A number of the motifs of traditional folk tales and legends have been preserved thanks to the efforts made by members of Ľudovít Štúr’s generation to collect folklore. The first to publish a selection of them was Ján Francisci-Rimavský in his book Slovenskje povesťi (Slovak Legends) in 1845. According to the notions of the Romantic collectors of the 19th century, folk legends and tales supposedly carried the features of a “national spirit”. Although Štúr’s adherents denied that the tales had any historical factual value, nevertheless, they projected onto them their belief in the future of the Slovak nation...