Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana - 01.06.1966, Page 12

On this side of the water we were very much in the dark as to what was
going on in Copenhagen during the occupation, but it turned out that
she had not been idle. In 1945 she received a grant which permitted her
to come to America. In Chicago at the Popular Literature section of the
Modern Language Association of America she met most of us who were
working in folklore and who were getting together for the first peace-
time meeting. Acquaintance with these was to make more valuable her
stay in America.
In the several weeks while she was guest in our home, and indeed
during her whole stay in Bloomington when we worked in the Folklore
Library together, I came to realize not only what a diligent worker she
was, but how well trained and how intelligent. She was for the most part
busy with the present study, while I was making some explorations to-
ward a revision of my Motif-Index. We had many conferences about the
logical classification of certain Icelandic motifs, and frequently she brought
me notes that were helpful toward my own task.
That she worked too hard and too long was clear, and I was glad when
she decided to take an extensive trip and see the country. This vacation
I think was a wonderful thing for her. She apparently relaxed to it, for
she not only rode buses in many directions as far as the Pacific coast but
over-stayed the time she had planned, and she had much to tell on her
return.
Back again in Copenhagen she resumed her duties and became
Archivist in the Dansk Folkemindesamling in 1952. During those last
years she not only brought the present work nearer to a close but pub-
lished an extremely valuable history of folktale research. And she had
ready a work supplementary to this dealing with Danish Folk tradition,
which was published posthumously.
When we saw her in Copenhagen in 1952 we realized that she was ill
and it was a sorrow to those of us who had learned to know her when
we heard of her death in 1957.
It is unfortunate that the present work should not have appeared in
time for her to see it, but she would certainly have welcomed the notable
additions which have been made by her colleagues.
Stith Thompson
Bloomington, Indiana, U.S.A.