Matthias Johann Eisen mõistatuste kogumise organiseerija ja publitseerijana aastatel 1869-1890
M. J. Eisen: his initiatives in collecting and publishing riddles during the period 1869-1890

Summary/Abstract: Matthias Johann Eisen (1857-1934), the grand old man of folklore collecting in Estonia, published five books. While compiling the first of these, named Eesti rahva mõistatused [The Riddles of Estonian Folk] (1890), during the years 1887-1888, M. J. Eisen organised an interesting collection campaign, which the present article explores in more detail. By the year 1887 M. J. Eisen had come through two principally different periods in his interest in riddles - as a schoolboy he became acquainted with authentic folk repertoire that he recorded in manuscripts; and since 1876 he published his and his friends' self-made riddles in print. While collecting riddles during the period 1887-1888 (in total for 16 months), M. J. Eisen resorted to locals, as had been previously done in Estonia. In the lofty style characteristic of the contemporary time he communicated with contributors through the press by publishing two appeals and in total 16 reports on the progress of the collection campaign, where he gave the names of the contributors who had sent riddles, estimated the amount of the material, highlighted parishes where the collection work had been the most successful and encouraged people to write the riddles down . Altogether 67 contributors from 45 parishes participated in the collection campaign, and sent 5647 riddles in 78 postings. One letter contained 72 entries on average, more substantial ones had as much as 300. The riddles are written down in literary language, although a few dialect forms or words are present; for some unknown words an explanation is given. Collected manuscripts are stored in the Estonian Folklore Archives in a 495-page quarto-format volume of SKS, Eisen. Cover letters of the contributors provide valuable information about people from whom the riddles were collected, estimations to what extent riddles are still known in oral tradition (`a genre in decay'), etc. The most active contributors were schoolteachers (in total 20) and farmers (7); some have later become well-known figures in Estonian cultural history. The material sent to M. J. Eisen was relatively authentic; however, 10,6% (ca 600 texts) have been copied from printed sources or regarded later as self-made creation; this amounts to remarkably less than the total average of riddle collections (33%). On the basis of the riddles collected in 1887-1888, M. J. Eisen compiled Eesti rahva mõistatused that contained 1770 riddles and 10 riddle songs. Together with the improved edition in 1913, it remained the most comprehensive publication of Estonian riddles until recently an academic publication Eesti mõistatused [Estonian Riddles] (2001-2002) was published.

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