pavol dobšinský (16 march 1828 – 22 october 1885) was a slovak collector of folklore and writer belonging to the period of romanticism and the štúr generation. he is perhaps best known for creating the largest and most complete collection of slovak folktales, "prostonárodnie slovenské povesti" ("simple national slovak tales"), self-published in a series of eight books from 1880 to 1883. for his collections, he has often been referred to as a "slovak hans christian andersen".