Karel Jaromír Erben

Karel JaromaÂ-r Erben was born on November 7, 1811, in MiletaÂ-n. He studied history and law at university in Prague and later was a member of the Bohemian Society of Sciences and the Academy of Sciences in Vienna, and served as archivist for the National Museum and later for the City of Prague. He eventually became fascinated with the mysteries contained in folklore and the original myth. Influenced by the Brothers Grimm and the burgeoning study in Europe of folk literature, he thus began to collect more than 2,200 Slavic fairy tales, folk songs, and legends. He died in Prague on Nov. 21, 1870.