successful country pastor. But his father died January 5, 1813. The
authorities refused to confirm Grundtvig in the vacant charge, and he and
his mother, shortly afterward, were compelled to leave the parsonage that
had been their home for more than forty years. His mother settled in
Prastoe, a small city a few miles from Udby, and Grundtvig returned to
Copenhagen to search for a new position, a task that this time proved
both long and painful.

Among available positions, Grundtvig especially coveted a professorship
in history at the newly founded university of Oslo, Norway, at which
three of his friends, S. B. Hersleb, Niels Trechow and George Sverdrup,
had already obtained employment. But although these friends worked
zealously for his appointment, even after the separation of Norway from
Denmark, their efforts were fruitless. Grundtvig was not destined to
leave his native land. Nor were his attempts to secure other work
successful. In spite of the fact that he applied for almost every vacancy
in the church, even the smallest, his powerful enemies among the
Rationalists were influential enough to prevent his appointment to any of
them.

Meanwhile he was by no means idle. Following his conversion, he felt for
a time like a man suddenly emerging from darkness into the brightness of
a new day. Old things had passed away, but the brilliance of the new
light confused him. What could he do? How many of his former interests
were reconcilable with his new views? Could he, for instance, continue
his writings? "When my eyes were opened," he writes, "I considered all
things not directly concerned with God a hindrance to the blessed
knowledge of my Lord, Jesus Christ." After a time he saw, however, that
his ability to write might be accepted as a gift from God to be used in
His service. "The poet when inspired," he says, "may proclaim a message
from above to the world below," and so, "after dedicating it to Himself,
the Lord again handed me the harp that I had placed upon His altar."

During his brief stay at Udby, Grundtvig published three larger works:
_Episodes from the Battle between Ases and Norns_, _Saga_ and _A New
Year's Gift for 1812_.[9] The first of these was nearly completed before
his conversion, and as he now reread the manuscript, its content almost
shocked him. Was it possible that he had felt and written thus only a few
months ago! He thought of destroying the work but decided to recast it in
conformity with h