ccommodate them. Here were people from
all walks of life, and the speaker, we are convinced, stirred them to the
bottom of their souls. Here was a Mynster's clarity, a Fallesen's
earnestness, and a Balle's appeal united with a Nordahl Brun's manliness
and admirable language." And this about a man for whom his church had no
room!

Thus Grundtvig instead of the friendly co-operation he had hoped for
especially from the spiritual and intellectual leaders of the people
found himself virtually shut out from the circle to which he naturally
belonged, and from the church he loved, perhaps better than any man of
his generation.

But if his hope of enlisting the leaders in a campaign to revive the
spiritual life of the common people had been disappointed, his own
determination to devote his life to that purpose remained unshaken. If he
could look for no help from the recognized leaders of his nation, he must
somehow gain a hearing from the common people themselves. His personal
contact with these, however, was rather slight. Except for his brief work
as a pastor, he had so far spent the greater part of his life in
intellectual pursuits quite removed from the interest of the common man.
And the question was then how he, a man without any special position and
influence, could reach the ears of his countrymen.

In searching for an answer to this question, he remembered the two things
that most profoundly had influenced his own spiritual outlook, his study
of the traditions and history of his people, and his religious awakening
in 1810. Was it not possible then that a like change might be engendered
in others by presenting them with a picture of their own glorious past
or, as his friend Ingemann later expressed it, by calling forth the
generations that died to testify against the generation that lived? In
presenting such a picture he would not have to rely on his own
inventiveness but could use material already existing, foremost among
which were the famous _Sagas of Norwegian Kings_ by Snorra Sturlason, and
_Denmark's Chronicle_ by Saxo Grammaticus, the former written in
Icelandic, and the latter in Latin.

When Grundtvig presented this plan to his remaining friends, they
received it at once with enthusiasm and began the organization of
societies both in Denmark and Norway for the purpose of sponsoring its
execution, in itself a most herculean task.

The two books contain together about fifteen hundred large and closely
print