf of Finnish-speaking culture. Indeed, his choice of headline, “To Friends of the Fatherland” (“Till fosterlandsvänner”), already incorporates the message that this project is seen as being a patriotic mission: the suggestion is that collecting folklore among Swedish-speakers in Finland will enhance general knowledge about Finland and, consequently, benefit the nation as a whole. While insisting on the urgency of the matter, Rancken maintains a somewhat cautious tone throughout: “One could possibly object that what is peculiar about the Finnish Swedes is so inconsequential that it would be of no use whatsoever” (“Möjligen vill man invända, att det egendomliga hos de Finska Svenskarne är så obetydande, att ingen väsentlig nytta deraf kan dragas”), he comments, before going on to venture: “Perhaps, [but] this is thus far unsubstantiated, and to the degree that we understand its value, it cannot be seen as being completely insignificant” (“Kanhända; detta är likväl hittills obevisadt, och i den omfattning vi förstå nyttan, måste den i hvarje händelse vara icke så liten”34).

32 33 34

Ilmarinen, 1st April 1848, 98. See Wolf-Knuts, “Johan Oskar Immanuel Rancken: Den finlandssvenska folkloristikens fader”. Ilmarinen, 5th April 1848, 101.

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Rancken’s Thoughts on Swedish-Speaking Folklore in Finland

As noted above, the appeal also demonstrates that Rancken was well acquainted with the folklore collecting that had taken place in Sweden and elsewhere. He mentions the names of Geijer, Afzelius, Arwidsson, Rääf, Wallman, [Per Adam] Reutersvärd (1786–1861), Dybeck, Hyltén-Cavallius, and Stephens as sources of inspiration and models for undertaking folkloristic work (indeed, Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens had published the first volume of their Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr [Swedish Folk Tales and Fairy Tales] just four years earlier). It is evident that in spite of his comments noted above, Rancken considered the Swedish-speaking population in Finland as essentially belonging to a “Swedish” rather than “Finnish” nationality, that is, he saw them as a separate ethnic group. However, it is also clear that he saw differences between the Swedish-speaking population of Ostrobothnia along the west coast and that of Uusimaa along the south coast of Finland. He points out, for example, that the Swedish song games from Finland that Arwidsson had included in Svenska fornsånger belonged to the cultural sphere of the upper classes in Uusimaa, whereas these games were largely unknown in Ostrobothnia where few of the nobility resided.35 As he notes, this difference was also reflected in the folklore of the peasantry in Uusimaa who lived in close proximity to the upper classes and thus frequently adopted traditions of the elite, even maintaining them long after they had gone out of fashion. On the other hand, it seemed evident to Rancken that due to their proximity and close contacts with Sweden, the Swedish-speakers of Ostrobothnia were more likely to import and preserve popular traditions that had originated in Sweden. Rancken estimated that prominent cultural influences from Sweden were reflected in the fact that expressions of folk culture originating among the Swedish-speakers in Finland were few compared with those of their Finnish-speaking compatriots.36 In his article, he reinforces this statement by pointing out that Swedish-speakers had ruled Finland for a long time, echoing a comment made by Geijer in his preface to Svenska folk-visor that the richest folk poetry is usually found among oppressed people rather than among those in positions of power.37 Although the call in Ilmarinen has received much attention in later writing about Swedish-speaking folklore research in Finland,38 it is worth noting

35 36 37 38

Ilmarinen, 1st April 1848, 97. Ilmarinen, 1st April 1848, 98. Ilmarinen, 1st April 1848, 98. See, for example, Andersson, Finländsk folklore; and Wolf-Knuts, “Johan Oskar Immanuel Rancken: Den finlandssvenska folkloristikens fader”.

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that at the time Rancken’s exhortation did not engender any great immediate response. It certainly did not inspire the wave of collecting Rancken had been hoping for.39 As a result, Rancken started collecting himself.

6

Rancken’s Folkloristic Ambitions

In his appeal, Rancken had described himself as being “unfamiliar” with Ostrobothnia, commenting that it would be preferable if local people did the collecting.40 In spite of this, soon afterwards, he made two shorter collecting trips of his own in the vicinity of Vaasa and in the Northern parts of Swedishspeaking Ostrobothnia in 1849. The material he collected on these trips, which Rancken estimated as being relatively modest in size, was unfortunately lost in the Vaasa fire of 1852.41 The significant private folklore collections that Rancken was later to accumulate were, for the most part, collected by proxy. One efficient way of gathering material for Rancken was to give his students assignments to write essays about folk customs in their home communities.42 Several of these students later went on to become regular collectors. The most notable among them was the crofter’s son Jakob Edvard Wefvar (1840−1911), who was subsequently to contribute the lion’s share to Rancken’s folklore collections. As a schoolboy in Vaasa, Wefvar had started collecting folk songs in his home parish of Karleby. He ended up making a career out of documenting folklore, his success in this field resulting from his unique ability in establishing good relationships with his contributors.43 After having taken up his teaching position in Vaasa in 1846, it is clear that Rancken wanted to pursue his interest in collecting folk poetry (rather than legends or fairy tales). This led him to turn to his father’s old friend Arwidsson who was still based in Stockholm. In a letter from 15th October 1849, Arwidsson provided Rancken with advice on several basic works on Swedish folk poetry and others containing prose: We now have almost a multitude of works on folk poetry and medieval poetry. If you have the possibility, to take a look at Bäckström’s Svenska 39 40 41 42

43

Rancken, Förteckning (1874), 66. Ilmarinen, 1st April 1848, 102. See Rancken, Förteckning (1874), 6. See Wolf-Knuts, “Johan Oskar Immanuel Rancken: En pionjär inom folkloristiken”, 39–42. The material gathered through the students’ essays mostly concerns customs and traditions and very little of other genres: see Rancken, Förteckning (1874), 8. Häggman, “Jakob Edvard Wefvar”, 139–156.

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folkböcker, or Cavallii and Stephens’ Svenska folksagor44 at a bookstore or elsewhere over there, you will find several of those works mentioned. But, as you cannot buy the whole library on the subject matter, I would advise you to get Grässe’s Literatur Geschichte,45 the part that deals with folk poetry. But first of all, read the two works mentioned above. (Man har numera nästan ett otal af arbeten, om folks- och medeltidspoësin. Ifall du har tillfälle, hos bokhandlare eller andra der borta, att se Bäckströms Svenska Folkböcker, eller Cavallii och Stephens Svenska Folksagor, finner du flera dithörande arbeten omnämnde. Men som du icke kan köpa dig hela bibliothek i ämnet, skulle jag tillråda dig, att anskaffa Grässes litteratur Geschichte, den delen, som afhandlar folkdikten. Men läs först ofvan anförde tvenne arbeten.46) Rancken seems to have followed Arwidsson’s advice, as in his later study of the folk song among the Latin and Germanic peoples (Folksången hos de romaniska och germaniska nationerna [The Folk Song Amongst the Romanic and Germanic Nations]: 1859), he refers to Grässe’s work among others. However, in his writing, Rancken often hints at the difficulties involved in pursuing academic ambitions while residing in a “countryside commune distant from more lively erudition” (“från lifligare bildningsimpulser aflägsen landsort”47). He laments that his access to source material and literature is severely limited.48 Although the newly-established school library in Vaasa was one of the reasons he chose to take a teaching position there, it naturally was not equipped with the full range of works he would have liked to have had access to. Rancken was an industrious scholar and over the course of his life published numerous historical and pedagogical works and studies,49 but he also wanted to make a mark within the emerging field of folklore studies. Based on his extensive private collections noted above, he later went on to publish two catalogues of folk songs, melodies, fairy tales and legends from Swedish-speaking Ostrobothnia: Förteckning öfver folksånger, melodier, sagor och äfventyr från det 44 45 46 47 48 49

See Bäckström, Svenska folkböcker (1845–1848); and Hyltén-Cavallius and Stephens, Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr (1844–1849). The work referred to here is probably Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, Handbuch der allgemeinen Literaturgeschichte aller bekannten Völker der Welt. RA 95: Letter from A. I. Arwidsson to J. O. I. Rancken. Rancken, Förteckning (1874), 7. See, for example, Rancken, Folksången hos de romaniska och germaniska nationerna, iii. Rancken published around 70 works altogether, nine of which deal with the war of 1808–1809.

496

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svenska Österbotten, i handskrift samlade af d:r J. O. I. Rancken (A List of Folk Songs, Melodies, Legends and Fairy Tales from the Swedish Österbotten, in a Manuscript Made by Dr J. O. I. Rancken: 1874) – containing 583 folk songs (numbers 1–583) and 129 tales and legends (numbers 1–129) – and Förteckning öfver folksånger, melodier, sagor och äfventyr från det svenska Österbotten, i handskrift samlade af d:r J. O. I. Rancken II (1890) – containing 750 folk songs (numbers 584–1333) and 458 tales, legends, anecdotes and folk belief (numbers 130–587). In the preface to the first volume (1874), Rancken describes how he had nourished an interest in folk song since his student years, but that his career and place of residence had given him little opportunity to pursue this interest to the full. He points out that he would have liked to contribute folk songs from Finland to the collections of Afzelius and Arwidsson.50 He writes that he had intended to edit his own collections and have them published, but as this proved to be impossible he decided to publish at least his catalogues in order to make the material public and available to researchers.51 The section containing fairy tales, anecdotes and legends (like the section of folk songs) is organised alphabetically according to provenance. Also provided are the name of the informant (when known); the length of the record (given in the number of folio pages); information about whether the record is made in dialect or standard Swedish; further relevant information; and, finally, information on whether the notation had an oral or written source.52 In addition to the above works, Rancken also published a selection of legends from the parish of Vörå, some 30 kilometres north east of Vaasa collected by the district judge Mårten Lassus (1802–1875, born in the parish of Oravais some 40 kilometres north of Vaasa) (Några traditioner från Wörå [grundade på anteckningar af häradsdomaren Mårt. Lassus][Several Traditions from Wörå (Based on Notes Made by the Local Judge Mårt. Lassus)]: 1862: see fig. 17.2), and a small selection of folk songs and folktales from Ostrobothnia (Några prof af folksång och saga i det svenska Österbotten [Several Samples of Folk Songs and Narratives from the Swedish Österbotten]: 1878). It is noteworthy that although both of the above works include legends, Rancken does not mention the term “sägen” (legend) in his introductions, but rather talks about “traditioner” (traditions), “folkberättelser” (lit. “accounts by people”), “folkdikt i prosans form” (folk poetry in prose form) and “dikter i obunden form” (poems in free form). This would indicate that in spite of collecting and displaying an interest in 50 51 52

Rancken, Förteckning (1874), 6. Rancken, Förteckning (1874), 10. See also Rancken, Förteckning (1890), 91. Rancken, Förteckning (1874), 59.

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legends, Rancken was not specific in his terminology when it came to various narrative genres.

7

Scholarly Networks

Despite Rancken’s own perception of life on the periphery in Vaasa, his letters show that during his life he developed an extensive academic network and that he corresponded regularly with many influential scholars of his day, such as the aforementioned Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, Carl Säve and Kaarle Krohn, as well as the folklorist Julius Krohn (1835–1888), the ethnographer and folklorist Carl Axel Gottlund (1796–1875), and the Swedish linguist J. A. Lundell (1851–1940). He also managed to make several study trips abroad and participated in international conferences.53 In addition to being a member of a number of Finnish academic societies,54 he was also appointed a corresponding member in several academic societies abroad, such as the Society for the Promotion of the Nordic Museum (Samfundet för Nordiska museets främjande, founded in 1880) and The Swedish Society of Antiquities (Svenska fornminnesföreningen, founded in 1869). He was also appointed a corresponding member for the international archaeological conferences that took place in Stockholm in 1874, Budapest in 1876, and Lisbon in 1880.55 In connection with the conference in Stockholm in 1874, Rancken met with his old friend Carl Säve56 at the Museum of Antiquities in Uppsala (Uppsala Fornmuseum). A few weeks later, on 24th August 1874, Säve wrote Rancken, expressing regret that they did not have more time to talk. He added: In the rush, I do not remember if I mentioned that in accordance with your wishes, I have widely distributed your book on Folk Songs, Melodies etc., namely to the university libraries in Uppsala, Christiania

53 54

55 56

See Storå, “Oskar Rancken som etnologisk insamlare i ett europeiskt perspektiv”, 24–31. For example, The Finnish Antiquarian Society (Finska fornminnesföreningen, founded in 1870), and the Historical Section of the Finnish Literature Society (Finska litteratursällskapets historiska sektion, later Finska historiska samfundet, founded in 1864). Storå, “Oskar Rancken”, 24–25. Carl Säve was a renowned dialectologist and Professor of Nordic Languages at Uppsala University between 1859 and 1876. Together with his brother, Per (Pehr) Arvid Säve (1811–1887), he collected the material for a Gotlandic dictionary (Gotländsk ordbok: 1936–1945). Per Arvid Säve was also an industrious collector of Gotlandic folklore, such as legends, fairy tales and folk songs: see Palmenfelt, Per Arvid Säves möte med människor och sägner.

498

Wolf-Knuts and Österlund-Pötzsch

and Copenhagen, to Professors Stephens (in Copenhagen), Bugge (in Christiania), Th. Mobius (in Kiel), to Rich. Dybeck (in Stockholm), assistant Gunn. Norlander (in Uppsala) and others. (Jag minnes ej, om jag då i brådskan hann nämna, att jag, enligt din önskan, utdelat Din bok om Folksånger, Melodier m.m. på åtskilliga håll, näml. till Universitets-biblioteken i Uppsala, Christiania och Köpenhamn, till Proff. Stephens (i Köph.), Bugge (i Christiania) Th. Mobius (i Kiel), till Rich. Dybeck (i Stockh.), Aman. Gunn. Norlander (i Upps.),57 m.fl.58) Rancken had been eager to disseminate the results of his work and had therefore ordered extra prints of his publications in order to give them away. His work did not go without recognition. With regard to the aforementioned catalogue of collected folklore (folk songs, fairy tales and legends), Rancken later quoted a letter of reply he had received from “the excellent Englishman, professor in Copenhagen Geo. Stephens” (“den utmärkte engelsmannnen, professorn i Köpenhamn Geo. Stephens”) who had remarked that Rancken’s collection of folklore had clearly been carried out at the very last moment – a similar collection undertaken 50 years later would not yield such a vast result.59 Another influential figure that Rancken had met at the Stockholm conference was the German folklorist Wilhelm Mannhardt (1831–1880),60 who wanted to continue and expand the documentation of folk belief and folklore promoted by the Grimm brothers. Mannhardt informed the fascinated Rancken about his project of collecting information on agrarian folk belief 57

58 59 60

The Norwegian linguist and folklorist Sophus Bugge (1833–1907) was professor in IndoEuropean Languages and Old Norse at Kristiania University; Theodor Mobius [Möbius] (1821–1890) was a German philologist who specialised in Norse, and was professor of Scandinavian Languages and Literature at Kiel University; Richard Dybeck was a Swedish antiquarian and composer; and Gunnar Norlander (1849–1939) was active in the Dialect Society of Småland (Smålands landsmålsförening) in Uppsala as a student. Norlander’s dialect collections are housed in the Department of Dialectology and Folklore Research (Dialekt- och folkminnesarkivet och Ortnamnsarkivet) in Uppsala. RA 95: Letter from C. Säve to J. O. I. Rancken. Rancken, Några åkerbruksplägseder bland svenskarne i Finland, till D:r W. Mannhardts forskning en axplockning, 5. Wilhelm Mannhardt was a docent in Berlin and a municipal librarian in Danzig. He is mainly known for his international comparative research concerning mythology in connection with agrarian work, introducing systematic ways of collecting folklore along with information about geographical conditions. He was also one of the editors of the first folklore journal Zeitschrift für deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde (Journal of German Mythology and Folk Custom: 1853–1859), which, in spite of its title, was highly international: see further Dundes, International Folkloristics, 16–19.

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and tradition through a questionnaire and expressed a wish to receive contributions regarding the “population of Scandinavian origin in Finland” (“befolkning af skandinavisk härkomst i Finland”). Rancken had promised to do his best to promote the questionnaire in Finland.61 This brought Rancken to participate in the first large folkloristic questionnaire project in the Germanic and Nordic area which Mannhardt organised. However, due to several delays, the questionnaire answers Rancken received arrived too late to appear in part two of Mannhardt’s Wald- und Feldkulte (Wood and Field Cults: 1877). Six replies along with a translation of Mannhardt’s questionnaire were nonetheless published under the title Några åkerbruksplägseder bland svenskarne i Finland, till D:r W. Mannhardts forskning en axplockning af d:r J. Oskar I. Rancken (A Few Agrarian Traditions Among the Swedes in Finland, for Dr Mannhardt’s Research, a Selection by Dr J. Oskar I. Rancken) in 1879. At the conclusion of the booklet, Rancken mentions that in a recently arrived letter Mannhardt has affirmed that further contributions from Finland will be welcome.62 Over time, as Rancken’s collections started to become more well-known among Finnish scholars, he started receiving requests for more material and information. His network was clearly expanding. For example, in a letter dated 22nd January 1881, the Professor of Esthetics and founder of the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland (Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland), Carl Gustav Estlander (1834–1910) thanks Rancken for the folk songs he has received, and adds: it is, of course, your collections that have provided me with […] most material […] and I would like to take this opportunity to express the warm recognition the rest of us owe you for what you have done to preserve the Swedish folk songs and legends in old Ostrobothnia. (det är naturligtvis dina samlingar, som gett mig […] mesta material […] och jag begagnar tillfället att uttala den varma erkänsla vi andra äro skyldiga Dig för det du gjort för bevarandet af de svenska sångerna och sägnerna i det gamla Österbotten.63) It is worth noting that Estlander here singles out both “folk songs and legends” as being among the folklore Rancken had “preserved”, although Rancken himself talks very little about his material concerning legends.

61 62 63

Rancken, Några åkerbruksplägseder, 2. Rancken, Några åkerbruksplägseder, 37. RA 96: Letter from C. G. Estlander to J. O. I. Rancken.

500

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Four years later, on 12th March 1885, the philologist Axel Olof Freudenthal (1836–1911) writes to Rancken on behalf of the newly founded Society of Swedish Literature in Finland: “we expect [you] have much worth publishing. What about your folk songs and folktales?” (“[… tillskriva Dig], hvilken vi förmoda vara i besittning af åtskilligt, värt att offentliggöra. Hur är det t. ex. med Dina folkvisor och sagor?”64). Freudenthal was familiar with Rancken’s collection after having commented on the rendering of colloquial language in published material editions. While Rancken himself did not publish any extensive works based on his collection, he also provided the Finnish folklorists Julius Krohn and Kaarle Krohn with material: On 27th April 1865, Julius Krohn wrote to Rancken asking for information about the war of 1808 for an article he was writing for the journal Maiden ja merien takaa.65 After a similar request on 11th July 1887, Rancken sent Kaarle Krohn versions of animal tales for use in the future Professor of Folkloristics’ doctoral dissertation, Bär (Wolf ) und Fuchs (Bear [Wolf] and Fox: 1888).66

8

Conclusion

As has been suggested above, it seems evident that unlike many of the first collectors in the other Nordic countries, Rancken seems to have been more concerned with collecting folk songs and fairy tales rather than legends. Legends do appear in Rancken’s catalogues of collected folklore, but are not specifically noted and at times seem to have been included only incidentally, judging by Rancken’s comment in his second published collection Förteckning öfver folksånger, melodier, sagor och äfventyr från det svenska Österbotten (1890): The records above mostly consist of animal tales, ordinary folktales and fairy tales. One or two stories of a different kind, anecdotes or legends may also have been included, as the material is not available for closer scrutinisation or classification […]. (De ofvan förtecknade utgöras mest af fabler, egentliga sagor och äfventyr. En eller annan berättelse af annat slag, anekdot eller sägen har ock kunnat följa med, då materialet ej finns till hands för närmare granskning eller klassificering […].67) 64 65 66 67

RA 97: Letter from A. O Freudenthal to J. O. I. Rancken. RA 99: Letter from J. Krohn to J. O. I. Rancken. RA 99: Letter from K. Krohn to J. O. I. Rancken. Rancken, Förteckning (1890), 85.

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Nevertheless, it is worth noting that in another letter from 11th September 1865, when Carl Säve is lauding Rancken’s achievements in collecting Swedish-speaking folklore in Finland, he notes: “the fact that you have gathered a total of 130 legends is certainly no insignificant harvest” (“att ni har fått ihop ett antal af hela 130 stycken sägner är minsann ingen liten skörd”68). He underlines (with a clear hint to Rancken) that to the best of his knowledge, no published Swedish collection of legends has yet come into existence, although legends could be found dispersed in other larger collections such as Hyltén-Cavallius’ two-volume work Wärend och wirdarne which had appeared in 1863 and 1868, respectively.69 With regard to the best model for such a collection, Säve advises that the most extensive work on Scandinavian legend is without a doubt J. M. Thiele’s Danmarks Folkesagn (Danish Folk Legends), noting that: “This Danish work is particularly comprehensive and outstanding” (“detta Danska arbete är i synnerhet uttömmande och förträffligt”70). In spite of this encouragement, and although Rancken excelled in his collecting endeavours, he never published a collection solely dedicated to the legend in Swedish-speaking Finland.71 As has been implied above, Rancken was too young to have experienced the immediate impact of the Grimm brothers’ groundbreaking collection work in the first half of the nineteenth century. In spite of this, through his constant efforts to keep abreast of current developments that were going on in the emerging field of Folklore Studies, and his active correspondence with leading Scandinavian folklorists (particularly those from Sweden and Finland), it is evident that he managed to effectively immerse himself in a Gedankenwelt which was replete with the ideas on nationality and folklore that had been expressed in works like Deutsche Sagen and the other collections of folk narrative that followed it over the course of the century. 68 69 70 71

RA 95: Letter from C. Säve to J. O. I. Rancken. See further the chapter on Hyltén-Cavallius by Terry Gunnell and Fredrik Skott elsewhere in this volume. RA 95: Letter from C. Säve to J. O. I. Rancken. See also Herranen, “Räven och björnen”. The diligent fieldworker V. E. V. Wessman (1879–1958) is the man behind the main collection of legends from Swedish-speaking Finland which is now housed in the archives of the Society of Swedish Literature in Finland. Wessman was also the editor of the three volumes (published in 1924, 1928, 1931) comprising of legends which formed part of the large publication series Finlands svenska folkdiktning (The Swedish Folk Poetry of Finland). A number of legends from the Rancken collections were included in volumes II.2: Historiska sägner (Historical Legends: 1924) and II.3: Mytiska sägner (Mythological Legends: 1931).

Bibliography Note: In line with Icelandic conventions, all Icelandic authors are listed by their Christian names rather than their patronym or surname.

Manuscripts Advocates Library, National Library of Scotland (NLS Adv.I) NLS Adv. MS 50.1.14: Letters between George Webbe Dasent and John Francis Campbell (generally in chronological order). NLS Adv. MS 50.2.1: Correspondence between John Francis Campbell and colleagues and publisher. NLS Adv. MS 50.3.2: John Francis Campbell, MS of Oral Mythology. Aust-Agder museum og arkiv, avd. Kuben, Arendal (AAMAK) (Aust-Agder Museum and Archive) PA-1936b: Fayes arkiv. British Library Add MS. 20092 (“Collections for a history of the ballad literature of Ireland by Thomas Crofton Croker”). Cambridge University Library Madden Collection Vol. 24: Thomas Crofton Croker: Ballads and “Skellig List” material. Cork City Library Thomas Crofton Croker Correspondence Vol. 2, letter 15: Letter from Wilhelm Grimm to Thomas Crofton Croker (15th February 1828). Vol. 2, letter 28. Letter from Wilhelm Grimm in Kassel to Thomas Crofton Croker (29th July 1826). Vol. 2, letter 60: Letter from Wilhelm Grimm in Kassel to Thomas Crofton Croker (26th January 1827). Vol. 2, letter 61: English translation of letter 60. Vol. 3, letter 8: Letter from Thomas Crofton Croker, London, to the Grimms [16th June 1826]. Det Kongelige Bibliotek (The Royal Library Denmark) Carl Christian Rafn: Breve 1599 2°. 60 vols. I, II, III, IV (1–2), IV and V. Den Nye Kongelige Samling (NKS) (The New Royal Collection) NKS 3009 4to: Letters to Jón Árnason from people living outside Iceland. Det norske riksarkiv, Oslo (NRA) (The Norwegian State Archive)

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Privatarkiv 15: Andreas Fayes arkiv. Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum (The Estonian Literary Museum) Cultural History Archives (KM EKLA, f. 117, EKS segak. 1:4): Letter from G. J. von Schultz-Bertram to J. V. Jannsen (18th March 1870). Göteborgs universitetsbibliotek (GUB) (Göteborg University Library): Manuscript collections Letters from Hyltén-Cavallius to Peter Wieselgren. Harvard University Library MS Icel. 20, 30, 31 and 40: Four manuscripts received by Konrad Maurer from Eiríkur Kúld. MS Icel. 42: The first Icelandic manuscript Konrad Maurer acquired. Kungliga Biblioteket (The Royal Library), Stockholm: Manuscript collections L. 26: Letters from Hyltén-Cavallius. V. s. 6: Original legend recordings. V. s. 7: 1: 3: Manuscript of “Folksägner från Värend”. Landsbókasafn Íslands: Háskólabókasafn (Lbs.) (The National and University Library of Iceland, Reykjavík) Lbs. 528 4to: Jón Árnason’s folklore collection. Lbs. 529 4to: Jón Árnason’s folklore collection. Lbs. 1056 4to: Letters from Jón Sigurðsson and Guðbrandur Vigfússon to Konrad Maurer. Lbs. 2655 8to: Letters from Jón Árnason to Konrad Maurer. Nasjonalbiblioteket, Oslo (NB) (The Norwegian National Library) Håndskriftsamlingen: MS 2422 8°: En Mindekrands fra svundne Dage af Andreas Faye. Brevsamling 1 og 19. National Library of Scotland (NLS): Manuscripts NLS MS 3885: Letter from Jacob Grimm to Sir Walter Scott (4th January 1814). National Museet (The National Museum, Copenhagen) Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskriftselskabs Arkiv (The Royal Society of Northern Antiquaries Archive): Mødeprotokol I and II. Mødeprotokol IV 1852–84. Rafn, Carl Christian. Modtagne Breve. 1–1699. Breve fra og til C. C. Rafn (1–2099). Members list (The Royal Nordic Society of Antiquaries). Norsk Folkeminnesamling, Oslo (NFS) (The Norwegian Folklore Archives) Asbjørnsen brev (letters): Letter to P. Chr. Asbjørnsen from Andreas Faye (25th March 1835). Asbjørnsen brev: notatbok 1879.

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Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe to Jacob Grimm (16th October 1844). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Sabine Baring-Gould (20th December 1873). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Hans Lien Brækstad (20th June 1878). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Sophus Elseus Bugge (10th July 1858). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Engelbregt Færden (23rd July 1875). Asbjørnsen brev: Letters from Edmund William Gosse (10th August 1872; 25th November 1872; 4th September 1873; and 25th November 1872). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Hans Gude (18th November 1878). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Josef Haltrich (10th October 1883). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Thrond Sjursen Haukenæs (7th May 1872). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Poul Sophus Vilhelm Heegaard (30th November 1880). Asbjørnsen brev: Letters from Bernard Herre (17th November 1847; and 19th February 1848). Asbjørnsen brev: Letters from Andrew Johnston (8th April 1877; 12th August 1877; 2nd October 1877; and 13th January 1884). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Theodor Kittelsen (undated). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Gustav Edvard Klemming (16th November 1865). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Robert Meason Laing (23rd September 1842). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Jonas Lie (17th September 1882). Asbjørnsen brev: Letters from Felix Liebrecht (3rd May 1866; 23rd February 1867; and 22nd October 1867). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Konrad Maurer (6th May 1856). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Konrad Maurer (18th May 1862). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Konrad Maurer (20th May 1860). Asbjørnsen brev: Letters from August Theodor Möbius (11th April 1857; 28th March 1858; and 22nd March 1866). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from Guiseppe Pitré (2nd March 1876). Asbjørnsen brev: Letters from William R. S. Ralston (27th April 1872; and 31st December 1873). Asbjørnsen brev: Letters from Adolph Tidemand (29th July 1851; and 25th September 1860). Asbjørnsen brev: Letter from John Francis Campbell (9th June 1872). Asbjørnsen: Natur Klippsamling (Natural history, scrapbook): files 89–90. Asbjørnsen: Varianter: E 52–59. Oxford, Bodleian Library (Bodl.) MS Oxford: Bodl. GV Icel. d. 1: Letters from Jón Árnason to Guðbrandur Vigfússon. MS Oxford: Bodl. GV Germ. d. 2: Letters from Konrad Maurer to Guðbrandur Vigfússon.

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MS Oxford: Bodl. MS Icel. d. 1: SG: 422r–426r: Letters from Sigurður Guðmundsson to Guðbrandur Vigfússon. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: Preußischer Kulturbesitz (Berlin State Library: Prussian Cultural Heritage) Nachlass Arnswaldt, Kst. 5: 155, 3a: Letter from Wilhelm Grimm to August von Haxthausen (8th August 1813). Nachlass Grimm 84 and 86: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s personal copies (Handexemplare) of Deutsche Sagen containing annotated reviews. Nachlass Grimm 719: Letters from Konrad Maurer to Jacob Grimm. Nachlass Grimm 1705: Letter from Just Mathias Thiele to the Grimm brothers (26th September 1818). Nachlass Grimm 1668: Letter from C. Steenbloch to Jacob Grimm (14th May 1812). Nachlass Grimm 1756, IV, fol. 193–194: “Der Grabhügel”. Nachlass Grimm 1757, 6, fol. 1: “Circularbrief wegen Aufsammung der Volkspoesie”. Nachlass Grimm 908: Letter from Thomas Crofton Croker in Brighton to Wilhelm Grimm (23rd December 1826). Nachlass Grimm 908: Letter from Thomas Crofton Croker in London to Wilhelm Grimm (1st May 1827). (Received mark: 1st July 1827.) Nachlass Grimm 908: Letter from Thomas Crofton Croker in London to Jacob Grimm (16th June 1826). Stofnun Árna Magnússonar í íslenskum fræðum (The Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies in Reykjavík) NKS 3010 4to: Letters to Jón Árnason from his fellow Icelanders. Universitätsbibliothek, Landesbibliothek und Murhardsche Bibliothek der Stadt Kassel (The University Library, State Library and Murhard Library of Kassel) 8° Grimm 79[1: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s personal copy of Kinder- und Hausmärchen, vol. 1 containing annotated reviews. Vetenskapsbiblioteket Tritonia, Vasa (The Tritonia Academic Library, Vaasa) The Rancken Collection (RA) (Rancken’s Letter Collection). RA 90: Letter from J. O. I. Rancken to E. Rancken (22nd January 1843). RA 90: Letter from J. O. I. Rancken to E. Rancken (19th February 1842). RA 95: Letter from A. I. Arwidsson to J. O. I. Rancken (15th October 1849). RA 95: Letter from C. Säve to J. O. I. Rancken (11th September 1865). RA 95: Letter from C. Säve to J. O. I. Rancken (24th August 1874). RA 96: Letter from C. G. Estlander to J. O. I. Rancken (22nd January 1881). RA 97: Letter from A. O Freudenthal to J. O. I. Rancken (12th March 1885). RA 99: Letter from J. Krohn to J. O. I. Rancken (27th April 1965). RA 99: Letter from K. Krohn to J. O. I. Rancken (11th July 1887). Þjóðskjalasafn Íslands (The Icelandic National Archive)

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Index Please note that in line with Icelandic tradition, all Icelanders are referred to by Christian name. The names of those figures about whom an entry exists in the Encyclopedia of Romantic Nationalism in Europe, edited by Joep Leerssen and also published by Brill [also available online at https://ernie.uva.nl] are given in bold.

Aalholm, Niels Matthias 124, 136 Aall, Jacob 115–118 Aall, Jørgen 136 Aarne, Antti 249, 251, 312, 330 Verzeichnis der Märchentypen 251 Aasen, Ivar 161, 182, 212 Det norske Folkesprogs Grammatik 181, 212 Ordbog over det norske Folkesprog 181, 212 Addy, Sidney Oldall 336 Household Tales with Other Traditional Remains 336 Adelung, Johann Christoph Mithridates, oder allgemeine Sprachenkunde 460 Afanasyev, Alexander 330 Afzelius, Arvid August 9, 225, 234, 237, 242, 243, 246, 322, 478, 491, 493, 496. See also Geijer, Erik Gustaf, and Afzelius, Arvid August Svenska folkets sago-häfder 233, 237, 322 Ahlstrand, J. A. 244 Alfred, King 19 Alhoniemi, Pirkko 459 Almqvist, Bo 264, 275 Crossing the Border 275 Alopaeus, Magnus Jacob 455 Alopaeus, Pehr Johan 455 Alver, Brynjulf 9, 17 America 162, 299 Aminoff, Germund Fredrik 459 Andersen, Hans Christian 74, 79, 121, 304, 418 Ice Maidens 418 Andersson, Alfred 234 Andersson, Otto 460 Andrén, Anders Victor (“Vicke”) 233 Angel, Johanna Gustafva 228

Anna Loftsdóttir 367 Annist, August 442 Anttila, Aarne 469 Anttonen, Pertti 9 Apo, Satu 450, 478–479 Arbo, Peter Nicolai 143, 161, 170, 214 Arfwedson, Carl David 225 Árni Björnsson 418 Árni Illugason 388 Árni Magnússon 117 Arnljótur Ólafsson 398 Art 11, 16, 121, 143–144, 160, 168, 172, 188, 192, 204, 206, 214–216, 220, 229, 233–234, 237, 258, 264, 267, 274, 332, 354, 356, 385, 409, 410, 417–419, 430, 439, 456 Arwidsson, Adolf Ivar 224, 234, 246, 453, 455–457, 459, 460, 463, 483–487, 491, 493–497 Life and acquaintances 483–485 Svenska fornsånger 224, 485–486, 493 Asbjørnsen, Peter Chr. 5–6, 12, 15, 20, 21, 35, 75, 117, 138–139, 141, 147–184, 199–213, 220, 232, 233, 236, 238, 248, 276, 312, 314, 353, 375, 376, 383, 392 Fornuftigt Madstel 158 Life and acquaintances 155–162 Lærketræet samt den nyere tydske Bartrædyrkning 158 Membership of societies 158, 163, 239 Naturhistorie for Ungdommen 158 Network 184, 203 Norsk Landmandsbog for 1868 158 Norske Folke- og Huldre-Eventyr 214 Norske Folke- og Huldre-Eventyr i Udvalg 170 Norske Huldreeventyr (Huldre-Eventyr) og Folkesagn 5, 30, 35, 76, 139, 206–215, 232, 304, 392

576 Asbjørnsen, Peter Chr. (cont.) Norske Folkle-Eventyr Ny samling 218 Om Kaffeen 158 Om Skovene og et ordnet Skovbrug i Norge 158 Om Skovtørk og Markaat 158 Photographs, exchange of 166 Reception of Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn 209, 213–214, 216–220 Round the Yule Log 168 Tales from the Fjeld. See Dasent, George Webbe Translations of Norske Huldreeventyr og Folkesagn 214 Asbjørnsen, Peter Chr., and Grässe, Johann Georg Theodor Eventyr fra fremmede Lande 182 Nord und Süd 182 Asbjörnsen, Peter Chr., and Moe, Jörgen 6, 18, 19, 145, 150, 170, 175, 178, 185–201, 249, 257, 299, 308, 328, 330, 333, 392, 405, 412, 413, 468–470, 477 Collection and fieldwork 186, 192, 201, 218, 219, 221 Norske Folkeeventyr (Folke-Eventyr) 6, 18, 32, 75, 138, 155, 173, 178, 179, 194–204, 221, 231, 249, 257, 299, 308, 328, 333, 392, 405, 413, 465, 470, 478 Popular Tales from the Norse 197, 299. See Dasent, George Webbe Prospectus 186–192, 198 Reception of Norske Folkeeventyr 194–197, 201 Translations of Norske Folkeeventyr 196–197 Asmuss, Martin 439 Melusine Eine deutsche Volks-Sage 439 Asmuss. Martin 439 Aspelin, C. 233 Atterbom, Per Daniel Amadeus 241, 242, 484 Lycksalighetens ö 242 Aubrey, John 332 Australia 339 Austria 3, 121, 177, 290 Authenticity 10, 19, 26, 33, 42, 43, 53–54, 131, 134–137, 140–141, 145, 186, 191, 200, 201,

Index 204, 205, 208–211, 293, 294, 303, 304, 313, 370, 389, 394, 403, 435 Bäckström, Per Olof 233, 237, 494, 495 Svenska folkböcker 233, 495 Baggesen, Jens 78 Ballads 38, 40, 75, 87, 100, 101, 142, 253–254, 258, 259, 267, 268, 290, 295, 334, 345–347, 349, 350, 360, 391, 394, 423, 429–431, 439–441, 455, 485, 490, 491, 493, 496, 498, 499 Barbaro, Francesco 152 Barbarossa, Friedrich 38–39, 367 Baring-Gould, Sabine 173, 328–336, 414 Collection and fieldwork 329, 331 Iceland, Its Scenes and Sagas 328 Life and acquaintances 328 Barrett, Peggy 275–276 Bauman, Richard 335 Belgium 121 Belief 28, 33, 57, 65, 92, 103, 104, 117, 142, 157, 208, 210, 222, 225, 227, 236, 246, 266, 272, 273, 284, 294, 295, 309, 318, 319, 322, 324, 326, 329, 330, 337, 344, 368, 369 370, 379, 385, 388 390, 396, 398, 400, 402, 460, 498 Ben-Amos, Dan 14 Benecke, Georg Friedrich 63, 290 Benedikt Gröndal 399 Benedikt Þórarinsson 398 Benfey, Theodor 491 Bennett, Maria 241 Bentley, Richard 415 Beowulf 399 Bergmann, Jaan 441 Berlin 60, 62, 67, 168, 169, 196, 265, 278–280, 361–363, 373, 425, 433, 498 Bertram, Dr. See von Schultz-Bertram, Georg Julius Bielenstein, August 438 Bienemann, Friedrich jr 437–438, 440 Livländisches Sagenbuch 438 Bjarni Thorarensen 418 “Íslandsminni” 418 Björn Þorláksson 381 Björnson, Björnsterne 161, 217 Blicher, Steen Steensen 74

577

Index Blindner, Heinrich. See von Busse, Karl Heinrich Bluhme, C. A. 82 Bólu-Hjálmar (Jónsson) 374 Bonaparte, Jérôme 43 Bonaparte, Napoleon 43, 45 Bonifacius, Clemens. See Asbjørnsen, Peter Chr. Bonnie Prince Charlie 8 Bonnier, Albert 170 Borg, Carl Gustav 469, 473 Föreläsningar i Finsk mytologi 469 Braadland, Jan Faye 125 Bracciolini, Poggio 152 Branch, Michael 451, 456 Brazil 234 Bremer, Fredrika 228 Brentano, Clemens 27, 40, 47–48, 439. See von Arnim, Achim, and Brentano, Clemens Die Mährchen vom Rhein 29 Briggs, Charles 335 Briggs, Katharine 17 A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language 17 Bringéus, Nils-Arvid 223, 235–237 Britannia 418 Brooke, Charlotte 9, 259 Reliques of Irish Poetry 9 Brooke, William Henry 274 Brú, Heðin 355 Bruce, Robert 19 Brun, Constantin 78 Brun, Frederikke 74, 77, 78, 81 Brun, Ida 78 Brun, Sophie 79 Brynjólfur Pétursson 392 Bryson, Alexander 310 Brækstad, Hans Lien 175, 213–214, 217 Round the Yule Log 213, 217 Buch, Wilhelm Henrik 124 Buchan, Peter 295, 296 Ancient Scottish Tales 295 Budapest 497 Bugge, Alexander 148 Bugge, Sophus 148, 168, 257, 498 Bülow, Johan 87 Bürger, Gottfried August 441

Burke, Peter 153 Burne, Charlotte 335 Büsching, Johann Gustav 29, 316 Volks-Sagen, Märchen und Legenden Bø, Olav 137 Böttiger, Carl Wilhelm 228 En majdag i Wärend 229

29

Cainberg, Eric 456 Cajan, Johan Fredrik 463, 465–467 Camden, William 332 Cammermeyer, Albert 170 Campbell, John Francis 6, 11, 20, 174, 257, 296–315, 330, 333–335, 353, 413–414 Collection and fieldwork 304–306 Life and acquaintances 299, 333 Oral Mythology 315 Popular Tales of the West Highlands 6, 257, 299, 304, 306–309, 414 Campbell, Joseph 32 The Hero with a Thousand Faces 32 Canute, King 19 Casanova, Pascale 320 Cashman, Ray 276 Castrén, Matthias Alexander 456, 462, 466, 469, 475, 487, 488 Föreläsningar i finsk mytologi 462 Cavallius, Carl Fredrik 223, 225, 226, 228, 229, 231, 232, 235, 236 Cecilia, St 30 Ceylon 299 Chambers, Robert 257, 290, 296, 299, 325 Reekiana, or Minor Antiquities of Edinburgh 296 The Popular Rhymes of Scotland 288, 296, 325 Traditions of Edinburgh 296 Charles I, King 268 Chaucer, Geoffrey 30 The Canterbury Tales, the 30 Christian VIII, King 79 Christiania 110, 112, 114, 139, 147, 155–157, 168, 188 Christie, W. F. K. 135–138 Clarke, S. 268 Claudius, Matthias 441 Clifford, Charles Cavendish 310 Cohen, Francis Ephraim 2, 318–320, 334

578 Cohen, Francis Ephraim (cont.) Life and acquaintances 318 Collett, Camilla 205 Colonialism 428, 444–446 Colt Hoare, Richard 273 Journal of a Tour in Ireland 273 Copenhagen 15, 21, 56, 77–79, 81, 94, 115–118, 120, 169, 227, 231, 253–255, 257, 258, 267, 339–342, 344, 346, 347, 350, 364, 365, 374, 387, 393, 398, 399, 403, 409, 412, 498 Costume 15, 165, 215, 385, 409 Crafton, Anthony 152 Crohns, Eric Anders 457, 458, 460 Croker, Major Thomas 265, 268 Croker, Marianne 267, 269, 279 Croker, Thomas Crofton 5–6, 11, 19–21, 30, 33, 123, 135, 141, 158, 206, 215, 221, 233, 238, 259–287, 295, 304, 321, 326, 461 Collection and fieldwork 267, 269–270, 274, 277–278, 285 Daniel O’Rourke 267 Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland 5, 30, 33, 35, 123, 135, 158, 206, 215, 260, 261, 263, 267, 273–278, 285, 295, 321, 326, 461, 476 Harlequin and the Eagle 267, 278 Legends of the Lakes 267 Life and acquaintances 270 Membership of societies 267 Researches in the South of Ireland 265, 267, 270–273, 284, 286 The Christmas Box 215, 267 The Keen in the South of Ireland 270 The Popular Songs of Ireland 267 Cruikshank, George 274, 332 Culloden 8 Cuvier, Georges 431 Dahl, Johan 193, 194, 197 Dahl, Johan Christian 121 Dahn, Felix and Therese 32 Walhall 32 Danaher, Kevin 265, 271, 273, 286 Darwin, Charles 158, 202 On the Origin of Species 158, 202

Index Dasent, George Webbe 6, 21, 34, 178, 197, 213, 257, 299–304, 306–310, 314, 329–331, 334, 359, 413, 415, 416 Life and acquaintances 299, 328–329 Popular Tales from the Norse 6, 178, 197, 213, 299, 301, 308, 329, 333, 413, 416 Tales from the Fjeld 178, 213, 413 de Hemmer, Anna Koed 76 de Lamartine, Alphonse 446 Dedications 5, 20, 35, 195, 199, 214, 231, 232, 239, 246, 256, 260, 283, 377, 378, 383, 404, 412, 415, 417, 433 Dégh, Linda 13 Denecke, Ludwig 69 Denmark 4, 17, 18, 70–105, 109, 115–121, 162, 182, 189, 204, 218, 238, 250, 255, 256, 299, 307, 331, 338–342, 346, 351, 356, 364–365, 387, 388, 396–398, 401, 405, 412, 418, 481 Dewar, John 309 Dietrich, A. Russische Volksmärchen 476 Dietrichson, Johanne Mathilde 16 Dindshenchas 36 Djurklou, Nils Gabriel 233 Sagor och äfventyr berättade på svenska landsmål 233 Dorson, Richard 263 Douce, Francis 291, 320 Drake, Francis 331 Drama 15–17, 41, 73, 74, 87, 99, 104, 143, 161, 228, 234, 237, 239, 267, 278, 286, 386, 398, 409–411 Dreistern, O. 427 Drewsen, Jonna 81 Droste-Hülshoff, Jenny and Annette 56 Dublin 264, 266, 284, 411 Dufau, M. L. A. 274 Contes Irlandais 274 Dufferin, Lord 417 Dundes, Alan 251 Dunnigan, Sarah 294 Düsseldorf 173, 419 Dybeck, Richard 209, 232, 485, 491, 493, 498 Earls, Brian 264, 277 Edinburgh 9, 296, 297, 306

Index Edvardsen, Erik Henning 178 Eggert Ólafsson 418 “Ísland” 418 “Ofsjónir við jarðaför Lóvísu drottningar 1752” 418 Egypt 299 Eichendorff, Josef Freiherr 441 Eiríkur Kúld 371, 380–382 Eiríkur Magnússon 16, 34, 167, 257, 415–419 Eiríkur Magnússon and Powell, George E. J. Icelandic Legends 415–419 Eisen, Matthias Johann 436–437, 441 Ellekilde, Hans 74, 91, 94, 104 Elmgren, Sven Gabriel 492 Engelstoft, Laurits 116 England 7, 12, 17, 29, 162, 238, 271, 290, 291, 299, 316–337, 393, 416, 417, 481. See also Great Britain Erzählung 28 Estlander, Carl Gustav 499 Estonia 8, 18, 420–447, 481, 491 Europaeus, D. E. D. 466, 467 eventyr Meaning 29 Fabricius, Dionysius 433 Faehlmann, Friedrich Robert 8, 423, 430, 441, 447 Fairy tale Definitions 12–14, 29, 30, 37, 50–51, 154, 190, 202, 284, 285, 302–303, 318, 332, 336–337, 473–475 Faroe Islands, the 7, 253, 257, 309, 338–358, 365, 397 Faye, Andreas 5, 6, 10, 11, 19, 146, 149, 150, 157, 193, 206, 226, 232, 233, 236–238, 322, 354, 389, 392, 461, 477 Classification and Systematisation 130 Collection and fieldwork 114, 125 Influence of the Grimms and Thiele on Norske Sagn 130, 131 Life and acquaintances 109, 122, 142 Norske Folke-Sagn 138, 146, 232, 322, 392 Norske Sagn 4, 10, 19, 106, 119, 120, 122–138, 144–146, 150, 186, 188, 189, 193, 206, 209, 226, 461 Reception of Norske Sagn 137 Fichte, Johann Gottlieb 484

579 Finland 8, 312, 335, 429–432, 436, 446–501 Collection and fieldwork relating to folktales 463–467 Finnur Magnússon 116–117, 136, 227, 341, 344, 386–388, 392, 393, 397, 399, 401 Call for material 386–388 Eddalæren og dens Oprindelse 227 Life and acquaintances 386–388 Finnur Sigmundsson 372 Fjölnir 389 Call for material 389–391 Fleischer, Richard 170 Flores och Blanzeflor 243 Forestier, Auber 189, 217 France 3, 12, 17, 18, 121, 238, 290, 299, 316, 318, 330, 475 Francis I. See Francis II, King Francis II, King 38 Franks, Augustus Wollaston 239 Franzén, Frans Mikael 454, 456 Frau Holle 54, 337, 442 Frazer, James George 32, 337 The Golden Bough 32, 337 Freudenthal, Axel Olof 500 Friis, Jens Andreas 311 Friðrik Eggerz 399 Friðþjófs saga hins frœkna 34, 242 Fuglestvedt, Ole 142 Fæhlmann, Friedrich Robert “Estnische Sagen” 430 Færden, Engelbregt 173 Færeyinga saga 352 Færeyínga Saga eller Færøboernes Historie 346 Galsworthy, John The Forsyte Saga 31 Ganander, Christfrid 430, 455 Mythologia Fennica 430, 455, 460 Geijer, Erik Gustaf 9, 225, 241, 242, 484, 491, 493 Geijer, Erik Gustaf, and Afzelius, Arvid August 455 Svenska folk-visor från forntiden 9, 225, 242, 455, 458, 461, 485, 493 Genesis 36 Geoffrey of Monmouth 433 George IV, King 9

580 Germania 418 Germany 18, 27, 33, 39–41, 43–69, 72, 78, 121, 162, 168, 169, 202, 209, 231, 250, 255–256, 260–261, 280, 281, 286, 290, 294, 299, 307, 316, 319, 324, 326, 328, 330, 331, 342, 356, 359–363, 366, 368, 370–374, 381, 396, 401, 405, 419–431, 433, 434, 437–441, 444–447, 451, 452, 454, 458, 459, 461, 475, 477, 478, 485, 499 Gísli Brynjólfsson 342, 365, 366 Gísli Konráðsson 237, 374, 398 Gísli Sigurðsson 398 Gjersing, Niels 93 Glassie, Henry 276 Gmelin, Leopold 360 Goethe, Johann Wolfgang 29, 61, 67, 121, 292, 334, 419, 441 Gomme, George Laurence 337 Gosse, Edmund William 165–168, 179, 190, 193, 217, 218 Gothic Union, the 223, 242 Gotland 6, 18, 109, 149 Gottfried of Strassburg 55 Tristan 55 Gottlund, Carl Axel 455–459, 461, 463, 484, 497 Gottschalck, Kaspar Friedrich 29, 55 Die Sagen und Volksmährchen der Deutschen 29, 55 Grant Stewart, William 294, 296 The Popular Superstitions and Festive Amusements of the Highlanders of Scotland 294 Grässe, Johann Georg Theodor 174, 182, 495 Handbuch der allgemeinen Literaturgeschichte aller bekannten Völker der Welt 495 Grattan, Thomas Colley 41 Legends of the Rhine and the Low Countries 41 Great Britain 18, 19, 87, 258, 271, 273, 288, 292, 296, 307, 359, 475 Greece 330, 331, 360 Greenland 339, 397 Gregor, Walter 257 Gregory, Lady 16, 32, 286 Gods and Fighting Men 32

Index Grieg, Edvard 15, 16 Griffin, Gerald 286 Grimm, Andreas 106 Grimm, Ferdinand 56, 60, 66 Grimm, Herman 68, 132, 418 Grimm, Jacob 20, 27, 30, 33, 43, 45–47, 55–60, 65, 67, 70, 72, 106, 109, 111, 124, 127, 144, 149, 150, 169, 179–184, 198, 227, 234, 237, 245, 246, 255–256, 261, 289–294, 299, 306, 308, 324, 334, 340–343, 345, 360–363, 371, 373, 377, 384, 412, 413, 416, 420, 425–426, 432, 434, 449, 451, 460, 462–463, 469, 470, 476, 488 Circular letter 2–3, 10, 55, 58, 73, 86, 100, 130, 200, 290, 293, 306, 443 Deutsche Grammatik 60, 68, 155, 255, 488 Deutsche Mythologie 27, 33, 65, 67, 198, 227, 237, 255, 303, 323, 324, 326, 420, 421, 426, 432–434, 462, 472, 476 Deutsche Rechtsaltertümer 361 Deutsches Museum 46 Geschichte der Deutschen Sprache 4 Reinhart Fuchs 426, 476 Über den Ursprung der Sprache 426 Visit to Scandinavia 234, 246, 341, 343, 413 Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm 1–6, 10, 12, 13, 19–21, 27–28, 31, 32, 34, 37–38, 42–69, 78, 81–83, 87, 88, 90, 105, 106, 109, 112, 123–132, 134, 141, 144–146, 150–152, 155, 157, 178–179, 185, 190–191, 193, 199, 206, 209, 221, 226, 231, 236, 238, 241, 244, 246, 247, 252, 259–261, 270, 273, 275, 278–283, 286, 288, 294–301, 304, 308, 314, 316, 318–321, 325, 326–328, 330, 332–334, 336, 352–354, 387, 390, 394, 399–401, 404, 421, 425–427, 429, 430, 434–437, 445, 447–451, 454, 460–462, 467, 468, 472, 474, 476–478, 481, 485, 491, 498, 501 Collection of material 59 Das Weissenbrunner Gebet 1 Deutsche Sagen 1–4, 9–12, 14, 19, 27–30, 38, 39, 43, 45, 50, 51, 54–55, 59–60, 69, 70, 72, 73, 81, 82, 87, 88, 109, 118, 125, 126, 130, 131, 145, 146, 148, 155, 194, 206, 207,

Index 221, 222, 274, 278–280, 283, 288, 290, 292, 308, 309, 316–319, 322, 324, 326, 334, 337, 385, 388, 400, 405, 418–419, 421, 426, 434, 436, 439, 442, 445, 448, 450, 460, 461, 470, 472, 474, 476–478, 481, 501 Hildebrand und Hadubrand 1 Irische Elfenmärchen 5, 30, 33, 35, 123, 158, 206, 261, 274, 278, 280–283, 285, 295, 476 Kinder- und Hausmärchen 2, 10, 12, 27, 29, 30, 32, 35, 43, 45, 50, 52, 54–56, 61, 66, 68, 73, 78, 88, 132, 155, 186, 189, 194, 206, 221, 231, 250, 259, 270, 273, 278, 283, 285, 288, 290–293, 301, 308, 312, 316, 318, 319, 321, 326, 332, 353, 377, 379, 400, 405, 426, 436, 442, 449, 450, 460, 465, 468, 472, 476, 478 Reception of Deutsche Sagen 60–68 Grimm, Wilhelm 4, 46, 48, 53–56, 63, 72, 78, 88, 90, 91, 116, 117, 179, 246, 260, 265, 274, 278–280, 282–284, 286, 292, 312, 340–342, 345, 426 Altdänische Heldenlieder 4 Grímur Thomsen 413 Grundtvig, N. F. S. 14, 121, 347, 358, 387 Grundtvig, Svend 75, 100, 101, 104, 251, 253–254, 347, 358, 489 Call for material 489 Danmarks gamle Folkeviser 75, 254 Grünthal-Ridala, Villem 441 Grønvold, Marcus 204, 215 Gubitz, Friedrich Wilhelm 60, 62, 63 Gude, Hans 170, 214 Gunnell, Terry 189, 218, 249 Gunnlaugur Oddsson 418 Guðbrandur Vigfússon 7, 310, 364, 365, 368, 370, 371, 373–378, 403, 405–408, 411, 414, 416 Guðmundur Sigurðsson 398 Görres, Joseph 27 Göttingen 68, 72, 90, 265, 425, 454, 458 Haavio, Martti 466–468, 470 Haglund, Robert 233 Hahn, Joan Georg von 248 Halliwell, James Orchard 258, 324–325, 327, 332, 334

581 Life and acquaintances 325 Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales 325, 328 The Nursery Rhymes of England 325 Haltrich, Josef 177 Hammarsköld, Lorenzo (Lars) 484 Hammershaimb, V. U. 7, 21, 231, 338–340, 344–358 “Færoiske sagn” 7 “Færøiske Folkesagn” 7, 344, 350 Collection and fieldwork 348–350, 353–354 Færøsk Anthologi 350–354, 356 Færøsk Dagbog 347 Life and acquaintances 350 Hartland, Edwin Stanley 17, 333, 336 English Fairy and Other Folk Tales 17, 336, 337 Hauff, Wilhelm 426 Märchen-Almanach 426 Haukenæs, Thrond Sjursen 165 Haupt, Leopold 477 Haupt, Leopold, and Schmaler, Johann Ernst Volkslieder und Sagen der Wenden 477 Hautala, Jouko 465, 469, 470, 473, 478 Heegaard, Poul Sophus Vilhelm 173 Hegel, Frederik Vilhelm 170 Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich 451, 457, 484 Heiberg, J. L. 74 Heine, Heinrich 40, 441 Hellqvist, Carl Gustav G. 234 Helsinki 437, 463, 466, 469, 482, 483, 487, 489 Helvetia 418 Henderson, William 174, 330 Notes on the Folklore of the Northern Counties 174, 330 Hennig, John 264, 275, 283 Henrich von Lettland. See Henry of Livonia Henrichus der Lettis. See Henry of Livonia Henry of Livonia 429 Livländische Chronik 429 Origines Livoniae sacrae et civilis 429 Herder, Johann Gottfried 9, 14, 18, 27, 46, 48, 53, 112, 225, 250, 316, 320, 343, 345, 400, 428–429, 443, 447, 451, 454, 456, 461, 481, 485

582 Herder, Johann Gottfried (cont.) Adrastea 456 Auch eine Philosophie der Geschichte zur Bildung der Menschheit 46 Stimmen der Völker in Liedern 450 Volkslieder 9, 429, 450 Hernlund, C. F. 234 Herre, Bernhard 165 Hetsch, G. F. 409 Hettner, Hermann 15 Hildebrand, Bror Emil 225, 232, 241 Historicism 9, 27, 47, 355, 356, 360, 361 Hodne, Bjarne 9 Hofberg, Herman 233, 236 Svenska folksägner 233 Hogan, Bridget 276 Hogg, James 290 Hohlenberg, Johannes Søbøtker 93 Holbek, Bengt 449, 478 Holger Danske 84 Holland 3, 29, 31, 41, 331 Holm, Hans 90 Holm, Peter Alberg 351–352 Skildringer og Sagn fra Færøerne 351 Holm, R. D. 234 Hólmfríður Þorvaldsdóttir 373 Holst, Christian 107 Holst, H. P. 74 Holten, Christian 78, 97 Holten, Ida 96 Holten, Nicolaj 78 Homer 432 Homeyer, Carl Gustav 362 Honko, Lauri 471–473 Hopkin, David 13 Horn, Franz 60, 61, 64 Hornemann, Jens Wilken 82 Hrafnkels saga 37, 41 Hume, David 289 Humphreys, Joseph 266, 267, 269, 270, 273 Hungary 331, 477 Hunt, Margaret 30 Hunt, Robert 332–334 A Popular Treatise on the Art of Photography 333 Elementary Physics: An Introduction to the Study of Natural Philosophy 333 Life and acquaintances 333

Index Popular Romances in the West of England 332 Researches on Light 333 Hurling 275 Hurt, Jakob 436–438, 441 Collection and fieldwork 436 Setukeste laulud 441 Vana kannel 441 Hvam Hult, Marte 220 Hyde, Douglas 286 Hyltenius, Anna Elisabet 223 Hyltén-Cavallius, Gunnar Olof 5–7, 17–20, 75, 87, 197, 222–238, 242–243, 253, 347, 352, 485, 491, 493, 501 Collection and fieldwork 225–233 Life and acquaintances 223–234 Sagan om Didrik af Bern 237 Vocabularium værendicum 223 Wärend och wirdarne 222, 227, 237, 501 Hyltén-Cavallius, Gunnar Olof, and Stephens, George 19, 392, 402, 405, 412, 413, 495 Collection and fieldwork 248 Old Norse Fairy Tales 258 Svenska folk-sagor och äfventyr 6–8, 17, 18, 75, 222, 234, 242, 246–253, 256, 392, 393, 402, 405, 413, 465, 477, 493, 495 Sveriges historiska och politiska visor 222, 225, 234, 242, 250, 253–254 Høyen, Niels Laurits 15, 74, 257, 408, 409 Hörner, Herman 197 Norska folksagor och äfventyr 197 Ibsen, Henrik 15, 16, 143, 161, 162, 168, 217, 334, 409 Brand 143 Fru Inger til Østeraad 143 Gildet på Solhaug 143 Olaf Liljekrans 143 Peer Gynt 15, 143, 162 Rypen i Justedal 143 Iceland 7, 11, 15, 18, 20, 238, 253, 257, 258, 290, 299, 307, 309–310, 328, 353, 359–419, 433, 481, 488 Immonen, Kari 450 India 93, 346 Indriði Einarsson 15, 410 Nýársnótt 15, 410

Index Ingemann, Bernhard Severin 74 Ireland 5, 12, 18, 41, 87, 238, 259–287, 299, 316, 326, 446, 481 Irving, Washington 30, 42 The Alhambra A Series of Tales and Sketches of the Moors and Spaniards 42 Italy 78, 79, 121, 299, 331 Jakobsen, Jakob 352–353, 357 Færøske Folkesagn og Æventyr 353 Japan 299 Jensen, Peter Andreas 144 Læsebog, til Brug for vore Skolers nederste og mellemste Classer 144 Jerichau-Baumann, Elisabeth 341 Jespersen, Ole 345 Jespersen, Otto 257 Joensen, Martin 355 Johnston, Andrew 168, 173 Jón Árnason 7, 19, 20, 169, 238, 253, 257, 310, 359, 368, 369, 372–381, 385, 388, 393, 398–416 Collection and fieldwork 402–403, 411 Icelandic Legends 30 Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og æfintýri 7, 9, 30, 372–381, 385, 399, 401–409, 419 Life and acquaintances 393, 402, 411–415 Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson 368, 371, 372, 399–401 Collection and fieldwork 399 Íslenzk æfintýri 7, 30, 257, 359, 368, 371, 381, 399–401, 405 Jón Jónsson 383 Jón Sigurðsson 357, 364, 365, 370, 378, 391–393, 397, 407–409, 415 Review of Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart 407–408 Jón Thoroddsen 418 Jón Þorleifsson 373 Jónas Hallgrímsson 389, 407, 418 “Gunnarshólmi” 407 “Ísland” 407 Call for material 391–392 Jones, William 293 Jordanes 58 Juteini, Jaakko 459 Jæger, Henrik 208

583 Kalevala 8, 423, 425, 430, 432, 447–449, 451, 455, 458, 462, 463, 475, 476, 478, 479, 481, 487, 490 Kalevipoeg 8, 425, 432, 434–435, 440, 444, 447 Karhu, Eino 459 Karkama, Pertti 450–451, 456 Keightley, Thomas 273–274, 277–278, 280, 283 The Fairy Mythology 273, 274, 277 Kelch, Christian 428 Liefländische Historia 429 Kennedy, Patrick 260, 286 Kennedy, Sheila M. 265 Kettil Runska 229 Keyser, Rudolf 124 Kielland, Alexander 161 Kindermann-Bieri, Barbara 69 Kirk, Robert 289 The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies 289 Kittelsen, Theodor 16, 143, 161, 170–172 Svartedauen 144 Kjartan Ólafsson 374 Kjerulf, Halvdan 209 Klemming, Gustav Edvard 175–177, 243 Kluge, Franz 434 Konráð Gíslason 257, 389, 392 Call for material 389–391 Koskull, Johan August 234 Krarup, Niels 77 Kreutzwald, Friedrich Reinhold 8, 422–425, 429–432, 434–436, 440, 441, 443, 444, 447 Eesti-rahwa Ennemuistsed jutud ja Wanad laulud 422, 431, 435, 441 Estnische Märchen 425 Kalevipoeg. See Kalevipoeg Kristiania. See Christiania Krohn, Julius 497, 500 Krohn, Kaarle 312, 471, 491, 497, 500 Bär (Wolf ) und Fuchs 500 Kuhn, Adalbert 477 Kuhn, Adelbert, and Swatz, Wilhelm Norddeutsche Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche 477 Kunze, Erich 426, 460 Kvöldfélagið 400, 410, 412, 415

584 Købke, Christian 79 Köhler, Reinhold 167 Lachmann, Karl 67 Laing, Robert Meason 147 Landstad, Magnus Brostrup 111, 114, 115, 139, 141, 149, 232 Fra Telemarken Skik og Sagn 115 Gamle Sagn om Hjartdølerne 115 Mytiske Sagn fra Telemarken 115 Norske Folkeviser 115, 232 Ættesagaer og Sagn fra Telemarken 115 Language 2, 10, 18–20, 26, 29, 127, 130, 137, 140–141, 145, 179–183, 191, 200, 201, 203–205, 208–211, 236, 239, 255–256, 258, 270, 280, 284, 292–294, 299, 302–305, 309, 313, 331, 347, 350, 352, 353, 356, 362, 371, 389, 394, 403, 423, 426, 428, 443, 447, 452, 465, 468, 487, 489, 496 Larsson, Carl 234 Lárus Sigurðarson 399 Latour, Bruno 35 Latvia 423, 428–430, 433, 438, 440, 444, 446 Laxdæla saga 31, 116 Leerssen, Joep 9, 21, 342–343, 471 Legend Definitions 12–14, 30–31, 37–38, 50–51, 154, 207, 284, 285, 302–303, 318, 332, 336–337, 473–475 Legende 28 Meaning 30 Leikfélag Andans 410 Leino, Eino 442 Lenau, Nikolaus 441 Lencqvist, Christian 460 De superstitione veterum Fennorum theoretica et practica 460 Lerche, Vincent Stoltenberg 161, 214 Levestam, Friedrich Heinrich 477 Ley, C. S. 489 Leyden, John 291, 293 Lhuyd, Edward 289 Lie, Jonas 161, 173 Liebrecht, Felix 167, 174, 219 Zur Volkskunde 174 Liestøl, Knut 154, 206

Index Liiv, Jakob 441 Lindencrone, Johan Fredrik 1 Folke-Eventyr 1 Ling, Pehr Henrik 457, 484 Lisbon 497 London 261, 266, 267, 270, 326, 333, 335 Lorelei rock, the 39, 40 Lossius, Johannes 429 Lover, Samuel 264, 274 Legends and Stories of Ireland 264, 274 Lundbye, Thomas 16 Lundell, J. A. 497 Lundgren, Egron 258 Luther, Martin 320 Lyngbye, Hans Christian 345, 352, 354 Færøiske Qvæder om Sigurd Fofnersbane og hans Æt 345 Lyra, Karl Gabriel 457 Løche, Jacob Olaus 202 Løvland, Jørgen 142 Lönnrot, Elias 8, 447, 451, 455, 457, 458, 460, 463–467, 469, 478, 490 Kalevala. See Kalevala Kanteletar 490 Mackensen, Lutz 446 Estnische Volkssagen 442 Mackenzie, George Stuart 352 Mackinlay, David 415 MacLean, Hector 305, 309 MacLeod, Norman 299, 304 Maclise, Daniel 267, 274 Macpherson, James 8, 9, 47, 259, 289, 450, 455 Fingal 8 Fragments of Ancient Poetry Collected in the Highlands of Scotland 8 Ossian 8, 9, 47, 259, 289, 295, 310, 455, 458 Ossian controversy, the 289 Temora 8 Maginn, William 266, 273 Magnus, Olaus 17 Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus 17 Magnús Grímsson 7, 20, 169, 314, 359, 366, 368, 381, 398–399, 402, 405. See also Jón Árnason and Magnús Grímsson Collection and fieldwork 398, 402

Index Life and acquaintances 398, 399, 402 Mjallhvít Æfintýri handa börnum 366, 399 Mailath, Johann Grafen. See Majláth, János Majláth, János 477 Magyarische Sagen, Märchen und Erzählungen 477 Malling, Birgitte Christiane 93, 95 Malling, Ove 93 Malmström, Johan August 16, 229, 234 Malta 162 Mannhardt, Wilhelm 33, 174, 498–499 Wald- und Feldkulte 33, 499 Manthey, Ludvig 97 Märchen 38 Meaning 30 Marianne 418 Martin, Martin 288 A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland 288 Matras, Christian 347 Matthías Jochumsson 15, 409, 415 Útilegumennirnir 15, 409, 410 Maturin, Charles 319 Mauland, Torkell 142 Maurer, Georg Ludwig 359, 362 Maurer, Konrad 7, 20, 34, 167, 169, 298, 311, 359–384, 398, 401–402, 405, 409, 412, 416 Collection and fieldwork 366–372, 381–383, 402 Die bayerischen Volkssagen 368–370 Isländische Volkssagen der Gegenwart 7, 359, 368, 374, 379, 401 Life and acquaintances 359–368 Reise nach Island 365 Zur politischen Geschichte Islands 364 Meistergesang 43 Merkel, Garlieb 8, 61, 66, 67, 444 Die Letten, vorzüglich in Liefland, am Ende des philosophischen Jahrhunderts 444 Meurman, Carl Constantin 486 Minnegesang 43 Mobius, Theodor 498 Moder Danmark 418 Moe, Bernt 138–139 Moe, Engebret 156

585 Moe, Jörgen 75, 132, 136, 138–141, 145, 149, 151, 152, 155, 159, 178, 197–199, 203, 218, 219, 221, 232, 248–251, 308, 314, 353, 470. See also Asbjørnsen, Peter Chr., and Moe, Jørgen Introduction to the 1852 edition of Norske Folkeeventyr 197–198, 221 Life and acquaintances 150–151, 154–155 Moe, Marthe Jørgensdatter 156 Moe, Moltke 137, 148, 157, 174, 188, 204, 205, 218 Mohnike, Gottlieb 346 Molbech, Christian 2, 87, 96, 121, 231, 254, 470 Udvalgte Eventyr og Fortællinger 2, 87, 231, 254, 466, 477, 478 Moldenhawer, Carl 90 Mone, Franz Joseph 64, 65 Monrad, Marcus 195–196 Moore, Aubertine Woodward. See Forestier, Auber Morgenstern, Karl 432 Morris, William 167, 414, 415 Moscherosch, Hans Michael 47 Gesichte Philanders von Sittewald 47 Müllenhoff, Karl 322, 477 Sagen, Märchen und Lieder der Herzogthümer Schleswig-Holstein und Lauenburg 322, 477 Müller, Max 308 Müller, Peter Erasmus 115–120, 123, 124, 126, 127, 129–132, 145 Om Avthentien af Snorres Edda og beviset derfra kan hentes for Asalærens Ægthed 123, 127 Munch, Peter Andreas 124, 137, 139, 142, 192–194, 197 Criticism of Norske Sagn 132–137, 139 Münter, Theodor 77 Murray, John 274 Museums 15, 17, 73, 120, 232, 234, 239 Music 15, 209 Musäus, Johann 28 Volksmärchen der Deutschen 28 Myth Meaning 38 Mythology 31–33, 53, 117, 120, 121, 126, 129 Mythos 28, 46

586 Møhl, Christian 77 Møller, Poul 74, 77 Nachtigal, Johann Karl Christoph 29, 55, 316 Volcks-Sagen 29 Naubert, Benedikte. See Naubert, Christiane Naubert, Christiane 29 Neue Volksmärchen der Deutschen 29 Neilson, William 284 An Introduction to the Irish Language 284 Nestor, St 433 Neus, Alexander Heinrich 430 Nibelungenlied 43, 458 Nic Mhathúna, Deirdre 269 Nicholson, Marianne. See Croker, Marianne Nicolai, Friedrich 66 Nicolaisen, W. F. H. 36 Nicolson, Alfred 267, 269 Nilsson, Sven 227, 237 Skandinaviska nordens ur-invånare 227, 237 Njáls saga 116, 309, 416 Nordiska museet 17 Norlander, Gunnar 498 Norway 5, 15, 18, 75, 106–221, 238, 250, 298, 299, 307, 311, 329, 331, 353, 364, 388, 396, 405, 416, 446, 461, 481 Early collection of legends 111–112 Nutt, Alfred 213 Nyerup, Rasmus 4, 5, 20, 72, 73, 75, 78, 88, 90, 111, 121, 127, 129, 150, 236, 237, 341, 342 Hertha 73 Nyström, Jenny 234 Ó Giolláin, Diarmuid 9 Óðinn 229, 236, 418 Oehlenschläger, Adam 14, 74, 119–120, 135, 387, 409 Guldhornene 120 Oehlenschläger, Christiane Georgine Elisabeth 135 Ólafur Briem 398 Ólafur Davíðsson 412 Ólafur Sveinsson 399 Ólafur Ólafsson 398 Olav/ Ólafur, St 129

Index Ollitervo, Sakari 450 Olrik, Axel 254, 257 Olsen, Hans Pauli 356 Olsen, Rolf 194 Opera 228 Oring, Elliot 13 Oscar I, King 234 Oslo 157 Otmar. See Nachtigal, Johann Karl Christoph Volcks-Sagen 54, 55 Otto I, King 360 Pabst, Christian Eduard 423–425, 429, 430, 432–433, 438 “Sagen und Curiosa des Inlandes” 433 Bunte Bilder 433 Collection 433 Life and acquaintances 433 Palgrave, Sir Francis. See Cohen, Francis Ephraim Páll Jónsson 398 Paris 87, 274, 288, 292, 412 Paris, Matthew 332 Parrot, Georg Friedrich 423 Versuch einer Entwicklung der Sprache 423 Paulus Diaconus 58 Percy, Thomas 9, 320, 335, 450 Reliques of Ancient English Poetry 9 Pérez-Reverte, Artúro The Club Dumas 35 Perséus (Persson), Edvard 233 Petersen, Carl 423 Petersen, Eilif 214 Petersen, N. M. 227 Danmarks Historie i Hedenold 227 Peterson, Kristian Jaak 8, 430, 432 Peterssen, Eilif 161, 171 Photographs 164–166 Pietism 443 Pigot, David Richard 273 Pippingsköld, Johan Josef 455, 460 Pitré, Guiseppe 173 Planché, James Robinson 41 Lays and Legends of the Rhine 41 Pløyen, Christian 344, 345, 347, 350 Poetic Edda, the 1, 27, 117, 126, 227, 237, 387, 391, 394, 400, 401, 410, 411, 419

587

Index Poland 331, 477 Polén, Rietrikki 469 Pontopiddan, Erik 388 Everriculum fermenti veteris 388 Poppius, Abraham 455–457, 459, 461 Porthan, Henrik Gabriel 453–455, 461 De Poësi Fennica 454, 460 Portugal 290 Powell, George E. J. 16, 167, 415–416, 418, 419 Prätorius, Johannes 55, 62, 66 Preller, Ludwig 423 Prussia 418 Rääf, L. F. 485, 491, 493 Rafn, Carl Christian 338, 341, 343–350, 355, 356, 358 Ragnars saga loðbrókar 433 Rahbek, Kamma 74, 78 Rancken, Engelbrekt 482, 487, 488 Rancken, Johan Oskar Immanuel 257, 481–483, 487–501 Collection and fieldwork 487–494 Förteckning öfver folksånger, melodier, sagor och äfventyr från det svenska Österbotten 496, 500 Life and acquaintances 481–483, 487–489, 495–500 Membership of societies 497 Några åkerbruksplägseder bland svenskarne i Finland 499 Några prof af folksång och saga i det svenska Österbotten 496 Några traditioner från Wörå 496 Rask, Rasmus 116, 255–256, 342, 352, 387, 460, 484, 488, 491 Undersøgelse om det gamle Nordiske eller Islandske Sprogs Oprindelse 460 Rasmussen, Rasmus 355 Rausmaa, Pirkko-Liisa 463–465 Readership 32 Regin í Líð. See Rasmussen, Rasmus Reinthal, Carl 425 Repholtz, Matthias 83 Republic of Letters, the 151, 153, 166, 183, 185, 320, 345 Reutersvärd, Per Adam 491, 493 Reykjavík 338, 339, 366, 375, 381, 391, 405, 409, 410, 415

Rheinsagen 39, 40, 42 Riikonen, Hannu 454 Ritson, Joseph 9, 291 A Select Collection of English Songs 291 Ancient Engleish Metrical Romanceës 9 Romania 331 Rome 87, 173 Rosenplänter, Johann Heinrich 429 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 27 Rückert, Friedrich 38 Rudbeck, A. 234 Rudbeck, Erik 466–477, 479–480 Collection and fieldwork 466 Om Finnarnes Folkdikt i obunden berättande form 470 Suomen kansan satuja ja tarinoita 467, 470, 471 Rudbeck, Olof, the Elder 17 Atlantica 17 Rudbeck, Richard 233 Rudebeck, Petter 225, 226, 228 Småländska antiqviteter 225, 226 Rudelbach, Andreas 78 Rühs, Friedrich 458 Finland och dess invånare 458 Finland und seine Bewohner 458 Runge, Philipp Otto 47 Ruskin, William 168 Russia 8, 162, 197, 294, 299, 330, 338, 420, 422, 452, 453, 463, 464, 475, 476, 479, 481, 482, 488 Russow, Balthasar 428, 433 The Chronicle of Livonia 428, 433 Russworm, Carl Eibofolke oder die Schweden an den Küsten Ehstlands und auf Runö 434 Russwurm, Carl Friedrich Wilhelm 425, 432–434, 438 Collection and fieldwork 433–434 Life and acquaintances 433 Nordische Sagen 433, 439 Sagen aus Hapsal und der Umgegend 434 Sagen aus Hapsal, der Wiek, Ösel und Runö 434 Rölleke, Heinz 69 S.P.I.N.

9, 12

588 Saarelainen, Juhana 451 Sachsenspiegel 47 Saga 31 Sage 28, 35, 38, 41, 46, 49 Meaning 30–31 Salmelainen, Eero. See Rudbeck, Erik Sarajas, Annamari 461 Sarjala, Jukka 452, 457–459 Säve, Carl 167, 231, 232, 485, 497, 501 Säve, Per Arvid 6, 18, 231, 497 Saxo Grammaticus 433 Schechner, Richard 10 Schellbach, Reinhold 440 Schelling, F. W. J. 451 Schiefner, Franz Anton 425 Schiller, Friedrich 441 Schlegel, August Wilhelm 27, 66 Schlegel, Friedrich 27, 343 Schleicher, August 169 Schleswig-Holstein 4, 322, 433, 477 Schlözer, August Ludwig 454, 458 Schmaler, Johann Ernst 477 Schmitz, Oscar 335 Schneider, Gerhard August 161, 171, 215 Schoolbooks 20, 104, 141, 144, 146, 205 Schreiber, Aloys 39 Handbuch für Reisende am Rheine von Schaffhausen bis Holland 40 Schreiber, Aloys, and Vogt, Nicolaus Mahlerische Ansichten des Rheins von Mainz bis Düsseldorf 39 Schrøter, Johan Henrich 346, 354 Evangelium Sankta Mattæussa 354 Schüdlöffel, Gustav Heinrich 431 Schwach, Conrad Nicolai 111, 124 Scotland 6–7, 9, 11, 12, 18, 87, 238, 259, 288–315, 330, 365, 446 Scott, Walter 9, 12, 20, 42, 87, 263, 267, 274, 283, 289–295, 320, 390 Lady of the Lake 42 Life and acquaintances 289–290 Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border 9, 290, 291 The Border Antiquities of England and Scotland 290 Waverley 290 Sederström, Sven 235 Setälä, E. N. 472

Index Shakespeare, William 320, 327, 410 Shedden-Ralston, William Ralston 168, 173, 177–178, 213, 219 Sigurður Breiðfjörð 418 Sigurður Gunnarson 398 Sigurður Guðmundsson 15, 368, 374, 381–382, 400, 401, 409–412, 414, 415 Sigurður Nordal 367 Silcher, Friedrich 40 Simonsuuri, Lauri 448, 465, 471, 473 Simpson, Jacqueline, and Westwood, Jennifer 17, 337 The Lore of the Land 17, 337 Simrock, Karl 40, 42 Sinding, Otto Ludvig 161, 171, 215 Sinding-Larsen, Alfred 193 Singapore 299 Sjögren, Anders Johan 455–457, 460, 461, 463 Ueber die finnische Sprache und ihre Literatur 460 Sjöström, Axel Gabriel 455 Skafti Sæmundsson 380 Skar, Johannes 167 Skarðenni, Pól 356 Skellig Lists, the 268 Skúli Gíslason 367, 368, 371, 373, 381 Smith, R. Angus 414 Snellman, Johan Vilhelm 451 Snorri Sturluson 55, 108, 123, 227 Heimskringla 108 The Prose Edda 27, 126, 227, 234, 237, 400, 401 Solberg, Olav 137 Spain 299, 316, 488 Speranza. See Wilde, Lady Jane Francesca Stahl, Karoline 425–426 Erzählungen, Fabeln und Mährchen für Kinder 425 Fabeln, Märchen und Erzählungen für Kinder 426 Stampe, Baron Holger 83 Stampe, Henrik 73, 81, 90 Steenbloch, Cornelius Enevold 111, 114, 121, 124, 125, 145 Steffens, Henrik 14, 55, 341–342 Steig, Reinhold 68 Steingrímur Thorsteinsson 410

Index Stephens, George 6–8, 20, 34, 197, 225, 234, 238–243, 258, 327, 344, 353, 359, 392–399, 401, 413, 485, 491, 493, 498 Call for material 253, 344, 353, 392–399, 413 Handbook of the Old Northern Runic Monuments 239 Is English a German Language? 255–256 Revenge or Woman’s Love 239 Stephens, George, and Ahlstrand, J. A. S. Patriks-sagan 244, 246 Stephens, Joseph Reyner 241 Stephens, Joseph Samuel Fritiof 243 Sternberg, Vincent Thomas 325–328, 334 Collection 327 Life and acquaintances 325–327 The Dialect and Folk-Lore of Northamptonshire 325–327 Stier, Gottlieb 477 Ungarische Sagen und Märchen 477 Stockholm 175, 224, 229, 234, 241, 246, 299, 327, 413, 484, 485, 494, 497 Stolberg, Count Christian 86 Stoltenberg Lerche, Vincent 170 Storaker, Johan Theodor 142 Strindberg, August 409 Suits, Gustav 441 Sundt, Eilert 212 Suur Tõll 433 Sveinbjörn Egilsson 342, 393 Sverdrup, Johan 162 Sweden 5–6, 8, 12, 17, 18, 75, 87, 109, 124, 135, 162, 189, 218, 222–258, 299, 307, 359, 393, 396, 405, 433, 434, 452, 453, 462, 481–485, 491–494, 501 Swinburne, Algernon Charles 415, 417 Switzerland 3, 41, 55 Symington, A. J. 415, 416 Synge, J. M. 16, 286 Söderhjelm, Werner 453, 454, 461 Sööt, Karl Eduard 441 Tacitus 58 Táin Bó Cuailgne 36 Tallinn 425, 429, 431, 434, 439 Tamm, Jakob 441 Tang Kristensen, Evald 75, 91, 104, 105 Jyske Almueliv 104

589 Tangherlini, Timothy R. 13 Tartu 8, 420, 422, 430, 431, 439, 443 Taylor, Edgar 1, 270, 274, 293, 294, 321, 332 German Popular Stories 1, 270, 274, 293, 319, 321, 332 Tegnér, Esaias 34, 241–242, 257 Frithiofs saga 242 Tell, William 19 Tengström, Johan Jakob 455, 457 Tentzel, Wilhelm Ernst 62 Terry, Daniel 267 Thackeray, William Makepeace 168 Theil, Jean-François-Napoléon 68 Thiele, Hans 73, 76 Thiele, Ida 79 Thiele, Johan Rudolph 76 Thiele, Johanne 79 Thiele, Just Mathias 4, 6, 10, 17, 19, 70–105, 109, 121, 123, 125, 127, 131, 149, 150, 157, 174, 206, 225, 226, 231–233, 235, 236, 238, 274, 292, 318–320, 322, 326, 352, 354, 389, 392, 405, 460, 477, 501 Classification and systematisation 103 Collection and fieldwork 74, 98, 105 Danmarks Folkesagn 86, 104, 232, 392, 501 Danske Folkesagn 4, 10, 72, 79, 102, 104, 109, 123, 131, 206, 222, 225, 274, 292, 318, 326, 461 Kynast 99 Life and acquaintances 80 Pillegrimen 99 Prøver af Danske Folkesagn 4, 35, 72, 91, 104, 109, 127, 149, 150, 222 Visit to the Grimms 90 Thompson, Stith 42, 249, 251, 330 Motif Index of Folk-Literature 35 Thoms 333 Thoms, William John 7, 30, 316–325, 327, 328, 334–336 Choice Notes Folk-Lore 324 Collection 322–324 Lays and Legends of Various Nations 316 Germany 30, 316, 319–321 Life and acquaintances 316, 324 Thomsen, Christian Jürgensen 120, 397 Thorlacius, Børge 115, 116

590 Thorpe, Benjamin 209, 210, 321–322 Northern Mythology 210–211, 321 Yule-Tide Stories 209, 321, 405 Thorvaldsen, Bertel 73, 79–81 Tidemand, Adolph 16, 161, 171, 173, 215 Tieck, Johann Ludwig 29, 121, 196, 389, 390 Volksmärchen 29 Tiilikainen, Teija 453 Tirén, Johan 234 Tolkien, J. R. R. 27 Topelius, Zachris, the elder 455 Suomen Kansan Vanhoja Runoja ynnä myös Nykyisempiä Lauluja 455 Toponarratives 26–42 Truffer, Peter 58 Turku 452–461, 483, 484 Tutein, Peter 77, 97 Twain, Mark 42 Life on the Mississippi 42 Tylor, E. B. 202 Primitive Culture 202 Überlieferung 28 Uhland, Ludwig 441 Under, Marie 442 Õnnevarjutus 442 Uppsala 223, 239, 241–243, 455, 458–460, 483, 484, 497, 498 Vatnsdæla saga 116 Vico, Giambattista 26 Principj di una Scienza Nuova 26 Viehmann, Dorothea 50 Vogt, Nicolaus 39 Rheinische Geschichten und Sagen 39 Volksbuch von der schönen Melusina 433 Volksgeist 3, 237, 418, 485 von Arnim, Achim 27, 47–48, 55, 62, 439 von Arnim, Achim, and Brentano, Clemens Des Knaben Wunderhorn 4, 9, 27, 47, 48, 55, 439 von Becker, Reinhold 457, 460 von Busse, Karl Heinrich 420–421, 427 von Chamisso, Adelbert 441 von der Hagen, Friedrich Heinrich 387 von Dobeneck, Friedrich Ludwig Ferdinand 29, 319

Index Des deutschen Mittelalters Volksglauben und Heroensagen 29 von Graba, Carl Julian 352 von Hahn, Johann Georg 330 von Hammerstein-Equord, Hans Georg 56, 58 von Haxthausen, August 56 von Kaulbach, Wilhelm 419 von Klopstock, Friedrich 484 von Kotzebue, August 55 Preußens ältere Geschichte 55 von Löwis, August 437, 438 Märchen und Sagen 437 von Maydell, Friedrich Ludwig 430 von Rehbinder, Nikolai 430 von Repko, Epko 47 von Richthofen, Karl 362 von Rosen, Johan Georg Otto 234 von Savigny, Friedrich Carl 47, 48 von Schelling, Friedrich 484 von Schmid, Hedda 446 von Schröter, Hans Rudolph 458–460 Finnische Runen 458–460 von Schultz-Bertram, Georg Julius 424, 430–432, 434, 435, 444–446 von Sivers, Jegor 440 von Stern, Karl Walfried 440, 446 von Wittorf, Andreas Wilhelm 440 Baltische Sagen und Mähren 440 Vulpius, Christian August 61, 66, 67 Wächter, Leonhard. See Weber, Viet Wagner, Richard 39, 415 Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition 315 Wallander, Josef Wilhelm 234 Wallick, Ahron Wulff 87 Wallman, Daniel 485, 491, 493 Wallman, Johan 485, 491, 493 Ward, Donald 1, 68, 317 Weber, Henry 34 Weber, Viet 28 Sagen der Vorzeit 28 Wedderburn, Robert 288 The Complaynt of Scotland 288 Wefvar, Jakob Edvard 494 Welhaven, Johan Sebastian 142, 161, 165 Werenskiold, Erik 16, 161, 171–172, 215 Werlauff, Erich Christian 116, 118–119, 127

591

Index Wessman, V. E. V. 501 Westwood, Jennifer, and Kingshill, Sophia 17 The Lore of Scotland 17 Weyse, Christian E. F. 77, 81, 82 Wieselgren, Peter 227, 228, 232, 237, 238 Wigström, Eva 233, 238 Folkdiktning 233 Wilde, Lady Jane Francesca 264, 286 Ancient Legends 264 William II, Elector 260 Wilson, William 463 Wimmer, Ludwig 257 Winkel-Horn, Erhard Fredrik 189, 217 Winkler, Georg 366 Winther, Chr. 74 Winther, Mathias 1, 86 Danske Folkeeventyr 1, 86 Wolf, Friedrich August 432 Wolf, Johann Wilhelm 322 Niederländische Sagen 322, 477 Wolff, Simon Olaus 124, 135, 149, 150 Riarhammaren Eller Spøgeriet En Nationalskizze efter Et Sagn 149 Wollzeilergesellschaft 57 Wóycicki, Kazimierz Władysław 477 Wóycicki, Kazimierz Władysław, and Levestam, Friedrich Heinrich Pölnische Volkssagen und Märchen 477

Wright, Thomas 322, 332 Wulfila, Bishop 256 Wyss, Johann Rudolf 29, 55 Idyllen, Volkssagen, Legenden und Erzählungen aus der Schweiz 29, 55 Yeats, William Butler 16, 264, 277, 286 Young, Arthur 262 A Tour in Ireland 262, 273 The Royal Hibernian Tales 262 Zacher, Julius 169 Zimmermann, Georges 277 Zwecker, J. B. 417–419

262–264, 273, 275,

Þiðreks saga 234 Þorgeir Guðmundsson Repp Þuríður Kúld 382 ævintýri Meaning

342

29

Ørsted, Anders Sandøe Øvredal, Andre 16 Trolljegeren 16

119, 120