nd when this thing goeth about, the round table shall bee
broken. And wit ye well," said King Pelles, "that this is the holy
sanegreall which ye have heere seene."

So King Pelles and Sir Launcelot led their lives the most part of that
day.

PETER CHRISTEN ASBJOeRNSEN

(1812-1885)

Asbjoernsen was born January 15th, 1812, at Christiania, Norway. He
entered the University in 1833, but was presently obliged to take the
position of tutor with a family in Romerike. Four years later he came
back to the University, where he studied medicine, but also and
particularly zooelogy and botany, subjects which he subsequently taught
in various schools. During his life among the country people he had
begun to collect folk-tales and legends, and afterward, on long
foot-tours undertaken in the pursuit of his favorite studies, he added
to this store. In co-operation with his lifelong friend, Joergen Moe,
subsequently Bishop of Christiansand, he published in 1838 a first
collection of folk-stories. In later years his study of folk-lore went
on side by side with his study of zooelogy. At various times, from 1846
to 1853, he received stipends from the Christiania University to enable
him to pursue zooelogical investigations at points along the Norwegian
coast. In addition to these journeys he had traversed Norway in every
direction, partly to observe the condition of the forests of the
country, and partly to collect the popular legends, which seem always to
have been in his mind.

From 1856 to 1858 he studied forestry at Tharand, and in 1860 was made
head forester of the district of Trondhjem, in the north of Norway. He
retained this position until 1864, when he was sent by the government to
Holland, Germany, and Denmark, to investigate the turf industry. On his
return he was made the head of a commission whose purpose was to better
the turf production of the country, from which position he was finally
released with a pension in 1876. He died in 1885.

Asbjoernsen's principal literary work was in the direction of the
folk-tales of Norway, although the list of his writings on natural
history, popular and scientific, is a long one. As a scientist he made
several important discoveries in deep-sea soundings, which gave him, at
home and abroad, a wide reputation, but the significance of his work as
a collector of folk-lore has in a great measure overshadowed this phase
of his activity. His greatest works are--'Norske Folke-eventyr