1858 – 1883 What he changed on the way to the pageČo cestou na papier zmenil

The tales did not reach the book the way they left the teller. Dobšinský edited out the erotic material and the coarse humour before he printed them — and that is exactly why stories told among grown-ups at a spinning evening turned into a children's classic. It is worth a student's attention in both directions. Without the editing there would probably be no national collection at all, because nobody would have put that version in a schoolroom; with it, a real part of the folklore was quietly lost, and folklorists have argued about the trade ever since. He worked on that material his whole adult life, and he did it from country parishes, not from a university.Rozprávky sa do knihy nedostali v tej podobe, v akej odišli od rozprávača. Dobšinský z nich pred vydaním vyškrtal erotiku aj drsný humor — a práve preto sa z príbehov, ktoré si dospelí hovorili na priadkach, stala detská klasika. Oplatí sa nad tým zamyslieť z oboch strán. Bez tejto úpravy by pravdepodobne nijaká národná zbierka nevznikla, lebo takú verziu by nikto do školy nepustil; s ňou sa však kus skutočného folklóru ticho stratil a folkloristi sa o túto výmenu dodnes prú. Robil na tom celý dospelý život, a to z vidieckych fár, nie z univerzity.